Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 March 16

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Help desk
< March 15 << Feb | March | Apr >> March 17 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.


March 16[edit]

Proper article title if the album in question is spelled with all capital letters...[edit]

Apparently, the proper name of an album released by the band FLOW (article located at Flow (band)) is ANIME BEST. There's now an article about it (at ANIME BEST (FLOW album)) and I'm trying to determine what the article should be called. My guess is that it should be moved to "Anime Best (Flow album)" (and I'm not even certain if the "(Flow album)" part is necessary), but I wanted to double-check before suggesting it. Thanks! Fletch the Mighty (talk) 00:19, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You're correct in thinking that it doesn't need the disambiguation, i.e. the "(FLOW album)" part, since there is little chance of anything else being called "Anime Best". It's not like "John Smith" or anything else where there are multiple things called the same thing. As for how the article should be titled, all caps vs. leading caps, I'm not too sure and will let someone else take that point. Dismas|(talk) 01:30, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It's now been created - and moved to Anime Best, per WP:ALBUMCAPS.  Chzz  ►  09:09, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Resolved

NOT an advertisement![edit]

Metal clay (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

I take objection to a Wiki article being considered an "advertisement".

The article I am referring to is that about "Metal clay". That IS the GENERIC name for an artistic product and medium. Yes, the article DOES describe it's creation, but doesn't the article about the electric light bulb explain how IT was created?

The article mentions MANY manufacturers for metal clay. Last I looked, I see articles for MINOLTA cameras, FORD cars and COCA COLA. Should THEY ALSO be DELETED???

This really angers me. Yes, I have been a metal clay artist for 10 years. And yes, I use various BRANDS of METAL CLAY! Are you going to ban articles on SHARPIE markers, PRISMACOLOR pencils, and GOLDEN Artist Colors? ALL are brand names of an artistic medium. Yet I see NO calls for deletion on THOSE articles!

I am considering posting this on the MetalClay Yahoo list, which is the biggest listserv for metalclay artists.

Marilyn T. Ostrow Scottsdale AZ USA Terezi (talk) 00:24, 16 March 2011 (UTC) Terezi (talk) 00:24, 16 March 2011 (UTC) Terezi (talk) 00:24, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There's no call for deletion on that article, merely a call for a rewrite to a more neutral tone. Are you volunteering to help rewrite the article? If you are a good writer of simple, fact-based, sourced nonfiction, your assistance would be very useful in improving that article. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 00:26, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The review and advertisement tags were added by an IP who has made no other edits to Wikipedia. An experienced editor recently toned down some of the article, although not really so much because it was promotional but because the tone was wrong in other ways (gushing and hyperbolic). I'm not sure it deserves the tags. If it does, it's borderline. I don't know anything about metal clay to know, for example, whether the references to particular companies are necessary or not. One possibility would be for Terezi to initiate a discussion on the Talk page of the article. She'd have to tone down her own indignation, though, to be effective. :-) --Bbb23 (talk) 00:35, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Edward DeBlasio[edit]

My husband, Edward DeBlasio, is an American television writer/producer who has a massive amount of credits listed on imdb and Writers Guild of America, West. There are several wikipedia listings showing his name as writer or writer/producer including: 94 episodes of Dynasty, Paris, Police Woman, In the Heat of the Night, Legend of Lylah Clare, etc. but not a single listing under his name. He is now 84 years old and began his career on East Side/West Side with George C. Scott, The Defenders, and eventually moved to California where he worked at Universal Studios along with other young writers (Steven Cannell, Steven Bochco and others). Is there a way to compress all the separate listings on wikipedia and create a single entry for him? Born in Brooklyn, New York he attended the High School of Music and Art, Columbia College and Columbia Journalism School (President of his J-School Class). I would appreciate your guidance. Irene DeBlasio76.166.240.110 (talk) 00:41, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there.
First of all, I suggest you create a user account. You don't have to, but it does make it much easier for us to help you (see Wikipedia:Why create an account?).
Regarding the article - there are, really, two options. One is, to list it in Wikipedia:Requested articles. Unfortunately though, that page has a massive backlog - there is no guarantee anyone will be able to deal with the request.
The other option is, to write a draft article yourself, and ask for help with it. Because of your close connection to the subject, first, I think you should read WP:YOURSELF (I know this isn't an autobiography, as such - but the same things apply).
Then - if you're sure you can stay neutral and stick to facts in reliable sources (books, newspapers, etc) - use WP:WIZARD to guide you through the creation - and at the last stage of that Wizard, use the option to "Submit for review" rather than "Go live now".

 Chzz  ►  09:53, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Page exists, but link in another article says "page does not exist"[edit]

There is an article about an Australian children's quiz show called "Go Go Stop" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Go_Stop and a newer article about an Irish version of the format called "Bog Stop" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_stop

In each article, there is a link to the article about the other show. The link in the article about the Irish show links correctly to "Go Go Stop". But the link in the article about the Australian show does not link to "Bog Stop". It says "page does not exist", even though the page does exist. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Liocsleag (talkcontribs) 01:45, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It was a capitaization error. The link in Go Go Stop was going to Bog Stop instead of Bog stop. I changed the link and it no longer says the article does not exist. GB fan (talk) 01:50, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Thanks for the very speedy reply and explanation and correction! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Liocsleag (talkcontribs) 01:54, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

deleting ip[edit]

If possible, how do you delete your IP number from a history page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by YomynameisJOE1234 (talkcontribs) 03:39, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You have to request it from somebody with the necessary access. See Wikipedia:Revision deletion#How to request Revision Deletion. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:45, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

getting an article posted[edit]

I created a page via article wizard, see its edits as listed under my contributions, but the article does not appear within Wikipedia. It's as if I am not pushing the right button to officially post it. Any suggestions? Tmbazaar (talk) 05:25, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

To go into the main article space, the article has to be moved. Though before that happens, you should fix the issues that you have with the article. First of all, I don't see how Cherry Jam is notable enough for inclusion. You don't have any third party, independent references. And it doesn't have a neutral tone. Dismas|(talk) 05:58, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How to Find Articles in Need of Help?[edit]

To whomever first reads this, I have recently seen a number of spelling areas in various articles, and I want to find a good place to start helping. Is there anywhere I can go to find random articles in need of help? I am quite proficient at grammar-checking, and would like to find a "help wanted" section for disorganized articles. Does such a device already exist on Wikipedia? If so, I am having trouble finding it.

GalatiansOneTwenty (talk) 06:13, 16 March 2011 (UTC)GalatiansOneTwenty[reply]

You can find all sorts of places to help at Wikipedia:Community portal where there is a section titled "Help out" that lists many specific tasks which need doing. If you are particularly good at copyediting for spelling and grammar, you could check out Category:Wikipedia articles needing copy edit which has several thousand articles and a backlog dating to 2009. If no one else has done so yet, let me be the first to say welcome aboard, and that your help will be much appreciated! --Jayron32 06:18, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
One more place to try: Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Backlog elimination drives/March 2011  Chzz  ►  09:02, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Help.....please[edit]

I am new to this and have received the following message:

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive and inappropriate external links. (March 2011) This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (March 2011). I have tried looking through the forums and help guides but have no idea what it means in plain language as I am not hot on computer/wiki terms. Also does anyone know of a simple guide to doing this wikipedia stuff.

Thanks for reading and would greatly appreciate any help anyone can give!!!! ---- — Preceding unsigned comment added by Promoteme (talkcontribs) 10:56, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi.
When you leave messages, please remember to "sign" your name, by putting ~~~~ (four tilde signs) at the end. This will add your name, and the date and time. You can also do this by clicking the 'sign' button, pictured to the right.
I suggest you try Wikipedia:Tutorial, before trying to edit it further. The formatting is fairly simple, but we do not use "HTML" (which you seem to have tried).
For external links, you put, for example, [http://www.google.com This is Google] - which displays as, This is Google.
There is a quick reference guide at WP:CHEATSHEET.
The article needs quite a lot of 'cleanup'; I will try to look at that, as soon as I can (I mean: I will tidy it up a little)  Chzz  ►  11:02, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Generally speaking, the number of external links in an article should be kept at a minimum. The specific links given in that article don't seem to contain information about the subject of the article and look as if their purpose only is to promote a product. It might help to have a look at WP:LINKSTOAVOID. One of the links is to a site on facebook and such links are normally to be avoided per Wikipedias guidelines. I also encourage you to read WP:SOAP. A good starting point to get an idea of the purpose of Wikipedia is WP:FIRST. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 11:22, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I've now cleaned up the article formatting. The most important problem remaining is, the lack of inline references to reliable sources. For help with how to add more, see WP:REFB. All the information should be verifiable, with references such as newspapers, books, etc. Cheers,  Chzz  ►  11:41, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Frankly, if I had access to Twinkle right now I'd nominate this s.p.a.'s only article for deletion, as it's a BLP which fails badly to establish the subject's alleged notability. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:31, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The topic doesn't appear to meet WP:N. However, Help Desk Chzz spent some time on the article so I figure to leave it to someone else if they want to AfD nom it. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 13:52, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

what links here[edit]

Hi, is there any possibility to get the information HOW many pages link (or transclude in the case of templates) to a page? I mean pages to which link more than 500 pages. Didn't found any tool until now... mabdul 13:57, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I found this in the archives, but it's hardly a user-friendly solution! -- John of Reading (talk) 14:11, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
This isn't very user-friendly, but seems to work: http://toolserver.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/backlinkscount.py
E.g. http://toolserver.org/~dispenser/cgi-bin/backlinkscount.py?title=Wikipedia:Help_Desk  Chzz  ►  14:38, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Some of us are UNIX savvy enough for the UNIX wget based answer to be user-friendly, though I will admit the number is riny.Naraht (talk) 15:25, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Hey great. These toolserver-links are definite the links I expected. mabdul 17:40, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

My grandfathers journal.[edit]

I found my grandfathers journal. He was aboard the USS Borie 704 during the WWII tour. He was aboard the ship at the time it was hit and tells his story. I would like to know if there is a place for adding a copy of this information to a museum or something? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.171.18.50 (talkcontribs) 15:50, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I would consult a museum. I don't think it could be used as a source for an article, as the reader would have no easy way of verifying it. Obviously if a copy were available in a library or archive, it might be usable but see WP:PRIMARY about why we are cautious in using first-person accounts.--Wehwalt (talk) 16:08, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Contact details for the US Navy Museum here - [1]. They are most likely the best people to advise you what to do with your grandfather's journal. Roger (talk) 20:55, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Disabling Username markup[edit]

I've come across some editors who display usernames with no connection to their actual usernames. It's very confusing when trying to match up the identities of users in a Discussion page with the identities of users in a page's edit history. Is there some way I can configure my settings to override username markup so what I see is the user's real username and not the unrelated projection of it? If there is not such a setting, there ought to be.—Biosketch (talk) 16:15, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Depending on your browser, if you mouse over a username, it should display the URL link to that person's user page; and you can get their "real" username from that. Otherwise, there is no technical means to do what you are asking. --Jayron32 16:32, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
No. Not as you envision since the page is saved with the full markup in the source code. Another alternative is going to your preferences > Gadgets > turn on Navigation popups. Dismas|(talk) 20:02, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

CSD G3[edit]

So... G3 is vandalism. What exactly qualifies? There's this new article, Shitnuts, that'll probably get deleted so I'll paste the contents here Shitnuts refers to the state of ones balls after going at it with a man. Is this vandalism or just otherwise misguided? Zakhalesh (talk) 16:34, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There's a chance, albeit a slim one, that the creation was in good faith. I think A1 is probably the best option in this case. Rehevkor 16:37, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
This is just the problem. When is G3 appropriate? Normally, when it's evident that a page is bad faith, it's almost exclusively an attack/hoax page. If I adopt a personal policy of "If it's something a random vandal would insert inside a normal article and what would be reverted as blatant vandalism, G3"? Zakhalesh (talk) 16:43, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Don't worry so much. Just do what needs doing.--Wehwalt (talk) 17:58, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tsunami travels how far Inland?[edit]

In an effort to be as prepared & ready as possible for a tsunami here in the USA, on average, how far Inland did the destructive forces of the water itself travel on level ground in Japan? Thank You. Michael Clark, Los Angeles CA. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Clarkmdc (talkcontribs) 16:46, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This is Wikipedia's Help desk, meant for editing questions only. WP:REFDESK/S might help you out a bit better. However, you might find this link interesting. Zakhalesh (talk) 16:50, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Browser crashed while editing[edit]

Hi, I had been doing a lot of editing on a page, and previews, but never saved it. Then my browser crashed! The server probably thinks I'm still editing the page and has a copy of my last preview, but I don't have access to that. Instead of starting over :-( is there any way I can recover those edits? Thanks! Interferometrist (talk) 17:22, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The server definitively hasn't any copy of your editing since you never send the data. The previews aren't "pre-saved". mabdul 17:39, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Um, are you really sure?? I can't believe that. When I hit "reload" it gets a version back from the server which includes the latest preview. The reason I can't get that back now, is simply because it sees my browser as a new session, disconnected from the editing operation I had been performing. Now perhaps there's no easy way to recover the version which I still believe the server remembers, but could you please contact a technical person (or refer me to) and find out for sure? Thanks, and sorry to bother you with this. Interferometrist (talk) 17:47, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is one of the busiset websites in the world. With 60,555,375 articles, talk pages, project pages, user pages and so on, the mind boggles at how many page views the servers must process every hour. The chances that someone with the appropriate levels of access would be prepared to search through the system to find previewed but non-saved edits must be as close to 0% as makes no difference. We've all been there - losing edits because of a browser crash or misclick or similar. It's a hard lesson to learn, but you can minimise the risk of this happening by (a) working offline before putting the final version on Wikipedia; (b) saving the page more frequently; (c) working in a user sandbox, where repeated page savings will be less likely to conflict with other users; (d) copy-n-paste your version to your computer e.g. a text file before hitting "save page" so that you have a recent local backup if the browser then crashes. If you really want to check if someone would be prepared to hunt through the servers for you, try asking at WP:VPT for the best person to ask. BencherliteTalk 18:06, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Alright, I'll accept your answer. And I'll try to take those suggestions. In fact, I'm great at doing backups, but only right after I've been burnt :-( Thanks for looking at this anyway, I had thought it might be easier to recover. Interferometrist (talk) 18:24, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
If you use Firefox, I believe that the add-on called Lazarus may be helpful in this sort of case (though it can't go back before you installed it!) I've not tried it myself, but I've had it recommended. --ColinFine (talk) 20:54, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the tip. I sometimes use firefox (deal with about 4 different computers) but was using Opera at the time. So I'll have to look for that, thanks, Interferometrist (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 21:18, 16 March 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Copy of Survivor Benefit sheet[edit]

I am Sue A. Cox, widow of Jerry G. Cox, retired pilot with United Airlines. I would like a copy of the survior benefit sheet that my husband signed. Just how do I go about obtaining this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.75.55.130 (talkcontribs) 17:55, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This board deals with questions of how to edit Wikipedia. Good luck in your quest though.--Wehwalt (talk) 17:56, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
You should contact United Airlines corporate headquarters at PO Box 66100, Chicago, IL 60666. – ukexpat (talk) 18:52, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Problem with the rights of a picture[edit]

Hi, I´m patroller in es:WP. We received a report from Antonio Galán Cees saying that in this picture Basilio uploaded a picture without ask for any permission. I don´t know who I´ve got to talk or where to write this. So, please, if someone can help, I appreciate. Cheers. --Andreateletrabajo (talk) 18:03, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The picture is hosted at Commons, so you'll have to ask for help there. Their help desk is here at Commons:Help desk and they can answer questions in a multiude of languages, including English and Spanish. --Jayron32 18:07, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Contributing to Wikipedia[edit]

Greetings, So, being a long time user of wikipedia, I've reached a stage in my life that I may be able to contribute. As a medical student studying for STEP 1 of the US Medical Licensing Examination, I am exhaustively using Wikipedia and other references as I study. I was wondering what the rules are exactly about adding information from my study books to wikipedia itself (basically from texts like First Aid for the USMLE Step 1). There are plenty of useful mnemonics which I could share to various pages, but I don't want to violate any copyright issues. Is it possible to add information to wikipedia in this way and what would be the process?

Thank you, Jetryckx (talk) 20:24, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:COPYRIGHT and Wikipedia:Citing sources, you can definitely use text books as sources, and I would encourage it. If you have more questions, reply here please. CTJF83 20:27, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It is interesting to consider Wikipedia:Medical disclaimer in light of this question. Wikipedia does not give medical advice, but I guess Wikipedia's medical content is good enough for a medical student studying for an examination. With reference to mnemonics, see:
A search on Wikipedia for: mnemonic finds a number of medical articles that give mnemonics. You may find some styles to emulate. Also consider joining Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine. --Teratornis (talk) 07:32, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Template for tagging an incomplete reference[edit]

I've discovered a page that uses something like this - <ref>A. Writer, 2003</ref> - as a citation for one of it's core claims. There are no further details of the cited author or their work anywhere on the article or talk page. I'm looking for a suitable tag to indicate that the citation is incomplete in the hope that the person who added it might come back and fix it. Roger (talk) 20:43, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

{{Full}} -- John of Reading (talk) 20:50, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. Roger (talk) 20:57, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I traced the reference back to 2008 in the page history to and removed the whole paragraph as original research.[2] The "reference" was an IP naming himself and dating his "Original thought". PrimeHunter (talk) 00:44, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Adding a logo to our page.[edit]

I am webmaster for the American Eagle Foundation (www.eagles.org) -- We have a logo that I would like to upload to our wikipedia page. It is copyrighted by our organization (the American Eagle Foundation). I have been to way too many support pages to see how to do this, and nothing has helped. I am confused about several things. Normal html tags don't work --- How can I get a REAL PERSON'S help with this problem? Challengerflyhigh (talk) 22:10, 16 March 2011 (UTC) Carolyn Stalcup, webmaster for the American Eagle Foundation. My user name is challengerflyhigh.[reply]

WP:OTRS is the place to go to grant a license to use an image copyrighted by your organization. Jarkeld (talk) 22:13, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The question is whether you are willing to grant a free license to the logo. If you are willing, please follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. If you are unwilling, then it might be that it can be used as fair use in the article. That would require uploading the image here with a properly filled out fair use rationale and for this you would use {{Logo fur}}.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:38, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I have added the logo to the article - see [3]. I took the logo from the website, cropped it, and uploaded it with a "Fair Use Rationale".
Challengerflyhigh, please read WP:BESTCOI. Thanks,  Chzz  ►  23:18, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Large edits and deletions made to my informative comments on article's comment page[edit]

I wrote some informative detail on the comment page about the death of Arnold Bennett, and when I returned to look it them again I found it had been entirely deleted without any comment. I wrote a similar piece again, mentioning that the previous had been deleted. When I returned again I found that this had been heavily edited to remove criticism and the identity of the deleter.

Am I right to think that the usual etiquette for comment pages was breached? Was someone using a sockpuppet? Was this a kind of vandalism? It is a pity that half of my comments are remarking on the deletion and heavy editing of my comments. Thanks 92.15.26.91 (talk) 22:36, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think the removal of your comments was contrary to guidelines. Although the guidelines permit refactoring for relevance, I don't think it was clear enough that your comments were irrelevant (stated basis) to remove them. Plus, you objected, and the reversions continued. In any event, it looks like your comments are back in.--Bbb23 (talk) 22:47, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

330th Bomb Group page[edit]

I have additional information I could add to this article. My father was a crew member on one of the B-29 Bombers of the 330th BG. How would I add to this article? Thanks Nicedraw (talk) 23:03, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, you cannot add information based on your personal knowledge. Facts must have a reliable source (such as a newspaper or book) so that they can be verified. Please read Wikipedia:Five pillars and maybe Help:Contents/Getting started.  Chzz  ►  23:07, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Assuming you do have reliable sources, however, you would click on the "Edit" button to the left of the search bar. For more see Wikipedia:How to edit a page. BurtAlert (talk) 00:42, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]