Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 April 7

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April 7

A user's gender

I specified my gender at my user profile preferences. This kind of information is labelled as public, but I don't know how to identify the gender of any user who has specified that. How can I do this? Thanks. --Магьосник (talk) 00:29, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

The gender is used in templates, that's how it's public. Say if I give the Working Man's Barnstar to somebody, it would automatically change to Working Woman's if they specified that they are female. I think, anyway. SS✞^(Kay) 00:34, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Actually, the gender does not affect that barnstar (see {{Working Man's Barnstar}}, which specifies that a gender must be listed as part of the template in order to change the template). The gender option in your preferences is used on foreign language Wikipedia's where the language requires a gender specification. TNXMan 00:38, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

I now know how to do it! I just have to add {{subst:The Working Man's Barnstar|message ~~~~|gender}} to someone's userpage and view the preview, without saving the changes. Thank you! --Магьосник (talk) 00:47, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

See also mw:Help:Magic words#Miscellaneous. You have set Gender as Male in Special:Preferences. I used {{gender:Theurgist|Male|Female|Unspecified}} to produce the result. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:01, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

insurance comapnies

why are not all of the us comapnies who sell insurance listed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.0.112.163 (talk) 00:43, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Basically, because Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, not a directory.--BelovedFreak 00:51, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

(e/c) It would help greatly if you gave us some context. I suppose your question might be about the article, List of United States insurance companies. If so, that list expressly states that it covers only "companies with strong national or regional presence". Note also that lists on Wikipedia should only contain links to already existing articles, and red links to articles that probably should be created—companies that are clearly notable but do not yet have articles. A list of all insurance companies in the U.S. would be quite vast and indiscriminate.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:59, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

But let that not stop you from adding the names of insurance companies you believe are worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia. Just remember to back and justify each addition with verifiable and reliable sources. Go ahead, have fun. ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 03:52, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

But before you do that, please read WP:CORP and WP:FAQO. – ukexpat (talk) 13:34, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

writing about a new methodology

Dear Wikipedia-Team,

I have decided to pack all my experience and expertise in IT solution development in a new methodology. This will integrate many already existing methodologies, but also contain many elements that are created by me. Is Wikipedia a platform to start working with other individuals worldwide on this method?

Best regards, Peter 00:48, 7 April 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Peter.klement (talk • contribs)

Maybe. I don't mean this harshly but your description is so vague that what you are actually talking about and whether we could use your expertise is impossible to say. Note, though, that if you are talking at all about describing this new methodology in an article here, that subject would be original research which we cannot use. If you want to use, for example your amazing developer skills to provide new tools, programs, scripts, bug fixes and the like, why that would be quite welcome. So, what are you actually talking about?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:06, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Please sign your posts with four tildes (~), like this: ~~~~. Read more about it at WP:SIGNATURE. Thanks! Happy editing! Bus stop (talk) 01:12, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

If you want to get involved with the various software development projects related to Wikipedia itself, read the following, for starters: mw:How to become a MediaWiki hacker; m:Toolserver; WP:EIW#Bot; WP:EIW#Tools. If you mean something else, for example a software development method for business applications (or gaming, or numerical analysis, or mobile apps, etc.), Wikipedia does not want original research. You should rather publish your work in reliable sources, and if your work is (or becomes) notable, then someone will write about it on Wikipedia. You should avoid writing about your own work in Wikipedia articles. --Teratornis (talk) 01:39, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Peter, I agree with Teratornis. [A Wikimedia Toolserver User Account] may be the solution. Why don't you request for a user account and start off? ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 04:22, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

uploading an article

Hello,

I am a new user. I have developed a new article with all the Wiki's requirement and is placed in my personal page in Wiki. I want to save (redirect) this article in another relevant place. But I could not get the exact guidance on it. Highly appreciate if you can guide me step by step process, so that I will be able to transfer my article from sand box to main page. Thank you. Bhojrajpokharel (talk) 02:12, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Presumably you refer to User:Bhojrajpokharel/Nepal: Women’s representation in the national parliament. See WP:YFA, WP:MOVE, WP:NOTABLE, WP:RS, WP:TITLE (we do not end a page title with a period/full stop character), WP:REFPUNCT (a ref tag goes after sentence-ending punctuation, not before it), and WP:LAYOUT (you've made your section headings wrong). --Teratornis (talk) 02:53, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Your article still has some issues as pointed out by Teratornis. However, I'll still explain the process. In a normal situation, if you wanted to move an article that you have prepared in a subpage of your userspace to the mainspace (aka where the articles are), you would just move the page. This is done by selecting the "move" tab at the top of the page, then proceeding from there. All the content of the article, along with its history, is moved to the new location when this is done. However, this can only be done by autoconfirmed users; at the moment, you are not an autoconfirmed user, as you need at least ten edits. You may request that someone else move the article you have prepared for you by adding {{move draft}} to the top of the article. If the article seems appropriate, another user will move it. Hope that helps and answers your question. For now, I would focus further on working on the article for it to meet the guidelines that were linked to by Teratornis. Thanks, ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 02:56, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Also read Wikipedia:Lead section. The lead section goes before the first heading in an article. We do not repeat the article title as the first heading as you did in your draft. Consider joining Wikipedia:WikiProject Nepal. --Teratornis (talk) 03:06, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Hi Bhojrajpokharel, do consider using WP:Article wizard for a well guided process. Also kindly read WP:Your first article for information that would be highly relevant to you. Write back for any further help. ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 04:13, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

That article is tagged as having been created by the Article Wizard. Anyway, I've given it a small amount of cleanup; it still needs a lede written to summarise the contents, but after that I think it's good for a move. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 10:02, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

About multilingual coordination, etc.

Dear Wikipedia staff members, I am a professional translator and thus an active editor of several Wikipedia communities: Spanish, English, German, etc. And from time to time I check interwiki links between different languages; to my surprise, I happen to find articles that are interwiki-ed, but are not really "the same article in different languages". How can this be further coordinated/monitored/solved...? Is there any "common space of coordination among Wikipedias in different languages"? Please let me know! Best regards, --Fadesga (talk) 02:30, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

See the links under WP:EIW#Translate for example Wikipedia:Multilingual coordination. If you see an interlanguage link that is incorrect, free free to fix it. It is not surprising that some of these links could be wrong, or less than entirely correct, because (a) only a small number of Wikipedia editors are multilingual enough and have the topic-specific knowledge to check them, and (b) articles on the various Wikipedias can change over time, possibly causing topic "drift" which might render an interlanguage link less correct. --Teratornis (talk) 02:58, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Fadesga, the area you talk about is woefully short of editors. Just as a note, I should point out that the second link Teratornis has mentioned > Wikipedia:Multilingual coordination < is no longer active and won't be of any help. If I were to point you out to Category:Wikipedia multilingual coordination, it might fall short of your requirements as the category is not populated significantly. But let this not discourage you from contributing and creating a project on multilingual coordination. In fact, why don't you? ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 05:31, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

"44th President of the United States" redirects to Hiter?

I don't know how to fix it, but when I searched "44th President of the United States" (not the "44th president of the united states of america") it took me to the page on Adolf Hitler. I'm sorry, I looked around but just can't figure out how to fix that! I need help I guess!71.212.165.188 (talk) 06:00, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

I have fixed that. A vandal redirected the page to Hitler. You shouldn't be sorry; please continue contributing. Thanks for letting us know! Goodvac (talk) 06:11, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Images not displaying

Until recently, this gif and this gif were displaying okay. Now, at least on my computer, they display the error message: "Error creating thumbnail: Invalid thumbnail parameters or image file with more than 12.5 million pixels". Have permissible gif sizes been down sized. 12.5 million pixels is only 1.25 MB, not particularly large for a sophisticated gif. Does this mean Wikipedia no longer allows sophisticated gifs? --Epipelagic (talk) 07:02, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

See VPT (I'm not saying that will provide a clear answer, but that's where some info may be found). Johnuniq (talk) 07:17, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

"Allmusic is a bunch of retards who know nothing about music whatsoever."

Hello,

The first sentence in the article on Allmusic (aka AMG, All Music Guide) has apparently been edited to "Allmusic is a bunch of retards who know nothing about music whatsoever." Not sure what it said before, but if you have a record of past edits, I'd appreciate having it changed back to what it said in the past.

Thanks, John Bush AMG Senior Managing Editor, Pop Music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_music_guide —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.198.80.2 (talk) 11:29, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

It had been vandalised some time ago. Reverted now, and thanks for letting us know about it. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 11:32, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

How do I create a link in a current MITREpedia document to another *.doc or *.pdf?

I am very new to editing in MITREpedia. I know how to create a link to an URL. I know if I upload the *.doc or *pdf, MITREpedia thinks it is an Image. I want the user to see the name *.doc or *.pdf in the text like a link. Something that when clicked on it actually open the linked *.doc or *.pdf in a separate window.

How do I do that?

Thank you, —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.29.43.3 (talk) 11:54, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Hi, you may either ask at our computing reference desk or in MITREpedia. This page is for Wikipedia only. Regards, Kayau Voting IS evil 11:58, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

How to detach an accepted word from its roots, to bring their roots to life as a new (old) word?

Let's say I invented a new kind of Auto-Mobile that has MORE features that makes it an Automobile MORE than it is a "Car". Now, let's pretend the ONLY meaning on wikipedia for Automobile is Car.

How do I re-define the entry for "automobile" so it won't automatically redirecteds you to "car"?

It could show either something inside "CAR" to go back, if redirection is subject to the BIGGER acceptation of "car".

No redirection, it could show "Automobile is a new kind of car that have mobile parts, (let's pretend that that feature existed)" Also, it's the old name for the word 'car' "

…or something like "car is the short/modern name for 'automobile'. For the new kind of car 'Automobile' click here"

I hope I made it clear enough.

Excuse my english.

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sergiozambrano (talk • contribs) 13:28, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Short answer, you don't. See WP:Neologism. – ukexpat (talk) 13:30, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Indeed, with respect to your specific question, you should not do this. But if you are interested in the more general question about how to replace an existing redirect by a full article (which sometimes does happen): you can edit a redirect page just like any other page, and in doing so turn it into a normal article. The trick is getting to the page. You can do this by going to the page, which will redirect you to the target page, and then picking the link in the "Redirected from ...." at the top. --ColinFine (talk) 22:51, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

broken link

on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_subscripts_and_superscripts

at the bottom is a link to

http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2070.pdf

It is broken —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cvhorie (talk • contribs) 13:29, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean. The link works for me. What message do you see? TNXMan 13:30, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Minor updates

When you update footballers appearances and goals, is it a minor update? Gobbleswoggler (talk) 13:38, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

See WP:MINOR. It should be in there. BTW it's called a minor edit ;) Kayau Voting IS evil 13:40, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

And, I don't think it is. Kayau Voting IS evil 13:41, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Whether an edit is marked as minor or not is really up to you. Generally, any edit that has even the tiniest chance of being disputed should be left as major. Edits that deal with punctuation, spelling, grammar, fixing factual errors or reverting vandalism are good examples of edits that most people would be considered minor. I'm sure most people would consider your minor factual change minor, assuming you have the reliable sources to back up your change. Xenon54 / talk / 21:27, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

How to add a neologism

I posted a question about creating a new word a few lines above, which was answered with "I can't" because that's a neologism.

New question: What if the inventor still decides to call it that way? Is that new aparatus never going to be on wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sergiozambrano (talk • contribs) 13:45, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Ok, this is what you add: {{redirect|Automobile|the new kind of cars|Whatever the article for the new kind of automobile is.}} Which produces:

"Automobile" redirects here. For the new kind of cars, see The quick brown fox jumped over thte lazy dog.

Kayau Voting IS evil 13:54, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

But don't add the "new aparatus" [sic] unless and until it meets Wikipedia's inclusion criteria, see WP:PRODUCT. "New" things very rarely do until they are no longer new and have received non-trivial coverage in multiple reliable sources independent of the subject. – ukexpat (talk) 14:12, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

adding refs

Hello,

I have just added references to a page that had none, but I can't seem to add the actual reference title in the reference section. The page is the one on rhesus monkeys and I added refs 9 and 10. The actual reference is [1]. Please let me know how to proceed. This is my first time uploading info to wiki.

Thanks, Melissa —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.72.46.62 (talk) 15:20, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Hi Melissa, it was because you had put <ref></ref> in the middle of the "References" heading, and it didn't like that! It's fixed now. --BelovedFreak 15:22, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Decimal places output of function {{#expr: ''expression''}}

Hi everybody, the above function for calculation gives by default an accuracy to 14 decimal places, which in some cases is excessive. Is it possible to limit the number of displayed decimals to a desired extent? Thank you very much, --Gabodon (talk) 15:30, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Use round n to truncate the result to n places; for example, {{#expr:1/3 round 1}} gives 0.3. Intelligentsium 15:50, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Partisan tone

If feel an article has too partisan a tone on a disputed subject and I do not want to enter an editorial war. How can I send my comments to the authors and ask them to make changes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mauceri (talk • contribs) 16:18, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

You could add {{tone}} to the top of the article and begin a discussion with other editors on the article talk page. TNXMan 16:20, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

If you are new to talk pages, see Wikipedia:Tutorial (Talk pages), Wikipedia:Talk page, and Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines. If you get no response after a few days on the article talk page, you can identify the authors by checking the article history and leave messages on their user talk pages, for example with {{Ping}} to call their attention to the article talk page. It's best to try to keep the discussion on the article talk page if possible, so other interested editors can easily find the discussion about the article. --Teratornis (talk) 19:29, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Urgent

What Does This Means"Kush është kryeqyteti i Shqipërisë?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.110.53.10 (talk) 16:58, 7 April 2010 (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) 17:29, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

From a translation script, it appears to mean, "What is the capital of Albania?" As ukexpat notes above, in the future please direct this nature of question to the reference desk. Intelligentsium 17:53, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

No line breaks

Moved from Wikipedia talk:Help desk. – ukexpat (talk) 18:33, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

I have no idea why this is happening to me. Is it a browser thing? That does not make sense to me since it never happens anywhere else. Of course Wikipedia is the only web site where I do any editing. Please check out my recent edit to Talk:Rye (city), New York. Then, check out Talk:Lake George (village), New York (which is NOT a page I edited). You could probably even see the lack of line breaks here.

I place line breaks (pressing 'enter' on the keyboard) in my text and the saved page or section sometimes is devoid of the line breaks. Above, I mentioned about a Rye talk page I edited. It has no line breaks in the text of the page. But the line breaks are definitely there (check the history). And I mentioned about a Lake George talk page I did not edit. The first edit has line breaks visible, yet the history does not show any formatting different from what I have done. I know that I can force breaks using html. But other users do not do that. Why should I need to? NewYorkeruser (talk) 00:10, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

You need to press enter twice to have a line break appear. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 00:13, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

This is a test to see if line breaks are showing.

Having to press enter twice seems unnecessary.

Why not make it just one break? NewYorkeruser (talk) 00:42, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

One press of enter does nothing. So, who does pressing enter twice give me two breaks? I wanted a line break, not a paragraph break. NewYorkeruser (talk) 00:42, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

You can force a line break with <br> but it usually should'nt be used in normal article text. See more at Wikipedia:Line break handling. Wiki source isn't quite html but this and some other notation was adopted from html. See HTML element#Other inline elements. In html neither one nor more newline characters will produce a line break in the rendered page. It's often convenient to be able to format wiki source for easy source reading and editing by using one newline character in situations where no line break in the rendered page is wanted. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:20, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Okay. I have no idea what you are saying in your last sentence. But my last question (about two breaks instead of one) is occurring for me. Pressing enter twice gave me two breaks. Pressing enter once gives me zero breaks. I want ONE break (sometimes).NewYorkeruser (talk) 01:47, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

If you want one break then you can write <br> followed by zero or one Enter presses, but note this is usually not recommended in normal Wikipedia article text. Two Enter presses gives a new paragraph which your browser probably displays with a space between one and two line breaks.
There is one <br> line break before this line.

There are two Enters (giving a new paragraph) before this line.

There are two <br> line breaks before this line. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:11, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Maybe you are not understanding me. I do not want to put in a break code since other users do not do so. But I also do not know how to get a SINGLE BLANK LINE without a code. One enter does nothing for me (no line end). Two enters gives me a new paragraph. Wikipedia should be easy to use. But I have sometimes been finding it difficult to navigate, difficult to edit, and hard to understand. NewYorkeruser (talk) 07:54, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Please link to an example of what you're trying to accomplish. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 10:35, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

If none of my three examples above is what you want then I don't know what you want. I thought you wanted the first example with one <br> between lines. This is rendered like a text file with one Enter at the end of a line. It's rarely done here because a line break without starting a new paragraph is against normal Wikipedia style outside lists. You say "I do not want to put in a break code since other users do not do so." But if you want something to render differently from what we usually do then you have to use a notation differently from what we usually do. Are you unhappy with the line spacing before my first example above which said "There is one <br> line break before this line"? If you are happy with that line spacing then you have to use <br>. There is no number of Enters which will give the same result. This is not a Wikipedia invention. It is the standard way of doing it in html all over the World Wide Web. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:24, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Did you read the first part of this section? I clearly put in two links. Please check them out. Check out the pages and the codes as well. I do not want to put in break codes. I also do not want to do things differently from other users. However, I am doing things that way now. I wish to be able to put in line breaks without using break codes. In the Lake George link, someone did that. No codes were used. In the Rye link, I did not use codes, yet my text did not come out with line breaks after pressing enter. HERE I did a test. I pressed enter twice for a single line break, and I come up with a paragraph break instead. AGAIN, pressing enter once (for me) does not break the line. AGAIN, pressing enter twice (for me) gives a paragraph break (a blank line between two lines. I like having the paragraph breaks. But I also want to have line breaks (no blank lines) without using code. If other users accomplish this, then why can't I? NewYorkeruser (talk) 18:00, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

NewYorkeruser, in the Talk:Lake George (village), New York article, the gap between these sentences:

This article appears to be incorrect. The county seat of Warren County is the Town of Lake George not the Village of Lake George

The Warren County Municipal Center, which is the county offices, is technically in the town of Queensbury, but it has a Lake George zip code.

is achieved by using two returns.

The gap between these sentences:

The Warren County Municipal Center, which is the county offices, is technically in the town of Queensbury, but it has a Lake George zip code.

--Grunherz 19:52, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Be Bold, and when you have the time please fix the article. --Ahc 20:49, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

exists because the line beginning "Be Bold" is indented with a : sign at the start (so the source code looks like this):

The Warren County Municipal Center, which is the county offices, is technically in the town of Queensbury, but it has a Lake George zip code.
--[[User:Grunherz|Grunherz]] 19:52, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
:[[Wikipedia:Be_bold_in_updating_pages|Be Bold]], and when you have the time please fix the article. --[[User:Ahc|Ahc]] 20:49, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Other than using return twice and using the <br/> tag, I believe as the others say that there's no other way to insert simple non-indented returns. Gonzonoir ((talk))

(←) In reference to your question about why someone might want to put line breaks into their wikitext which will not appear on the rendered page, the reasons include: (a) making the source readable for other editors (particularly helpful with template code), and (b) making diffs more readable. The diff feature compares before and after text in units of paragraphs. If a paragraph is long, and the change to it is small (such as moving just one punctuation character), the difference can be hard to see. --Teratornis (talk) 19:23, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes NewYorkeruser, I read the first part of this section before answering you, but I couldn't see what you referred to at Talk:Lake George (village), New York. As Gonzonir explains, it contains no magic formatting to circumvent Wikipedia's normal line break handling. Some browsers may display small variations in line spacing between certain lines depending on some circumstances. Perhaps this is happening to you and makes you think that Talk:Lake George (village), New York must contain something special, but it doesn't. I don't know exactly which line is followed by the line spacing you want when displayed in your browser, or which browser you have. Anyway, I don't see the big problem in hitting Enter twice to get a large line space or typing <br> to get a small line space. As explained, it would cause other problems if one Enter was not available as a way to format the source text without affecting the rendered page. And Wikipedia has millions of pages relying on one Enter not causing a line break so there is no way that is going to change. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:10, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Re: Stemming eLayaway to the Layaway article

I am having trouble finding a way to integrate eLayaway.com to stem from the "layaway" keyword. I have plenty of reputable news sources that have covered eLayaway as an alternate payment tool, and the first eCommerce site to offer layaway. I would like more information on how to go about doing this. I am unclear about the first steps. I do not want this to come off as advertising, but rather bring to attention the efforts of this company when speaking about other layaway powerhouses such as "sears" and "kmart".—Preceding unsigned comment added by Melissavalido (talk • contribs)

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines with which all articles should comply. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article. You might also look at Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is also available to walk you through creating an article. – ukexpat (talk) 20:05, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Infobox settlement: inconsistencies, questions, and fixes

I have gone through a whole lot of pages of specific places with infobox settlement. My concerns are about which New York maps are put on city and village pages. Not all pages use the same type of New York map, and some do not even have a New York map. I have a large amount of text on this matter. Should I post it on this page, or should I find a page at the Reference Desk and post it there? NewYorkeruser (talk) 21:00, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

NOt all articles have to be the same..so yes you will see differences from page to page. As an editor you a free to change this pictures and/or add them to articles you think need them ...if you wish. Keeping in mind that if someone does not like the changes (reverts them), this should start a discussion page chat on the merits of changing the pictures etc... As for your text you have, i would suggest to post it on the discussion page of the specific article with your references for the text and see what ohter think of its merit to the article and.or articles .......Hope this helps ..pls ask more if need be!!..Moxy (talk) 21:19, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

I simply asked if I should post here or there. Which is the appropriate place? I cannot post on a specific place page, because there are hundreds of them. My concern is a rather general one concerning maps, not pictures. It has links example pages, a suggestion for changing to one type of map. Most of my text is way too general to go to a specific page like you suggested. So again, post it here or somewher at Reference Desk? NewYorkeruser (talk) 21:43, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Ok i think i see what your saying ..the best place to post if its about NY in general would be -->Wikipedia talk:WikiProject New York... The link is to a WikiProject talk page devoted to the management of articels related to NY called the The WikiProject New York...Moxy (talk) 21:47, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

There is also a Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps. And on Commons, Commons:Category:Maps of New York, and Commons:Category:Maps of New York City. I recommend that you first inventory all the various New York maps you find floating around. Some will be on the English Wikipedia only; some will be on Wikimedia Commons. Ideally, all the maps that are free content should be on Commons. You can categorize the maps on Commons. If you find any maps on a Wikipedia that should be on Commons, you can move them. Once you have organized all the maps into categories, it should then be clearer to you and to other editors which types of map are best to use in various types of articles. Unfortunately there is no standard approach to mapping on Wikipedia, since the MediaWiki software has no built-in cartographic or GIS features. Instead, it's up to individual editors to make maps by using any sort of external software they have available, with any data source they happen to find. We need editors such as you to take a global view of all articles in a category from time to time, and standardize them on the best practice. For a map to be free content, the creator must use a source of map data which is free, and agree to release the resulting map as free content. Most of the familiar sources of maps on the Web (such as Google Maps) are not free, and any maps a person might make from a source of un-free map data will then be derivative works and thus not free. If you find that one or more particular users have uploaded especially high-quality maps, you might contact them on their user talk pages to find out more about how they created their maps. Then you could decide whether it is worthwhile to create more maps with the same method to cover other geographic areas lacking such high-quality maps. --Teratornis (talk) 01:18, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia users with a serious interest in maps should unify their accounts by going to Special:MergeAccount. Then you can automatically log in to Wikimedia Commons which is the best place to organize and categorize maps that are free content. If you want to edit maps, you can get free software such as Quantum GIS and Inkscape. The French Wikipedia has some tutorials which are quasi-readable with Google Translated English:

• Translate fr:Wikipédia:Atelier graphique/Didacticiels cartographiques to English

- mapmaking tutorials from the the French Wikipedia graphics lab

• Translate fr:Aide:Cartographie/Ressources cartographiques géoréférencées to English

- georeferenced map data resources

--Teratornis (talk) 01:26, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

PROD

What is the advantage of a PROD over an AfD discussion? Immunize (talk) 21:53, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

PRODs are for when deletion is going to be uncontroversial, but it's not covered by WP:CSD criteria. If you pretty much know that no one would object to the deletion at AFD, then sometimes it's better to avoid a discussion by using PROD. For example, something that blatantly isn't an encyclopedia article, but isn't eligible for speedy deletion. It's not supposed to be a way around deletion discussions though, so if you think there's any possibility that people would question it, take it to AFD. Some people use PRODs to get rid of articles when they've seen similar articles be deleted at AFD over and over. I personally don't use PROD too much, preferring to give people a chance to find some evidence I have missed, but sometimes you just know something doesn't belong here. Have a look through the Category:Proposed deletion categories and read the reasons people put on the PROD templates; that should give you some idea. --BelovedFreak 22:03, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Another way to see it is that with new or new-ish articles PROD gives the author breathing space to get the article up to scratch before it goes into the AfD arena with the lions. If the prod notification template has been correctly placed on the author's talk page, they have an idea of the problem and several days to fix it themselves or ask for help before any deletion. If they choose to remove the prod template without addressing the problem, that effectively shows the deletion to be controversial to some extent, at which point AfD is appropriate. Karenjc 22:43, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

A major advantage is simply saving valuable time. We don't need an AfD to discuss whether a word made up yesterday in someone's basement should be deleted, but even such an uncontroversial matter, if taken to AfD, takes up the time of multiple users and an enormous amount of time compared to that expended on a prod. The nominator, who will probably diligently compose a nominations with piped links to WP:NEO and WP:NOTDICDEF and WP:NFT etc., will then go through the three level process of placing the nomination, followed by multiple people taking time to comment even if in summary, and then the nomination must be closed, and ultimately archived.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:54, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

PROD can also be used in cases where you see there's an overlap between CSD, AFD and unchartered territory. For example, a BLP -- which you believed to be a hoax (as you could find no reliable sources backing the BLP claims), and therefore would have sent to CSD -- will be declined if the reviewing sysop (despite finding nil reliable sources himself/herself) finds even a few unreliable sources like blogs backing the claims in the BLP. The sysop would prefer sending the BLP to AfD. In such cases, to keep your CSD slate clean (in case you have future admin hopes and don't want to be rogered in your future RfA), use Prods with lavish application. ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 08:57, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

What is the talk page? and how do I post something on it like suggestions?

The talk page is very confusing and its not actually anywhere to be seen in articles, I want to use it to give suggestions or discus how improvements can be made to a topic and use it to post stuff. There is the discussion page, but what good is it for? please, i am very new to wikipedia and it is VERY confusing, believe me!. Thank You! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lexi lover (talk • contribs) 22:50, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Hello sorry for the confusion a discussion page and a talk page are on in the same basically. Talk pages are the pages you use to talk to editors (as its called My Talk), and discussion page (discussion tab) are used to talk about improvements to specific articles ...For more info see-->Help:Talk page...Moxy (talk) 22:56, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

(e/c) First note that "talk page" and "discussion page" are identical. At the top of every article and most other types of pages in Wikipedia (including this one) you will see a link marked "discussion". That navigates to a talk page. Every user also has a built in talk page that is linked through their user name (or IP address if not logged in) though it may or may not have been created yet. If you look at the links on the top of this page or any page, you'll also see a link for "My talk"—that's your talk page. Users who want to leave you messages can contact you there. When they do you will get a dayglow orange banner saying "you have new messages". The talk pages of articles are exactly for discussing improvements and making suggestions and other matters related to the associated article. Just go to the article and then click the "discussion" link. If the page is a red link, then you will be the first person posting to it, which is fine. For much more, see Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines, Help:Talk page and Help:Wikipedia: The Missing Manual/Collaborating with Other Editors/Communicating with Your Fellow Editors.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:03, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

And Wikipedia:Tutorial (Talk pages). --Teratornis (talk) 01:02, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

archway cookies

I'm trying to find a web site that I can contact the maker of Archway cookies, can you help me? Cindy

This is not realy the place to ask...But we do like to help were possible ...try -->Archway cookies or if you wish to email them see here -->Archway cookies contact-us...Moxy (talk) 23:04, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

This page is only for questions about how to use Wikipedia. Thanks! --White Trillium (talk) 01:40, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Here Cindy. Use Wikipedia to know more about Archway Cookies. Feel free to write further queries out here and/or visit our WP:Reference Desk for any support. Enjoy the experience. ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 08:43, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Garfield Heights Ohio

Someone using an IP number is continually editing the article by removing a section on fallen officers. This individual maintains that the information is not "encyclopedic" (whatever that means) nor is it sourced. The information is a matter of public record and I thought one had to sign in to edit articles to make those changes permanent. Meanfrank (talk) 23:02, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

You should not revert his edits unless you source them using an inline citation. This is bedrock policy. If a person disputes the inclusion of material in any credible, good faith way, and that material is not sourced, the burden is on the person seeking to keep or restore the material to provide the sourcing. See WP:BURDEN. Note though that I have not actually looked yet at the article in question.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:09, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

I have restored the removal based both on WP:BURDEN and the fact that this is material that may affect living persons (their family and friends) and as such, we must get the information just right with high quality sources actually cited. See generally Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons and its subsection on deceased and legal persons; groups. The issue of whether the material, even if properly sourced belongs in an article on a city is an entirely separate matter.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:20, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Some very distasteful additional discussion taking place at my talk page.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:47, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Creating an account is not necessary to editing pages. See this for more details. Goodvac (talk) 23:14, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

(←) See WP:NOTMEMORIAL, Wikipedia:Victim Lists, and Wikipedia:9/11 victims. In general, lists of people on Wikipedia should only contain individuals who are otherwise notable enough for their own articles. Unsurprisingly, due to the intense emotions associated with deaths of loved ones, memorial pages and victim lists on Wikipedia often generate intense debate. A better place to list fallen officers for a city would be on a City wiki, which would be much more inclusive for topics relevant to its geographic region. --Teratornis (talk) 01:00, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Help with userpage

I have been attempting to tidy the userboxes on my userpage, and have tried to organize them using a different format. However, it currently is not working correctly. Any suggestions of a way to format my userpage to organize the userboxes? Immunize (talk) 23:15, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps you can take a gander at this, and find a format that suits your taste. Goodvac (talk) 23:32, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

I have placed them in a three column wikitable and they seems to be formatting fine now. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:02, 8 April 2010 (UTC)