Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 May 20

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May 20

Having sexual realations with MSRA

I am in a relationship with a woman who was recently diagnosed with MSRA. I cannot find any articles that say if we can have sexual relations with her. Is it safe or not? What kind of preventive measures do I take. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.164.18.45 (talk) 01:43, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not give medical advice. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:47, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

If you refer to Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus we have an article about that. But this is no substitute for asking your doctor for advice. I recall reading a similar question years ago about what to do when a partner was infectious and one humorous response was "Get cable." --Teratornis (talk) 02:02, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Eclipse with UT

On the page of the eclips they have a UT and I want to know if that means the time you can see it from Utah or what the UT stands for?03:04, 20 May 2010 (UTC)~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.213.21.190 (talk)

Wikipedia has a lot of pages about eclipses and I don't know which you refer to. UT can mean Universal Time. Wikipedia is an international encyclopedia and wouldn't normally have a reason to use time of a US state for an eclipse. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:30, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm a network administrator for a large school district with a dilemma related to the "porn" flap

Hi,

I'm the Network Manager for a large school district.

We are being pressured to add Wikipedia to the block list for our content filter. We are mandated by CIPA to make a best-effort attempt to keep "bad" content away from the District's children.

As a long time fan of, and contributor to Wikipedia, I'm doing my best to keep the censors at bay. But, unless you can provide some kind of a child-safe version of Wikipedia, one that has NO blatantly erotic images (example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autofellatio), we will be forced to block Wikipedia.

And that will be a HUGE loss for our students.

Please quit the internal arguing about free speech and realize that in the USA, we have laws that school districts must follow. Come on - help us here!

Sincerely,

Mr. X —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stevecrye (talk • contribs) 05:34, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

You might find Schools' Wikipedia of interest. It's available online and as a free download. Also, you may wish to read Wikipedia:Advice for parents. It can also apply to school administrators. Goodvac (talk) 05:45, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:NOSEE might also have some information. wiooiw ^(talk) 07:55, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Just wait till they get some Muslim students who innocently check out the Muhammad page. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:08, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Sortable tables

I wanted to know if anyone knew a solution to making Wikipedia sortable tables with the words "The" and "A" and such so the titles wouldn't be listed by 'The Legend of Zelda', but under 'Legend', without having to write it as "Legend of Zelda, The". I'm not sure if their is an answer but I hope someone can look into it and let me know. If it's been more then a week, I'll probably stop watching this page so please leave me a note on my talk page. (Floppydog66 (talk) 09:36, 20 May 2010 (UTC))

Thee are a couple ways it can be done. One way I do it is illustrated in UConn roster. Look at it in edit mode to see how I made sure that Class would sort in the order you want, not alphabetically. In each cell, I added code such as the following:

<span style="display:none">4</span> Senior

This makes sure that “Senior” will sort after” Sophomore”, because it sorts on the “4”.SPhilbrickT 12:07, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

See Help:Sorting and {{sort}}. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 09:55, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you both, these suggestions were really helpful. (Floppydog66 (talk) 23:51, 22 May 2010 (UTC))

help please ````

help please```` not sure I have done the wiki correctly and what more I can do? Be great if I can speak with someone for further guidance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sylviecarter (talk • contribs) 11:34, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Please explain a little further. I am not sure what you mean. Do you mean that you need help using Wikipedia? If so, please be a little more specific. What are you struggling with? Chevymontecarlo 11:42, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Hi and welcome to Wikipedia. It appears your trying to devlop an article for Mindscious? If this is so, do keep in mind if your affiliated with the organization have a quick read here; WP:COIN for some pointers on dealing with affliations and editing their respected pages. That out of the way. the page is in your 'user space' right now. Which technically isnt pulished yet. but thats fine you can develop it further. Your going to need secondary sources ascerting the pages notability before it gets moved to the main space. That is a must. Some examples of secondary sources can be press coverage or news articles, things that can be verified. Hope this info helps. If not feel free to post back here. I will post some helpful links shortly on your user page. Ottawa4ever (talk) 11:45, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I think the editor may be referring to this article being prepared at the editor's talk page.

Assuming that's the case, and you hope to eventually move the article from "user space" to "article space", then you'll need to demonstrate that the subject of the article is notable, using references from reliable sources. I'd recommend, too, that if you're in anyway involved with Mindscious (the subject of the article) that you avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest by requesting that other editors create the article for you.

Cheers, TFOWR^propaganda 11:49, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

You broken Wikipedia and I can't find ANYTHING explaining how to edit!

You guys have seriously screwed the site. I have searched, in Wikipedia, extensively for how to now edit (minor edit). If someone doesn't have a command of the language or some kid posts smut in place of what was original, I now have no idea how to correct it. 'How to', Help, etc. yield no information and only link back to areas that DON'T spell it out. How do I edit??

Nice job NOT!! Thanks for the "new" makeover NOT!! I'm sure some improvements were well thought out but hiding the edit process is not one of them. I'll bet that many who dissented during the big idea meeting can agree this was going to cause problems. In the meantime I need a REAL answer because neccessary corrections can drive me mad. Again: other than wading through the 2000 Q's since the makeover, I can find no information on how to edit. Anywhere. Pretty piss poor guys... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.207.126.72 (talk) 12:33, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but it isn't clear what your question is? Assuming that you'd like to revert back to Wikipedia Before The Change, there are several posts above (many from me, for example this one) that explain how to do just that. Hope that helps, if not let us know what it is you'd like help with. TFOWR^propaganda 12:36, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

The design changes shouldn't make it harder to edit. Just click "edit". It's difficult to say what your problem is when you don't give more information. Maybe you encountered something you haven't met before (for example a protected page) and incorrectly assumed it was a problem with the new design. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:58, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Note that the main edit button has moved slightly in the new interface - it is now on top right, close to the new search bar, rather than on the top left (the edit buttons for each section are still in the same place). 131.111.185.68 (talk) 14:50, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

And please note that the "you guys" that read your message are the hundreds (maybe thousands) of volunteers who watch this page in order to help people, most of whom have nothing to do with the Mediawiki software or the overall appearance of Wikipedia. I have not broken Wikipedia or screwed anything: please don't tell me that I have. --ColinFine (talk) 22:44, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Is an approval mark copyrighted?

Can I upload an image of a german approval mark for car bulbs?

I have no idea whether this is copyrighted one or the other way.

It is somethings like the "CE" mark found here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cemark.svg

As a matter of fact I'm not yet able to upload files, because I'am not an (Auto)confirmed user.

What to do to complete my contribution to the project?

Mleimann (talk) 12:59, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

You will probably get a faster response at Media copyright questions. – ukexpat (talk) 14:31, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

How does "Watch this page work"?

If I click "Watch this page", is it supposed to notify me if anyone edits the page? I did this, and I don't think I got notified even though the page was edited. And how will it notify me?

Also, if I click "Watch this page" on just the article page or just the discussion page, will it notify me when either page is changed, or just the page I clicked? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Duoduoduo (talk • contribs) 14:38, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

You won't necessarily receive notification via email (though I believe you can set that via your preferences). What will happen is that the page will be displayed at your watchlist whenever the page is edited. TFOWR^propaganda 14:43, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

If you go to your watchlist (either by clicking "My watchlist" at the very top of a page or clicking on Special:Watchlist) you will see a list of articles you are watching, along with the most recent change to the articles. TNXMan 14:43, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

An article and its talk page go together – if you click to watch one, you'll automatically watch both. Full details are at Help:Watching pages. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 14:49, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

The ability to ask for changes to be sent via email is not enabled. It used to be a preference option, but it was removed, because the volume was too large.SPhilbrickT 16:21, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Why is the bold/italics messed up in the introduction? --Drogonov 15:22, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

There was a stray apostrophe. I fixed it here. TNXMan 15:24, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Dilema with whether or not to use a very in-detail ref

I found a book kicking around titled Ships of the Imperial Russiaan Fleet, 1892-1917. It has info, meaning construction, design and history on everything from the Russian battleship Poltava to every single auxiliary dispatch vessel in the fleet. I see mentions of the minor vessels on other websites, but I'm wondering if they qualify under WP:N. Help? Buggie111 (talk) 15:25, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Seems to me that if the only place they appear is in exhaustive listings like that, they don't really qualify as notable. It's like the old principle that appearing in a trade directory, even over multiple years, does not make a business notable. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:46, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I think that using this and my book could create a good stub, but I would like to know if it would be taken to AFD. Thanks for any other help. Buggie111 (talk) 17:03, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Template problem

I have been wokring on Template:Infobox FBI Ten Most Wanted. Ever since it was made there has been a problem with spaces apearing at the top of the wikipage using it. (see Alexis Flores for example). I have attempted to figure out the issue using the "Sandbox", but nothing I try works. Is there someone or someplace where I can get help fixing this? --ARTEST4ECHO ^talk 15:39, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Wouldn't it be easier to rewrite the template using the {{Infobox}} meta template as a base? Then the formatting will be consistent with all other iboxes built from it (which, gradually, will be all of them). – ukexpat (talk) 17:04, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

WHICH IS THE MOST ECONOMICAL FUEL FOR A GENERATOR?

IF 5 IDENTICAL GENERATORS WERE USED EG 5KVA AT 240V 1 USING HOUSE GAS 1 USING BUTANE GAS 1 USING PROPANE 1 USING PETROL 1 USING DIESEL WHICH ONE WOULD BE THE CHEAPEST TO RUN IF ALL RAN FOR THE SAME PERIOD OF TIME? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.180.131.216 (talk) 16:01, 20 May 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.--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail} 16:23, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

The Heat of combustion article lists several fuels. From that you could determine the combustion rate necessary to maintain a particular generator output at some assumed efficiency for each fuel. From that you could use the local fuel prices (which vary widely with time and location) to determine which is cheapest. Note that it would probably be incorrect to assume each fuel delivers the same efficiency in a given generator. Thus your question is incompletely posed. Also, you might not want to use "identical" generators, since the various fuels might require different compression ratios or some other factors. A flexible-fuel vehicle engine, for example, has to make some adjustments as the fuel mix changes. To get a reliable answer, you would probably have to pick some particular generator model and test it with actual fuels. Good luck finding one generator that can burn all five of those fuels with no adjustments. --Teratornis (talk) 22:52, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

searching an article providing detailed information for BORDER MOULDING MATERIALS USED IN DENTISTRY.

Dear sir, I am a BDS studying student. I request u to please release such an article that provides me a detailed knowledge about various types of border moulding materials used in dentistry now a day. so that i shall be thankful to you.

sir please inform me at my e-mail address (<redacted> when the article releases.

HIMANSHU GUPTA. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.161.35.254 (talk) 16:31, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

We do not appear to have an article on mo(u)lding in dentistry, so please ask at the Reference Desk. – ukexpat (talk) 17:00, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Sorry but we are not in a position to do that for several reasons.

• With rare exceptions, communication occurs here, not by email
• Everyone here is a volunteer, so unless someone personally volunteers to keep a watch for such an article, there is no provision to respond to such a request.
• While Wikipedia articles are a good start when looking for information, I would never want a student to rely on anything in a Wikipedia article. If you need information on “border moulding materials”, you should be searching reliable sources. (As noted,the reference desk might be able to help)SPhilbrickT 17:01, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I agree that a student should not uncritically rely only on a Wikipedia article about some random topic, but if the article happens to be one of our relatively few featured articles, a student could find worse. Ultimately we would like every article on Wikipedia to be an authoritative introduction to its subject, but that is likely to take a while. In light of the millions of dollars in donations and millions of hours in volunteer labor going into the Wikipedia project, it would be strange if we did not someday end up with something students could trust as much as they trust, say, their textbooks. --Teratornis (talk) 22:39, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I am a very solid a supporter of Wikipedia as a starting point for research. That said, if my dentist remarked, as she inserted some metal objects into my mouth, that she was trying something new she learned on Wikipedia, I would not be a happy camper.--SPhilbrickT 23:17, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

LOL that was great i cant stop laughing ..you made my day  :) ....Moxy (talk) 23:19, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

WP:NOT#HOWTO says we should not provide how-to information (for dentists or any other profession). Since Wikipedia explicitly forbids procedural knowledge in articles, the goal of this site seems primarily to satisfy intellectual curiosity rather than to give detailed practical guidance that would have critical real-world impact. Most student projects have little direct impact on the real world. But even if they did, someday when we have flagged revisions, we might be able to provide as reasonable a guarantee of accuracy as any other publisher can. In any case, if someone reads only one source of information, whether it is Wikipedia or any single book or journal, and without checking any additional sources plunges ahead with some risky action based on information from just one source, that person needs to learn about critical thinking. --Teratornis (talk) 18:53, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Global opt-in

How does one opt in globally for all edit counters? I understand I must create a .js page at my meta user space, but what should be in this page? Once I figure this out I'd like to make a quick tutorial, as I couldn't find one anywhere. - Draeco (talk) 18:45, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Hello all you have to do is create the js page with any text .. all i put was a - see here-->User:Moxy/EditCounterOptIn.js....

So you would do that here -->User:Draeco/EditCounterOptIn.js Moxy (talk) 18:55, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Moxy is correct - as long as the page exists, you've opted in to the edit counter. It doesn't have to say anything specific. TNXMan 18:58, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Appreciated - Draeco (talk) 20:07, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Note however, that creating the page here will only give you the edit counter for the English Wikipedia. You'll need to create the page on Meta in order for the edit counter to work across all projects. TNXMan 20:27, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

And for global opt-in on Meta, it needs to be named m:User:Example/EditCounterGlobalOptin.js according to what the edit counter tool says. PleaseStand ^(talk) 02:05, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Translation into English of an existing Romanian article

I would like to translate into English a good article that appeared in Romanian. The title is Ioan Dragalina. Do I need permission from the author of the article? How can I upload the translation? Thanks,

Opritsa Popa 19:02, 20 May 2010 (UTC)19:02, 20 May 2010 (UTC)Opritsa Dragalina-Popa (talk)

Hello i take it you mean -->[1] Yes this would be great, however i think Ion Dragalina is the same guy so perhaps we could rename this article here at English wiki if need be (again not sure if its the same guy i cant read it  :) and you could move the text/translated over from the other version!!Moxy (talk) 19:10, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Meadows, Illinois. Help needed

Resolved

I have added a two sentences with two references to the existing History of Meadows, Illinois. Although earlier references were in place and the new references were in the edit, the new reference numbers appeared, but not the references themselves. I would appreciate it if someone could look at it and help out. Elkmilok (talk) 19:18, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Hello i have fixed it for you ...you needed to add the code {{reflist}} to generate the list

• Ensure that the following wiki markup is at the bottom of the page - if not enter it (the alternative titles "References" or "Footnotes" may be used rather than "Notes"):

==Notes== <references />

OR

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

See -->Wikipedia:Citing sources for more info,,,, Moxy (talk) 19:22, 20 May 2010 (UTC) .

You also need to be sure to put the links between a <ref> and a </ref> tag. This will ensure that the {{reflist}} picks up the references. I did one for you on the page. TNXMan 19:26, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Nominate articles for review

Resolved

 – Talking to him on his talk page Moxy (talk) 20:44, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

How do you nominate articles for review? For example, I have been improving iron, antimony, and tin for Wikiproject Elements. Can you get them reviewed as to whether they can become a higher-class article or if not, how they can be further improved? Thanks in advance. --Chemicalinterest (talk) 20:14, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

If you mean a Peer review To add a nomination -->

1. Add {{subst:PR}} to the top of the article's talk page and save it, creating a peer review
2. Within the notice, click where instructed to open a new peer review discussion page. If there is no such link in the notice, see this.
3. Complete the new page as instructed. Remember to note the kind of comments/contributions you want, and/or the sections of the article you think need reviewing.
4. Save the page with the four tildes (~~~~) at the end of your request to sign it. Your peer review will be listed automatically on this page within an hour.
5. Consult the volunteers list for assistance. An excellent way to get reviews is to review a few other requests without responses and ask for reviews in return.

....... See -->Wikipedia:Peer review for more info!!....Moxy (talk) 20:32, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

The only classes that require formal reviews are good, A (only for some active projects, such as MILHIST, that have a proper A-Class review procedure in place), and featured. For other classes, it is usually not a problem if you change between the lower classes, just as long as you apply their guidelines correctly. You should consult the relevant section on the WikiProject's page, usually titled "Assessment" or something similar, for the appropriate guidelines. If the WikiProject has not developed guidelines, refer to the general guidelines instead. Xenon54 (talk) 20:27, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

BTW, a peer review is going on here now. Feel free to join. --Chemicalinterest (talk) 12:42, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

wikipedia font is now so small I can't use the resource anymore

Dear Wiki,

I have been using you for years; you're one of my most treasured sites.

But now you have made the font so tiny it is impossible to read. If you don't change this back I will no longer be able to use Wiki.

I could barely make out, I think, that there is a way for me to return the Wiki I get on Explorer back to the old Wiki I love so much. Please HELP.

[Removed email]

How do I send this message?????? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vijnana1113 (talk • contribs) 23:17, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Pls see --> Wikipedia:Help desk#Font size makes Wikipedia unusable that is on this page just above...Moxy (talk) 23:26, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Negative title

Please help me. someone has placed incorrect information about me, which has affected my career. I was able to edit the content, but how do I delete the negative title of the post when you do the search in wiki? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Doulce (talk • contribs) 23:54, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry you have been negatively affected by an article. If you are referring to the blurb that appears beneath search results, it will be updated soon and automatically. However, the only article you have edited is Shawnee High School (Kentucky), on which you performed a test edit and then reverted back to the original version. Which article is it that you found damaging? liquidluck✽talk 00:05, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

The 3 edits by your account didn't change the article so I guess you refer to [2]. The old content should disappear automatically from Wikipedia's search results page within a couple of days. See Help:Searching#Delay in updating the search index. We don't control when external search engines like Google update their index. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:09, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

I just tested Google and they have already updated to the new version in their search blurb. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:12, 21 May 2010 (UTC)