Help desk
< December 27	<< Nov \| December \| Jan >>	December 29 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

December 28[edit]

Template appearance[edit]

Can anyone tell me how to let a template show [Hide] and [v.d.e] so that the contents of the template can be hide and be viewed, discussed or edited through the [v.d.e] links? Thanks. Elknz (talk) 04:45, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:EIW#Collapsing. --Teratornis (talk) 08:15, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New Words[edit]

Is there a section of newly listed words??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.116.22.244 (talk) 04:18, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

By newly listed words do you mean new articles? A list of new articles can be found here. New pages on Wiktionary can be found here. If you're looking for new words look at the Neologism article. Regards, Matt (Talk) 05:11, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Signing posts?[edit]

Resolved

– ukexpat (talk) 21:37, 31 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I seem to have trouble signing my posts. I do write the four tildes at the end of my posts in discussion articles, and yet it still seems to see it as if I were not signing them. Then I get the little message saying "This unsigned post was left by..." after my signature, which DOES appear, though not in the way I see it appear otherwise. For example, see my edit on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gala_(apple)#Characteristics

Which is exactly the problem. What am I doing wrong? Stever Augustus 07:11, 28 December 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stever Augustus (talk • contribs)

See in your preferences if the "raw signature" box is ticked. If so, there's probably something wrong with the signature you're using, so try unchecking it. If you're trying to use a custom signature, you'll need to fix it. Cheers. Chamal ^talk 07:15, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The 'unsigned' messages are automatically left on talk pages by SineBot. SineBot will assume that your comment was unsigned if it does not contain a link back to your User: or User talk: page. (It appears that your current signature includes only a plain-text copy of your name.) If you modify your custom signature to include a link to your user or talk page – or if you go back to the default signature – then you shouldn't have any more problems. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 22:44, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Alright, it looks like unchecking the raw signature checkbox did the trick. Thanks! Stever Augustus (talk) 07:51, 29 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fundraising banner message has a spelling mistake[edit]

Resolved

– ukexpat (talk) 21:36, 31 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

One of the rotating messages of the fundraising banner has a spelling error. " Merci et bravo pour votre impartialité ! — Benoit from Luxembuorg, donated 30 EUR" Luxembourg is spelled wrongly. Please pass this on to the right department. Thanks. Dr.K. (logos) 07:53, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

My quick look around did not reveal how one would go about fixing this. If nobody else here knows what to do, the next step might be to leave a comment on the user talk page of the author of: Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-11-10/2008 fundraiser, who might have some inside knowledge of the process that yields the fundraising banner. --Teratornis (talk) 08:31, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Teratornis. Take care. Dr.K. (logos) 09:03, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Adding a second user box via Educat[edit]

In reference to the Wikipedians by alma mater: University of Wisconsin-Madison category (can't link it, otherwise it will add this page to that category), there are currently two different user boxes avalible(here and here) and no apparent way of putting them both into Template:Educat. Is there a way to do this that I am just not seeing or, is the only course of action to edit the category by hand? Thanks in advance! Daniel J Simanek (talk) 09:33, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

To reference a category without adding the current page to that category, begin the link with a colon; example: [[:Category:Wikipedians by alma mater]]
Looking at {{educat}}, it will only allow one userbox. You could use it twice, but that would be ugly. Better ways would be to:
- Discuss the issue on the {{educat}} talk page and request that it be updated to allow multiple userboxes; or
- Add one userbox by substing the template: {{subst:educat|University of Wisconsin-Madison|User UW Badger}}, then edit the page and add the second userbox.

--—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 13:38, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much! I am not going to worry about follow up with Template:Educat as of right now, as it seems what I was trying to do was rather out of the ordinary but, your latter suggestion worked perfectly. 17:45, 28 December 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tunads (talk • contribs)

New Articles[edit]

i would like to add a new article/topic/subject... what are the steps please? thank you! david —Preceding unsigned comment added by Exponentialone (talk • contribs) 10:13, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please read your first article, which will guide you through the process. It's important to make sure that the subject is notable enough to be included in Wikipedia, the article should be verifiable through references. Remember to make sure that an article on the subject doesn't already exist. Search for it using the searchbox on the left, and if there's no article, there'll be a red link at the top "Create this page". Click that and start editing. You might want read the manual of style and layout guide too. Chamal ^talk 10:28, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting an article[edit]

Hi, I have just merged Fellowship of King's College London into King's College London, but am not sure as to how I go about deleting the former article. Please advise. Many Thanks Flaming Ferrari (talk) 10:31, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You shouldn't. Instead, you should leave a redirect so that people searching for the fellowship will be forwarded and so that the edit history of the former page is retained (we need to keep all the information on who wrote the information you merged -- see GFDL) - Mgm|^(talk) 12:11, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Why is my IP address still logged if I have a username?[edit]

I just made an account so that my IP address would no longer be visible to the public from editing articles, but when I went back to check the articles I had previously edited, the IP address was still shown. Is there any way to remove the IP address in articles I edited prior to making a username?

I'm sorry if this is posted in the wrong section, but I really don't know where I'm supposed to ask this question. X spinfaster (talk) 10:39, 28 December 2008 (UTC) X spinfaster[reply]

Hi there. When you edit, every action is logged in a diff, so the software doesn't edit out the previous instances of your IP address when you create an account. From now on, however, as long as you are logged in, the IP address will be hidden. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 11:08, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Transwiki links and collation[edit]

Is there any means to collate links direct to each WP:page when those pages come from a different wiki like WikiSource? Example, find all Wikisource pages that point to w:Richard William Howard Vyse?

I am looking to have better links within WikiSource to data that points off each to sister wikis, and cannot find any pages that talk about this sort of collation. Thx. -- billinghurst (talk) 11:31, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Steps to Update Corporate Logo[edit]

I am a newly registered user. The company I work for has an article page that includes an Infobox with company info. I have been charged with updating the logo for the company. I have done the tutorials etc & am ready to update but I cannot find how to upload the actual image. The upload facility is not available to me ( not being an established user (Autoconfirmed, etc) - How do I obtain this status or privilege - or have the upload done for me? WikiDial (talk) 15:50, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You can gain autoconfirmed status by making a further 9 edits to Wikipedia. Then head over to WP:Upload. Algebraist 15:51, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I do not have other Edits to do - any shortcuts to get privileges?. Or are each of these entries an update? There has to be a less annoying way of accumulating the necessary edits.WikiDial (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 16:03, 28 December 2008 (UTC).[reply]

5 more now. Algebraist 16:08, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The immediate clarity that occurs following the realization of a simple & obvious concept is called a BFO - Blinding Flash of the Obvious - Thanks WikiDial (talk) 16:30, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

While updating the logo should be non-controversial, please read WP:COI before making other edits on behalf of your employers. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 16:04, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Help please[edit]

Hello, I just found the exact information i need but i need them to be in arabic...How can i have the same information but in the arabic version? I want" Message in a bottle " (the book) information but in arabic..can wikipedia offer me same information but in a different language? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.42.200.13 (talk) 16:35, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Arabic Wikipedia doesn't seem to have an article on that topic, but I don't read Arabic, so I may be wrong. Algebraist 16:38, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do you refer to Message in a Bottle (novel)? If you can accept the probably modest quality of a machine translation, Google Translation appears to support Arabic, which means we can take a shot with the {{Google translation}} template:

Type this	To get this	What it produces
`{{Google translation\|ar\|en\|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_in_a_Bottle_(novel)\|Translate Message in a Bottle (novel) from English to Arabic}}`	Translate Message in a Bottle (novel) from English to Arabic	Translate Message in a Bottle (novel) from English to Arabic

Since I don't speak Arabic I have no idea whether the translation quality is any good. But I know it costs you nothing. --Teratornis (talk) 00:49, 29 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Suffix index[edit]

Is there a Special:Suffixindex of similar, which finds pages ending with a particular string? If not, I believe this should be implemented - either as a separate special page or as an option in Special:Prefixindex. It would allow the finding of pages ending with certain qualifiers, or all discographies and things like that, as well as all User:Example/Secret page-like set-ups etc. Even better, a way to find a string anywhere in a page title. If such a feature doesn't exist, I am tempted to suggest it at WP:VPT and/or file a bug request. Dendodge Talk^Contribs 17:34, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, there is not. If I recall correctly from the last time Mediawiki regex-search was discussed, it's because article titles are already ordered alphabetically, so searching by prefix is much cheaper in terms of servertime than searching by anything else. Algebraist 18:11, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New search options were introduced two months ago, including intitle: for searches in titles only. See Wikipedia:Searching and http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2008-October/040022.html. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:30, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bennie Oosterbaan infobox[edit]

Why isn't the College football Hall of fame parameter working in the Bennie Oosterbaan infobox?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 22:32, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You need to fill the FootballHOF parameter with the year Oosterbaan was inducted. I've fixed it for you. Xenon 54 22:44, 28 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]