Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 March 13

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March 13[edit]

How do I withdraw an AfD nomination?[edit]

I would like to withdraw an AfD nomination I made yesterday--Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Katsuaki Asai. It was a bad decision on my part. Can someone tell me how to do it or do you need to be an admin? Thanks. Papaursa (talk) 00:20, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You do it by going to the AFD page, which you linked, and adding a statement such as "I want to withdraw". Anyone who's already participated in an AFD is allowed to retract anything that they've said, whether by striking out their words (type <s>text</s> to get text) or simply by saying "I retract ___". A simple statement of

Withdrawing this AFD

would get your point across quite well. Please note that there's no official wording that you have to use; if you say "I retract" or "I withdraw" or "I've changed my mind, and I want to keep", or anything else that shows that you now don't want the page deleted, will work. Finally, note that you don't have to do the retraction at the AFD, although of course other people might not notice the retraction if you do it elsewhere; I've added a note to the AFD saying that you want to withdraw it, and that should work fine. Nyttend (talk) 00:27, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What I see most often is Withdrawn by nominator Reason (Notability established, sources incuded, etc.) If there are no outstanding deletion votes, say so & request Speedy close. Dru of Id (talk) 00:33, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you both. Papaursa (talk) 00:38, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Db-attack doesn't think the page has been blanked?[edit]

On this revision, why does {{db-attack}} think that the page hasn't been blanked? Nyttend (talk) 00:28, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

{{Db-attack}} uses {{PAGESIZE:page name}} but it can only retrieve the currently saved size and not the size of a revision it's viewed on. Looking at the source code of the template, you can add the undocumented |blanked=yes (or |blanked=anything) to force it to always say "This page has been blanked as a courtesy". PrimeHunter (talk) 01:05, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Notability in question for about 200 articles linked from 1 likely notable page[edit]

I had a question. This article Now That's What I Call Music! is about a massive set of music compilations released by the 'big 4' record labels. It links about 200 articles that are stubs for each compilation. My contention is that none, or almost none of them meet the Wikipedia:NALBUMSMusic Notability guidelines:

  • Music notability guidelines say nothing of Compilations.
  • Regarding albums, which I would assume are considered more notable by default than compilations, it does say that "An album requires its own notability, and that notability is not inherited and requires independent evidence. That an album is an officially released recording by a notable musician or ensemble is not by itself reason for a standalone article."
  • Most of the articles for individual compilation releases are tracklists, perhaps with runtimes as well. Many have the album cover.

The nature of these compilations is that 'the big 4 record labels' take the most popular singles of a given period of time, and put them together on one CD. Those are then sold normally.

EDIT: Since Wikipedia has albums with original music by notable musicians that do not meet the Music Notability guidelines, these compilations with no original tracks should not meet the notability requirements. Because of the way the songs for each compilation release are chosen, each song in the tracklists of these stubs is notable(to a degree) in itself and the original album for it is likely to have its own page on Wikipedia. --Padenton (talk) 01:03, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Even the compilation that is mentioned as being the most successful doesn't do a better job of meeting the notability guidelines. To keep the notability special page free from clutter (and to avoid doing it 200 times I admit), I put the {{notability}} tag in the main article. I probably should have asked first, sorry. The tag was removed the following day with the message that it should be put individually into each one of the pages. That being said, according to the Talk page for the main article, the main article has been flagged for notability at least 3 times now for these reasons, with either no consensus or no comments.

EDIT: There is also a template Template:NOW_music_albums, a disambiguation page with links to 2 of the compilationsNow_That's_What_I_Call_Music!_(disambiguation), as well as a separate discography page that links to all the compilationsNow_That's_What_I_Call_Music!_discography. --Padenton (talk) 01:03, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I also would like to raise the issue that the articles(including the main article) may not meet neutrality requirements. Many of the references are to places to buy the CDs, rather than a reputable database. While for some products, a place to buy them might be a reputable reference source, they generally lack information in the case of music, and are highly prone to going out of business(with the volatility of music retail) or stop carrying a particular release. Furthermore, there are music databases that have every conceivable bit of information about a CD, such as http://musicbrainz.org/ or many others.

So my question is this: I'm really not interested in adding {{notability}} to each and every one of the article stubs, but I feel they should be raised for discussion. I obviously can't ask someone else to go through each and every one off them. Is there a bot of some kind that could do it? The article names all follow a pattern, so regex would be easily doable, if a bot exists for that. Or, was it correct to put it in the main article and add a notation explaining the circumstances?

Thank you for your time. --Padenton (talk) 00:41, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Someone with WP:AWB could go through and tag the articles easily enough if that's what you want. The AWB page has a sub-page for work requests. Dismas|(talk) 01:07, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
As a first step, I would try raising a discussion at the relevant Wikiproject, and seeing where it goes from there. I wouldn't expect compilations to be held to a different standard of notability from any other album, so I'm unsure about that part of your concern. Also, my guess is that a number of these albums will be notable by our standards (although may currently lack adequate sourcing to demonstrate this) - certainly my recollection is that, in 1990s Britain at least, the latest Now! album was always a highly anticipated release and it would routinely chart well. If a significant portion of the series is notable, then people may be inclined to favour keeping the remainder just to keep the coverage consistent. AJCham 01:14, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sir, Dr Punit Sethi, an Engineer cum Author from India have been declared World's Most Popular Social media/Facebook Expert. Mai I request to open a bio-graphic page of Wikipedia of mine with my photographs?[edit]

Sir, Kindly see the following links or just google my name "Dr Punit Sethi"... Kindly open my separate page with my details. Thanks and regards,

http://in.news.yahoo.com/google-declares-indian-engineer-cum-author-most-popular-095501466.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTfMTgfDnCw&feature=channel

Biographical information and possible copyvio collapsed

New Delhi, June 28 (ANI): Popular Internet search engine Google has delcared Dr Punit Sethi, an engineer and an author as the most popular expert on the social networking site Facebook. Dr. Sethi is the author of the book "Luv U Mate". In its report on the book and the author, Google said: "Luv U Mate by Dr Punit Sethi will also be helpful to all beginners of social networking sites like Facebook. The book has a various tools of Facebook, do's and don'ts even for girls and ladies. The story has business management tools and technical details of Mariana Trench, the deepest portion of the ocean in the world." The book is the first in the world based on Facebook. It is a true love story revolving around the social networking site. It is about an American girl and an Indian boy meeting through the medium of Facebook and soon falling in love, and repeatedly saying "I Love You". They share kisses, hugs, personal and private secrets and promise to be in love forever. And then, something happens when the American girl is taken to anonymity. The book has a very interesting and technical description of Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean on earth while describing underwater life very candidly. The story has emotional and humorous moments. The novel also takes us to Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and teaches us the principles of Gandhism, truth and non-violence. As the novel progresses, it reveals the various intricacies of social networking sites/tools. It gives a message of peace, harmony, universal unity and respect for all religions, human beings, animals and nature. The story also conveys how best to use the latest technologies/tools like social networking sites for right purpose while understanding its implications on society in totality. Published world wide by India's largest and most renowned publisher "Pustak Mahal", Punit Sethi's book has been praised by international media, including the world edition of The Wall Street Journal, New York. The WSJ in a report has appreciated the story and the skills of the author Dr Punit Sethi. The book was recently released by the Minister of Human Resource Development (Education), Communication and Information Technology, Kapil Sibal. While releasing the book, Sibal said the book had a simple and free flowing story line and brought out the writing skill and expertise of the author

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Punitsethiin (talkcontribs) 03:37, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How pleasant for you. Wikipedia:Requested articles is the place to request an article but as with WP:AUTOBIOGRAPHY there will be difficulties. Most subjects of successful Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons do not seek it. On the other hand WP:COMMONS more easily accepts photos if you own and release the appropriate rights. Jim.henderson (talk) 03:55, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
He can't be that popular, I've never heard of him :-) My point however, is that the source doesn't say "the world's most popular...", just "the most popular..." and that could be in the world, or it could equally be in his home town. Also http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=Punit%20Sethi returns no results. I have my doubts about the claims in the Yahoo news article. Astronaut (talk) 06:57, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This looks more like a book promo rather than a biography. The book doesn't look too notable either. Δρ.Κ. λόγοςπράξις 22:50, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Lost article/file[edit]

I created an entry here last week - using this tool - and clicked "save page" but now can't locate it. Where can I find my file? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bulsonroad (talkcontribs) 04:04, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Things here age off and go to the archives in a few days. I believe you're looking for Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 March 6#Where's my saved article? Rwessel (talk) 04:10, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

ELI MANNING PHOTO[edit]

I was writing to request that you please update Eli Manning's photo. He hasn't been a spokesperson for the President's Council on Physical Fitness for a while.

Thank You!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Manning

Chris — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.87.28.134 (talk) 04:14, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The article clearly states he is a former member of the council (last line of the lead), so there is no problem. Roger (talk) 06:42, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The infobox image File:Eli Manning US govt.jpg does display a rather conspicuous seal for the organization the photo was copied from. The article is about Manning and not an organization he formerly worked for so a cropping of the photo may make sense. I think it's the best photo in commons:Category:Eli Manning. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:35, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Johann Sebastian Bach ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach )[edit]

In the 2d full paragraph of the article, the name of the city of Lüneburg (a hyperlink) is misspelled. The page apparently does not allow minor editing by common users. 173.73.132.204 (talk) 06:37, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed. Rwessel (talk) 06:55, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

All bold?[edit]

Would the weird table within a table make List of solar cycles look like it is all in bold? I can't find anything in the wikimarkup that would explain that otherwise. Astronaut (talk) 06:38, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed in this edit. The inner table was being treated as part of the heading of the outer table. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:23, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

diagrams for articles[edit]

After 2 months I have now got illustrations into my article, but they are "thumb", and unreadable. How do I get them bigger?11:26, 13 March 2012 (UTC)~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bparslow (talkcontribs)

See Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. I will also add that at the moment your draft at User:Bparslow/sandbox (aside from the formatting issues) reads like an academic paper and not an encyclopedia article. Please read the guidance on original research.--ukexpat (talk) 14:45, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Douglas Adams.[edit]

My name is Frank Halford. Itaught Douglas Adams at Brentwood Prep School. The Daily Mail wished to write an article about us and I was accordingly interviewed by a reporter over the phone. During it, I said that Douglas was unnecessarily tall, a word he had used in a letter to me about a French waiter. I thought he would recognise and be amused by my use of the word to describe himself. Most unfortunately, this came out in the subsequent article as "unnaturally tall" which I would never have said, and which has distressed me every time I see it quoted. I would be most grateful if this could be amended in your articles about my former pupil and great friend, Douglas. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.15.157.50 (talk) 11:43, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I was hoping for an answer. I am computer illiterate, do not understand the jargon, and can just about send an e-mail. Is there an address I can write to, or a landline telephone number I can ring? Frank Halford — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.15.157.50 (talk) 12:43, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Douglas would have been 60 last Sunday. I taught him. Need I say more? I am sorry you are unable to helpo me. Frank Halford — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.15.157.50 (talk) 13:05, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The article has been changed per your request, but IMHO we need a better source for such amendment. Wikipedia relies on reliable sources, but I am afraid that personal recollections are inherently unreliable.--ukexpat (talk) 13:15, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I've added this source to the article. It's a fansite, not the quality source we prefer, but it bolsters Mr. Halford's recollection, which is undoubtedly correct. It has photos of Adams with Mr. Halford and with Lacey Halford. A link at the bottom opens a facsimile page of the original article in the Daily News. Yopienso (talk) 23:42, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

T.V. MOVIE RIGHT TO DIE[edit]

I AM HOPING YOU CAN HELP MR FIND A COPY OF THE 1987 TV MOVIE RIGHT TO DIE. IT STARS RAQUEL WELCH/MICHAEL GROSS AND IS A DOCUMENTARY ON ALS CANCER. HOW CAN i GET A COPY OF THIS MOVIE? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.89.86.69 (talk) 14:17, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Please rewrite your question when you get your caps lock unstuck. Britmax (talk) 14:18, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps.--ukexpat (talk) 14:41, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
We have an article on it, Right To Die (film). But I doubt Wikipedia would be able to provide much in the way of "where to buy or rent it" beyond the usual "check the standard movie stores and rental services as appropriate for wherever you are". I see that amazon.com has it. DMacks (talk) 18:38, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Just a comment: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the subject of the movie, is not a type of cancer.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:07, 16 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Need help with copyright/links issue[edit]

I've got a bit of a problem I was hoping someone could help me with.

I run a large technical reference site that has been around for a long time, pcguide.com. Although out of date at the moment (working on it!) the site is widely referenced by Wikipedia pages.

A portion of my site was licensed to be reprinted on another site. The owner of that site sold it to new management, and they have proceeded to remove my copyright notice from the material and put someone else's name on it as the author. And some of these pages are referenced by Wikipedia pages.

For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk-drive_performance_characteristics

Reference 4, 8 and 9 say the information came from "Charles Jefferies" at storagereview.com. This is my material, reprinted from my site, and I am the author, not "Charles Jefferies".

I would like these references changed to point to my site and properly credit me as the original author. There's also a Wikipedia reason for this -- I'm working to get that material taken down, and when that happens, all the links will break.

I know Wikipedia has a policy against people making edits of material that impacts them directly. So I am not sure what to do.

Can anyone give me some advice?

Charles Kozierok (talk) 15:36, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I will note that Disk-drive performance characteristics is the only Wikipedia search intersection I find of Jefferies & storagereview. Dru of Id (talk) 15:56, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
[1] these 17 are storagereview. Dru of Id (talk) 16:00, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
See Wikipedia:Copyright problems. Dru of Id (talk) 16:02, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You mentioned refs 4, 8, & 9, but there are a number of other refs in the same article from 24 onwards, some (at least) of which seem to have material at storageview which looks the same as on pcguide. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:12, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
you could put a second reference to each of those that are using yoru wokr and and make sure it the publicaiton date is when you did it then you can see it a direct copy ofrm your site--Andrewcrawford (talk - contrib) 18:47, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This company is no longer in existence, please can you advise how we can remove the page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.167.178.194 (talk) 17:23, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The "article" in question was a shameless promotional blurb anyway. Had it been a legitimate article about a genuinely notable company, we would never have removed it just because the company was no longer in existence! This is an encyclopedia, not a business directory. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:47, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help with New Entries[edit]

By way of introduction, I am Znocktonsmith, otherwise Zay N. Smith, a retired Chicago Sun-Times reporter and columnist (you have a Wikipedia entry that someone wrote about me). I have already contributed one entry (Roger Simon, journalist) with much help from you. I now have run across two voids I would like to help correct with the submission of two potential enemies. The trouble is, I am very bad with computers (it took me nearly 40 minutes to get just to this point) and as for the rules of submission and formatting, I would, I hate to admit, spend hours on what it would take only minutes to accomplish by someone who knows what he is doing. My request: Can I submit admissions to some address there, unformatted, and ask that Wikipedia take over in the editing and formatting from there? Pls let me know what I can do. And keep in mind that you are dealing with a computer idiot (although, I like to think, otherwise a reasonably intelligent person). Thanks. Zay Smith — Preceding unsigned comment added by Znocktonsmith (talkcontribs) 19:20, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Articles for creation, right down the hall, between the sports desk and the morgue. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:28, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Lest anyone think you're being overly callous, that's Morgue#Alternative meanings. Dru of Id (talk) 20:06, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Any real reporter will know what the morgue file is. I cut my teeth on a slug of Linotype (my dad was with the Jackson Sun and a lot of other small to mid-size dailies over the years). --Orange Mike | Talk 20:25, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have a sneaking suspicion you pre-wrote this entry on a word processing program before posting it here, with autocorrect on and misspelled "entries"—I doubt you wish to fill two voids with "potential enemies";-)--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:01, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Standard or Standards?[edit]

I am wondering when the plural should be used in wikipedia article titles. Talk:Interprovincial_Standards Is there a wikipedia codification on plurals in titles? Are they re-directed? Does that cause more server resource to re-direct? I assume this may have been brought up or may still be in dispute. It may also be handy to add a pop-up 'Are you sure you want to end this article in S' type message. I also noticed that when I paste a link to an article that ends with a bracket http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Weaver_(artist) the email hotlink drops the final bracket and causes a redirect at wikipedia.--Canoe1967 (talk) 20:46, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Does WP:PLURAL help?--ukexpat (talk) 20:52, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanx Ukexpat, clear as mud there, but I posted the same question in its talk section. Is there a codification on the plural use with the word yet? It may need someone with letters after their name to advise. I wouldn't like to just go by how other standards are titled in wikipedia because they could be wrong. ISO Standard or ISO Standards type thing.--Canoe1967 (talk) 21:08, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I looked at the article. It refers to standards for 52 different trades/occupations, so it is obviously plural. Roger (talk) 21:17, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That would be like using Trophies instead of Trophy because they are awarded in more than one field? I think admin should advise since there is a strict guideline on plurals in article titles. It is a brand new article, and thus may be easiest to decide naming and handle re-directs sooner. I will try some gov.ca sites and see how they term it. The government can't be wrong--Canoe1967 (talk) 21:37, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You are using an invalid analogy. An article called "Trophy" would be about the concept of what is a trophy. This article is about the standards set for a whole bunch of different trades. The article is not about the concept "standard" itself or a single standard for just one trade. Roger (talk) 21:47, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I emailed the 'The Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program' they may help clarify, I will leave in flux for now. Only admin can change the title now anyway.--Canoe1967 (talk) 22:11, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]