Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 March 16

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March 16

Could someone please replace the pornographic image in the Gustave Courbet listing with a link?

Hi,

I don't know how to make changes to a listing, but I'm hoping someone can help me out. There's a pornographic image ("The Origin of the World") in the Gustave Courbet listing that I'm afraid is going to get me fired, since it appeared on my screen at work without any sort of warning. Could someone please replace it with a link to the image that includes a warning?

I'm not trying to censor - just trying to prevent people from getting fired.

Thanks in advance for your assistance. Camvltr (talk) 00:40, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia contains content that may be considered objectionable.

However, Wikipedia is not censored, and sexual content can be used in encyclopaedic contexts. Censoring an image -- or even placing a warning -- at the behest of a person or a group of people is seen to directly contradict Wikipedia's policy requiring a neutral point of view. As an example, similar requests come up all the time on Muhammad because Muslims are not allowed to view pictures of him, but editors have steadfastly refused to remove the images for the same reason. Along the same lines, Wikipedia was once filled with warnings telling readers that "Plot and/or ending details follow", but those were removed as well. Sorry. Xenon54 / talk / 00:49, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

There are ways for individuals to disable the display of photos, which I think is explained on the Mohammad articles' talk pages. Individuals are free to censor themselves without impacting the rest of the wikipedia readership. Also, pulling up the article of an artist which unexpectedly contains a racy photo is not likely to get someone fired, but if it does, is it the kind of place you really want to work in? There's also a way to play it right. If there were others watching, and that came up, and you said, "What the...?" and quickly exited from it, I don't see why they would get upset. Unless you weren't supposed to be in wikipedia during company time, in general. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:58, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Having a job means an employer is paying you to create value - for the employer. If reading the Gustave Courbet article has nothing to do with your job, best to read it on your own time. There are many articles on Wikipedia that are relevant to particular jobs. If your job has nothing to do with pornography, then most of the articles on Wikipedia that would be work-related are unlikely to have pornographic images in them, unless you happen to see an article shortly after it was vandalized. --Teratornis (talk) 06:16, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Courbet was an artist, so your statement could be broadened to, "If your job has nothing to do with art..." Typically, companies will have an internet policy that says net surfing is to be restricted to work-related matters. As a practical matter, companies are usually pretty tolerant of benign uses of the internet, like checking news, weather and sports from time to time; and notably intolerant of going to porn sites. Wikipedia is most certainly not a porn site, but it's also not censored for content, so caution/discretion are called for. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:38, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Aren't Websites containing pornographic material required by law to include warnings for kids under 18? Camvltr (talk) 12:04, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

There are no pornographic images in the Courbet article. I smell a troll. DuncanHill (talk) 12:09, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

There's a link to Wikipedia's disclaimers at the very bottom of every page. The disclaimer regarding our content can be found at Wikipedia:Content disclaimer. However, we don't display disclaimers in articles themselves; see Wikipedia:No disclaimers in articles. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 12:15, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

It is specifically against Wikipedia policy to have specific warnings, beyond the general disclaimer that appears on every page, for particularly pages with "pornographic" or sexual content or images. This is because a determination of which pages or images ought to be so marked is not consistent with our neutral point of view policy. DES ^(talk) 16:46, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Where should I put this Request?

I want Wikipedia to stop asking me for a User Agent String.
I feel like 1984. It might be a simple error but I very
much dislike the fact that the server denies me entry if I
do not wear badge. Is this some kind of military facility.
Wasn't it the purpose of Wikipedia to help establish a De-
mocracy on this planet.
I spare you the rest and hope it's just a mistake.

Thanks for making the server stop requesting a UAS
Jangirke (talk) 01:57, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

The proper place to ask for this is at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). However, this has been discussed recently at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 71#User-agent nonsense, so you can read the reasons there that a User-agent header is required. --Mysdaao ^talk 02:21, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

See also http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User-Agent_policy DES ^(talk) 03:50, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Broken image history

See File:Resilient_Barnstar.png for an example of the problem. See below for screenshots:

1. The original trouble:
2. The result of clicking on the broken thumbnail:

I have noticed this issue a few times now. Thanks! Cheers!☮ —Ecw.Technoid.Dweeb | contributions | talk 02:07, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

OS and version? Browser and version? (please) – ukexpat (talk) 02:25, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Mac OS X 10.5.7, Google Chrome 5.0.307.11 beta Cheers!☮ —Ecw.Technoid.Dweeb | contributions | talk 02:29, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

This is not a user end problem. I get it in 4 browsers on Windows (with small layout differences). The current image links to the url http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Resilient_Barnstar.png. The place where the former image should have been displayed links to http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/c/c1/. It should have been a url starting like that but ending with a timecode and file name. For example, the correctly working File:Barnstar-camera.png has a link to the current image at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Barnstar-camera.png, and old versions at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/1/13/20080106201537!Barnstar-camera.png and http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/1/13/20050628184636!Barnstar-camera.png. I don't know what causes it and it is a Commons image but maybe somebody at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) can say more. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:44, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Filed as bugzilla:22847 —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:32, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! Cheers!☮ —Ecw.Technoid.Dweeb | contributions | talk 01:36, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Adding an entry

I suppose my answer is somewhere under Help, but so far I cannot find it. Several months ago I wrote an article. How do I add it to Wikipedia? 1814K (talk) 02:28, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Your draft is at User:1814K/Norman W. Larson - Professor. It will have to be moved to the mainspace for it to appear in search results. However it is not ready to be moved yet - please take a look at WP:BIO, WP:MOSBIO and WP:LAYOUT and the other helfpful links I have just added to your user talk page. – ukexpat (talk) 02:56, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

References not appearing on page

WP:AFD includes two references, but for some reason they don't appear in the references section. The coding for these references is as follows —

<ref name="economist">[http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10789354&logout=Y "The battle for Wikipedia's soul"], [[The Economist]], Mar 6th 2008.</ref><ref>Seth Finkelstein,[http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/sep/28/wikipedia.web20 "I'm on Wikipedia, get me out of here"], [[The Guardian]], September 28 2006. "At Wikipedia, contentious decisions are made by a process of elaborate discussion culminating in administrative fiat. Deletions go through a comment period. The process is not a vote, but the result forms a recommendation to the administrators."</ref>

Any idea what's wrong here? I suspect that it's a rather simple thing that I'm missing. Since the page is fully protected, please post an editprotected request or a note at WP:AN if you can find the mistake. Nyttend (talk) 05:12, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Someone fixed it and I tweaked it. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 05:26, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

How do you find in an article the bits one user contributed over time?

How do you find in an article the bits one user contributed over time?Septagram (talk) 05:30, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Use this, Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:48, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Merging an image to Commons

Will someone please help me merging this image to Commons: [[File:Lola Astanova & Meredith Vieira on NBC.jpg]]? It would take me a lot of time to learn how to merge an image to Commons and when I have learned it I will probably never need the information again. So I hope that someone will help me.

On Commons there are a category for Steinway grand pianos named "Grand pianos by Steinway & Sons" and a category for Meredith Vieira named "Meredith Vieira". I know how to put the image in the categories, I only need help for the merging process. Thank you. Fanoftheworld (talk) 08:54, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

It's done. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:18, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Thank you very much. Fanoftheworld (talk) 18:58, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Did Peter Graves act in a couple of episodes of Golden Girls?

Did Peter Graves act in a couple of episodes of Golden Girls? Was he the Lucas who married Dorothy at the end?67.188.68.115 (talk) 09:34, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Our article on The Golden Girls says that yes, he was in a few episodes, as Blanche's boyfriend Jerry. For future reference, this page is for questions about using Wikipedia; knowledge questions like yours belong on the Reference Desk. Best wishes, Gonzonoir (talk) 09:55, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Your bot sucks

I keep trying to edit this page "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodhound_Gang#Early_days", because the name of their band was actually VAGINAL BLOODFART, which I can VERIFY ON THE BAND WEBSITE, but your stupid bot keeps editting it.

You need to correctly cite reliable sources that verifies your information, otherwise it will get removed. You can't just say "as verified on the band's website". That's almost as bad as not saying anything as to the information's origin. I cannot verify what you say at all. Let me clear up a misconception as well: there are many automated bots on Wikipedia, run by many different people. There is not just "your bot". Plus, bots will normally only revert once so if you have edited multiple times there must be a user who is also reverting you. Xenon54 / talk / 10:22, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

The page history [1] shows the first revert was by a bot and next two by a human editor. The name sounded unlikely and many vandals add obscene words to articles but I can see you are not a vandal. However, all your edits were unsourced and spelled the name wrong. This combined with their website being hard to navigate made it difficult to search information but I found out that two of the members had earlier played in a band called Vaginal Bloodphart.[2] I haven't found support for your claim "The Bloodhound Gang began as a small alternative band called Vaginal Bloodfart". Lots of musicians have earlier been in other bands. I don't know what other Bloodhound Gang members would say to a statement that their band began without them. Do you have a reliable source or the band itself saying the band "began" as Vaginal Bloodphart. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:13, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

I have reverted you again [3] with edit summary "Sources confirm they began as Bang Chamber 8 with Jimmy Pop and Daddy Long Legs. Later the band got Spanky G and Evil Jared from the former Vaginal Bloodphart". I don't believe you have a source claiming that Jimmy Pop and Daddy Long Legs began in Vaginal Bloodphart and not in Bang Chamber 8. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:43, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Using Wikipedia templates on other wikis

I have two questions about using Wikipedia templates on other wikis.

1. technical requirements. I've tried copying a template, including every template it depends on, for testing - and it just doesn't work. I think there's some extra bits that need installing separate from the main MediaWiki software? I'm sure this is written down somewhere, but I can't find it now, and last time I looked it wasn't clear enough. Is it just the Parser Functions that need installing?
2. attribution requirements. Presumably copyright applies to templates same as to articles? So how to attribute these - is pasting the link to the Wikipedia source in the edit summary enough?

thanks, Rd232 ^talk 12:22, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

1. you probably also need to whitelist the html that wikipedia allows to use.
2. I always use a permanent link (see toolbox or history tab), to make sure that people can figure out where I got my pages/templates from. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:35, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

My guesses for the "extra bits" that Wikipedia has and your wiki doesn't are a parser function created by an Installed extension or some other Magic word. --Arctic Gnome (talk • contribs) 13:24, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Maybe it is just the Parser Functions extension; I'll try and get it installed and see how that goes. Yes, permanent link is best for these sort of attribution links. Rd232 ^talk 17:54, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Editing People

I can't edit people even though I know more about them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dgamber (talk • contribs) 15:54, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

i can't tell what problems you are having. In general, information should not be added to articles simply because you "know" it, you must have (and provide) a reliable source that others can verify. Can you indicate what article or articles you are trying to edit and what changes you are trying to make? I see only one edit in your contributions to Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. That edit has been reverted because the referenced source does not support it. DES ^(talk) 16:04, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

request to be UNBLOCKED, please

Dear Wiki Help Desk,

Here's a letter I sent to OrangeMike, one of your editors. After three unanswered letters to this person, am seeking your expert assistance, please.

I kindly ask that SOMEONE please intervene on my behalf so I can have full privileges again.

Thank you,

William Dean A. Garner

wiki username Wangtopgun

Dear Mike,

You might recall that, over a year back, we had some rather unpleasant exchanges, due to my unprofessional conduct on Wikipedia. I deeply apologize for these transgressions of mine, and hope you will forgive me for them.

As you know, I am a NY Times bestselling ghostwriter and editor of many fiction and nonfiction books. With 7 bestsellers written for others, people love and respect my work. I’m also a former US Army Airborne Ranger and corporate mercenary for international private military firms. Did 211 missions, escorting good people out of hostile territories so they could have a voice of democracy . . . or one of opposition to oppressive regimes.

You know the meaning and importance of Democracy. You and your wife are patriots. It shows in all you and your family do.

I also am a Jeffersonian Patriot who will do whatever it takes to bring back Peace, Freedom and Democracy (okay, Constitutional Republicanism) to our beautiful country, and maintain it at all costs.

Mike, I feel it is time for us to put our past differences behind us, so I can once again contribute important information to Wikipedia. More than ever, it is imperative that we have professionals like me, those who have edited and written professionally for many years, making meaningful contributions to Wikipedia. As a professional yourself, I’m sure you agree.

What will it take for me to get reinstated in good and full standing? Please call me at home: <phone number redacted>

Thank you for taking the time to consider my request.

Sincerely,

Dean

William Dean A. Garner

I can be reached here: <e-mail redacted> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.91.11.99 (talk) 15:57, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

This Desk cannot help you, please make your request at WP:ANI. – ukexpat (talk) 16:07, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Actually, ANI isn't the best place to go for this. Assuming that this is Wangtopgun (talk · contribs), that account has been indefinitely blocked by Barneca (talk · contribs) "due to real world threats. Unlike my normal policy, please do not unblock without discussing with me first". So the IP is liable to be blocked for block evasion, although there seems little point at present. Wangtopgun, log into your account and post an unblock request on your talk page, following the instructions at WP:UNBLOCK. Alternatively, email arbcom-llists.wikimedia.org. Having said that, I have read the deleted history of your talk page, I would be surprised if your request was granted. Bencherlite^Talk 16:30, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Some more points:

• This is the English Wikipedia for English-speakers around the world. The servers are hosted in the United States, and many contributors are from the US, but this is not a project specific to the United States nor to any particular political ideology.
• On Wikipedia, we do whatever it takes to present a neutral point of view. Please read that policy page carefully and decide whether Wikipedia's goals are consistent with yours. Note that hardly anyone naturally has a neutral point of view about anything that matters to them; neutrality is a learned skill requiring diligence and discipline, like soldiering.
• Wikipedia is not a platform for advocacy.
• There are many other wikis with different policies. You might like Conservapedia - it is very far from editorial neutrality, and might be a mercenary-friendly site. See WikiIndex for lots of other wikis.
• This sentence contains a dangling modifier: "With 7 bestsellers written for others, people love and respect my work."

--Teratornis (talk) 17:20, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

How do I get rid of the "This article has multiple issues" box at the top of a page?

We have been working on the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_Improvement_Grants_(SIGs)

At the top of the page is a box reading, "This article has multiple issues. Please help improve the article..."

We have addressed the issues raised, yet the box remains. How do we get rid of it?

Clonus44444 (talk) 16:03, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

If you think you have improved School Improvement Grant so that the tags no longer apply you can simply edit to remove the {{article issues}} tag on the top of the article or to remove some of the listed concerns if some remain valid. On a quick look, it seems to me that some cleanup is still needed, particularly for the bulletted lists. DES ^(talk) 16:14, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Couple of points: First, I have moved the article to School Improvement Grant in accordance with Wikipedia's naming conventions; second, the issues have not been dealt with: the layout is a mess (see WP:LAYOUT) and it needs to be wikified and copy edited; third, you use the pronoun "we" - are you editing on behalf of a group etc that has a conflict of interest with the subject matter? – ukexpat (talk) 16:23, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

On looking are the article more fully, I agree with ukexpat's comments above. If you simply remove the tags at the moment, they will probably be replaced, or most of them. I have made some specific suggestions on Talk:School Improvement Grant. DES ^(talk) 16:32, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

teachersdomain.org terms of use

Are the terms of use at [4] compatible with using photos from the site on Wikipedia? --Pascal⁶⁶⁶ 17:05, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

I don't think so. The restrictions in the "Permitted Uses of Content" section would appear to be incompatible, though it is possible that use of some content may fall under Wikipedia's non-free content policy. If you want a more detailed, more expert response, please ask at WP:MCQ. – ukexpat (talk) 17:23, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The page you linked says "Non-commercial, Educational Use Only." That rules out uploading anything from there to Wikimedia Commons. If you upload from that site to Wikipedia, you would have to claim a fair-use rationale. See WP:NFCC. --Teratornis (talk) 17:26, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

See Commons:Commons:Project scope#Must be freely licensed or public domain, in particular there can be no non-commercial use restriction for images on Commons. You might like to search Flickr for freely licensed images with {{Flickr free}}. You can also request the copyright owner of an image to release it under a free license; see Commons:COM:OTRS. --Teratornis (talk) 17:29, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

No section edit link on page

I've just observed that Wikipedia:Appealing a block doesn't have any links for editing individual sections, but I can't understand why. Except for __TOC__ near the top, there are no magic words on the article, and while it's semiprotected, I see that the edit section links display on Wikipedia:Protection policy, also a semiprotected page. What am I missing? Nyttend (talk) 19:10, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

The page transcludes the content of MediaWiki:Blockedtext which contains a __NOEDITSECTION__ magic word. --Teratornis (talk) 20:39, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

That stumped me at first until I copied the wikitext from the page to a user sandbox page. The no edit section behavior followed the page to my sandbox, so I knew the behavior had to come from the wikitext. So I looked carefully at the list of transclusions below the edit window. --Teratornis (talk) 20:51, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

OK, so the solution would be to go to MediaWiki_talk:Blockedtext and add a {{editprotected}} with a request to move the _NOEDITSECTION_ into a <noinclude></noinclude> block (I'm thinking the _NOTOC_ should go in there too), right?Naraht (talk) 21:05, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

It might be simpler to not transclude the MediaWiki:Blockedtext directly onto Wikipedia:Appealing a block. An alternative would be to transclude it onto a subpage, and merely link to the subpage. Currently the BlockedText is in a collapsed table, so the user already has to click on something to see it. A link wouldn't be any worse. Pages in the MediaWiki: namespace are part of the user interface, so they might not behave exactly like templates when they get used as interface elements. I'm not sure. Someone would have to verify the <noinclude>...</noinclude> tags would behave correctly on the pages that display the BlockedText content via the interface and want the __NOEDITSECTION__ magic word. It's pretty obvious why MediaWiki:Blockedtext is not a template - administrators don't want blocked users finding ways to edit it off their talk pages. --Teratornis (talk) 22:35, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Delete the transclusion and some of the text around it. The page transcluded is still linked from the page. Both linking to a page and transcluding it seems a little strange.Naraht (talk) 02:05, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

External links %7c

Hi

I've created a Wiki page for James Moy, which include external links, but for some reason they aren't working correctly. Currently when you click on them it is adding %7c to the end of the link, which is not visible during the editing process...can you help?

Many thanks

Mel Mel wicks (talk) 20:35, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

I've fixed the links so that they work. However, I've removed the links to Facebook, Twitter & Linkden per the policy on external links. Regards, Orphan Wiki 20:42, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Interestingly {{Web presence}} is a template for specifically adding those links to articles. A TFD discussion in August 2009 was closed as as "keep" pending further discussion about unacceptable links. WP:ELNO still lists social networking links as links to be avoided so maybe it's time to discuss {{Web presence}} again. – ukexpat (talk) 15:23, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Vcard

There are directly linked external sites in the history section of vCard yet when I click to edit that section there is no evidence of external links? --Cameron Scott (talk) 20:58, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Typing "RFC 2425" automatically links to the appropriate RFC. For example, RFC 2425. It's quite an interesting feature...I wonder what had to happen for it to be added. Xenon54 / talk / 21:13, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Considering the people who write the software, not much I think :D Other magic words like this are ISBN number btw. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 21:50, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Interesting...ISBN 0060139331. (Special:Booksources in itself is quite a useful page.) TheDJ, is there a page you know of that lists all of these words? I am only familiar with the term "magic word" being used to describe, say, __NOTOC__. Xenon54 / talk / 22:00, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

ISBN has a hatnote to Help:Magic which leads to Help:Magic#ISBN, RFC and PMID automatic links. No idea whether that is comprehensive. Help:Magic is distinct from Help:Magic word just to keep things confusing. --Teratornis (talk) 08:19, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Colourz

There's a list of colors, but I'm not sure how they correlate to colored signatures. Can you add any color on that list into the "insert color name" spot? I need some spice to my signature. And why is there such a short limit to signature characters? 2J Bäkkvire Maestro ^stuff _{more stuff} 21:17, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

The limit is because decorating your signature is not really helping the encyclopedia, it just makes pages bigger and bigger. So make the thing useful and fun, but don't go too wild. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 21:49, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

A question about a reliable source.

I'm not sure if this is the place to ask but I'll give it a shot anyway. If a reliable source (website) has an interview with a creator of a new show, and gives information regarding this new show, like a name change, and then posts the interview on their website, could that interview be considered a reliable source?--ETLamborghini (talk) 23:12, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

If the website is truly independent and reliable (such as the website for a published magazine or newspaper, or an independent and reputable webzine with an established track record), then yes, you could certainly source to an interview with that. If it's a fansite or blog or other self-published source, with no real-world presence and no way of confirming the accuracy of the interview or whether it took place at all, then no, it would not be a good citation for Wikipedia. The phrasing of the citation will also matter. If you simply asserted "Show X will be retitled Show Y as of June 2010" and cited the interview, it might well be reverted per WP:CRYSTAL unless the source was exemplary. If you said "In an interview published on celebritychat.com in March 2010, director Edith Slugg announced that the name of Show X would be changed to Show Y in the following season" and cited it to the website in question, then your statement is accurate and checkable as far as it goes and the reader can decide for him/herself what weight to place on the information. Karenjc 23:29, 16 March 2010 (UTC)