Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 March 3

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March 3

Unprotected Article

I was about to creat a page for one thing. Figured the thing I was about to wirte about has been unprotected for almost two years. I was about to request unprotection. However, on one page, it is said that please do not contact the protecting administrator. On another page, it is said that If you do want a page that exists unprotected, please try to ask the protecting admin first before making a request here. I am so confused and would like to get someone's help! Plus, how do I find a protecting admin? (sorry, I am a newbie here! ) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Angelsy (talk • contribs) 00:15, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

What page are you asking about? —teb728 t c 00:40, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Angelsy's contributions show that the page is LG CNS, which has been deleted 5 times earlier because of copyvio and advertising. The page has since been "salted". I suggest you go ahead with requesting unprotection, or contact an admin. If you want the admin who protected the title, it's User:MZMcBride. Cheers. Chamal ^talk 01:21, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

I see that Angelsy requested unprotection at WP:RFPP, and the request was declined because he gave no reason for unprotection. —teb728 t c 01:34, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for making things crystal clear! :)

What does this edit do?

An odd (IMO) edit was made to an article on my watchlist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leo_Major&diff=274277819&oldid=261741284

Can someone please tell me what this edit does and if it is a valid edit? Thanks, Wanderer57 (talk) 02:05, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

It does nothing: The img tags are not allowed; Wikipedia displays only images that have been uploaded to Wikipedia or Commons. This leaves the gallery tag empty. —teb728 t c 02:17, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. Wanderer57 (talk) 02:56, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Following up on this question. The two images (which can be viewed on another website - "uploader.ws") look to me to be excellent additions to the article. This edit, adding the img tags, was the initial contribution of a brand new editor.

Is another editor willing to work with the new editor in regard to both the copyright status of the photos and the technicalities of putting the images into the Commons and into the article? I know just enough about these issues to know that I am not qualified to do this. Thank you. Wanderer57 (talk) 03:39, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Everyone Else

Resolved

What's that WP guideline that's about "everyone else" as that points out that a statement such as "everyone else's article states the hair color of the person and so this one must" is not a valid rationale? I read it a while back, can't remember the tile, and a gander of the help only finds Wikipedia:Assume the presence of a belly-button which I assume is required reading for all admins. Thanks! --Marc Kupper|talk 06:16, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps you're thinking of Wikipedia:Other_stuff_exists? Alternatively, Wikipedia:Arguments_to_avoid_in_deletion_discussions#Individual_merit. --Evan ¤ Seeds 06:25, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you - it was Wikipedia:Other stuff exists though the Arguments to avoid article is a good one too. --Marc Kupper|talk 07:31, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Mathematics / symbols

there is no information about order symbols —Preceding unsigned comment added by Naveed14382 (talk • contribs) 06:39, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

You may be looking for Help:Math#Relations. --Marc Kupper|talk 07:35, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

query

dear sir, the word "sodha" appears nowhere on your website.i don't know whether this is the right place to ask this question,if not please help me for the same.

sir "sodha" is basically a rajput caste found in present india and pakistan border area. please help me get some more information on this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.161.9.88 (talk) 06:41, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried the Humanities 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. Or you can try to request the article. Best, Zain Ebrahim (talk) 07:25, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

If you enter "sodha" in the search box on the left side and then press Enter then in the lower part of the search result page is a list of the 25 articles the word appears in. --Marc Kupper|talk 08:01, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Category:Club software

Came across this new category page that appears so confused I've no idea what to do about it - unable to understand it, I can't even identify an appropriate template. Do I just ignore it, assuming that someone else will happen upon it or is there some template you can suggest for such cases? 69.106.246.15 (talk) 08:25, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

It looks like some linkspam by a new user who is off to a shaky start, blanking his/her user talk page to hide warnings. --Teratornis (talk) 09:32, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Logged in but cannot edit a semi-protected page

I've created an account 8 days ago. I want to edit a semi-protected page. I log in but cannot see a way of editing the page. It does not seem like I can edit the page even if i am logged in. It says somewhere "create an account and after a while you will be able to edit (semi-protected) pages". How long is "after a while"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alpy01 (talk • contribs) 08:51, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Your account needs to be autoconfirmed to edit semiprotected pages. A "while" is usually four days. Your account is older than that but you also need to make ten edits to be autoconfirmed. You haven't done that yet. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 08:59, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Where did you see that message? It sounds like it needs to be updated. Algebraist 09:16, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

It doesn't match your quote exactly but I guess you refer to MediaWiki:Protectedpagetext which is displayed when somebody tries to edit a semi-protected page without being autoconfirmed. I have updated it.[1] PrimeHunter (talk) 13:09, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Conflict of Interest?

I have a listing at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Clemo that has been flagged as having a possible conflict of interest. I have read the description on C o I and I don't feel this is the case. This listing was based on two biographies written by Chris Fortescue and Nick Royle and other sources. It was not written by the artist. How do I get this flag removed?

Thank you

Chloe Fellerman assistant to Philip Clemo —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pclemo (talk • contribs) 09:45, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Regardless, it was written by a close associate/employee of his (you) which makes it a clear conflict of interest. You may also be interested in reading This Page. Good day. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 12:40, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

David Bryce

Hello,

I have a tiny small English Dictionnary, very old, edited by David Bryce and sons - Glasgow. 2 centimetres,8 x 2 centimetres. 384 pages. I received it from my Grandfather, many years ago. I should like to know if you are in a position to give me few information about this David Bryce.

Thank you for your kindness. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.92.55.76 (talk) 10:14, 3 March 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. Algebraist 10:15, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Difference between negative "Deleted edits" and positive "Deleted edits"

• Can someone tell me the differences between those two ? — Arteyu ? _{Blame it on me !} 11:24, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Do you mean the red and green numbers on Special:RecentChanges and Special:Watchlist? Those indicate the net gain or loss of characters by that edit. Adding the word "Wikipedia" will cause a (+9) to appear, while removing the word will cause a (-9) to appear. Xenon54 (talk) 12:04, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Where did you come across this? I'd guess that positive deleted edits are stuff like CSD tagging, whereas negative would be the creation of articles that are deleted later. Chamal ^talk 12:03, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Does Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 56#Deleted edits under "my contributions" apply to your question? PrimeHunter (talk) 12:49, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

How to patrol an article ?

• Pls answer it in detail. Thanks. — Arteyu ? _{Blame it on me !} 11:29, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Pages on Special:Newpages that are not higlighted in yellow have a small "mark this page as patrolled" link in the bottom right. Xenon54 (talk) 12:00, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

But only when you visit them directly from Special:Newpages. Algebraist 12:47, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

You may be looking for the information at Wikipedia:New pages patrol, or perhaps you're just asking about keeping a general eye on changes to a particular article, in which case Help:Watching pages may be of use. Karenjc 20:56, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Notability requirements for YourStory.in, The Indian Website for Entrepreneurs

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 17:03, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

I have tried submitting an entry for YourStory.in on two occasions without any luck. I have been informed that the entry does not meet the notability requirements for wikipedia. Since I'm rather new to wikipedia, I'm still feeling my way around and trying to educate myself by browsing through entries on similar subjects.

In India, YourStory.in is now being recognised as one of the foremost webportals for entrepreneurship. I would like to know how it would be possible to prove the notability of a subject if evidence lies outside the websphere? Also, in this particular case, what exactly needs to be added so as to have the article accepted? In case you would like to take a look at the website, here is the link -- www.yourstory.in Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

D'artagnan7 (talk) 12:30, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Well you need multiple independent sources that provide evidence of this notability - if they don't exist, we can have an article on a subject. So you need newspaper articles (NOT press releases), magazine article etc etc. --Cameron Scott (talk) 12:34, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for the prompt reply, Cameron Scott. At present, YourStory.in has two sources in newspapers/magazines -- the Economic Times [2] and Mint Magazine, The Wall Street Journal [3] The Economic Times article refers to the site in the context of recruitment from the IIM institutes while Mint Magazine speaks about the collaborative strategy adopted by the site to stay afloat during the recession. Firstly, I would like to know if these two sources meet the notability standards on wikipedia? Secondly, could you please give me the approximate number of independent sources required for an entry to stand? Lastly, is it possible to create an entry and have it critiqued by a wikipedia volunteer in an dashboard like editing space rather than having it listed for speedy deletion? Thank you. D'artagnan7 (talk) 13:58, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

I've made you a sandbox in your userspace - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:D%27artagnan7/sandbox if you work on it there, I'll take a look and help you with sources. --Cameron Scott (talk) 14:07, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you I've added the article I had done before to the sandbox space. Thanks again. --D'artagnan7 (talk) 14:52, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia to Commons image transfer

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 17:01, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Is there a method by which I can tag images for transfer to Commons, eg Public Domain, CC 3.0 licensed images.

AshLin (talk) 13:26, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

You can use {{Move to Commons}}. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 13:36, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! AshLin (talk) 16:21, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

I knew this existed but could not locate it from image & media help, so I added Wikipedia:Moving images to the Commons as a link in the 'Others' section. Others should find info on this topic easily now. AshLin (talk) 18:46, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Proper protocol for requesting rename for the Village Pump subpages

What is the best way to start a discussion about this? The subpages are in the format "Wikipedia:Village pump (subpage name)", but i think it should be "Wikipedia:Village pump/subpage name". I want to make sure that all regulars of these pages see the discussion, even though it's quite likely they don't visit the talk page, and may miss a brief thread about it on these pages. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 14:26, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Hi Mishehu (I'll hold off on calling anyone "old" ...lol). I haven't been to the Village Pump for quites some wiki-time, could you post a link to the thread where it's being discussed? I'd be happy to look through it and offer my humble thoughts ;) — Ched ~ ^(yes?) 14:41, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

I haven't yet started the discussion - I want to know where to put it, and what the best way to notify people about it, before I start it. I'm talking, for example, about moving Wikipedia:Village pump (policy) to Wikipedia:Village pump/policy. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 14:44, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Oh, ok - you're probably looking for input from more experienced editors then. But, while I'm here offer my 2-cents. I would put a notice right on the main WP:VP page that "A current discussion concerning Village Pump name changes is currently in progress at" .. Wikipedia:Village pump/Naming Conventions - that way anyone coming to the main page would see it. Start the page, then also post to the Wikipedia:Village pump (policy), Wikipedia:Village pump (technical), Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals), and Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous) page headers as well. That way you get them all centralized to the same discussion page. Just IMHO, full disclosure: I haven't been here long enough to really offer much more than my opinion/guess. I'll keep an eye open though, and chip in when I see it. ;) — Ched ~ ^(yes?) 15:42, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps "Tophat" is the more proper term than "Headers"? — Ched ~ ^(yes?) 15:45, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

For my son's 16th he wants to eat at every fast food place in the area.

Resolved

 – see local phone book  – ukexpat (talk) 17:04, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

In three weeks time my 15-year-old son will become 16.

I've asked him what he wants to do for his birthday, and he said he wants to eat out at every McDonald's, Burger King and Pizza Hut in the area.

I've said to him he can go to one of those restaurants, not all of them, but he's become insistent we have to eat out at all of them.

I've told him there's no difference between them, but he insists "WE HAVE TO GO TO ALL OF THEM!! PLEEEASE!!"

He does have a big appetite, but isn't overweight.

I spoke to my husband about it last night and he said I was right, our son shouldn't get everything he wants and that we'd be in debt if we did it.

Our son keeps on insisting that we go to ALL the restaurants (McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Burger King) that he mentioned, but we've told him no and he refuses to accept it.

His 21-year-old brother, who is in university, agrees with us. He said to him: "It's not healthy, don't eat loads of fast food, have fun but don't do it to excess!"

However, he refuses to accept his brother's advice, and said "I WANT to eat out at every McDonald's, Burger King and Pizza Hut in the neighborhood!"

I asked him if he wanted to do anything else on his birthday besides fast-food, but he said no. He told us "Food is my favorite thing. Gawd, isn't fast food great??" and said "On my birthday, we MUST go to all the McD's, Pizzahut and Burgerking outlets in the area and sample their great foods!"

What can me and my husband do to convince him that it's not possible, and it's a bad idea?? He refuses to listen to us.

We've only got 3 weeks before his birthday, how can we deal with this without getting overly stressed??

(I'm posting from an Internet cafe right now, so sorry for it being rushed!)

Concerned Parent —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.45.219.185 (talk) 14:52, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a directory. Your local phone book would probably be the best place to check. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 14:57, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Well, what do we do about this sort of thing?? We've tried reasoning with him but he refuses to listen.

He still insists that he should eat at every fast food outlet in town.

A Concerned Parent —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.45.219.185 (talk) 15:03, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Not our problem. We don't supply people with such information. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 15:42, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia is neither a directory of addresses nor an advice column... I'm sorry, but you're really going to have to work this out on your own or somewhere other than Wikipedia. We're only here to be an encyclopedia. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 21:01, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Disclaimer; the following represents only my opinion, and you alone are responsible for independently verifying or refuting any claim I offer. Fast food in the United States has expanded in lockstep with automobile dependency. Fast food and automobiles together have contributed to the obesity epidemic, one of the greatest public health problems in the United States. Your son may be falling victim to this twin scourge. The cure is simple: adopt the car-free lifestyle. When people have to actually expend physical effort to get around (if such a thing is still imaginable), they typically feel less eager to visit so many destinations. For example, if your son had to walk or bicycle for an hour to reach the first restaurant, he would probably feel disinclined to walk or bicycle additional hours to reach more restaurants. He probably only has his strange desire to visit several restaurants because (if yours is a typical motorized family) motorized travel makes it effortless. Your son's emotions, like those of every human, are the product of millions of years of natural selection which have optimized humans to survive in the ancestral environment. The modern environment in developed countries is very different than the conditions our ancestors faced during the Pleistocene. Our ancestors lived on the knife edge, always in danger of starving to death if they could not find their next meal quickly enough. Our ancestors never experienced an environment of physical ease and sustained abundance of food. Thus it is no surprise that so many people, given the opportunity, become fat and lazy - there was so little risk of sloth and gluttony for our ancestors that they never needed to evolve resistance to these hazards. The automobile is the great facilitator of laziness, since it removes what was historically a constant source of strenuous activity for everyone: walking long distances to get around. In any case, you can assert some influence over your son's behavior while he is still a child, but soon he will be an adult and he will have to decide how to behave. If you have spent his first 15 years training him to become automobile dependent, he may be approaching adulthood with a substantial behavioral risk. When asking your son what he wants to do for his birthday, I suggest constraining the choices to what he wants to do that does not involve using a motor vehicle. I'm also somewhat puzzled about this custom of asking children what they want to do for their birthdays; I don't recall getting such an offer to dictate to my parents. --Teratornis (talk) 21:16, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

It is my belief that parents should parent their children and not let children get everything they ask. These kind of requests and wishes can eventually lead to obesity. However this is not the proper forum to bring up this kind of questions.Wamaina (talk) 05:32, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Accessing user page

I am a new user. each time I click on my user name at the top it directs me to an ERROR 404 page. how do I open a new user page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by MartiniGoddess (talk • contribs) 18:35, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

I created your user page, see if it works now. Queenie 18:52, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

How do you edit the title for a page

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 22:24, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

There's this page Spunge where the title is simply "Spunge", and the band's name is actually "[spunge]". Is there a way to edit this?

Cheers —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomflaherty (talk • contribs) 21:30, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

There are technical restrictions that prevent the use of brackets in titles, so I have added the {{Bracketed}} template to the article which at least displays the proper title. – ukexpat (talk) 21:44, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The notice at the top of page indicates that article titles cannot include braces ([ or ]). This is due to a technical restriction. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions) for more info. TNXMan 21:45, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks very much! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomflaherty (talk • contribs) 22:09, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Dunno what i should edit

I wanna contribute to wikipedia, as i'm bored and have nothing else to do, but i dunno what article i should contribute too, any suggestions? 79.75.132.65 (talk) 21:48, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

The Wikipedia:Community portal has some great suggestions for you to help out. See the section titled "Help out". There are links all over to some small things you can do, if you learn a little WikiMarkup, there's lots of little tasks that need doing, such as Wikification and Categorization and things like that. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 22:05, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

You can also upload images, or help organize them. See for example commons:Commons:Flickr files; there are literally millions of image files on Flickr under licenses that make them suitable for uploading to Wikimedia Commons so the various language Wikipedias can use them to illustrate articles. Or you could learn to use a program like Inkscape and create illustrations. See m:Philip Greenspun illustration project/Requests. On Wikipedia, it is easier to learn how to edit text than to deal with images, so our articles tend to run ahead of our ability to illustrate them. If you can take pictures, draw pictures, or organize pictures, you will never run out of interesting things to do here. --Teratornis (talk) 06:05, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

How to test templates by supplying test argument values on the template page?

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 16:18, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

I've created a userbox template that accepts optional arguments. However, I can find no way of testing it without involving a second page to invoke the template and supply argument values. Is there a way to test this on the template page itself by introducing some temporary test code and using the Show preview button? Thanks. Jim Ward (talk) 23:20, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

You may want to ask this question at The Technical section of the Village Pump. People who patrol that forum may be more adept with the more esoteric technical questions such as this one. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 23:34, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Done. I've posted my question there; thank you. Jim Ward (talk) 23:41, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Apollo astronaut Lovell's family

Why are Marilyn Lovell and the Lovell children not documented in the Wikipedia article on astronaut Jim (James) Lovell ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.137.91.156 (talk) 23:59, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

The Lovell family is mentioned in the Jim Lovell article at the bottom of the page. If you have more info on the family that is supported by reliable sources and is written from a neutral point of view, then feel free to be bold and add it in! TNXMan 00:02, 4 March 2009 (UTC)