Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 February 8

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February 8

Someone is Selling Wikipedia on PlayBook?

Hey Wikifolks,

I don't know the legal rights and all that. But I noticed someone is selling access to Wikipedia on the PlayBook:

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/76936/?lang=en

Except, it really is just a link to the Wikipedia website that they are charging 1.99 for. I don't know if it is a legal issue or not but I thought I would open the conversation up in case this is something you wanted to be aware of. I'm not sure if he is actually copying Wikipedia data to his own server or just charging for access to the website - but I thought you should know. I didn't see where else to post it.

70.72.48.24 (talk) 02:26, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I don’t have a PlayBook, but I assume it comes equipped with a browser; so users could get Wikipedia for free. Presumably what the app offers is a different user interface than what is available through the browser. —teb728 t c 06:18, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not disallow copying and selling of its content, as long as proper attribution is given. People do regularly copy Wikipedia articles into books and then sell the books, this is perfectly fine so long as Wikipedia's attribution requirements are met. See Wikipedia:Reusing Wikipedia content. --Jayron32 06:39, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

That is shocking. I had no idea. 86.160.210.161 (talk) 18:24, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

James Frain

I don't have any issues or disputes. I'm watching Flash Forward a TV show currently available on Hulu Plus and I saw James Frain in episode 19 titled Course Correction. And since it wasn't listed here I wanted to send a message so it can be updated. Love your service, I always choose Wikipedia when I Google mostly anything. :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.166.163.232 (talk) 04:18, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

It is, you can find it at Course Correction. jonkerz ♠talk 09:59, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Smithsonian Channel counter-diction

To whom it may concern, Verinacci started and led the the Italian fascist "blackshirts". I'm watching The Smithsonian Channel, MUSSOLINI IN COLOR. I got on wiki to find the spelling of dudes name. FYI Pink Floyds motion picture The Wall... The soldiers in the "Bring The Boys Back Home"

I don't know how to fix it. I'm analog.

Love, iMpared — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.100.197.106 (talk) 04:57, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Can you clarify your question? Is there a Wikipedia article that needs to be fixed? which one? RudolfRed (talk) 05:47, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

The soundex matches Roberto Farinacci, of the National Fascist Party. Dru of Id (talk) 09:45, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

how to request a user ban

hi there, id like to know how/where i can request a user ban. im talking about Andrewlp1991 because he abused his privilege to edit semi-protected articles for vandalism on the eddy murphy article. thx --46.115.38.30 (talk) 10:06, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

WP:AIV is what you're looking for. But the user must have been warned first and you should also try to work things out with the user first. Dismas|^(talk) 10:26, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The change which Andrewlp1991 made seemed to be changing the template on the article from fully protected to semi-protected, in order to match the level of protection which had actually been applied to the article. In what way is that an abuse of privilege? - David Biddulph (talk) 10:36, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

thats weird, up until right now the article showed that eddy murphy supposedly died february 3rd. the page version before andrews edit showed only the date of birth so i assumed andrew entered the fake date of death. must have been a bug of some sort. nevermind then --2.214.22.177 (talk) 11:17, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

If you look at the Page history and look at the diffs you'll see that that false information was added here, and that that user has been blocked indefinitely for vandalism. I also believe this is the first sentence I've ever written that used "that that" twice.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:29, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Contrib count by edit prefix

I want to get a count of a user's contributions to a given page and all its subpages. (For example, I want to know how many times user X has edited the administrator's noticeboard and all of the AN subpages). Does a tool to do this exist? Raul654 (talk) 12:25, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I think this tool will do it, provided the count is less than 500. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:38, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

That's precisely what I was looking for. Thank you very much. :) Raul654 (talk) 12:51, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

There's also User:Ale jrb/Scripts#User History, which I think has a longer reach. There's also the page history statistics tool which would work for something like this, albeit roping in more than just one user's contributions, but it is limited to the last 50,0000 edits. This is enough for many pages but not for a page link ANI, where 50K is just a drop in the bucket (I just ran it on ANI and it only went back to June 17, 2011).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:08, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Defining two url parameters in citation template

Resolved

Is it possible to define two url parameters in Template:Citation? If so, how could this be done? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:35, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Not at present. There is a discussion about it here. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:41, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

You can "hack" it, like this. But I do not think it's recommended :)

jonkerz ♠talk 12:46, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Okay, let me specify the question: In Wieferich prime#Further reading for the first listed publication (that by Haussner) I want to provide a link to both [1] and [2]. How can I do this using the template? If that is not possible, which of the two urls should I use? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:55, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I suggest:

• |id=[[German National Library|DNB]] [http://d-nb.info/363953469/about/html 363953469]
• |jfm=52.0141.06

Über die Kongruenzen 2_1hnp_1hn-_1hn1-1=0 (mod p_1hn2) für die Primzahlen, JFM 52.0141.06, DNB 363953469

---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 16:00, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

 Done Works great, thanks. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 13:30, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Contribution keeps getting removed

Hello, I have contributed to the page Cross Road with a definition (byway or by-road) not previously included but it was edited out completely. So I submitted it again and it was edited out completely again. So I've put it on for a third time. Why does it get removed and by whom?Jacobandtotty (talk) 13:30, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Cross Road (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Since the encyclopedia covers so many topics, it is not unusual for a page title to mean different things to different readers and editors. The page you edited is about a music album, not about road junctions. Those are covered by the article Intersection (road). I have edited the "hatnote", the first line of the Cross Road article, to make this clearer. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:45, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

A better Idea would be to redirect Cross Road to Intersection (road) as primary topic and move the article to Cross Road (music album) as this certainly is not the primary topic. Hatnotes can do the explaining. --lTopGunl (talk) 14:18, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Whatever the final solution, the draft text is now at User:Jacobandtotty/Cross Road (byway). The new text is about a kind of road, not about an intersection - I misunderstood. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:39, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

2012

Could somebody who knows about referencing please fix the formatting of reference #3 at 2012? (I'm using Firefox, Vector skin) Thanks.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:52, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

 Done --lTopGunl (talk) 14:01, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

wrong pix

in your story of the episodes with morn in them you have a pix of quark. why not morn? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.32.125.128 (talk) 15:26, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Morn was in lots of episodes - which one in particular are you referring to? UltraExactZZ ^Said ~ Did 15:35, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Likely a reference to Who Mourns for Morn?. Dru of Id (talk) 16:20, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Surely, Who Mourns for Morn? is a Quark story? Astronaut (talk) 19:45, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Show me the money

I have added a little humor with the subject title. I have noticed that there are many people out there publishing our work and making money out of it. For example, if you go to Amazon.com and search for "Modesto Cartagena" you will find a book that goes for $73. whose contents are articles from Wikipedia. We the editors in Wikipedia spend countless hours researching and writing for the project with the intention that our work is shared and used by those less fortunate. We do this for free. How is it possible that our work is being published and others who have done nothing in regard to making contributions, are profiting from it? Is there a deal between Wikipedia and these people? Where are the earnings of our work going to? What does Wikipedia have to say about this? Is it fair that others are making money from our work, I think not. I want to know what is going on and what is Wilipedia's stance in the issue. Tony the Marine (talk) 16:06, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

We've always known about this. Unethical people exploiting our work is not illegal because we use a free license, there's nothing we can do. Sven Manguard Wha? 16:08, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Buying Wikipedia articles in print or another form -- John of Reading (talk) 16:11, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Remember that it is our mission to make knowledge freely available -- not to protect it because someone is profiting from "our" content. While it may sound unfair, it is not a big issue; you can still get it for free somewhere else. Commercialization is not necessarily a bad thing. Where do you think Linux would be today if you couldn't make money from it? Editors should be proud when their content is used, not angered. jonkerz ♠talk 16:21, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

• Thank you, all of the comments are well received. It is a pity that our Wikipedia fundation can not profit from all this. It would really help to keep our project running. By the way, since I wasn't sure which of the forums would be the proper one to discuss this issue, I also posted it in the "Village Pump". Thank you all. Tony the Marine (talk) 18:52, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I am just passing by (came here for another matter), but this is the second mention of this problem that I have seen on this page. It is shocking that this is allowed. How many editors know about this policy? As a long-term very modest contributor, I am appalled that someone might be making money by copying and pasting Wikipedia articles. I that knew people could freely copy Wikipedia info, but I always assumed there was a "no commercial gain" clause. 86.160.210.161 (talk) 18:30, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Wrong flag used for 2 years now

So I was browsing List_of_Indian_princely_states#States_of_the_Punjab when I noticed that the Princely State of Sidhowal seems to have the exact same flag as Venezuela. This is obviously wrong and has been for 2 years now. Would someone who knows how be able to fix this?--SelfQ (talk) 18:15, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

The flag has been wrong for a while now. In early 2011, there was an attempt to make a single sortable list. Unfortunately, during that process Sidhowal disappeared completely. Before then, the flag used was File:Sidhuwal_flag.svg, but I'm not sure that ever existed anyway. In September 2011, this edit attempted to reinstate Sidhowal, but used File:flag.jpg for the flag image. No one bothered to correct this until this bot edit made a wrong guess and changed the flag to the current image.

It is very odd however, that File:Flag of Stranavy.jpg has also been changed recently. For some unknown reason, someone replaced the original (presumably representing the Slovakian village of Stráňavy) with the flag of Venezuela! I have reverted that change just now.

So where does this leave the flag for Sidhowal? I have restored Sidhuwal_flag.svg as a 'placeholder' for the correct flag in List_of_Indian_princely_states#States_of_the_Punjab, but there being no actual image there it just displays as a red "25px". If you have the correct flag for the princely state, please upload it to Commons, preferably in SVG format using the filename Sidhuwal_flag.svg - I have no idea what it should look like. Astronaut (talk) 19:36, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

My article for Serge Lamothe

I was contracted by the Author himself for this english entry on wikipedia. As I was for the one in french , entered in december 2011. So I do not understand why it has been rejected ! Please explain to me how to fix this and have it published ! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Synchrotech (talk • contribs) 19:15, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Because we really hate promotional articles here. Roger (talk) 19:19, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Actually Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Serge Lamothe was rejected for lack of reliable independent sources. But we do hate having paid writers. (It would have helped if you had indicated what page you were asking about.) —teb728 t c 19:43, 8 February 2012 (UTC) BTW, I would have rejected it for not demonstrating the notability of the subject. —teb728 t c 20:17, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Now that you have revealed that you are a paid editor your "career" here at the English Wikipedia is over. Everything you have ever written in articles here, and might try to write in future, is subject to deletion under the WP:COI and WP:SPAM rules. Your "employer" should ask for a refund because you will not be able to deliver on your "contract". Roger (talk) 19:56, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Hear the sound of a boomerang striking its target? --Orange Mike | Talk 19:59, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

COI by itself does not make an article subject to deletion (though the problems that tend to go along with COI make it much more likely).Cloveapple (talk) 21:56, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Gerry Zaragemca

I did provide the name ,Gerry Zaragemca, as one of the famouse Afro Cuban, the biography could be found at the, Unesco,(webside). International Music Council,( where there are also several articles under Zaragemca's name). But I do not know how to make the link to this side from the biography. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.126.220.33 (talk) 20:10, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

See WP:Referencing for beginners. Roger (talk) 21:02, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I don't understand what you are trying to do: If you are trying to add a link to an external biography to Afro-Cuban#List of Famous Afro-Cubans, that is not the way we do things. Or if you are trying to transclude an external biography like this into Wikipedia, that is not possible. If Zaragemca meets our notability standards, someone would have to write an original article on Wikipedia. —teb728 t c 21:39, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Formatting Issue on a specific page

If you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_(province), you'll find the information box is not displaying correctly, resulting in all the html code to appear as text at the start of the article. I have no idea how to fix this. Can someone with more html-skills please take a look? Thanks. 70.109.56.32 (talk) 20:48, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

 Fixed in this edit. – ukexpat (talk) 21:15, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection

I want to make a article about Katy Perry's new re-release of her album Teenage Dream but it won't let me make the article so can someone delete the redirect of Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection? Please answer this question in my talk page. CPGirlAJ (talk) 21:39, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

See Help:Redirect#Creating and editing redirects. Copied to user talk. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:35, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

What reference format is in use here?

I'm helping a new editor with the article on Roschier Attorneys Ltd.. It uses a reference format that I've never used before. Is there an example page or explanation of this sort of style that has a seperate books and newspaper section in addition to the reflist? (I edited references 6 & 7, so I may have mucked up the formatting on those. Look at the others to see what the intended reference format is.) Cloveapple (talk) 21:43, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

See WP:CITE. --21:46, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I'm sorry. I don't see that style there. Cloveapple (talk) 22:09, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

A better link is Wikipedia:Citing sources/Example edits for different methods, which has example styles commonly found in articles. This is "Shortened notes linked with {{sfn}} and citation templates". --Jayron32 22:15, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

See Shortened footnotes. The article uses manual links, not {{sfn}}. And it has in-text wikilinks to the Finnish and Italian Wikipedias. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 22:21, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you all. I'm finally starting to understand the formatting. Cloveapple (talk) 22:11, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Looking for logs except a certain type

Since WP:AN is move-protected, I thought I'd check the logs to see both the pagemove vandalism and the resulting protection. Turns out that because it's a prominent page, it gets lots of edits that get revdeleted, thus clogging up the log with lots of deletions. I was able to find what I wanted by telling the system to look for protection entries and then to look for move entries, but this was more effort than I had hoped to expend. Is there a way to exclude a certain type of log entry, or a way to view multiple types of log entries? Nyttend (talk) 22:24, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Date Calculating Incorrectly in Info Box

Why is the date of death calculting incorrectly in the info box in this article. Thank you for any help you can offer. LoreMariano (talk) 22:29, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

I have tweaked it in your draft so you can see the code - basically the death parameter needs to know the date of birth to calculate the age. MilborneOne (talk) 22:45, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

A bye the way - if you need to show American date format then you should removed the df=yes bit. MilborneOne (talk) 22:47, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Specific litmus for COI edit and promotional user name

Hi.

I don't have a lot of experience using Wikipedia, though I've tried to understand the policies and adhere to them.

I just made some link reference edits to two entries on a subject that the film company I work for is widely considered an authoritative source of information on.

But after making the edits, Wikipedia messaging gave me some doubts about wether I'm compliant.

First, the entry on Death & Taxes (film)... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_%26_Taxes_(film)

I updated the link to the reviews page that was already there to reflect a new destination, and also added a direct link to the actual film summary page which has a trailer for the movie, as well as an opportunity to acquire it.

There is also an entry on the person who is the subject of the film Death & Taxes, Gordon Kahl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Kahl

And in that list there was an existing direct link to an old VHS version of the film on Amazon. I changed that link to point to the same official page on the film as above, which does include an opportunity to acquire more current copies of it.

Lastly, as a matter of routine, I always choose a username I can remember relevant to what I'm doing, so it was not my intention to violate the promotional username rule when I selected the name of the company. I have since looked to no avail for a way of changing my username. If this is possible, I'd like to learn how.

I wasn't sure if that made a difference unless I author a page, as opposed to an edit. I tried to find this user name using the tools here, and it came up with nothing.

So, I'm a little confused as to wether or not I've violated anything.

Anyway, I just want to comply while also seeing an appropriate amount of credit provided for our efforts.

Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by TaosLandAndFilm (talk • contribs) 23:09, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Partial reply: For changing username see Wikipedia:Changing username/Simple. —teb728 t c 23:36, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. You are strongly discouraged from editing directly (under any username) any article where you have a conflict of interest, but you may make suggestions on the article talk pages. The fact that you are interested in "an appropriate amount of credit provided for [your] efforts" shows you have a promotional intent. —teb728 t c 00:37, 9 February 2012 (UTC)