Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 January 20

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January 20

Making picture align right

Hello, I want to put a picture of myself on my userpage. How would I change the syntax to make this photo appear aligned/flushed to the right of my page?

[[File:Prowress personal.jpg|thumb|Prowress personal]]

Thanks!--Prowress (talk) 03:33, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

thumb in your code already does this. See more at Wikipedia:Picture tutorial#Thumbnails. If you are unhappy with the result of your code then what exactly is wrong? PrimeHunter (talk) 03:49, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

I just created my page, and relize it is automatically shifted to the right. Thanks!--Prowress (talk) 04:04, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

how many languages are spoken in the world?

Are there more than 3000?

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.42.97.24 (talk) 05:00, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

According to List of languages, there are 6,909 spoken ones. Bielle (talk) 05:09, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Specifically, Ethnologue catalogues "6,909 languages which are known to have living speakers who learned them by transmission from parent to child as the primary language of day-to-day communication"[1].

For future reference, this Help Desk is for questions specifically about using or editing Wikipedia; for general knowledge questions like this one, post on WP:Reference desk. --Colapeninsula (talk) 13:12, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

I assume, then, that that does not apply to artificial languages such as Esperanto? The Mark of the Beast (talk) 22:36, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

help its driving me crazy lol

who sings the song wherevthe chorus goes something like "and the night goes on and on and on he also says something like he thinks or wonders if theyre going to make up it sounds like its a punk sounding song ive looked everywhere and i kept the radio on and it made me forget how it went now Haha its driving me crazy you guys played it like 40 minutes ago I think — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.250.77.174 (talk) 05:47, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Uh, Wikipedia is not a radio station, but I think you just heard Sleeping by Rick Astley. See this page for the lyrics. Goodvac (talk) 06:04, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

You should have made that a link to Never Gonna Give You Up. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 19:34, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

That's forbidden per the WP:Hep desk code of conduct-- Obsidi♠n Soul 19:57, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Firstly there are two many help desks

So tis quite confusing. Can u tell me what is blp?

I see this written in some discussions but can't understand .ciao

Biographies of living persons. →Στc. 09:04, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

The Wikipedia:Glossary can help with this sort of thing. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:29, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

support for your actions yesterday

Hi

I just wanted to express my support for your actions yesterday to protest against the new bills being passed in the US.

I am Danish and for me looking at the States from the outside, you seem to be moving away from being a democracy. This is just one little extra hint this is happening and I am happy to see such influencial organisations as you and Google to stand up against this development.

I apologize if I have not used the correct contact form, but I found it very difficult to find one that would match this message.

Best regards Brian — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.184.150.218 (talk) 08:51, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your support! TNXMan 16:26, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Adding my site link to semi protected Humpback Whale page

Hello, I wanted to add my Humpback whale site link to the external link section of the Humpback Whale page you have. My site contains around 3,500 great images in videos and comprehensive information on Humpback whales so it would be useful to students research. http://humpbackwhale.homestead.com/

I don't seem to be able to add the link on the following wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpback_whale

Kindest Regards Gary — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gotcha20 (talk • contribs) 09:00, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

In short, no. Wikipedia articles are not meant to be a comprehensive list of all links related to a subject. Even if the creator of the site feels that it's a very good resource. See WP:LINKFARM. Dismas|^(talk) 12:50, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Sorry I don't understand. I see links there to other Humpback Whale web sites and every page seems to have an external links section. As far as I can see there is no other resource such as the site I built. It is meant to teach people about the whales which I thought was also the purpose of a Wiki page. Good Humpback Whale information is very hard to find and a good amount of quality images even harder to find. I also read here on Wiki that you are supposed to be able to request an edit on a semi protected page and that was really the purpose of me asking this question. To find out where I request to edit a semi protected page. Can anyone tell me where I can request that action please?

Ok I have been contacted by someone who is telling me I can't offer my web site as a resource for students when it is very clear that other web sites containing content not as comprehensive are already listed there. Do me a favour, delete my account this is not the Wikipedia that existed last time I visited and it is obvious that sharing information is no longer the purpose of wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.208.75.92 (talk) 02:44, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Multiple Accounts

I'm sorry to take up your time esp w/ something so simply. However I had made a duplicate account because I was unable to find my original log on/PW and since then I have found the original. Is it possible to delete one of them. I do not intend at least for now add anything and as of yet have not. I use wiki for more of a research basis from time to time.

The 2 accounts I have are, my 1st one of DFales2011 and the recent creation of DFales.

Can 1 be deleted? I see it says it can not be deleted if you have entries and I have no intent as of yet to have a "bot" account.

Again, I'm sorry to trouble you with something so simple and lack of attention on my end.

Regards, Darrell Fales — Preceding unsigned comment added by DFales (talk • contribs) 09:46, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

You could simply let both stay. There's nothing wrong with that. See WP:VANISH. Dismas|^(talk) 12:47, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

A suggestion however: Place a disclaimer on your current userpage identifying the other username as your former account (see WP:SOCK#NOTIFY). And also avoid editing under both accounts as that can get you blocked under WP:SOCK. Stick with your new username.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 19:43, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

re entry for Nigel Lawson

Please note that one of the companies of which Nigel (Lord) Lawson is Chairman is erroneously given as Central European Trust (CET). The abbreviation is correct (CET) but the company name is Central Europe Trust Co Ltd.

Thank you.

109.156.137.63 (talk) 10:54, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out; I have corrected it on Nigel Lawson here. I found the expansion of the acronym in the title text of the landing page at http://www.cet.co.uk/, but not anywhere in the website itself, which may explain the confusion. --Kateshortforbob _talk 12:51, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Don Ciccone

Why do you not have a page for Don Ciccone? How can that be made to happen? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.126.96.57 (talk) 16:18, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Because nobody has written one yet. Is the Don Ciccone you are referring to the musician? The musician is mentioned in various articles about bands and songs - use the search box above to see a list of the articles. If you would like to have a go at creating an article about Don Ciccone please take a look at WP:My first article. Welcome to Wikipedia! Roger (talk) 16:48, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Or WP:Requested articles. – ukexpat (talk) 16:55, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

RE: define an english person search

The first topic to come up on this search is a page from you about the word CUNT, this in no way defines an English person and should not be attached to the search Define an English person, it is defamatory, derogatory and completely wrong in every way. If I ever get someone call me or any other English person a cunt due to this circulating the web, I think you may have a law suit on your hands, Please ensure the information on the word cunt is strictly related to the search of female genitalia or swear words. 78.147.70.255 (talk) 16:42, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

It is a well known "problem" with Google, not Wikipedia. Please take up the issue with Google, we have no influence over the way their search system works. Roger (talk) 16:53, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

And no legal threats. Which law is it against anyway? Rcsprinter (Gimme a message) 17:58, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Can anybody provide help on how to get this information rectified please? And racism is against the law in many countries.

Does Wikipedia post pages on Facebook?

Does Wikipedia post pages on Facebook? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.104.188.238 (talk) 16:50, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

No. Facebook reproduces Wikipedia articles on their own site, which they're allowed to do per Wikipedia's terms of use. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 16:55, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Just to clarify, Facebook is the initiator of the move of the content, not Wikipedia. People at Wikipedia have nothing to do with moving content that was written here over to Facebook. As noted, people are alowed to reuse content as long as the terms of use are followed, and Facebook does this. If you have concerns about something on Facebook, then you need to contact Facebook. --Jayron32 17:18, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

There are frequently questions about this so we have a stock answer at {{HD/facebook}}:

Facebook community pages may incorporate content from Wikipedia— such use complies with Wikipedia policies on reuse of content. We at Wikipedia have no control over how the content is included nor can we help to remove it. Facebook does have a topic on Community pages and profile connections on their Help Center. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:07, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Factual Errors

I am an official representative of Robert Van Winkle (Vanilla Ice) who has requested the fixing of several factual errors in his Wikipedia page. However, the page is "semi-protected" so I cannot make the changes myself. How do I go about making these changes? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kurtmichael (talk • contribs) 17:47, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Go to Talk:Vanilla Ice and tell everyone what changes you think need to be made. It is very important that you also include sources for the correct information (links to websites, or dates and issues of newspapers, magazines, or titles of books, that sort of thing) so that anyone can verify the changes you want made. Someone will be along shortly to help you there. --Jayron32 17:50, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

And please also see WP:COI for guidelines about how not to edit BLPs if you are too close to the subject of the article, that is to say, Vanilla Ice. The changes can still be made if they are all correct and sourced. Rcsprinter (natter) 17:56, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

I am more concerned about issues that are listed that are not true and unsourced and need to be deleted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kurtmichael (talk • contribs) 18:39, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Still discuss the deletions at Talk:Vanilla Ice. —teb728 t c 18:42, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Submitted several in the Talk:Vanilla Ice. Thank you for your assistance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kurtmichael (talk • contribs) 19:08, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Table Sorting

I have read a variety of articles discussing how to appropriately sort a table, but I appear to have come across a bug in the table sorting code. Try sorting these two tables, with the little arrow beside "Rank".

Rank
1
2
3
4
5
-
10

Rank
1
2
3
4
-
10

The first table sorts appropriately. The second table does not (it sorts alphabetically rather than numerically). As specified in the sorting help page, the first element is a numeric, and therefore the table should sort numerically. What is particularly odd about this combination is that adding one row appears to make the difference.

Is there a better place to discuss this? Is this a known bug? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nograpes (talk • contribs) 18:08, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

There are already discussions going on about the sortable tables glitching. See Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Wikitable_sortable_with_tnavbar-header and Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Sortable table with header spanning several rows. From there you may find links to bugzilla and/or other discussions. fredgandt 18:34, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll try there. Nograpes (talk) 18:44, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Verifiable page

Good morning. We have created a Wikipedia entry for our principal, Dr. Ken Haycock ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Haycock). It is all verifiable, factual information with appropriate citations and we believe it is written within the NPOV guidelines as laid out by Wikipedia. Is it possible to have the warning below removed from the top of the article?

“This article is an autobiography <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Autobiography> , or has been extensively edited by the subject or an institution related to the subject. Please help edit it to conform to Wikipedia's neutral point of view <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NPOV> , in line with the discussion on the talk page <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ken_Haycock> . (January 2012)”

Thank you

Geoff Watt Director of Client Services Ken Haycock & Associates Inc. <redact> Ggeoffwatt (talk) 18:54, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

If you are editing an article about your employer, you need to read Wikipedia's policy on conflict of interest. - David Biddulph (talk) 19:17, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

The banner isn't so much a warning as an advisement, so don't panic. The issue is one of Conflict of interest. We at Wikipedia believe that readers should be notified when reading an article written by those closely connected to the subject (or written by the subject themselves). The notification also advises editors in passing that certain issues may need to be carefully considered. This advice is there to encourage the improvement of articles, not to warn the writers. I would worry that Ken Haycock may not be notable enough to warrant a page. Only time will tell. fredgandt 19:23, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Not only that, but (not surprisingly) it's way too promotional in tone. I have tagged it for speedy deletion. – ukexpat (talk) 20:20, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

This page has been deleted. User:Fastily deleted "Ken Haycock" ‎ (G11: Unambiguous advertising or promotion). --Orange Mike | Talk 01:52, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

special characters

Most wiki articles I edit and read today use the simple ndash character "–" instead of the &ndash or {{ndash}} nomenclature. That's fine and dandy since it sure uses less space in tennis articles and it follows our own policy at entering special characters. Plus our own wiki text editor has a special character tab that works the same way. But now I have an editor telling me that to reach FLC we will need to use the {{ }} brackets on such things as daggers or it will not pass FLC. I know ndashes don't need brackets to pass FLC because there are plenty of examples, so must daggers "†" be represented as {{dagger}} to pass muster? It seems to go against written policy if this is true. Maybe I'm missing something (it wouldn't be the first time). Fyunck(click) (talk) 20:41, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

After a bit of research; yes, the use of {{dagger}} and similar templates is part of the Manual of Style, at WP:NOSYMBOLS, and is therefore a requirement for featured content. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:26, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

It says don't use unpronounceable symbols. We can use asterisks and ndashes so what makes daggers so special? I did a little research and conversed with Freedom Scientific, the maker of JAWS screen reader (by far the most popular). I asked about non-Latin 1 special characters turning into "?" I asked if there's a fix in the works. Specifically daggers "†" and endashes "–". The reply was "Not sure what version of JAWS you are using, but in our current version 13, these characters read as expected." So Jaws has no trouble reading daggers at all. Fyunck(click) (talk) 01:25, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Links to guitar chords site.

I have been trying to add a link to external link section for singer/songwriters such as Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky, Richard Shindell, Jeffrey Foucault, Antje Duvekot, and more. I am pointing the link to a guitar chord transcription site that has been up for years, has over 400,000 visits, and is widely accepted as a trusted source in folk music circles. In fact, a link to the site has been on many of those pages for years. Now not only have they been removed, but attempts to re-add them (now that my site lives in a new domain, mmreview.com/ronsfolkchords) keep resulting in messages from Wikipedia that I'm spamming. Can you advise how a valid guitar chords site for the artists in question -- particularly a site where I make no financial benefit -- is any sort of an issue? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.33.66.122 (talk) 20:45, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Links to such sites are not allowed at Wikipedia. Such sites have questionable practices regarding the copyright of the artists whose songs they post lyrics and chord charts for. Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously, and we do not link to websites which are suspected of violating copyright themselves. See Wikipedia:External_links#Restrictions_on_linking. --Jayron32 20:57, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Ordinarily I'd agree with your point. But when the artists themselves have approved the use of their copyrighted work and chord transcriptions (which I've worked out myself, often with the artist's help) on my site, and in the specific case of Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, Lynn Miles, Cheryl Wheeler, Hugh Blumenfeld and Mark Erelli, they actually link to my site from THEIR OWN SITES, I'd think there'd be no issue. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.33.66.122 (talk) 23:01, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Might I suggest chatting to the folk (pun intended) at the music portal? They would be geared to deal with this specific issue better than most (around here). fredgandt 23:14, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Indeed, and thanks for the suggestion. The pun alone made it worth it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.33.66.122 (talk) 00:34, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

On second thoughts; try WikiProject Music. Looks like there might be more traffic there. fredgandt 01:00, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Potential article merge

I wonder if there may be potential to merge two articles - Crushed Butler and Tiger (1970s band). From the content it appears that Crushed Butler renamed itself but quickly broke up without releasing anything under the new name. There's a lot of shared content between them and it may be appropriate to combine. So keep Crushed Butler as the main article but redirecting Tiger to it. The articles do need some editing, as some odd phraseology is used - possibly a tad too personal in sections. Putting it out for feedback (and I'm not sure of the merge process TBH). Londonclanger (talk) 20:58, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

See WP:MERGE which has instructions for how to initiate a merge discussion. You tag the two articles using the mergeto and mergefrom templates, then start a discussion on the Talk: page of the target article. That's the best way to handle this. --Jayron32 21:09, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Lovely, thanks for info, merger proposal all done. Londonclanger (talk) 21:39, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

My DOB

• Anna-Louise Plowman (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch

Hi I have previously emailed Wiki to correct my DOB, which was done and it seems to have been changed again. I would appreciate it if you changed it back to the correct date. 9 may 1975 and that it is left that way! Kind regards Anna-louise plowman — Preceding unsigned comment added by Annatoby (talk • contribs) 21:21, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Hello Anna. Loved your work on SG-1. There doesn't seem to be a source for either date, so I have removed both for the moment. Яehevkor ✉ 21:28, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Can you tell us what the address was that you sent your email to? Per WP:AUTO, in the section titled "Problems with an article about you", it says that you can email info-en-q@wikimedia.org with your issue. This way, you could prove that you are who you say you are in an otherwise confidential manner. And the edit summary of the edit to correct it should say that it was due to an email from you. Dismas|^(talk) 21:45, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Warning user adding links to .exe files

Special:Contributions/46.116.156.241 linked directly to an .exe file on the Counter-Strike article (potentially dangerous), what would be an appropriate template to add to their talk page? Zarcadia (talk) 23:23, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

First off, remove the link. Then depending on the state of previous warnings and their contributions, add the appropriate level user warning to their talk page. See Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace. fredgandt 23:31, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply, I removed the link immediately. I am aware of user talk name namespace templates but unsure which exact one to use, we could assume good faith so maybe a vandalism notice wouldn't be appropriate, I was wondering if there was a specific template for linking to certain file types (I looked but couldn't find one relevant). Zarcadia (talk) 23:36, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Sometimes it pays to make it up as you go along. In other words; if there isn't an appropriate template, write your suggestion by hand (at their talk) and then create or request a template (gotta go out now, but if nobody else provides a link in the meantime, I'll find the template request page (I'm sure there either is one or at least a place for that action) in a little while and post it here). As with all things, be bold! fredgandt 23:42, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requested templates  fredgandt 01:05, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Fred! Zarcadia (talk) 01:25, 21 January 2012 (UTC)