Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 December 12

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December 12

Help Desk Templates

Oh help desk masters, where might I find the help desk template responses to the basic questions asked so often? :) 04:30, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Here. Algebraist 04:32, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I have also created a nav box template that I am currently working in a sandbox: {{User:Ukexpat/Help desk templates navbox}} - upgrade suggestions welcome!. – ukexpat (talk) 04:50, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

You can also place {{Help desk templates}} somewhere convenient for easy access.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

That's a much more aesthetically pleasing format, plus the editing links are a good addition. I think you should just go ahead and replace the current code with it.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:06, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I was thinking of leaving it as a separate nav box so that editors can just transclude it to an appropriate place in their user space. – ukexpat (talk) 14:42, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Delete Userbox

I created this Userbox, and tried to delete it, but can't, and likely made it worse. I don't want to be associated with it anymore. Please help. I think Admins can only delete things. Pumapayam (talk) 04:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I have deleted both that userbox and the old redirect to it. In the future, just put the following template: {{db-userreq}} on any pages you want gone from your userspace. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 07:08, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your quick response. Appreciated Pumapayam (talk) 15:05, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

customizing signature

How do I go about customizing my signature?

Sardaka (talk) 09:50, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Click on "my preferences" (in the default Monobook skin, it's at the top right), then type the Wikicode corresponding to the signature you want in the "Signature" textbox. Be sure to tick the "Raw signatures (without automatic link)" box! Xenon54 (Frohe Feiertage!) 11:10, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, and you may see also Wikipedia:How to fix your signature and Wikipedia:User_Page_Design_Center/Style#Text_formatting (some very useful tips on changing fonts, colors, etc!) --PeaceNT (talk) 11:30, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Don't know about you, but I hope there is a page about customizing signatures. I mean, the person with the first customized signature had to learn somewhere.--Archaeopteryx (talk) 02:55, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

JOHN BLOOM

I Worked for John Bloom as Personal assistant for 6 years and have followed his career ever since I have several press scrapbooks to which I refer to provide correct information to correct a load of scurrilous rubbish and when I refer to papers or magazines in inverted commas it doesnt seem to come out as some other do how do I correct this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Xol2007 (talk • contribs) 12:30, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

References are added inline next to the text it applies to, like for example:

<ref name="sundaytelegraph12-12-08">[http://www.example.com John Bloom gets elected], Sunday Telegraph, 12 December 2008.</ref>

See WP:REF and WP:CITET. If you need any further help, click the word talk in my signature and I'd be happy to help you.- Mgm|^(talk) 13:09, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Note also that because of your connection to John Bloom, you have a conflict of interest, so it may be preferable to discuss the changes that you propose on the article's talk page first. – ukexpat (talk) 14:47, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

If he makes changes based on the content of newsclippings, it's very unlikely any conflict of interest is going to present itself in a troublesome manner. - Mgm|^(talk) 18:32, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Noted, but some editors get very worked up over potential COI issues so I made my comment ex abundante cautela. Oh and please use colons to indent your comments! Thanks. – ukexpat (talk) 18:49, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Pan-Wikipedia "New message" alert for my User account?

I've engaged the unified login to my great satisfaction, as I'm pretty active in numerous languages though most only intermittently. Is there some tool available (or in the works) that would provide a "New Message in :fl:WP" alert (i.e. a particular other-language Wikipedia) when I sign on or refresh my screen, either in my "home" language Wikipedia or in whichever I happen to be working, without my having to enter each and all to discover where a new message may have been posted? (BTW, I did try searching the Help Desk archive for this, to no avail.) -- Thanks, Deborahjay (talk) 12:47, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

• Unified login is relatively new, so I'd be surprised if such tools existed already. I think your best hope is asking for a script at Wikipedia:User scripts. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:12, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Unified login does not allow for shared message notification at this time, though I believe it is being worked on. — Manticore 13:18, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Use of colon before wikilink

What is the difference between in the links [[Category:Wikipedia]] and [[:Category:Wikipedia]]? What is the effect of the the prefixing a colon sign (:). Well, the colon sign before image links (ie [[:Image:Example.jpg]] displays a link to the image whereas [[Image:Example.jpg]] actually displays the image) make sense to me. But I can't understand the use of colon in Category and other links. Please explain. Regards, --KnowledgeHegemony ^talk 15:13, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

It's the same thing. Placing a colon before the category produces Category:Living people, which is a link, instead of adding this page to that category. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 15:22, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

You can also do the same for images, prefixing a colon will make a link to the image instead of embedding it on the page. --Charitwo ^(talk) 15:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

So for example, if you are creating an article in userspace, you should format categories with a leading colon, then if the article is moved to the mainspace the colons should be removed. – ukexpat (talk) 16:50, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Right! I feel so dumb. Thanks to all. --KnowledgeHegemony ^talk 16:02, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Template font changes

Is there any way I can change the userboxes' font when using Template:Babel? -- Mentisock 16:00, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I think you may substitute the userbox you want and change the font after that. --PeaceNT (talk) 16:11, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Resume Question

Please help me find a sight or link to do my resume/oportfolio well. I am a teacher.thanks. a web sight will do too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.243.165.60 (talk) 16:14, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Hi! This help desk is for questions about using Wikipedia. You may want to ask your question at the reference desk, where they answer specific questions such as yours. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 16:17, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I would hope that a teacher knows the difference between "sight" and "site"! In any event you could try http://monster.com or one of the bio wikis like Wikipopuli or Wikibios. – ukexpat (talk) 16:53, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Firouz Naderi

Hi... I accidentally made edits to Dr. Naderi's page while logged in as him. This happened yesterday. He does not want his name Fmnaderi to show up in the history page has having made edits (Dec. 11 only). I tried to UNDO, but UNDO was not allowed. Can this be fixed? Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.

ThanksCdloewen (talk) 16:57, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

How did you manage to log into his account? Removing edits from the history of the page is only done in extreme cases where the edit breaks the rules. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

And use of a user account by more than one person is not permitted. – ukexpat (talk) 17:52, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

To permanemently remove edits from the history you will have to contact an oversighter. These are the only users with this access. However, your case is probably not strong enough to warrant a removal - since they only respond in extreme cases of potentially personally identifiable information being posted. Hope this resolves your issue, Mattie^TK 20:00, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Suedeheads

Are they any Suedeheads on Wikipedia? --Teacake Martyr (talk) 19:12, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean. Possibly suedeheads? TN‑X-Man 19:17, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes I meant that --Teacake Martyr (talk) 19:27, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Ah. Well, there aren't any of which I'm aware, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. The music Wikiproject may be your best bet. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 19:44, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Why do you come here ? And why do you hang around ? I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry --Teacake Martyr (talk) 20:07, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

We edit on Wikipedia for one of the same reasons that musicians play musical instruments - because the exercise of learned skill enables us to attain the pleasant sensations of flow (psychology). Wikipedia facilitates flow in part because it has readily discernable rules. Sadly, Wikipedia does not seem to facilitate the accumulation of groupies. --Teratornis (talk) 23:50, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you weren't around for the heyday of Clio the Muse at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities, Teratornis. Deor (talk) 17:48, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Declining blatantly bad faith unblock requests

Adminship isn't required to decline a bad faith unblock request is it? PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 21:49, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the official stance, if any, is, but I'd think that only admins should deal with unblock requests. Could be wrong. Tan | 39 21:52, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I agree that it's probably best if administrators deal with unblock requests - as they have the tools to unblock should they need to. Save yourself possible hassle and let the cleaners deal with it :) Mattie^TK 22:26, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

• Since admins are the only ones who can unblock, I think it's better to leave the decision to admins. In the end, whether someone is unblocked is based on their willingness to unblock, and a non-admin can't really determine that accurately. - Mgm|^(talk) 23:25, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

• Anyone else can leave a *comment* in an unblock discussion. If you are are sure it's a bad faith unblock request, you could say why that is. Especially if you have some bit of information that the admin may not be aware of. EdJohnston (talk) 07:20, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Links on my user page

The internal links on my user page don't all seem to be working. Some at the top, including the convenient link to my user page at the Commons, are dead. Anyone know why this might be happening? Is it just my user page that's doing this? Richard001 (talk) 21:54, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

The link to commons:User:Richard001 works for me. It's made by {{User Commons}} which has not been edited since August. If you still have problems then can you give the dead url's? PrimeHunter (talk) 00:00, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Really? This is weird. The links still aren't working for me. For example, the none of the userbox links work for me, and only some of the others do. They behave just like ordinary text - they don't provide anything for 'copy link location' or anything. Richard001 (talk) 04:20, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

I checked out the page with Firebug, and it seems this code is causing the trouble:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 40%; right: 10%; top: 10%; bottom: 10%;"/>

This is covering the area around the userboxes causing some browsers to not let you access the userboxes behind it. I have no idea where it's coming from, I'll see if I can find out. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 04:33, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

fixed. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 18:30, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Ah, that template was recently vandalized and might not have been properly fixed perhaps. Thanks! Richard001 (talk) 22:41, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Tionne Watkins/T-Boz

I would like to know if I could upload a different file photo of Tionne Watkins? The one on file doesn't do her justice at all, as compared to the many beautiful pics she has. I'd be willing to email the photo so that you could change it, if necessary?

Thanks, raregold1 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Raregold1 (talk • contribs) 22:06, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Hi raregold1. Please remember to sign your posts by placing four tildes at the end of your message (like so: ~~~~). In regards to your question please review the image upload rules at the upload page. If your image falls within these guidelines and is decidedly better than the current by consensus (you may want to upload it with a different file name and post on the talk page of the article) then we would definately welcome the contribution (especially if it is under the GPL). I hope this resolves your issue, Mattie^TK 22:21, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

photo

How do I upload a photo?

I am an Olympian and want to upload a photo under my name. Eric Fonoimoana —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.229.170.109 (talk) 22:25, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Go to the upload page. There is a whole wizard there which will guide you through the upload process and allow you to have an image ready for embedding in articles in minutes. Hope this resolves your question, You will need to create an account before this can happen though. There's a link at the top-right corner of your screen. Mattie^TK 22:40, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

I think that in order to upload you have to be logged in. Also any picture of you would have to be license under a license that allows reuse by anyone for anything; this excludes most photos by professional photographers. —teb728 t c 22:47, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Another option would be to go through the process given at WP:YOURPHOTO. It does not require you to create an account. — jwillbur 01:42, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

I can't use pictures from Commons!!!

I was perfectly able to insert files from Commons into Wikipedia pages, but now I can't. And why are they now "File:" instead of "Image:"? -BlueCaper (talk) 23:47, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Can you give an example of an attempt that doesn't work? "Image:" was renamed to "File:" because some of the files are not images, but "Image:" still works. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:04, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

• File:Bees_Wax_Rag.mid
• File: Not Finished.png

Those are the two I tried. Since they're blue links now, I'll try them again. -BlueCaper (talk) 00:10, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

They work for me. Another user reported a dead link to Commons a few sections up in #Links on my user page. Maybe there was a temporary problem but I don't know. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:19, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

 No More Problems I guess it was just temporary. Well, thanks in any case. -BlueCaper (talk) 01:30, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

.js Pages

Hello! I was just wondering if I could create more than one .js page (as in other than my monobook.js page). I know that I can always just stick a .js on the end of a page name, but will it execute the code? Thanks, Genius101^Guestbook 23:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

The only code you can create on Wikipedia that will be automatically executed is the code in your monobook.js (or the equivalent files for other skins). If you want to execute code stored elsewhere, say at User:Genius101 Wizard/foo.js, then add

importScript('User:Genius101 Wizard/foo.js');

to your monobook.js. Algebraist 00:05, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Okay, thanks a lot! Genius101^Guestbook 13:31, 13 December 2008 (UTC)