Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 December 1

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December 1[edit]

75 monte carlo 15x8 and 15x9 rally rims[edit]

75.117.50.11 00:47, 1 December 2007 (UTC)I need to know the maximum width of tire that can be put on the car. not on the rims....I can figure that out....i need to know what the maximum width of tire that will fit in the wheel well with these rims...such as p245 or p265 or p275/60r/15.75.117.50.11 00:47, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. ArielGold 00:52, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Can't Print - Staffe entry[edit]

I cannot print the entry "Staffa" - over several days I just get Programme not responding, on two separate browsers, and prints other pages okay ... Seems just this entry which is the difficulty ! Thank you. H&C 139.78.17.159 01:49, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like a computer problem. The nice folks at the Computing reference desk will help you in solving it. NF24(radio me!) 01:55, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Are you trying with the printable version [1]? PrimeHunter 02:01, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

IP redirect[edit]

Another user (who is alos blocked) has redirected my IP adress to their user page. What should I do? Gingojo 02:37, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If it's your permanent IP address then I suggest to log out and revert the redirect in an edit from that IP address. uncool PrimeHunter 02:48, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks 71.112.2.145 04:47, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hiding all fundraising ads[edit]

I inserted "table.fundraiser-box {display:none}" once in my monobook.css and it seemed to hide something from the fundraiser box but the comments and other stuff remained... is it possible to hide all of it? -- Mentifisto 07:16, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps this would help [2]. --Kudret abiTalk 08:26, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Question on tag for image.[edit]

I am about to upload an image of a billboard for Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition 2. I took it using my cellphone camera. But I don't know which tag I will use: "free image" or "fair use"? BTW, I haven't uploaded the image yet. (And I posted this question on WP:AN, but after some thought, so I decided to do it here also for some much needed help.) - 上村七美 (Nanami-chan) | talkback | contribs 09:34, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Nanami-chan, a picture you took yourself is your own work so you can release it under a free license. So just click on Upload File in the toolbox on the left, select my own work, fill in the fields and for licensing select one of the free licenses that you wish. You may also consider uploading free images to Wikimedia Commons so that it can be used by any other projects as well. More information on image uploads see WP:UPI. I hope this helps. --Kudret abiTalk 17:54, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Weekends can have slow response. I don't work with image licenses but there are special rules when you just take a photo of somebody elses creative work (which I guess is the case here). It may have to be fair use like {{Non-free poster}}. PrimeHunter 23:28, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Here's the image I'm talking about. I tagged it under a free license. Do I do it right? That's because I'm torn. This is after all a picture of a billboard. If you deem it as fair use, you can replace it with a "promotional" tag. - 上村七美 (Nanami-chan) | talkback | contribs 01:37, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
To be honest, when I wrote my response, this is not what I had in mind, I thought there would be more context other than the poster. In the case of this image, PrimeHunter could be right, this may not qualify as a free image. --Kudret abiTalk 01:43, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I asked a couple of admins that work with images to weigh in on this. Hopefully they will be able to provide better assistance. --Kudret abiTalk 02:06, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I came across this issue before and I'm not 100% sure those can be under a free license. Some billboard images like Image:Curtisposter.jpg is under a free license but it has the "freedom of panorama" template. But other billboard pictures like Image:Smithwick's billboard NYC May 2005 Wikipedia.jpg don't have that template. I think it should be alright though. There's a whole Billboard category on Commons. Spellcast 02:16, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
My understanding is similar to Spellcast's. There's a tension between freedom of panorama and derivative works that's difficult to reconcile. My best guess is that you can use the picture, though it's not quite free, as people may not make further derivative works from it.--Kubigula (talk) 04:37, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

New here and have a specific project[edit]

Hi,

I'm new here and I have a specific project. I am interested in Thai Boxing and recently watched a new independant release which I thought was brilliant. I wrote to the producer and asked him would it be ok to write about his film on wiki as I like the idea and I see it as a pet project. His only concern was that the article be neutral / informative but not negative - which is understandable. He gave me the go ahead anyway.

Is it possible to work with other more experienced people as I would like help to do this. If so, how do I go about this? If not I dont mind, I can figure it out.

Cheers

Gerard—Preceding unsigned comment added by Gerardinthailand (talkcontribs) 14:53, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.
Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.
If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation.NF24(radio me!) 15:01, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Is there any conceivable negative information that could find its way into the article? If there is such info and it is verifiable, then it is possible for others to add it even if the producer doesn't like it. - Mgm|(talk) 16:12, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
We have many WikiProjects where users who share interests can work on articles together. You may be interested in one or more of the following:
There is also a Thai Wikipedia. --Teratornis 22:39, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How to create your own article[edit]

How do you create your own article on something and then when somebody searches it using wikipedia search it will come up? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.35.40 (talk)

Wikipedia search automatically indexes new articles but it may take a few days.
You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.
Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.
If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. PrimeHunter 15:22, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Adding Wikipedia Search to my Webpage?[edit]

Many search engines are available to have an embedded search box on other's webpages ... can I do this with Wikipedia as well?

I don't know whether there is a recommended method. I just found [3] in a Google search [4] but I haven't tried adding it to my own website. PrimeHunter 17:28, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Given the widespread criticism of Wikipedia's built-in search feature, you might prefer to place a form on your Web page to search Wikipedia with Google. The URL looks like this:
You just need to make a <form> tag in HTML that generates a search URL like the above. You can make the obvious change in the action attribute in Dave Taylor's example that PrimeHunter cited above. --Teratornis 22:46, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

this sucks[edit]

wht does this page not show the write info i presented in front of my school and it was false THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.200.148.217 (talk) 18:32, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. If you have a problem with Wikipedia then please be more specific. The above post is the only registered edit for your IP address. PrimeHunter 18:40, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If it was an edit you made, then remember that anyone can edit Wikipedia, and note that this means anyone can edit over what you did. If it is because Wikipedia showed incorrect information, remember that anyone can edit Wikipedia, which means that you should hardly call Wikipedia citable. Put shortly: Wikipedia is unreliable and makes for a poor source in research - or any presentation. x42bn6 Talk Mess 18:52, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • When you are looking for information to use in a presentation, you should always take care to check the information against multiple sources. Even newspapers, books and other encyclopedias occasionally get it wrong and you can easily discover potentially problematic pieces of information if you check where it came from and how many - and which - people confirm it. In short: be critical, don't trust everything you read. - Mgm|(talk) 19:01, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also don't forget that some editors change certain articles with false information, for example an actor appeared on one of the TV shows and placed a complaint about wikipedia for having him presumed non-existence and appeared upset on the show. In another words double check sources to see that the info on wikipedia is accurate before using the information, if it's not accurate one of the users may correct the info, if mentioned on the talk page. SKYNET X1000 19:08, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Scrubs Wikiproject[edit]

I am wanting to set up a taskforce for Scrubs which will branch of from WP:TV. I have been told that i need to hold a discussion so a consensus is reached about whether to creat it or not, but i am unsure where to hold the discussion. Eddie6705 19:37, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I believe the WP:TASKFORCE page should contain the information you need on setting up a task force. --Kudret abiTalk 20:27, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Loss of session data[edit]

What is the cause of the annoying message "Sorry! We could not process your edit due to a loss of session data. Please try again. If it still doesn't work, try logging out and logging back in.", and is there anything I can do about it? Logging out and logging back in has never seemed to make a difference. Sometimes I have to struggle for five minutes or more to undo a simple vandal edit, as I keep getting back this message.  --Lambiam 19:57, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, actually I get this message too from time to time. I believe it has to do with the Wikipedia servers being loaded beyond capability and therefore not being able to process all the requests. I don't think there is much to do about it at user level. --Kudret abiTalk 20:33, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I usually only get that message if I take a very long time to compose a reply - probably not the same as what you are getting. Regards, Ben Aveling 00:13, 2 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

User talk:Betacommand wierdness!!![edit]

A bot by User:Betacommand erroneously tag a picture of mine as an orphan. When I posted on his talkpage my post almost instantly disappeared.I redid the post a couple of times thinking I had made a mistake but the posts keep disappearing. I then received a post from User:Betacommand warning me about an edit war. However I am not sure if its a human user or a bot thats deleting my posts and replying. Can any one help.

Atleast one other user has the same problem see here —Preceding unsigned comment added by Trounce (talkcontribs)

--Trounce 21:28, 1 December 2007 (UTC) (oops , sorry, forgot to sign!)[reply]
If you had read his talk page, and the posts above yours, he was aware of the problem and was acting to fix it. On talk pages, if it is removed, and you can check the talkpage history, then the recipient has obviously seen it. Frankly, Beta was getting understandably frustrated at the number of comments. Woodym555 21:38, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I dont quite see the piece on his talk page you are referring to, and my posts have all been deleted so I am not sure what you mean when you say the post above mine. If he took it on himself to create a bot and it runs wild the least he could do is discuss the problem with people who raise it with him. How does deleting my post on his talk page help the situation? And I am not sure if the recipient is even a person or a bot or what? Normally posts are left in situ and replied to in situ- not instantly deleted. And why does he then send me a warnig about edit wars as though I am at fault?--Trounce 21:50, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The bot malfunctioned, he stopped it, problem solved. Why should he reply to every individual who posted on his page? Every bot is operated by a person, it should be stated on the bot page who this is. User talkpages can be edited however the user desires, if a user removes a post, it means he has read it. I am sorry that you received a warning, it was a problem and you should not have received the warning. However you cannot keep readding posts to a page, it is edit warring. The whole incident has been a bit of a misunderstanding I think. Woodym555 21:59, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
n.b. See Betacommand page history and User talk:BetacommandBot for the reasoning. Thanks. Woodym555 22:03, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yes it definitely is a misunderstanding, which could easily have bee cleared up if User:Betacommand simply (a) left my post oin his page or better still (b)simply replied by saying there are technical problems with the bot and please bear with me. The bot user page states “If you have a comment or suggestion please feel free to leave it on User talk:Betacommand.” so I did. Three times, almost instantly they were deleted. I thought I had messed up posting them somehow. And then I go to my talk page and see the cheeky git found the time to threaten me about an edit war.I think that User:Betacommand is being a bit of a smart ass --Trounce 22:06, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It seems to me rather than communicate clearly through his Talk page he is communicating in a backward and contrived way through the Edit Summaries on his Talk page's History??!! What an arrogant dope.--Trounce 22:13, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Calm down, and stay WP:CIVIL please. It is very common to put comment in history pages. I think Betacommand is a feeling a bit harassed at the moment, and comments like yours to nothing to ease that feeling. I strongly suggest that you refactor your comments. Any more posts can be made on my talkpage and not here. This is not the place for this. Woodym555 22:18, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Hold on a second.You give the game away a bit by saying "I think Betacommand is a feeling a bit harassed at the moment,". Lets get one thing straight. When I posted on his talk page I was calm and civil. I posted nothing that could remotely be taken in an offensive way. Yet his arrorgance and immature reaction over his damn bot has riled me. Look I think you should have a word in User:Betacommand ear and remind him to be WP:CIVIL. If he feels he is man enough to police Wikipedia with his bot the least he should do is be man enough to take the flak when it goes wrong, instead of hidng like a coward.--Trounce 22:26, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Granted that responding in an edit summary is a bit unusual, and I don't blame you for missing it... but I don't see how it's hiding, cowardly, arrogant, or any of those things. BC deals with a lot of messages. He's working on the problem. Feel free to criticize, but please be sure to keep calm and make your criticism constructive. "You're a big dope" is less effective than "Man, that was confusing and I'm a little upset, could you do something different in the future?" – Luna Santin (talk) 22:32, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, Deleting my comments from his talk page is arrogant because he simply dismissed my question out of hand.Cowardly because he is hiding by instantly deleting my comments and not giving me a chance to communicate with him. Why is he above talking about his bot's error to me? The reason I may be a bit riled is because he then goes and threatens me for edit warring. --Trounce 22:37, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
And this also irks me, only for you guys had the decency to respond to me, I would still be in the dark. How am I suppose to know that "BC deals with a lot of messages. He's working on the problem." if he doesn't tell me.--Trounce 22:43, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I am in no way arrogant, or cowardly. I pointed you at the bots talkpage where it clearly states that I know there was a problem, and that the images in question were already fixed. It also states that you should not add any further complaints about that issue. The orphan issue was brought up, and fixed, and closed. I dont want to or need to repeat myself 100 times for every user who posts on my talkpage. I politely pointed you to the bot's page three times. βcommand 22:48, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Well its mighty kind of you to spare some of your time on me! Where did you point me at the bots talk page? I would like to remind you that it states clearly on the Bot's user page “If you have a comment or suggestion please feel free to leave it on User talk:Betacommand.” Why did you instantly delete my posts with out replying? You say "I dont want to or need to repeat myself 100 times for every user who posts on my talkpage." however you are doing just that by writing your replies in the Edit comments on the History of the Talk page! Whats the point of that. I certainly didn't think "hey this guy has deleted my posts, he is trying to communicate with me through the Edit comments on the History of the Talk page!" You also found the time to threaten me for edit waring. For a guy who claims he doesn't want to reply a 100 time for every post you seem to be doing twice the work with none of the results.--Trounce 23:02, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Move an article[edit]

Hello, help desk... how does you move a page? I had a look at [5], but I am missing a "Move" tab. Can anyone help me? Thanks. -Redrocketboy

Yes, you have not reached the autoconfirm date yet. This is a date a four days after you create your account when you gain the ability to create pages, move pages and edit semi protected pages. This is to prevent vandals creating many accounts to edit semi protect pages and move pages to other names. YTou should be autoconfirmed soon--Phoenix-wiki (talk · contribs) 21:33, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
On re-reading it says after four days I'll be able too. Thanks again. -Redrocketboy
As an additional note, you can type four tildes ~~~~ to sign your posts. (see also WP:SIGNATURE). --Kudret abiTalk 22:57, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

posting pages[edit]

How do I post something on Wikipedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by Time lord2007 (talkcontribs) 21:44, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.
Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.
If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. NF24(radio me!) 21:45, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

TOC and template[edit]

I am trying to put the template of WildlifeofIndia to the right of TOC in the List of birds of India, but somehow unable to do so, perhaps it is because of special format of TOC there. As a result of this large void is being created between the first heading and the following text. How do I fix it? DSachan 23:00, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

List of birds of India uses __NOTOC__ to hide the normal TOC, and instead displays a manually-edited TOC in a table. You want {{WildlifeofIndia}} to float to the right of the table. That's the basic issue. I will have to look up how to make that happen, since I don't know what to do off the top of my head. There are lots of "List of..." articles about wildlife; you might find another one which solves the same problem. --Teratornis 23:14, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know enough about CSS to make this work (quickly). For example, I tried changing the top line of the TOC table to this:
{| class="toccolours" style="width:55em" align="left"
That floats the TOC table to the left, and allows the infobox to float to the right, which is good, but then the following sections on the page fill in the vertical gap between them in a most ugly way. I'm sure one of our CSS experts can tell us what to do. See also:
--Teratornis 23:27, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]


I made a change to the article to try to achieve what you describe. Is this is what you had in mind? --Kudret abiTalk 23:48, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wren High School[edit]

There is an inappropriate comment on the page for Wren High School. It's vulgar and has no factual information in it.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.12.109.74 (talk)

Unfortunately, vandalism does happen, the issue has been resolved by removing the vandalism. Feel free to do that yourself if you see that in the future, by going into the history, and finding the last good version to restore. Cheers! ArielGold 23:27, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]