Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 January 6

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January 6

Roger Blackwell Article

I edited the Roger Blackwell article yesterday to fix some factual errors. When you search "Roger Blackwell" in the search box, the correct, edited article appears, but when you search "roger blackwell" you are redirected to the unedited page. If you then click "edit," however, on the unedited page, it immediately becomes the edited content. Is this something that will reverse itself in time or can something be done to fix this? Thanks!

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_blackwell — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ellenjaneh (talk • contribs) 01:21, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Clear your browser's cache and you should see the updated article. Dismas|^(talk) 01:23, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Roger blackwell is a redirect to Roger Blackwell. Redirects sometimes display an old version of the page, especially for users who are not logged in. It fixes itself in time. The problem could also have been your browser cache as Dismas suggested. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:56, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Improvement to the IPA link in Wikipedia subjects

Is it possible that when one clicks on the IPA representation of the Wikipedia head word, that the phrase link one clicked on be carried over to the IPA chart to save having to click back and forth between the page with the head word in it and the IPA chart? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Godric Wilkie (talk • contribs) 03:08, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Try submitting a proposal at WP:VPR.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:39, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Submission Rejected

Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Tom Trusky

Hi,

I recently submitted an article about a distinguished academic, the late Tom Trusky. It was rejected as not meeting guidelines by a Wikipedia reviewer who, I learned, is an undergraduate at the University of Amherst, Massachusetts.

First of all, I find it disturbing that a single reviewer has the power to reject a submission, leaving the creator of the article with almost no recourse. Trusky meets the requirements for being a distinguished academic many times over. Just last night I read a half dozen entries on academics who haven’t done a quarter of what Tom Trusky did in his life, and whose accomplishments were not nearly as well documented at Trusky's, yet their entries were accepted. Perhaps that fact that Trusky didn't spend his career at an eastern university blinded the reviewer to his substantial academic accomplishments. The fact is that smart productive people live in states that don't touch an ocean.

I am profoundly disappointed with Wikipedia, an organization to which I have regularly donated money and which I have defended as an important information resource for the digital world. I expected better.

Sincerely, Donald A. Barclay <email redacted> — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dog-519 (talk • contribs) 03:21, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

I have accepted your submission; it is now located at Tom Trusky. Thank you for your work! It appears that the reviewer spent one minute looking at the submission. Goodvac (talk) 03:33, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Please help with questions for my article

As instructed I have tagged inline citations and categories to my article "Chandan Kar" but still the article displays the need for citations and categories. Please advice how to go forward. Also, I recently changed my username but the old username is being displayed in one of the image files that I have uploaded for the Article. Please note that I had declared this image as self work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aspirers (talk • contribs) 09:22, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

If you feel that enough categories have been added, you can edit the article and remove the template

{{improve categories|date=December 2011}}

from the bottom of the article.

When you are sure that the article is fully referenced, you can also remove the "more footnotes" template from the top. Currently, Chandan Kar does not have enough footnotes/references: you don't need a reference for every statement, but some sections currently do not contain any references (e.g. give a source for the information about his early life). If you're not sure, leave the template. --Colapeninsula (talk) 11:31, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Help:Merging

The help page above could use some more detailed instructions in the Section Performing the merger. Specifically, what is the recommended format of the edit summaries in order to conform with Wikipedia's licensing requirements? Are there any templates that can be used on the discussion pages? What happens with the old discussion page when the page is merged? It would be appreciated if someone could clarify this in WP:FMERGE and WP:SMERGE. Isheden (talk) 09:23, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

You might find ongoing discussions at Wikipedia talk:Merging helpful. If not, start a new topic on that page.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:46, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Littlejohn's Wiki Page

Hi

I have been asked to correct the Wiki page on behalf of Richard Littlejohn, as it is full of inaccuracies.

The page is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Littlejohn

Apparently, I must be doing something wrong, as when I delete inaccurate content (I am supplying a reason) I get warnings and I have now been given a final warning.

I apologise if I am not following some procedure (I am new to editing Wikipedia), but perhaps you could tell me the correct procedure. But I would have thought that words from the "horses mouth" as it were, would be considered more definite than those of a hack who just happens to dislike Richard Littlejohn?

Please tell me how I can get his page corrected?

Thank you and once again, apologies if I have trangressed some of Wikipedia's rules.

Best Regards

Les :)

Sparksoft (talk) 11:48, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Firstly, if you are editing on behalf of the subject of the artticle you need to read about Wikipedia's views on conflict of interest. Secondly, you need to be aware that information in Wikipedia needs to be verifiable by references to independent reliable sources. Word of mouth from the subject of the article is not verifiable, not independent, and hence not acceptable for Wikipedia. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:03, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Dave. I understand what you say, but how can an opinion be more valid than the facts from the horses mouth? Would it be more valid if Richard made contact himself? The only reason I did is that he is not familiar with the technology etc and he is upset that his page is factually incorrect.

Any help and advice you can offer me oor him, that would effectively help in resolving this problem would be gratefully received.

regards

Les :)

Sparksoft (talk) 12:51, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Apart from your conflict of interest, the biggest problem is your removal of properly referenced material critical of Richard Littlejohn. As a journalist, Littlejohn must be aware of the need for reliable sources and the verifiability of information. If the information you attempted to remove is factually incorrect, then perhaps he should first speak to the editors of The New Statesman, The Daily Mail, The BBC, The Independent, The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph and ask for a retraction. Should such a retraction be printed, then of course that too will be mentioned here. Astronaut (talk) 13:27, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

I'd add that we're not saying you're getting the facts wrong, or that the subject isn't being completely honest when they give you information for the article. But we require sources as a filter for information; otherwise, anything at all that comes from a subject could go in the article, and for every honest subject we have a dozen people trying to promote themselves or their businesses. We try to be neutral, and this is part of that - filling the article with the statements of the subject "Straight from the horse's mouth" would lean the article toward that subject's viewpoint. UltraExactZZ ^Said ~ Did 13:37, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

The problem is that - without meaning to be rude - we have know way of knowing whether you have the information from Littlejohn or not. Even if he created an account himself and added the information, we would have no way of knowing whether that user was really him or somebody else using his name. --ColinFine (talk) 17:16, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

My page Tony Samara

Hello,

My page Tony Samara (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) got deleted due to allegedly being advertisement. I would like to know why was it considered advertisement and what makes it advertisement.

I am asking this again since i did not have a straight answer why the page is not acceptable. My intention is to correct it and resubmit it.

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pedro Bestler (talk • contribs) 14:40, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

If you want simple answers: Wikipedia is not an online resumé, an advertising space, or a directory. It is not a place to promote your products, ideas, or services.

If you want a more in-depth reason, read and understand WP:What Wikipedia is not, WP:Autobiography, WP:Neutral point-of-view, and Wikipedia:Notability (people).-- Obsidi♠n Soul 15:25, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Most of us can't see the version which was deleted (but can see that earlier versions were also deleted), but if the version which you tried to publish was similar to the user space draft at User:Pedro Bestler/Tony Samara, or the one at User:Sud Ram/Tony Samara, why don't you look at the advice in WP:SYMUD, take notice of the advice there, and then (when you've improved it) ask for a review of one of those drafts before you try to publish it again? - David Biddulph (talk) 15:47, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

The deleted version was identical to User:Pedro Bestler/Tony Samara: the writing is heavily pro-Samara and far from being neutral. Nyttend (talk) 20:54, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Trying to contact a User directly

Hello Wikipedia !

I try to contact this user: ThePromenader

The matter is quite urgent, as we would like to use a graphic he produced for an exhibition: File:Paris_uu_ua_jms.png

I already left a message on his TALK page, but he does not answer me. Could you please contact him directly via his email, and tell him to write me ? Thank you !

best breinane Breinane (talk) 15:52, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

If you go to his userpage or talk page, on the left sidebar there should be a link to email this user. If it doesn't show, click on Toolbox first and then it should show up under that, GB fan 15:58, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Also looking at the image page the image is released under CC-BY-SA. Under that license you should be able to use it for anything as long as you attribute it back to them without any additional permission.

You can e-mail that user yourself using the form at Special:EmailUser/ThePromenader. If you are going to ask for permission to use the file, it would not appear to be necessary from the licensing terms on the Commons image info page. – ukexpat (talk) 16:03, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

thank you :) i need it in bigger quality - for printing ... will try the mail thing ! best, Breinane (talk) 20:01, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Unreviewed new articles

Re: Category:Unreviewed new articles Should not "Category:Unreviewed new articles created via the Article Wizard" be included in the summary box at the top right? It has more than 200 more articles at present.--Felix Folio Secundus (talk) 16:07, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

{{progress box}} doesn't have functionality to include categories with different naming schemes than the parent. It's set up to look pages in the category, then pages in subcats in the form of "Category name from date". You'd have to go directly to Category:Unreviewed new articles created via the Article Wizard to see those 200+ pages. — Bility (talk) 17:30, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Can tables work a bit like a spreadsheet?

What I am looking for is a way to calculate the ranking of items in a sortable wiki-table, based on the values of other table cells. I imagine this would involve using a formula to calculate the ranking number which will depend on which column it is chosen to sort by. For example:

Rank	Col 2	Col 3
Formula?	14.7	C
Formula?	13.6	A
Formula?	15.2	A
Formula?	17.5	B

When the table is first rendered, the formulas display a rank of 1, 2, 3, 4. If the user sorts on 'Col 2' the formulas display a rank of 1, 2, 3, 4, like shown below:

Rank	Col 2	Col 3
1	13.6	A
2	14.7	C
3	15.2	A
4	17.5	B

If the user sorts on 'Col 3' the formulas display a rank of 1, 1, 3, 4 like shown below:

Rank	Col 2	Col 3
1	13.6	A
1	15.2	A
2	17.5	B
3	14.7	C

I also imagine there will need to be some special treatment in case a row finds itself at the top of the ranking.

I've had a look at {{rank}}, {{nk}}, and some others, but none seem to do this. Astronaut (talk) 16:16, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

That is not a function of HTML tables, no. It could be done in a variety of ways, but I doubt there's much interest in pursuing something like that. Sorting inherently puts the rows ranked from 1 to n, so I'm not 100% sure why this is that useful. So that in a long table you can see the number of the row you're on? — Bility (talk) 17:17, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

That is exactly the reason, with a table of 200 rows it can be hard to see how far down the list you are. Astronaut (talk) 14:10, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Limiting Category by "namespace"

Is there any way that I can easily see only those members of a category that are from a specific WP:Namespace? I know that standard categories should rarely have things from other namespaces, but I'm dealing with some of the Hidden Categories like Category:Pages with incomplete DOI references which definitely will (and should) show them from both mainspace and userspace. I've tried http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Pages_with_incomplete_DOI_references&namespace=2 , but that doesn't work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Naraht (talk • contribs) 18:04, 6 January 2012‎

You can use this, but you'll have to copy/paste the page titles unless you use something to parse it programmatically. — Bility (talk) 18:15, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Not quite what I was looking for, but very useful.Naraht (talk) 18:54, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

How do i figure out the categories to put my article into

For instance take a look atFranklin_A._Long - he was a peacenik - so which categories are those ? Standard2211 (talk) 19:31, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Find something or someone similar, and see which categories that leads you to. For example, Franklin Long was assistant director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. One of the categories this organization is in is category:Arms control. This category has a subcategory category:Arms control people. If this doesn't seem quite right, this category is in a larger category category:Activists by issue, which has all manner of activist categories. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:59, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

previous editor creating a new Wikipedia article

Hello: I am a registered Wikipedia user/editor. I have created three articles so far for Wikipedia and would like to create a new one. I cannot fathom your instructions, I am afraid. I have gone to User page and from there to ?? Sandbox?? and written a few grafs. I clicked "Save" and was concerned I had posted the new article already. !!!! So I deleted it. It is still there, however, as having been created but with the introductory sentence only. How do you create/edit a new article and save it as you make progress without it going live? Thank you, Mary Ellyn Hutton 19:55, 6 January 2012 (UTC)Maryellynhutton (talk)

Have you read Wikipedia:Starting an article? There's a video about how to create an article there, as well as a link to the new article wizard, Wikipedia:Article wizard. More directly, the article you started is not currently "live" but rather a a "private" sub-page of your user page. It's private in the sense that (probably) no one else will edit it (anyone can edit it, but by convention pages like this that are sub-pages of your user page are simply left alone). You can work on this article in its current location as long as you'd like. When you're ready for it go "live", you would then move it to the new name. -- Rick Block (talk) 20:30, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Citation Error/Need assistance

I am trying to edit the page Javier O. Huerta, as there are reference errors. However, I am having trouble editing the citations and adding title information as needed. Please advise. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jecz (talk • contribs) 20:04, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Does WP:Referencing for beginners help? – ukexpat (talk) 20:33, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Dr. Chester M. Pierce - correction

Hello,

Dr. Chester M. Peirce is a PSYCHIATRIST, M.D. I know to most people it is mostly subtleties between the psychiatry and psychology, but to the professionals within each, there are some significant differences. Thank you kindly wikipedia. Btw, you helped me survive med school haha! You are a reliable source within the medical community too. =D — Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.183.89.54 (talk) 20:18, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

To which article are you referring? We do not have an article about Chester M. Peirce or Chester M. Pierce. – ukexpat (talk) 20:35, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

It appears to be the article Microaggression, which contains the sentence "The term was first coined by American psychologist Chester M. Pierce". The OP should raise the concern, and provide sources to back up a change, at Talk:Microaggression rather than here. --Jayron32 20:48, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

This says that he is a psychiatrist so I've changed the article accordingly. SmartSE (talk) 01:05, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Musician infobox (?) help

An editor whom I've helped in the past left me the following message. I haven't a clue how to help (I'm not even sure that the infobox is the subject of the question), so I'm going to point him/her to this thread.

"I'm wondering if you can help me with something - on the page I created (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Britton) I would like to make the headings under the musician bio appear the standard Wiki yellow and not blue. How do I do this and still maintain the form the pre-made musician box has? Thanks for any help you can give. I didn't want to keep editing it and trying to figure it with excessive edits. Calence (talk)"

Thanks for your help! Nyttend (talk) 20:24, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

The colour scheme used in {{Infobox musical artist}} is determined by the response to the mandatory "background" parameter. See the description of "background" in the template documentation. – ukexpat (talk) 20:31, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

add my new wikipedia site

when will my new article be posted on wikipedia I am trying to delete the current one that I have please respond via email to (Redacted) I am Mary Fakhoury — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.194.149.217 (talk) 20:47, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

We need more information. What is the title of the current article and where is the draft? I have been unable to find either. – ukexpat (talk) 21:11, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Are you talking about Wikipedia_talk:Articles for creation/Mary Hani Fakhoury? GB fan 22:03, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Where do I find your comments on my sumission?

I just submitted: Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Quantance Incorporated and it was rejected due to some issues. Where do I find the issues?

JohnJohnfranz (talk) 21:28, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

You deleted the template that explained the issues. I have added it back to the AFC page. – ukexpat (talk) 21:39, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

The reason the reviewer gave for rejecting the article was that it did not show why the company was important or significant. That is it didn’t show how the company meets Wikipedia’s notability guideline for companies. But the article has worse problems: It is blatantly promotional, reading like a press release. And it is not verified by references to independent reliable sources.

Since the review you added a section which you copied verbatim from GigaOM.com. I removed that because it was a copyright infringement. —teb728 t c 23:31, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Is there a place to request a source?

In specific, I cited two teen magazines in an article, but I (stupidly) left them without page numbers or article names. I have since misplaced the two magazines and therefore am not able to get the page number and article title. I was wondering if there was a place I could get the information I'm looking for. I thought I remembered a page where an editor could more or less request a source, but I can't seem to find it now. - Purplewowies (talk) 22:15, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps it was Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:22, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes! That's it! Thanks! :) - Purplewowies (talk) 23:02, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Virus question

I was about to open the "Pikachu virus" page in Mozilla when my computer detected a BAT/Deleter virus. Where should I report this? --190.47.64.191 (talk) 22:26, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

The virus was probably on your computer, since Wikipedia pages do not contain malware. I checked the external links on the page too, and they all went to reputable sites that do not host malware either. Try opening the page again and scanning your computer for viruses. Reaper Eternal (talk) 22:29, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

All Wikipedia pages but that one contain the virus. Whenever I try to view the article, I get a "virus detected" warning. --190.47.64.191 (talk) 22:36, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

I suppose it could be a false positive, since the definition was updated just yesterday. [1] Reaper Eternal (talk) 22:40, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Pikachu virus shows two commands to delete Windows files. I guess the antivirus is responding to that, but the commands are only dangerous if they are executed. The article contains nothing to execute them. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:45, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

I have edited the article. Does that fix it? -- John of Reading (talk) 10:18, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

(more) ...but that was reverted. It might still be helpful to know whether or not my suggested version triggers the anti-virus alert. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:15, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

What are the green numbers in my watchlist?

What are the green numbers in parentheses that say "+2,491" or "+11" next to the last edits in my watchlist? Thanks, David1217 (talk) 23:45, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

It's the number of characters added (or removed, minus, in red) in that particular edit. Яehevkor ✉ 23:47, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

They denote the net character change of the diff. "+2,491" means that the edit added 2,491 characters to the page (characters may have been removed, but that's offset by the addition of characters). Hope this makes sense, Goodvac (talk) 23:48, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks guys! :^) David1217 (talk) 23:50, 6 January 2012 (UTC)