Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 May 1

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May 1

Marketing career moves with a CIM professional certificate

I have recently passed my CIM professional certificate with two distinctions, a credit and a pass. I have employment experience in sales and i am wondering what my next move should be. I would really appreciate any help, advice, links, contacts, vacancies etc... many thanks, noah —Preceding unsigned comment added by Noah291282 (talk • contribs) 01:12, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried the Miscellaneous 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..--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:38, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

This Help desk is for getting help with using Wikipedia, not career advice. --DThomsen8 (talk) 01:40, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Off-site Wikipedia Rules

What policies and guidelines do we have about things we do off-site related to Wikipedia. I am aware that policy against canvassing for meat puppets. Are there any other things that we need to be aware of? A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 01:47, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I can't think of any specific policies or handy shortcuts (like WP:OFFSITE), but my recommendation is that if you wouldn't do it on Wikipedia, it's probably not a good idea to do it off Wikipedia. Of course, we can't stop you, but offsite actions may have onsite consequences. I know of a few RFAs that were derailed because of offsite actions, but there are no "official" sanctions or anything like that. TNXMan 01:57, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

If it helps, I'm referring to joining sites like this [1] and this [2]. I don't know much about either of them, just bumbed into them today. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 02:49, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Be aware that, even if there are not official sanctions, any actions which bring you into disrepute off-wiki could negatively impact your ability to form and maintain meaningful relationships on-wiki. In a collaborational project, it is generally a bad idea to do things which could be reasonably forseen to generate an overall negative attitude towards yourself. I am not saying that participation in the forums you site would do that; I know several highly respected users who do contribute to those forums, but be aware that your reputation is a fragile thing and you would be wise to keep it in mind in anything you do in life. More of a general comment than specific to this situation, but a useful one to keep in mind. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 04:47, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I would guess that what you do is more important than where you might happen to do it. Being active on other sites can be, in my opinion, a good way to avoid taking any particular site too seriously. Allegedly, some people become very emotional about disputes on Wikipedia. A person like that might be spending too much time focusing solely on Wikipedia, and maybe too much time focusing on one particular topic. Being active in many online venues exposes a person to a potentially greater number of useful ideas. So, what would you plan to do on these other sites if you were to join them? Joining a vast conspiracy to malign Wikipedia might not help your cause here. On the other hand, if you learned about some new technology that would help Wikipedia, that would be great. --Teratornis (talk) 04:57, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

just use a different username offsite. problem solved. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.54.169 (talk) 06:39, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

cannot edit site on phoshatidylinositol

Hello,

I'm trying to add a link to stearic acid (18:0) and I cannot do it. Please advise.

Thanks, rmgrundy Rmgrundy (talk) 03:07, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Please describe the problem in greater detail. What happens when you try to edit the article?Ordinary Person (talk) 04:23, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Where am I supposed to ask a question like this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Downes_(naval_officer)

Among the Essex's many prizes was the whale ship Georgiana, "which Captain Porter fitted as a cruiser, with sixteen guns, named the Essex Junior, and placed under the command of Lieutenant Downes who retained this place until the capture of the Essex and the conversion of the Essex Junior into a cartel, 28 March 1814."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Essex_(1799)

The next five months brought Essex thirteen prizes, including Essex Junior, (ex-Atlantic) which cruised in company with her captor to the Island of Nukahiva for repairs. Porter put his executive officer John Downes in command of that ship.

In the above it appears to me that the ship named Essex Junior had two different former names being the HMS ex-Atlantic and a whaler named HMS Georgiana. Which of those two re-named is correct and where should I have posted this question if not here? Brother Officer (talk) 03:15, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

You might want to try at the reference desk or a relevant WikiProject. You're more likely to find someone that way who might know the answer. Someguy1221 (talk) 04:23, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I would ask at WP:Ships, the talk page is monitored and questions are usually answered very quickly and helpfully. – ukexpat (talk) 13:52, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Search for languages

I want to update the set of version-templates for some articles. Is there a simple, automatic way to perform a search on a particular article name to see what language-versions of Wikipedia it currently exists in? Ordinary Person (talk) 04:19, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

At the bottom of the "toolbar" to the left of all articles should be a section titled "Languages". This links to the same, or correlated article, at other language Wikipedias. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 04:49, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

See Help:Interlanguage links. The "languages" box is mostly only as good as the multilingual Wikipedia users have made it (although some bot programs try to add these links automatically). Note that you should not only check the "languages" box on your native language Wikipedia, but also check the corresponding boxes on any other-language Wikipedias the box links you to. Sometimes a version of an article in another language will happen to have a more-complete set of interlanguage links than the article you start with. I've seen this occasionally, for example, with articles of more interest to German (etc.) speakers. If the other-language article is better-developed than the English version, it might also have more interlanguage links. If you plan to look at other-language Wikipedias, you might want to unify your login with Special:MergeAccount - this lets you specify your interface language preference on some Wikipedias. The articles will remain in the language of the Wikipedia, but some of the interface objects can be in the language you know. --Teratornis (talk) 05:07, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

In case my meaning is not clear, I am wanting to make sure that the list of interlanguage links for a particular article is comprehensive. Short answer seems to be "No, there is no automatic way to perform that search". I'll just have to click around. Ah well. Thanks.Ordinary Person (talk) 05:14, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

See the section I linked about bots. There are some bots that perform this check automatically, it seems, by recursively following all the interlanguage links from a starting article to try to build a complete set. But if any of those links are wrong on the other-language Wikipedias, the result could be a mess. --Teratornis (talk) 05:17, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

And yes, if there was a foolproof way to construct the interlanguage links automatically, we wouldn't need to rely on human editors to do it. This is a very difficult feature to check, as no single editor is likely to be fluent in more than, say, a dozen languages, and we have Wikipedias in hundreds of languages. I salute your courage if you are going to tackle this. Also see WP:EIW#Translate. --Teratornis (talk) 05:20, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

... or die in the attempt!Ordinary Person (talk) 05:27, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

"il nous faut de l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace" - "we must dare, and again dare, and forever dare." Naturally, the gentleman who coined that bold slogan met his end on the guillotine. --Teratornis (talk) 07:31, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Or, as the SAS would tell you, Who Dares Wins. – ukexpat (talk) 13:55, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Contact Deletion

Wikipedia is totally useless.

Several notable things I have added; from highly popular bands to important martial arts figures keep getting deleted under the guise of non significance. How can someone from America said that an Australian band is not significant just because they are not prominent in their part of the world?

When I added a specific page about person who significantly contributed to a very large world wide martial arts society, that society also gets deleted. This is a joke. This individual was actually listed within a Wiki article as a significant contributing factor. Go search Google; at least those results are accurate.

Delete my account. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Travmcc (talk • contribs) 06:17, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Well, since Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and not a place for making articles on all kinds of things, we've got some notability guidelines to decide whether something belongs here or not. If they don't, they are deleted. Anyway, accounts can't be deleted. You can just stop using it if you want, but I suggest you learn the policies and guidelines and continue to edit here. Every little bit helps, and that's how we keep it going. Chamal ^talk 06:30, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

The problem wasn't that the band is Australian and not prominent in the USA: there are in fact many fine Wikipedia articles on bands that are basically unknown outside of Australia.

The problem was that what you posted was basically an advertisement. The words: "We can all hope that somehow this support may be what the Australian metal community needs to start supporting our own musicians and not look overseas for new music" are not words that would appear in an encyclopedia. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. I hope this helps.Ordinary Person (talk) 06:34, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Also, a soapbox is one of the things that Wikipedia Is Not. Your words were advocacy, not information: "Australians need to stand tall and support our artists because we have some of the best bands in the world. Unfortunately at this stage they are having difficulty being heard." You also didn't provide references for anything you posted.Ordinary Person (talk) 06:39, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia's job is not to promote things, but we provide information that is useful to lots of people, including promoters. For example, if an Aussie band is having trouble "being heard" through traditional music industry channels, you can learn about alternatives by reading Wikipedia. Creative Commons and YouTube are some ways to circumvent tradition. Some nontraditional people have gotten millions of views on YouTube, including people who might never have gotten exposure through the traditional music industry filter. But note that no matter how many new opportunities open up, there will always be far more people trying to "make it" in entertainment than the global audience could ever support. If Aussie bands have trouble being heard, what about bands from Botswana and Bolivia? Only a few lucky bands manage to break through. Most people have to stop dreaming at some point and take boring real jobs. --Teratornis (talk) 07:24, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I might add that it's generally better to ask for help on the Help desk rather than say one has already given up before even seeing what help might be available. "I did X and it didn't work, therefore I give up" is not as constructive as "I did X and it didn't work; what should I have done instead?" --Teratornis (talk) 07:35, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Incidentally, people who succeeded in the music industry had to overcome obstacles too. They did not quit as soon as they experienced their first setback or rejection. --Teratornis (talk) 18:14, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Your user name is Travmcc and you created an article about the band Deprave founded by Travis McConachy according to the deleted article. If you are connected to the band then see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. A Google search on Deprave "Travis McConachy" gives 4 hits and makes it appear unlikely that the band satisfies Wikipedia:Notability (music). PrimeHunter (talk) 10:28, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

And see Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted? and Wikipedia:Alternative outlets. There are many wikis besides Wikipedia, some of which specialize in music-related topics and do not have Wikipedia's notability requirements for bands. As to the assertion that Wikipedia is useless, oddly enough Wikipedia concedes that usefulness is not a sufficient condition for including something in Wikipedia. Wikipedia contains much useful information, but not all of it. However, the Web is huge and new wikis are cheap to start, so almost all useful information can find an outlet somewhere. Indeed, some clever folks started deletionpedia which consists of a selected subset of Wikipedia's deleted articles. Including this very article about the band "Deprave". --Teratornis (talk) 18:12, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Issuing a three-revert rule warning when involved?

Resolved

 – Laurent1979 (talk · contribs)

Hello, User:Liu Tao has broken the three-revert rule rule on Kuomintang today. Since I'm involved in the argument, is it appropriate for me to issue a warning? If it's not, is there some place where I can report the violation? Thanks, Laurent (talk) 10:00, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I'll do it. --Kraftlos (Talk | Contrib) 11:11, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

It's good that you didn't break the rule yourself. In the future you can use Template:uw-3rr in a new section on their talk page. If the user continues despite being warned, you may report them at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring. --Kraftlos (Talk | Contrib) 11:15, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks Kraftlos! Laurent (talk) 15:15, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

People referenced by their own websites?

I'm not sure about this. In the Theremin article, several soloists are referenced/verified(?) by links to their own (promotional) websites. Is that an acceptable procedure or does this violate WP:SPS? -- megA (talk) 10:16, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

• No. Personally I'm lenient when the pages that are linked are pages where the artist holds their media appearances and press clippings, but personal websites are not reliable sources for a claim of notability. The person may claim to be a world-renowned theremin player, but we can't rely on their say so because that information is not uncontroversial. Personal pages are usually considered reliable for stuff like birthdates (unless the birthdate is the cause of inclusion) or personal opinions. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:28, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

For birthdates? For, say, an actor or actress? Dougweller (talk) 12:07, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

General notability criterion changed?

In Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/One Horse Town someone said that WP:GNG didn't require multiple sources, but just significant coverage. I clearly remember the "multiple significant non-trivial sources" requirement. When did it change? And why? "Significant coverage" is a phrase that is vague enough to spark debates and rows. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:23, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I think WP:GNG is flexible and allows for exceptions, but it makes clear that "Multiple sources are generally preferred". --Kraftlos (Talk | Contrib) 11:08, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Toolserver question

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask this question, but I remembered seeing a tool a while back that I saw a tool that allowed you to check how someone usually "voted" in XfD's and RfA's. I can't seem to find it now. Go ahead and let me know if there's a more appropriate place to ask this. --Kraftlos (Talk | Contrib) 11:40, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

For RfAs you can use this. I don't know about AfDs. Deor (talk) 13:54, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) RfA Votes. hmwithτ 14:33, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! --Kraftlos (Talk | Contrib) 12:04, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

"Nonsense movies?"

Resolved

 – Gonzonoir (talk) 13:09, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Why do some of the entries in the new pages log have the phrase "nonsense movies?" after them in brackets? Does that show up for everyone? Gonzonoir (talk) 12:08, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

• See this page It's a tag from the Special:AbuseFilter extension that tags suspicious edits based on common characteristics. I think they're still being tagged because there's not yet a clearcut way to distinguish them from legit articles. -- Mgm|^(talk) 12:58, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Gotcher. Thanks. Gonzonoir (talk) 13:09, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Editing colors

[Help] What happened to the colors that turn up when I edit a page?Leave Message ,Yellow Evan home , User:Yellow Evan/Sandbox —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yellow Evan (talk • contribs)

You mean in the edit box? Were you using the WP:WikEd gadget before, have you accidentally disabled it in your preferences? – ukexpat (talk) 14:16, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Maybe you were editing a protected page, which shows up a different color. hmwithτ 14:34, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Moving my article from my subpage to main article space?

I can not see the relevant tab on the subpage for uploading the article i have written? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amcpherson07 (talk • contribs) 15:02, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Your account must be autoconfirmed before you can move pages. However, before we do that, please read WP:CORP - the draft does not indicate how this company is important or significant so it would almost certainly be speedily deleted. Then you will need references to support notability per WP:CORP. – ukexpat (talk) 15:14, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Removing sockpuppeteer tag?

A user who has recently been identified as using sockpuppets has removed the "sockpuppeteer" tag from his user page. Is it ok to do so, or should I revert the change? Laurent (talk) 15:22, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I can't find any guidelines to support my view, but if the case has been confirmed, I'm pretty sure the info should be restored. Sockpuppet tags are added to userpages to help track accounts. Removing the tags makes the impossible to track. If the user persists in removing the tag, then you may want to take the case to ANI. TNXMan 15:29, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Revert. See WP:BLANKING. Equendil Talk 15:55, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

If they are so obvious a sockpuppet then they should already be blocked, but if not I'd thought until you've confirmed by checkuser it's just suspicion and they should be allowed to remove it, as your suspicions could be wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.54.169 (talk) 16:40, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Sockpuppet notices should not be added unless sockpuppetry is confirmed by checkuser, but that's the case here (Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Eeeeeewtw). Equendil Talk 00:36, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Checkuser is not required in blatant cases. WP:DUCK is a perfectly valid reason to block and tag accounts as sockpuppet accounts. If the sockpuppeteer is a sockpupeteer they should be currently blocked. I am a bit vague on the specifics of this case. You should probably contact the admin who did the blocking, since they are likely more familiar with the specifics of the case. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 00:56, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

I've put back the template, but he deleted it again. I've asked the admin involved. Thanks, Laurent (talk) 11:24, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Gallery

Is is possible to use ImageMap within <gallery></gallery>? If so, how?--Pianist99 (talk) 15:54, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I have no idea, but you might be able to duplicate a similar layout by using a table instead of a gallery tag. --Teratornis (talk) 18:18, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Page title issues

Hello, I recently published a new article titled Frontier natural products co-op. In a newbie mistake I keyed the company's name in lower case. To properly identify the company, the topic of the article, the name should be in caps. Do I truly need to create a new page in order to fix this small problem? If I do create a new page, should I put a delete tag on the old page?--71.33.229.57 (talk) 17:24, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

No, you don't need to create a new page (normally you'd just move it, however it looks like it's been moved already by Orangemike). Cheers, This flag once was red^propaganda_deeds 17:27, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

It's now at Frontier Natural Products Co-op. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:32, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

To learn about moving pages see Help:Moving a page. Please note your account needs to be autoconfirmed first. TNXMan 18:01, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Propaganda deeds... that's funny! Hmmm, maybe so. Good thing it's valid info. Thanks for the help! And thanks Orangemike for helping me out with the move. --67.166.45.24 (talk) 03:01, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Literacy ambassador

what is literacy ambassador why should you want to become a literacy ambassador —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.210.7.193 (talk) 17:09, 1 May 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. TNXMan 17:16, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Admin help

Resolved

Could an admin please look through my last 10 CSD tags (deleted edits) and see if my deletion rationale was correct? I would, but I can't remember the pages I tagged for deletion. Thanks in advance. AvN 19:27, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

They look good to me (I checked the contributions you made in April). TNXMan 20:06, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for that! =) AvN 10:04, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Moving Notepad: false release dates keep getting added, what can I do?

Resolved

 – Goodraise 21:53, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

This question is mainly in regards to Moving Notepad, but it kinda involves the DSiware games list too: Since about the 18th of April, anonymous IPs have been adding in NA/PAL release dates for this software. However, extensive searching (and an e-mail to Nintendo from another user as described on Talk:Moving_Notepad) have turned up the conclusion that there are no official release dates available yet. I have edited them out of the articles myself, I have given detailed descriptions with my edits, I have asked in the talk pages for both articles that dates not be added back in without a proper source, and still the anonymous IPs keep changing them to whatever suits their fancy (this morning they switched it up to 'beginning of May', in fact, instead of an actual date like before).

I've performed a search every time I edited them out again just to make sure nothing was actually announced, but within the past 24 hours I've already edited false dates out twice and just a little while ago someone edited 'beginning of may' back in. if they were actual users I would be able to ask them what's going on, but they're just IP addresses. I don't know what to do at this point... i don't want to get in trouble over the 3RR... will it violate the 3RR if I keep editing them out, or am I okay to keep doing what I'm doing? is this considered vandalism? there's just not that many people keeping an eye on this, and the only thing that is being changed in these edits is the release date information. :/ Khisanth (talk) 19:48, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

It is unintentional misinformation and as such not considered vandalism. You should definitely try to speak to the IPs on their talk pages. You could also replace the false dates with a source code comment asking not to re-add that information without providing a source. Goodraise 20:02, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Just now got finished taking care of the invisible text and talking to the IPs with the most recent edits. Thank you for having answered so quickly. :3 Khisanth (talk) 21:24, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Template:Infobox computer missing "sound"..

Template:Infobox computer

This template is used for many home computers. And those computers certainly had special and varying sound hardware (one example is Commodore 64). It also features "display", but misses a "video" variable or something along that line to generate something for the display. These things ought to be in the template. But it's hardlocked. For now I will do a workaround. Electron9 (talk) 20:34, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

You should discuss this on the template talk page. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 20:38, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

violation codes

what does 40508avc and 40808avc mean in arrest codes —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.54.14.93 (talk) 22:42, 1 May 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. – ukexpat (talk) 22:44, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

How to make it stick?

Hello,

This question is about the "Voice Farm" page. I have recently tried to update the bio on wikipedia by copying a new and corrected bio that I wrote from my website about me. I understand that you do not want people copying copyrighted stuff from other peoples websites. But since its my bio from my site, is there some kind of work-a-round, or official permission I can give to use my bio? The GFDL page looks like latin to me.

Thanks, Charlybro (talk) 23:38, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

It's not just that, the tone of the additions you want to add are unsuitable for a wikipedia area, we don't write in that way. --Cameron Scott (talk) 23:40, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Indeed. Please remember that as an encyclopedia, a certain style of writing is expected. If your additions appear to have a promotional or advertisal style of writing, they may be reverted for that reason. You may also want to read WP:COI and WP:AUTOBIO about the pitfalls of writing about yourself. The main problem is that it is all but impossible to adhere to Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View policy, a cornerstone policy of this encyclopedia, when writing about yourself. If you want to see an appropriate tone and style of biographical articles, go to Featured Articles and select a biography from there. You can see appropriate writing there. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 00:46, 2 May 2009 (UTC)