Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 December 15

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December 15

Image use

Can I crop or rotate this File:Mm_am_See.jpg image within it's licensing and create a new derivative? If so how do I license up the new imageRegards, SunCreator ^(talk) 02:09, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

As explained on the licensing tag, yes you can, but you need to license your derivative work under the same license. Cheers - [CharlieEchoTango] 03:41, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes you can; but how do you? I don't have the OTRS permission, so how can I fill that in under the same license? Regards, SunCreator ^(talk) 20:15, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

At commons:Commons:Upload click on the It is a derivative work of a file from Commons link and it will take you to a tool that will do all that for you. – ukexpat (talk) 20:30, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

You don't need OTRS permission, since the original uploader released the work under a proper license, and the OTRS permission is only the confirmation that the license is legitimate. Cheers - [CharlieEchoTango] 20:45, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Neat tool. Done now. Thanks. Regards, SunCreator ^(talk) 21:01, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Cell phone view mode

I was reading the Wikipedia pages on my cell phone in the mode suitable for the size of the cell screen. Then I clicked the 'view page in normal mode' link and now cannot switch back to the cell prone view mode. How can I switch back to it. I am using the i-phone. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.140.43.98 (talk) 03:30, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Click on this link to take you back to the mobile view: Wikipedia (mobile) ~~ GB fan ~~ 04:00, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Citing journals

What is the Wikipedia guideline on citing abstracts of scientific articles, if the full article is not available to the editor ? Thank you. 24.92.70.160 (talk) 03:51, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

The relevant section of Wikipedia's policy on original research states, "Do not make analytic, synthetic, interpretive, explanatory, or evaluative claims about material found in a primary source." See the same section as well as Wikipedia:SCIRS#Respect_secondary_sources for other commentary about when it is appropriate to use primary sources. What I'm saying is that by and large, there's rarely a need to access the full text of a primary scientific article when contributing to Wikipedia, and thus no harm in citing an article when you can only access the abstract. See also WP:SAYWHEREYOUGOTIT – if you've only seen the abstract, you should only be citing it for a fact made explicit in the abstract itself. Note also that there's nothing wrong with citing non-free sources per WP:PAYWALL. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 04:19, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

PAYWALL is useful. I also recommend WP:OFFLINE as a reminder to go check out the complete source and grab a page number. The verifiability standards say nothing about the ease of verification. If you are basing something off of an abstract it might be better to check out the complete source if possible. If one of you are going off the abstract then keep in mind that differing interpretations of the abstract means that it is not complete enough or their are other issues.Cptnono (talk) 08:48, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Verification is about wide availibility, not universal availibility. You probably could not get away with citing an unpublished monograph, like someone's master's thesis or something like that, but if it was a genuine published book or journal which is availible in major libraries, you're fine even if it has no online presence. --Jayron32 13:44, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

how to donate other than USD, if i want to donate to Wikipedia?

Hi,

Because 408 Million users are alone from same country and same continent. How can i donate to Wikipedia other than USD because currency differs, so i feel like it would be better if the donations is also accepted through other currencies and also other denomiations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 167.181.12.144 (talk) 05:07, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your interest in donating! There's information at this page about all kinds of ways to give. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 05:19, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Banner special pages

What functions exactly do the special pages Special:BannerLoader, Special:BannerController and Special:BannerListLoader serve anyway? All they look like is raw pieces of code. :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 06:49, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

I haven't looked into it but maybe you can figure out something from mw:Special:Code/MediaWiki/72932. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:59, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

"Phase II" software

Early in the days of Wikipedia there was a certain software transition between UseModWiki and MediaWiki that used to be called "Phase II" software. What was it like, and is there a "Phase III" software involved? :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 06:51, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

This is the help desk for asking questions about how to use Wikipedia. You might be better off asking this question on the computing reference desk -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\^{[alternative account of Phantomsteve]} 07:32, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Phase II software. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:49, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Can i look for a friend just by providing a photo of him because i forgot his name.

Can i look for a friend just by providing a photo of him because i forgot his name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.255.1.156 (talk) 07:52, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Not at Wikipedia, and this page is about using Wikipedia. It is possible that somebody at the Reference Desk may be able to suggest a site that would help you, but personally I doubt there is any such resource. (I may be wrong though). --ColinFine (talk) 08:16, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Some kind of social network service may be helpful, as it's very likely that you and your friend share one or more common friends. We have a List of social networking websites that might be a good place to start. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 08:18, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

If you have any photos of your friend which might also be online somewhere, you might be able to search for them with TinEye. TinEye does not identify objects or people in photos, it compares some aspects that image files have in common. A social networking site might give a higher chance of success, however, as you can readily track down friends from even your distant past with them. Make an account on Facebook, for example, and people you haven't heard from in years will probably start to contact you. --Teratornis (talk) 20:27, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

wrong city/state listed under info

When this comes up under info in fb it states the location or hometown as Centreville, MI not Centreville, VA. Can you change that to VA?? When you click on the name/link it does take you to Centreville, VA but it is stated wrong. Please correct, don't want people to think I am from MI. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.189.211.119 (talk) 14:21, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

What article are you talking about? --Orange Mike | Talk 14:25, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Log in to your facebook account. Click Profile at the top right, then Info, then Edit, then Basic Information. In the field labelled Current City, make sure it says Centreville, VA. If it does, then I don't think there's anything we can do to help. This sounds like a problem with Facebook, not a problem with Wikipedia. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 14:33, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

ref

is there a ref which links instead to external links? Kittybrewster ☎ 16:39, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Something like {{Cite web}}? – ukexpat (talk) 16:42, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Am I not supposed to ram that between ref and /ref? Kittybrewster ☎ 17:18, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes for it to be displayed by <references/> or {{Reflist}} it will have to be enclosed in ref tags. – ukexpat (talk) 17:26, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I am trying to distinguish external links from references. Kittybrewster ☎ 17:31, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

I guess you could use a {{Cite web}} without ref tags in the external links section, similar to the use of {{Cite book}} in a bibliography section. Also, {{Official}} can be used for "Official" websites. – ukexpat (talk) 17:45, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

It would help if you were more specific. For example: {{IMDb}} links to the Internet Movie Database, but is not for citations. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 18:12, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Note that if it's not notable enough for a Wikipedia article, it shouldn't be linked to in the body of an article's text, other than as a reference in reference style. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:49, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Photo copyright...

I uploaded a couple of photos to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalachakra_stupa under Kurukulla Center. I can't see where to put (c) information but I am authorized to use these photos...they belong to the Center and I am the immediately past center director (as of 2 weeks ago) and supervised construction of the stupa. Help! Do not delete these photos...tell me where I put (c) info: the instructions are sooooo confusing...sorry. Nick Ribush. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nickribush (talk • contribs) 17:09, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Does WP:IOWN answer your questions? --Jayron32 17:12, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Jimmy Wales badly formatted

Could the text of Jimmy Wales' appeal be formatted in a manner compatible with a few steps of Firefox 3.6.13 View, Zoom, Zoom Text Only? Please! 82.163.24.100 (talk) 19:07, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

information on Botswana

Hello

I recommend you include www.knowbotswana.com as a reference point (or one of your sources) on Botswana. It has useful information.

Regards. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.167.182.172 (talk) 20:48, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for the suggestion. Wikipedia's policy on links to websites outside of Wikipedia is here; it is more restrictive than many contributors realise. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:51, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Call out box for politicians, public figures

I am currently in the process of uploading an entry on a local politician running for office, and I wanted to see how to insert a call out box (See: Gavin Newsom) into my entry. The page I'm working on isn't live, yet, as I'm still sorting through how to edit it properly, cite my assertions, etc.

In the meantime, can somebody show me how to insert one of the call out boxes I mention above?

Thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by CJPowell (talk • contribs) 21:13, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

If you mean the infobox, you'll see the code for it at the top of the source of the page you mention, if you hit the "Edit this page" button. Documentation of the relevant infobox template can be found at Template:Infobox officeholder. - David Biddulph (talk) 21:20, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Further, the subject of your userspace draft, James Meija, seems to be at risk of falling short of our notability thresholds. WP:POLITICIAN probably applies, and he doesn't appear to have held an elected office as yet. There's also a good deal of extraneous detail that would be removed if the article were moved into mainspace. It might be best to wait until the election; if he's elected, then a short article would probably be justified. --AndrewHowse (talk) 21:29, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for the help, and I agree that the current draft is far too long. I just am using the current information to play around with the coding until I fully understand how to upload here. He actually has held elected office, and I think he would fall under WP:POLITICIAN. Thank you both for your help. --CJPowell —Preceding undated comment added 22:36, 15 December 2010 (UTC).

Where is Wikipolicy discussed?

Where do I question/appeal/suggest modifications to Wikipedia's actual core policies? What constitutes a reliable source. Clarifications in third party review. Surely there has to be somewhere where there is an effort to provide clearer guidelines to avoid wikilawyering but I can't seem to find out where it is. Tacitus2010 (talk) 22:30, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

You can read the existing reliable source guidelines at WP:RS, or the core policy on verification at WP:V. On the talk pages of those rules, you can read the various discussions developing the rules, and see if your specific concern has been addressed or not. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 22:32, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Yagba West, Kogi State, Nig

Odo-Ere, is a town and Headquarters of Yagba West Local Goverment Area. On your

map Yagba West is mistakely placed where
Odo-Ere supposed to appear.

kindly replace Yagba West with Odo-Ere.

Yagba west, as a Local Government Area Comprises of Odo-Ere,Egbe,Ejiba,Ogbe,Igbaruku

and about thirteen(13) other communities.

Yagba west is not a town.

Kindly correct the mistake.

Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Donykua (talk • contribs) 23:59, 15 December 2010 (UTC)