Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 February 25

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February 25

Augmentation to article: People's Park

The last section of the article, I feel, is absolutely unfair to the people who call this place home. I wanted to add the following but could not, can you please tell me exactly how it is unacceptable so that I can tweak it. It isn't exactly neutral, but that IS the point--I wouldn't call the rest of the article exactly neutral anyway...

“ -

While the infamy of the park is well known, those willing to experience it first-hand and suspend prejudice will find a close community of neighbors (street people that is) unlike any other in Berkeley.

- - Living half a block from the park on Regent st., my car has been broken into twice, the homeless shoot up in the empty backyard near mine, and I get hit up for cigarettes and cash on an hourly basis.

- - It's frustrating, yes; but on the other hand, my non-transient neighbors (who honestly spend most of their time maybe hundreds of feet away from me) don't know my name and will not respond when I greet them. Conversely, there are street people (whom I've known only months) who would gladly give me whatever they own if I needed it--even their lives.

- - I'm not even among their ranks.

- - There are lot of gifted Cal students, but most of them are sheltered. Getting their stereo stolen might just be the best thing to ever happen to students who intend to be something resembling an adult by the time they leave Cal.

- - The dream of the People's Park is quite alive; it's a shelter from the storm. It's a safe place where you can be different without schoolyard-like ridicule for crazy clothes and hair (or just plain craziness), where people who just want to get drunk and compose poetry li-po style do so. Most impressively, it's a place where rules and material goods aren't nearly as important as people and friendship.

”

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 136.152.166.74 (talk)

I suggest you read Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, as from my analysis none of the material seems to be able to be integrated into the article as they are just your personal opinion on the subject. In order for content to be added to Wikipedia, it should be verifiable and based on reliable sources. Unless you can find some reliable sources that say this, the content cannot be added. NanohaA'sYuri^{Talk, My master} 00:15, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Also read WP:PEACOCK. And this is a dangling modifier:

• "Living half a block from the park on Regent st., my car has been broken into twice"

because it parses as if your car is living half a block from the park. The only living cars are fictional. --Teratornis (talk) 05:05, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

You might also find it helpful to read WP:Writing better articles, especially the paragraph about tone. Content written in the first person, expressing personal opinions about the subject, is not encyclopaedic and is liable to be removed pretty quickly. Karenjc 14:37, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

burningadvdvialaptop

my toshiba laptop assures me it is capable of burning dvds but i cannot figure out how.CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE.sammymac —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.194.67.212 (talk) 00:56, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about 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. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 01:00, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried the computing section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. – ukexpat (talk) 01:01, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

didn't see a post over there - was gonna say look for a Nero, or Roxio folder; unless we're talking about ripping - that's a whole different thread. — Ched (talk) 02:33, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

wikimedia commons account mysteriously created automatically

I'd been using wikipedia recently with this account (user:thegoodearth).

At some point, I was browsing wikimedia commons, and soon thereafter I see one of those messages notifying me that someone has written in my user talk. I assume they wrote to my IP, because I never signed up for a wikimedia commons account.

Strangely enough, I click on the message, and realize that I do have a wikimedia commons account with the same username as my wikipedia account. It was the talk page of my wikimedia commons account that someone wrote a welcome message. According to my commons user log, my account was "created automatically" the same minute that I received the message.

Why did this happen? Do wikipedia users who browser wikimedia commons get automatically created accounts there?

--Thegoodearth (talk) 01:22, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Your account on commons was automatically created as part of a process known as "single user login", which basically creates accounts at different wikis based on your user name (thus you don't have to sign up at commons/meta/etc when you want to make an edit there. See this page for more details. NanohaA'sYuri^{Talk, My master} 01:39, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Did I trigger this to happen by doing something? If not, why did it happen when it did? --Thegoodearth (talk) 01:02, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

If you've gone to Special:MergeAccount in the past, then accounts are automatically created whenever you visit another Wikimedia site, like the German Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons. It's quite easy to visit other sites accidentally - I've somehow managed to create 24 accounts on projects ranging from the English Wikisource to the Kölsch Wikipedia - and there isn't any harm done if you choose not to use your automatically created account. Xenon54 (talk) 01:15, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't ever recall going to {[Special:MergeAccount]], much less following the password prompt there. Is there any way this could have happened without going to mergeaccount? --Thegoodearth (talk) 20:20, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Fair use

Can a historical image of a currently standing building qualify under WP:NFCC #1? A free photo can be taken, but not one that portrays what the historical image may. Grsz¹¹ 04:23, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it can qualify under WP:NFCC#1, but it also has to qualify under WP:NFCC#8: Seeing the historic appearance of the building must significantly increase readers' understanding of the topic. —teb728 t c 04:37, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

If the historical photo can show, for example, architectural elements which are no longer present on the building, AND such elements were important to the building, such that external reliable sources say so, then the picture may be claimed under fair use, since such elements no longer exist at the building. If, however, the picture is simply there to show "Hey, here's what the building looked like in 1965" and the building has not significantly changed since 1965, or any changes made are not significant enough to have been discussed, then it probably cannot be claimed under fair use. The key is that the older, copyright picture has to be vitally important to illustrate or understand something specificly mentioned in the article, not just "Hey, here's another pic of the building". If you are just showing the building in general, then a new picture should be taken and appropriately liscensed. This is at least my understanding. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 04:44, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

What about these examples: File:Idlewild Depot.jpg and File:Idlewild Carousel.jpg show the historic appearance of these two buildings, the surrounding significantly different from that of today. Idlewild Depot shows the building as a functioning as a railroad station, which it does not do anymore. It was the smallest full-service station in the country. Grsz¹¹ 04:42, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

See above. It is my understanding that if that role of the building is specifically discussed and referenced to reliable sources, and the role is clear in the old pic, but it would be impossible to take a picture of the building in its old role, since it no longer serves that purpose, than this could be claimed as "fair use" so long as such information is CLEARLY described in the fair use rationale. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 04:46, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Actually, I looked at your pictures, those two pictures are in the Public domain, and as such, are actually free to use for any purpose. There is no need for a "fair use rationale" as their use is completely open and free at Wikipedia. It is not necessary to invoke fair use in their use. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 04:48, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Your image, File:Idlewild depot.jpg, looks identical to the Commons image, File:Idlewild Depot.jpg. If you were aware of the Commons image, I don’t understand why you uploaded yours. The Commons image is tagged PD presumably because it was published before 1923. If there were some point in retaining your image, it could also be tagged {{PD-US}}, assuming the Commons image is correctly tagged. —teb728 t c 01:11, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Category problem

MURGH ^disc. wants to know why Odyssey (and others) "shows up in Category:External link templates? I can't see it, can it be hidden in some way, or spillage from another included template?" Clarityfiend (talk) 06:56, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Template:Link - and yes, it should be able to be hidden, I presume? - jc37 07:21, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

{{Link}} is fine. {{Perseus}} was to blame. Should be fine now. Algebraist 09:47, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Zachary Turner hi-jacked

I consider that this fact-based article Zachary Turner which I wrote was hi-jacked and turned into an ad for a film and a book. My "requested move" tag gets removed. Please see the talk page Talk:Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father. I don't know how to get admin intervention to settle the dispute. Can someone help to get this resolved and settle it? Please? JohnClarknew (talk) 08:04, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

• Is this baby known for anything else than the documentary he appeared in? It all seems related so covering this under WP:ONEEVENT seems reasonable. - 131.211.210.209 (talk) 08:17, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

The baby is known for many events. For being walked into the sea and drowned by his mother, who then drowned herself. For being the center of an international dispute between Canadian and U.S. extradition procedures. For his mother murdering his father in the U.S. and escaping trial in the States while Canadian authorities protected her and allowed her to walk free. I'm sure others will write books and make movies about this extraordinary story with differing points of view, while the legal procedures attached to these events will have far-reaching consequences. The baby was the victim of others people's ambitions, and the hero and center-piece of his own story. JohnClarknew (talk) 18:30, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

The mother should be the subject of the article - she is the alleged perpetrator and the subject of the extradition proceedings. – ukexpat (talk) 18:47, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I would have no problem with that as a solution. I just want to get the page away from any commercial interest. Would someone make that change? It should not be me. JohnClarknew (talk) 19:09, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Licensing tags?

Hi,

This is my first article on Wikipedia (love it) and am not sure which licence I need to choose for the book cover image I want to upload. I am the author, and publisher has given permission to us the image. I am currently up to page: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Upload. Which license should I choose? I believe it comes under the fair usage catagory. Thanks for your help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jkneed (talk • contribs) 10:29, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi and welcome to Wikipedia. Because the image is not free (can't be reused by others), it does fall under fair use. Good job figuring that one out! However, fair use images are not allowed on Wikimedia commons, they're only permitted on Wikipedia. Therefore, you should upload your book cover at Wikipedia:Upload, and choose the "A cover or other page from a book, DVD, newspaper, magazine, or other such source". Once on that page, fill in the summary according to Wikipedia:Non-free use rationale guideline and choose the licensing "book cover". Also add the line {{Non-free with permission}} to show the copyright holder has given permission for the image to be used on Wikipedia.
I understand this might be all a bit frustrating, please don't hestitate to ask for any additional help! Puchiko (Talk-email) 11:54, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

May also be a good idea to e-mail OTRS as set out at WP:IOWN so that the OTRS can confirm that you are indeed who you say you are (we have no way of knowing otherwise) and that you have indeed given permission for its use on Wikipedia. – ukexpat (talk) 15:21, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

How to nominate multiple articles for deletion

Hello,

I would like to nominate a series of articles for deletion and open a discussion about it so that I can explain my reasons. If I just nominate each individual article, the discussion will be spread over tenth of articles so that wouldn't work. So what would be the right way to do that?

Thank you Laurent (talk) 12:14, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Please see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion#How to list multiple related pages for deletion. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:29, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Copyright Violation

Where to report it? The article Battle of Monterrey was copy & pasted from here [1]--Tresckow (talk) 14:58, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your vigilance, but Zachary Taylor died in 1850, so the copyright on anything he wrote has long expired. Stifle (talk) 15:04, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Actually, I think the OP is referring to the content of the website (not Taylor's letter), which does appear to be a pretty blatant copy/paste. However, what I can't determine is which came first: the Wikipedia article or the website. The website indicates a copyright going back to 2005 and the article was created in 2003. TNXMan 15:14, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

To answer the original question though, you can report potential copyright issues at Wikipedia:Copyright problems. TNXMan 15:22, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I ment the homepage. Thanks.--Tresckow (talk) 15:26, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Glitchy Wikias

I just noticed that all of the wikias are not working properly. What's going on with them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.165.177.8 (talk) 16:21, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

To which wikias were you referring? Please note that we can only help with Wikimedia projects. For other wikias, you would have to ask them directly. TNXMan 16:45, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Links to Userpages in mainspace

Resolved

What is the Wikipedia rule that a mainspace edit should not link to a Userpage? I know that is the rule, but I can't find the policy or guideline. THF (talk) 16:59, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

WP:USER under "Copies of other pages": "One should never create links from a mainspace article to any userpage..." Sarcasticidealist (talk) 17:04, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

If it's simply a redirect, you can tag the page with {{db-r2}}. TNXMan 17:06, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

No, not a serious issue. I made the assertion on WP:COIN, and someone challenged me on it, and I didn't find the answer immediately in WP:USER. Thanks, SI. THF (talk) 17:13, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Finding information on Woman's Guide to Management Success

I am hoping you would be able to help me or guide me on how to find more information on "woman's guide to management success?" Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.166.101.68 (talk) 17:49, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Here is Amazon link to the book you mentioned. I hope this has the info you need. TNXMan 18:16, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Template Troubles

Hello, I'm trying to modify this template, which I've copied from a similar one for American schools. What I'd like to do is separate the Canadian and World references with a line and a title (the Canadian section saying "Canadian" and the world section saying "World" or something along those lines). I've been messing with it for a while but can't figure it out... Could anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks, TastyCakes (talk) 17:50, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Frankly, it would be easier to start from scratch and use {{infobox}}. I know some folks hate meta-templatea, but they make it very easy for non-coders to maintain. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 18:05, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Hmm so I put the infobox template in my other template? TastyCakes (talk) 18:15, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I started this for you at Template:Canadian university rankings/sandbox. Note that the {{template reflist}} is not part of the infobox— it keeps the references included in the infobox from generating a cite error.

Ok, thank you very much, I think that will work well. TastyCakes (talk) 20:27, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I note one small problem I don't know how to fix... Using this method, it seems the references from the template show up in the article whether or not anything is entered for that section (eg "Maclean's Undergrad" does not apply in University of British Columbia but the reference for it still shows up in the article's reflist). Do you know a way to fix that? Thanks again. TastyCakes (talk) 20:57, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm confused. If you don't have an entry, the label won't show. If you do, then don't you want the reference? --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 21:08, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

The label doesn't show, but the reference in that label does. For example, at the UBC article in the reflist at the bottom, try clicking the up arrow on reference 29... TastyCakes (talk) 21:11, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Ah... interesting. Even though the ref is part of the label that should not show, the parser is picking it up. We are going to have to use a conditional here:

labelⁿ= {{#if: {{{dataⁿ|}}} |labelⁿname<ref>content</ref>}}

This says that if dataⁿ is non-empty, then use the label, else use a null. I did the first three for you. Need to document this somewhere. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 23:28, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

And you will need to delete the<includeonly>|</includeonly> from the data tags; we will fix this on the doc page so we can see them. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 23:35, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok, I've deleted the <includeonly>|</includeonly> tags and now they're invisible in the template. Does that command tell it to just display in the template view, not the pages that use it? And I'm not sure how to document this like you suggest... Thanks again for doing this, I think it more or less works now :)TastyCakes (talk) 23:55, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes and already done. I added the whole template using non-breaking spaces as the parameter values. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 01:49, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Remove user and user-talk pages

Hello. I'm looking for information on how to disappear from Wikipedia. I have an account that I'd like to make as non-existent as possible. I've used the search function and can't locate the information that I have previously seen about the "right to disappear". Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.21.235.61 (talk) 19:19, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

WP:RTV is probably what you're looking for. --Onorem♠Dil 19:23, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

How to merge two articles

So, I am trying to figure out how to merge two articles, because they have the same subject, or at least turn one into a redirect to the other. The articles are Lord John Marbury (The West Wing) and Lord John Marbury. How do I do this? Huadpe (talk) 20:45, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Pick one to the main article (I suggest Lord John Marbury (The West Wing)) and copy over any pertinent info from the article to be deleted. Then, edit the article to be deleted and change it to just #REDIRECT Lord John Marbury (The West Wing). -- kainaw™ 20:54, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Lord John Marbury is the more complete article, so I have redirected Lord John Marbury (The West Wing) to it. – ukexpat (talk) 21:14, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

See also Help:Merging and moving pages for how to propose and perform mergers. Lord John Marbury (The West Wing) was about an episode and Lord John Marbury is about a character occurring in both that episode and 4 others linked at Lord John Marbury#Episodes featuring Lord John Marbury. It appears each episode has its own article so it's possible some editors of The West Wing articles will object to redirecting an episode article to a character article. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:25, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Template for IPs registered to schools

Do you have to be an admin to use the {{SharedIPEDU}} template on an IP address you believe to be registered to a school? And is who is an accurate website to know which IP is registered where? --Whip it! ^{Now whip it good!} 21:15, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

(a) No. (b) For these purposes, yes. Bencherlite^Talk 21:19, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Text Problem

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 01:37, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

How do you centrally align text can anyone help? L07ChLeo3 (talk) 21:45, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

<center>yourtexthere</center>  – ukexpat (talk) 21:58, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

thanks. 22:05, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Another Problem; how do you make text larger in size? L07ChLeo3 (talk) 22:07, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

<font size=size from 1-6>text</font> Xenon54 (talk) 22:31, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

(ec) Use the large tags <big>text</big> would result in text - but don't over use this one. ;) — Ched (talk) 22:32, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok thanks to everyone you all have been a big help :). L07ChLeo3 (talk) 22:44, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Reposting revised content for deleted article

I have created an article for AMAX Information Technologies a few days ago but it was under a speedy deletion due to a user noting that it contains blatant advertising. I've done some more research and made a revision of the article I've created on my user subpage. Would it be safe to add the newer content to the original title of the page and see if an admin would approve for the article to stay up? What would be the best method to make sure that the material is reliable to be on Wikipedia? Amaxhelen (talk) 22:29, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

IMHO it still reads like a press release and the mentions in the references do not amount to the "significant coverage" required to establish notability. Suggest you take a look at WP:CORP, WP:RS and WP:Spam. Your user name is also probably in violation of the user name policy. – ukexpat (talk) 22:47, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I concur with all of ukexpat's comments. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 23:49, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Image of a politician

What is the correct license for a photo of a state politician? The photo is a work of a state government. Because the photo is also included in a press packet, could I use {{non-free promotional}}? --Longhornsg (talk) 22:51, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

If the politician is still alive, it is virtually certain a free replacement is possible; so a non-free image is unusable. —teb728 t c 23:50, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Note that per, Wikipedia:Copyrights: "most state and local governments in the United States do not place their work into the public domain and do in fact own the copyright to their work." And from Wikipedia:FAQ/Copyright: "Most state governments retain the copyright on their work (California being a notable exception)", so if in fact the photograph is state government owned, this does not necessarily mean it is free.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:56, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

How do I format a bullet-list into multiple columns?

Resolved

How do I format a bullet-list into multiple columns to reduce whitespace? THF (talk) 23:31, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 1:

•Item 1	•Item 2
•Item 3	•Item 4
•Item 5	•Item 6

Example 2:

•Item 1	•Item 2	•Item 3
•Item 4	•Item 5	•Item 6
•Item 7	•Item 8	•Item 9

--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:47, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Try {{column}}. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 23:47, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Also {{multicol}}. — Athaenara ✉ 02:49, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

{{multicol}} is exactly the idiot-proof thing I was looking for. Many thanks. THF (talk) 03:43, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Duplicate file names

I'm trying to add this image to an article, but apparently there's a Wikipedia file with the same name. So now the Rosedale sign is what shows up. How do I link the Commons image instead? APK How you durrin? 23:32, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

• The correct course of action is to reupload one or both images with a more specific file name so such clashes are unlikely to happen again. Make sure to include all the file and edit history for the image and the image page in the new page before asking for the deletion of the old one (and point the already linked pages to the new name) If you don't know how to properly reupload, I recommend you ask the original uploader to do it if they're still around. - Mgm|^(talk) 23:38, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok, thanks. APK How you durrin? 23:44, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

See also Help:Images and other uploaded files#File name. The Wikipedia image was uploaded first and is used in two articles so you should upload another name at Commons. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:49, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Requesting an external link to a locked page

The "DTV transition in the United States" page is locked, and I want to request an external link. I found a site that offers a free, informative guide of the DTV transition and a coupon exchange program that connects people who have extra government coupons to those who need them. I myself participated in this program and found it really helpful (since the Dept. of Commerce ran out of money and now there's a huge waiting list for the DTV coupons). This is the link: <retrevo.com/dtv>. There are millions out there who still need to make the transition and its cool that there's a program that provides the opportunity for people to help one another in a simple yet significant manner.

Also, sorry if this question has already been asked/answered. I can't seem to find the solution... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.146.69.246 (talk) 23:47, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

As nearly as I can tell, it is protected only against page moves. You should be able to edit it yourself. —teb728 t c 00:03, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

The edit protection of DTV transition in the United States was removed a week ago so you should be able to edit it, for example by clicking the edit link at the External links section. The page is only move protected currently. I don't know whether your link conforms to Wikipedia:External links. You could suggest the link first at Talk:DTV transition in the United States. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:03, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

account creator

What are the guidelines for being given access into the account creation interface thingy? I requested access a while back, but got de-nied. Are there any special requirements for that? flaminglawyer 23:48, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

You need to be an admin. (I assume you're talking about the "Interface administrator" section at the bottom of WP:ACC/G.) Xenon54 (talk) 01:20, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

You need to be an interface admin to grant user accounts, but not to join the interface. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 01:22, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

No, actually I was talking about the "registering for use" section at the top of the page. flaminglawyer 02:54, 26 February 2009 (UTC)