Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 January 1

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January 1

Wikipedia Development

I was wondering where I would send a few suggestions to improve the layout of your website. Things like making a static nav bar with search box that floats on top of the page so no matter where you are on it you can easily search for another topic or navigate to another page; or allow users to change their colors (ie change to black background with white text for easier readability at night, and better power savings on mobile devices), add drop down menus, etc. I am actually a freelance website designer and developer and could help you with these things if you like. I would also be more than happy to help you do these "upgrades" for free in a month or two. I'm still getting back on my feet personally, but use Wikipedia daily, and think it's a great resource. I know there are "styles" you can get for Firefox that do these things for you, but I also know not everyone uses Firefox, or even know about the styles add-on. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

75.80.224.203 (talk) 00:14, 1 January 2011 (UTC) Sean D. Piercy The Digital Universe & The Design Hut Owner <redact>

The best place for that is Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals), if the idea is fully formed, or Wikipedia:Village pump (idea lab) if it needs to be incubated.--SPhilbrickT 00:41, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Content improvement exercises

I'm just listening to Sue Gardner's talk at GLAM-WIKI. She mentioned "content improvement exercises". I'm very interested in this: is there a list somewhere on WP or another Wikimedia site of such exercises? Searching and Googling isn't really finding it for me. (And if there isn't, should there be?) --Tom Morris (talk) 03:57, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia:Community portal for some ideas? --Jayron32 04:13, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

The first things that come to mind are Tony1's self-help writing tutorials. Graham87 14:06, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

$16 Million

Hi Wikipedia,

It is awesome that we all have wikipedia and its head quarter in USA.

I understand how much it will cost for the servers, bandwidth, maintenance and etc.

I feel it is better to look for a location where cost of overall things is not much as in USA.

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.236.8.176 (talk) 04:08, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for your concern. I am certain that the Wikimedia foundation has considered these issues, as well as other, non-monetary concerns, in deciding where to locate its headquarters. Understand that money is one of a number of concerns when making these decisions. --Jayron32 04:11, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

What you're not taking into account is political and financial stability, among other things. It may be quite a bit cheaper to put the servers in some third world country but who's to say how long their government will last? What if a war broke out? Would a server farm be everyone's first priority? Then what if there is a major weather event like a tsunami? Sure, Florida gets its share of hurricanes but the US has the ability to weather (no pun intended) all but the worst of them. Dismas|^(talk) 04:36, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Beyond that, the U.S. has very liberal legal protections over free speech; locating the physical servers in the U.S. affords some level of protection that locating them in a cheaper-to-run country would be. If they were located in, say, China, a country known to have a very poor outlook on free speech, what would stop the government of China to shut Wikipedia down if there were things being said in Wikipedia articles it didn't like? Remember that Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia in BOTH terms, that is Free as in speech, and free as in beer. The OP is considering only the "Free as in beer" definition of the term. --Jayron32 04:41, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Although it should be noted that free speech has two meanings in this context: first, the free speech guaranteed by the Second Amendment, which may prevent the US government shutting down Wikipedia; but second, Wikipedia does not itself guarantee free speech and nor is it obligated to, we can and do delete material that violates our policies. – ukexpat (talk) 19:43, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Oh, absolutely. It's Wikipedia that is free to publish whatever it chooses, but because the Wikimedia Foundation has freedom of speech, it also cannot be forced to publish anything. Wikipedia has the right to establish what it will and will not publish, that is all an inherant part of Freedom of Speech. --Jayron32 21:55, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Images and Previews

When clicking on any link or file. All boxes in the page are blank or have a question mark in the middle. I have check all I know about my Mac to see if it's me, but it seems to only be on LL's....Can anyone tell me what this might be???? Please....Very frustrating....

Thanks, Chris —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.225.173.124 (talk) 09:01, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Does this archived help desk question help you? If not, and you are still having problems, please post your browser name and version here. Are you saying that you do see the pictures in the articles, but not when you click through to view the file description page? I confess I don't know what you mean by "LL". -- John of Reading (talk) 12:40, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Didier Deschamps

Didier Deschamps.jpg — Preceding unsigned comment added by Donald Hernández (talk • contribs) 11:58, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Do you have a question about File:Didier Deschamps.jpg? -- John of Reading (talk) 12:40, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

how to use the tag filter

I've taken a look at

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/mediawiki/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter/RulesFormat

but I'm not sure how to do the search e.g. how would you use the tag filter to search the deletion log for U1 deletions or user page deletions in general? -Verapar (talk) 14:15, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

The edit filter performs filters on edits as they happen, it does not back-search the database for edits. You'd have to write a script to do that on your own. It looks like your looking for a function that the edit filter doesn't perform. --Jayron32 16:54, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the info. Also received this reply on my talk page:

In the tag filter, you enter "references removed" or "possible BLP issues or vandalism" or something listed on the left of Special:Tags; like this search. These tags do not work with "U1" because that's a deletion tag, not an edit filter tag. /ƒETCHCOMMS/ 21:55, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

-Verapar (talk) 14:02, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Need someone who can read and write Thai

Can someone who can translate Thai into English translate the image permission information for this image on the Thai Wikipedia to its English Wikipedia equivalent here? I would greatly appreciate it. Nightscream (talk) 15:42, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't read Thai, but fortunately Google Translate handles that language pretty well. See [1]. There is no image permission on that Thai image; it is being used under fair use. It is an image from web news on Thai TV. Accordingly, I'm afraid it can't be hosted on Commons. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 23:44, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. But what license should I use when placing it on WP? Nightscream (talk) 04:47, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Did we make the goal?

I went to sleep last night at the goal was at 15.6

Did we hit the goal?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.169.203.224 (talk) 16:47, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

This page is for asking questions about how to use wikipedia. Please note also that we have no idea which country you're in, or what game or even what sport you're referring to. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 17:22, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I think the IP's referring to the Wikipedia fundraiser. Goodvac (talk) 17:35, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Facepalm My apologies. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 17:37, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

No worries. Looking at your edit summary, I thought, "That's odd. What other goal would someone be asking about?" Goodvac (talk) 17:44, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Not only did we meet the goal, we exceeded it. See wmf:Half a Million People Donate to Keep Wikipedia Free for more information. Goodvac (talk) 17:44, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Category American Women state governors

Please add (NM) Susana Martinez & remove extraneous User from "L". 75.202.142.52 (talk) 18:12, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

 Done Just so you know, you could have done this yourself by editing the Susana Martinez article. Dismas|^(talk) 18:17, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I have been editing the Susana Martinez article, but didn't realize (facepalm) adding the category; had no idea how to remove the User. Thanks. 75.202.142.52 (talk) 18:27, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Blocked infinitely?

I've been curious about this for a while. Vandal Johnnycracka (talk · contribs) was blocked with an expiry time of infinite. I was under the impression that infinite blocks do not exist. Is there really such a capability in the system? Goodvac (talk) 18:23, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I think infinite blocks work the same way as indefinite ones – they may be lifted or shorted down by any administrator. HeyMid (contribs) 18:25, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

The blocking software, in the 'other time' window, accepts a wide range of time units. People can be blocked for any number of seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months, years, or even fortnights. It also accepts the word "infinite" for exactly what it means; entering the word "infinite" in the "other time" box has the same effect as selecting "indefinite" from the pulldown menu. --Jayron32 18:31, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

As far as I know, MediaWiki has some issues in interpreting complicated block lengths (such as 2.5345 seconds). HeyMid (contribs) 18:34, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

misspelled name

how do I correct the spelling of a name?

Editing Andrew McNaughton (triathlete) - should be Andrew MacNaughton - note the Mac not Mc

Thank you.

andrew Jagaamac (talk) 20:18, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

There is no article with the title Andrew McNaughton (triathlete). If you want to correct the name as it appears in other articles, just click the edit tab at the top of the article and edit the text in the edit window. Don't forget to complete the edit summary field and click the save button. – ukexpat (talk) 20:29, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I think you must be talking about the article 1991 ITU Triathlon World Cup. Do you have a source for the name change? I did find this, http://www.triathlon.org/athletes/profile/andrew_mcnaughton/ and it shows the name with out the "a". I also found this, http://www.auburntriathlon.com/2004/macattack.shtml that includes the "a". ~~ GB fan ~~ 20:31, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

This seems non-controversial. I don't see why we can't just change based on the second source, and WP:AGF on the person above being who he claims to be. --Jayron32 21:53, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

The current spelling McNaughton in 1991 ITU Triathlon World Cup is copied from the listed reference: The official https://www.triathlon.org/media/stats/1991-world-cups.pdf. Are you referring to 1991 ITU Triathlon World Cup? Are you Andrew M(a)cNaughton? PrimeHunter (talk) 00:05, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

cant see my profile

i have just created an account and written a bio for myself. Why cant i see it when i search for my name under wikipedia in google? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mariannehoullou (talk • contribs) 20:43, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Because user pages are not indexed by Google, nor should they be. Your user page should be relevant to your editing activities on Wikipedia not a biography for self promotion or other reasons not connected with Wikipedia. As it stands at the moment, yours may not comply with the user page guidelines at WP:UP. – ukexpat (talk) 20:49, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

User pages are indexed by Google unless they contain __NOINDEX__ (often via {{NOINDEX}}). User:Mariannehoullou was created today and just hasn't been indexed yet. It takes a varying amount of time for Google to discover and index new pages. It isn't controlled by Wikipedia. But if you are concerned that your user page hasn't been indexed by Google then it's a sign that you are using it for a wrong purpose. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:28, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I sit corrected, thank you. I thought they were NOINDEXed by default. – ukexpat (talk) 21:34, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Note that the user has no contributions other than posting their biography on their userpage and asking this question. Matt Deres (talk) 21:41, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Need to get the truth out there.

I recently added this to a few pages, and they have all been removed:

The way the 'holy' Qu'ran (Islamic bible) works, is as follows... When there is a question asked in the book, instead of giving an answer, it gives 3 replies. The question itself represents a full moon. Then, when the 3 replies begin, each one leads to 3 quarters, then to half, then a quarter moon. When one finishes reading that section, he/she is left without an answer to the question and left in the darkness.

This is very important. Allah is indeed the moon god whom is a foreign god to ADONAI. I can't stress this enough. The Muslims have been disguising the truth with your website. I personally found that the above statement is true by reading the first few pages of the Qu'ran many years ago, and I should have pursued getting this information out there back then. Please be aware of these things, and if you still have the page where Allah was discribed as the moon god laying around, do consider bringing it back up again. Thank you, no matter what you decide to do with this letter.

--Jonathan Tallant <email removed> — Preceding unsigned comment added by JT81 (talk • contribs) 21:44, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Well, if this is the truth, then reliable sources (see Wikipedia:Reliable sources) will have written about this. I assume you have gotten this information from a well-respected author who writes about Islam and its history. If you have, you just need to cite that source. If, perchance, others disagree and feel that your source is not reliable, you should discuss the matter on article talk pages, and arrive at a consensus with others. --Jayron32 21:51, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Please also note that the purpose of Wikipedia is not "to get the truth out there". See Wikipedia:Verifiability. Karenjc 22:01, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm sorry; there's no telling where the book I read had originated. I just checked the english version online, and it doesn't seem to have the statement on it that I referred to. The one I read was quite different than the one that's online. I apologize for wasting your time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JT81 (talk • contribs) 22:14, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Oh, its not a waste of time at all. Understand that, like you, we want Wikipedia articles to be correct. That's why Wikipedia insists on information coming from reliable sources. If we just took everyone's word for it, that we didn't ask anyone to "back up" their claims of what "the truth" is, then how can we tell WHOSE version of "the truth" is right? We welcome your help in making Wikipedia better, its just that you need to take care and understand why Wikipedia policies on verifiability and citing your sources are in place! --Jayron32 22:17, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

What Reference template do I use?

I would like to use this as a reference for Saw Ba Yi, but I am fairly perplexed on what reference template to use for it. Should I just go with Cite web? Silverseren^C 22:31, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Since you were the first person to add a reference, it was your prerogative to choose what style to use. Since you chose {{cite book}}, additional references should use templates from that family. As for http://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199702/msg00004.html, that appears to be an archive of an online forum. Usually such material is not suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia. See WP:IRS#Self-published sources (online and paper). Jc3s5h (talk) 22:56, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Intimidation to win content disputes

This isn't your typical help desk question, but I'm not sure where else to ask. There's a rather lame content dispute on some of our articles. The dispute itself is of little consequence. But what does bother me is how some of the editors are going about trying to win the content dispute. In particular, editors who change the content away from their preferred version are threatened with a block or called a vandal. These are not bad edits, they're just simply a matter of legitimate disagreement. Of course, edit-warring is wrong, but only editors who edit against the preferred version are ever threated.

I would also like to point out that there are also legitimate attempts to resolve the dispute, including discussions on the article talk page, an RfC as well as notices at several related WikiProjects.

For the most part, I've stayed out of the content dispute but the repeated threats to block editors is bothering me. It has a chilling effect and many of the editors simply walk away from the article rather than risk getting blocked. How should I deal with this? This isn't just one bad editor, it's several. 67.172.2.149 (talk) 22:44, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Could you post a link to the dispute? They are all different and might call for different responses. GeorgeLouis (talk) 23:34, 1 January 2011 (UTC)