Help desk
< October 15	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 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.

October 16[edit]

Inconsistent Information[edit]

In the "Turkey" page, percentage of ethnic groups in Turkey are shown wrong. I tried to fix it by using references from Turkey but it is still not changed. And because of that, the information in the page "Turkey"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey) and "Turkiye"(http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Türkiye) is inconsistent for the percentage of ethnic groups in Turkey, where the page "Turkiye" has the right percentage. Please help me to solve this problem and to change the information not to inform people in wrong way. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bozdogan35 (talk • contribs) 01:35, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The English and Turkish Wikipedia are edited independently. They don't have to use the same sources and display the same information. Read Talk:Turkey#Percentages of ethnic groups in Turkey before doing anything. I strongly suspect your suggested change is controversial so post it to Talk:Turkey for discussion if it isn't already there. See Help:Using talk pages. Be specific and give a reliable source. If your source disagrees with [1] in The World Factbook then explain why you think your source should be preferred. The English Wikipedia usually prefers English sources, and there is scepticism about Turkish numbers. The Turkish government has a political interest in under-reporting the number of Kurds in Turkey. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:02, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You Forgot to Mention Information About Frank Marshall Davis[edit]

Frank Marshall Davis, Communist Party USA member 47544 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.15.53.106 (talk) 03:50, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

We have an article: Frank Marshall Davis. As for whether he was a member of the Communist Party, do you have a published reliable source that actually states this? I'm not sure his membership number would be particularly significant though, even if it was correct... AndyTheGrump (talk)

Block/Restrict edits by IP address[edit]

I've noticed from the talk page that a large number of edits have been made by our school IP address. Who is the best person to talk to about permanently restricting edits for our IP address (203.82.100.214). This IP has been temporarily banned previously, but the ideal would be to permanently ban edits from this IP address, which is the school proxy server.

Totdave (talk) 03:59, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Per Wikipedia:Blocking IP addresses, we generally don't permanently block IP addresses. Also, it isn't policy to block any IP addresses just on the potential that they may act up. It is fairly quiet now, with only 5 total edits since the most recent block expired. If it gets to be a problem, you can report it at WP:AIV, but I don't see anything currently happening from that IP address that would lead me to believe it needs to be blocked presently. --Jayron32 04:14, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Why not educate your students as to the proper way to contribute to Wikipedia rather than suggesting that the school's IP address be blocked? This looks like the ideal opportunity for a school project.--ukexpat (talk) 13:46, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Who knows[edit]

See? You look up help page and think well, this is it. I can send the company a letter about the issues, but no....I did look up what said help, so please don't let me know I've screwed up yet again. SEPARATE the real help from the edit help.

I had a message saying that I changed facts about cholera. I changed nothing so I don't want to look at five pages of things done wrong. Keep trying and you'll get it straight. However, this seems as if this could be an issue, since the readers are the ones who make the changes. Oh, hey, if you stopped the non-qualifing readers from changing things then I would not be falsely accused, either. 2 birds, one freaking stone!!!!!! I know nothing of cholera so unless someone was joking I made not changes. What is this page even about? Look up...look down. I sure as shit don't know how to do this.

Enjoy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.189.241.166 (talk • contribs)

You saw that message because someone, using a computer that the Internet cannot distinguish from yours, deleted a section from the Cholera article – almost five years ago. Don't sweat it. —Tamfang (talk) 06:53, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You could make sure this problem does not happen again by registering an account here. Maproom (talk) 09:26, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help uploading an image to this page: The Price for Peace by Brayden Summerfield[edit]

Hello my friends created a page about my book i have had published and its now selling around the world and we are unable to upload an image could you please help us

thanks Brayden --Brayden Summerfield (talk) 09:28, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You cannot yet upload images because your account is not yet confirmed. Since a book's cover is invariably copyrighted, you will not be able to upload it to Wikimedia Commons as a free image, so you will either have to request it at Files for upload or wait until you meed the autoconfirmed criteria. However, since the book does not appear to meet either our general inclusion guideline or the specific inclusion criteria for books, I am afraid that I have proposed the article for deletion. Yunshui 雲‍水 09:36, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See also Wikipedia's guidance on conflict of interest, as pointed out to you on your talk page. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:36, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

how do i create a new article?[edit]

I need to know how can I create a new article — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maheshvs007 (talk • contribs) 09:32, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'd suggest using Articles for creation - click on "Create an article now!" and the Article Wizard will take you through the process step-by-step. Yunshui 雲‍水 09:38, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

..., but before that, you may wish to read WP:1ST. - David Biddulph (talk)

how do I check out/fix a national flag problem?[edit]

Just recently, there has been a problem with the South Korean flag being displayed. Instead, the words "South Korea" appear. Examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_AFC_Champions_League

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

I would like to edit or check out the templates containing these flags to see what the problem is. How do I do that?Ordinary Person (talk) 10:46, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Seems to be affecting Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Romania as well. :-/ Ordinary Person (talk) 11:32, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Where are you looking in the article? When I look at 2012 Summer Olympics, each instance of the words "South Korea" has the flag alongside it. - David Biddulph (talk) 11:39, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I also can't see any problem with the flags (Korean or otherwise) on any of the above pages. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with either the {{flag}} template and its deritives or the image files of the flags you mention. What exactly are you seeing? Yunshui 雲‍水 11:49, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The image is not displaying properly. {{flagIOC|KOR}} should show as

South Korea with the flag, but I see just a grey bar. The template uses an image size of 22x20px to show File:Flag of South Korea.svg. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 11:47, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see a problem. I wonder if it is browser-dependent. I'm on Firefox 12.0. --ColinFine (talk) 13:27, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

... and OK for me using IE8. - David Biddulph (talk) 13:38, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Not displaying for me in IE8, on the other hand. I'm seeing a flag-shaped box with what looks like an orange em dash inside it. Deor (talk) 14:40, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I am seeing the same thing as Deor in that the South Korea flag is not displaying properly. Also, the Chile flag is the same way when I look at the 2012 Summer Olympics page, which I find odd as all the other flags show up just fine. SassyLilNugget (talk) 15:27, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I've tried this on a couple of different browsers, same result. Whatever this is, it's new: I regularly look at the international sports results but haven't seen this before. Perhaps those that _can_ see the flags can do so because of stored versions in their cache.Ordinary Person (talk) 23:14, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The image for Romania for instance points to upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Flag_of_Romania.svg/22px-Flag_of_Romania.svg.png, if I navigate there I see a message saying "it cannot be displayed because it contains errors". If I do the same for, say, the German flag, I see the little German flag...Ordinary Person (talk) 23:36, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have IE9 and really slow Internet. At first I wasn't seeing any flags, but eventually they all popped up really quickly. But the image I see here and in one of the articles doesn't look right. It appears to be a tiny red dot on a white background.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:33, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Here it looks fine.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:36, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I've been told the problem is with Commons, not en.wikipedia.org, so there's nothing we can do to fix it here.Ordinary Person (talk) 03:30, 19 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Vertical text in Tables[edit]

Hi, i wanted to know if it's possible to change the "Glava" text to vertical in the case of these tables i'm making for an article:

Name(s) / variants		Film appearances	Game appearances
G l a v a	Glava-Begunats	None	Resident Evil 6
	Glava-Dim
	Glava-Sluz
	Glava-Smech

This would increase readability and i wouldn't need tonnes of new sections in the article that way. Someone else suggested images but i want to avoid that for being time consuming, troublesome, and affecting load times. Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 10:59, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

According to this help page, vertical text alignment support in web browsers is minimal, and it seems like images is the only way to do it. –– Anonymouse321 (talk • contribs) 11:13, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Darn...Is there a guide to this or do i just upload images created in Microsoft paint? Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 11:17, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't do it because it could potentially result in an accessibility problem. - Purplewowies (talk) 12:17, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How would you do it? I considered putting the identifier of the species on the top but it doesn't look too appealing. Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 16:07, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I honestly would just do this:

Name(s) / variants		Film appearances	Game appearances
Glava	Glava-Begunats	None	Resident Evil 6
	Glava-Dim
	Glava-Sluz
	Glava-Smech

If you still feel you need to use images, you might want to read these first: Wikipedia:ACCESS#Images, Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility/Data tables tutorial#Images and color (there's another page I thought was pertinent, but I can't remember/find it). - Purplewowies (talk) 19:01, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Also, for a place to make the image, I would create it with WordArt in a Microsoft Office application, and save the WordArt as a picture. One of the reasons I think it is bad to use images as text for accessibility reasons is that the text in the image cannot be customized through browser settings or CSS. - Purplewowies (talk) 19:09, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think i'll just use the column with the species name in that case. I suppose it doesn't look too bad. Thanks for the work you put in ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 19:40, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Disgruntled Edits[edit]

Hello, I work for The Fraternal Order of Eagles' International Headquarters. We have a disgruntled member who is editing our page with inaccurate information and we'd like to know what we can do to prevent situations like this in the future.

The disgruntled post is titled Local Aeries of Note can be found under Community Involvement. — Preceding unsigned comment added by FOEGrandAerie (talk • contribs) 14:35, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have reverted the edits. If the activity continues, you can request page protection at WP:RPP.--ukexpat (talk) 15:03, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

View history question[edit]

How can I get a "watchlist"-type display for an article's history? A list that uses the "(diff | hist)" or "(last}" format instead of the classic radio buttons. This would help greatly in researching article history questions, allowing a simple hover of the cursor to see the details of a change (using navigation popups). Hope this feature is available. Thanks. ~ Alcmaeonid (talk) 15:35, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The navigation popup should work if you hover over the "cur" or "prev" links at the start of each line. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:05, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I see. If you hover over the "prev" link you get the diff. Thanks John. ~ Alcmaeonid (talk) 16:32, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Reformation[edit]

In reading the material on the Reformation I have noted several errors of content. For example, the author confuses the distinction between the Puritans and Pilgrims in Massachusetts. These two groups had different origins and sentiments regarding the reform movement in England and only came together after establishing separate colonies in Massachusetts in the early 17th century. I have researched this in preparation for a recent book on the history of the West Parish in Haverhill, MA.

And the writing of the entire Reformation article is ambiguous to the point of confusion in several cases. I could re-write many sentences easily to remove ambiguities. Having written a textbook in philosophy I have some experiences in expressing ideas with clarity and precision. This article needs work. How might I go about revising/improving this entry?

James Gustafson, PhD — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.19.62.41 (talk) 17:10, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I would first like to say welcome and point out that Wikipedia is a collaborative effort. There is no one single author on a topic, anyone can edit them. You can started by clicking the "Edit" tab at the top of the page and editing the article. Its that easy! However, there are some basic rules here. We like to have reliable sources so that other editors can verify what you say is true. Articles you create should be notable. Wikipedia has a ton of resources for new editors, if you have any super newbie questions about what to do, you can also ask at The Teahouse. I would like to encourage you to be bold and make any of the edits you think need to be corrected and you can leave a note on the articles talk page or write in your edit summary about what you are doing. Don't feel too bad if someone reverts your edit, it happens all the time. Just back up what you are saying with sources and work it out with other editors. Also, if you are going to make continued edits, I would encourage you to create an account. It makes your edits easier to attribute and if anyone has a question for you, you would have your own little place to let them leave it. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me on my talk page. Livewireo (talk) 17:38, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If you expect to make more than one or two edits, I recommend you to register an account before you start. Then it will be easier to see which edits are yours (and, rightly or wrongly, your edits will be treated with more respect by other editors). Maproom (talk) 19:23, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

View count not from yourself[edit]

Is there a way to determine the number views of a page not from yourself (views only from other users)? For example, these page view statistics for this page (the Help desk) show everyone's views, including the current signed-in user's views. –– Anonymouse321 (talk • contribs) 19:14, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Is there anything on ToolServer for this? –– Anonymouse321 (talk • contribs) 05:36, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Try asking at WP:VPT.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:38, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Good idea! –– Anonymouse321 (talk • contribs) 20:31, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Multi-article RfC[edit]

I'm engaged in a discussion on the Greece Talk page as to whether the Greek economic crisis should be mentioned in the article lead. I've suggested an RfC on the question and am trying to agree the terms of the question with the other editors. One of the editors wants to broaden the question to say, in effect, if it's mentioned in the article lead of one of the so-called PIIGS countries it should be mentioned in all of them i.e. a kind of centralized mult-article RfC. Does anyone now if that's possible, how it can be done or where to go to get guidance on how it might be done. DeCausa (talk) 19:35, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That smacks of recentism and undue weight. How significant is the current event in the context of the thousands of years of history of Greece - or the other countries. It's just a single ripple in the timeline. Roger (talk) 20:15, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's part of description of Greece today, like giving the current GDP figures. But that's not why I'm here. Do you have any info on multi-article RfC's? DeCausa (talk) 20:26, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Walter Winterbottom[edit]

The information on Sir Walter Winterbottom has some inaccurate and misleading statements and substantial omissions which I would like to ammend. I am his daughter and my husband, Graham Morse, has just written the first biography of Sir Walter Winterbottom, titled the Father of Modern English Footabll' which will be published by James Blake in March 2013.

We would like to substantially revise the entry and would like to know if we can cite Graham Morse's book now? Appreciate your help. GRAHAMMMORSE (talk) 21:06, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

No, only publicly-available sources may be use as citations in Wikipedia. It may be possible to use the book as a source once it is published, depending upon the reliability (as defined by Wikipedia) of the publisher. Wikipedia strongly discourages editing of articles by individuals who have a close relationship or interest in the subject of the article, see the conflicts of interest policy. It's particularly inadvisable to try to do so when you are not an experienced Wikipedia editor, since it is hard enough to have the objectivity needed to avoid policy violations when you have a conflict of interest and you know all the pitfalls. If there are some particular inaccuracies which you would like addressed, you might raise them at Wikipedia:Editor assistance/Requests but be sure to point out that you are not attempting to make the changes yourself due to your conflict of interest. Regards, TransporterMan (TALK) 21:19, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You may remove any information which is not referenced from the article; but if you want to make any other changes, (including removing information which appears to be referenced to a reliable source) you should suggest them on the article's talk page, rather than editing the article yourself, because of your conflict of interest. Once the book is published, facts cited to the book may be added to the article, but again it would be best if you did not do so yourself, but asked others to do so, via the talk page.

One other point: in order to be able to attribute contributions correctly for licensing purposes, Wikipedia does not allow people to share accounts. The fact that you identify yourself as the wife of Graham Morse but are using an account in his name suggests to me that you may be intending to do this: please create a separate account for yourself. --ColinFine (talk) 22:38, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Humans[edit]

There is a vandalism report here please revert the issue.--50.122.9.191 (talk) 21:23, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I find it odd that someone who knows how to post a link to a diff does not know how to revert a single edit. Roger (talk) 21:31, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The page is semiprotected. Anonymous users such as the OP cannot edit it. It looks like someone did fix it, though. In the time it took you to post the snarky reply, you could have fixed it. RudolfRed (talk) 22:16, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Not intended to be snarky at all, I'm sorry you interpreted it as such. I did not notice that it is semi-protected. It had already been reverted by the time I posted. Roger (talk) 22:25, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I reverted it. - Purplewowies (talk) 02:17, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia article on homosexuality and the Anglican Church of Canada[edit]

In your article on homosexuality and the Anglican Church of Canada saw no reference to the break-away Anglican Network of Canada which is growing across Canada, keeps its Anglican identity, affirms traditional marriage, and has established alliances with Anglicans outside of North America who also affirm traditional marriage. This important segment of the Anglican church in Canada deserves to be identified in a Wikipedia article on homosexuality and the Anglican Church of Canada. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.27.141.229 (talk • contribs)

If you have references to independent reliable sources which talk about the Network, you are welcome to add the information to the article, referencing these sources. Alternatively, if you don't feel confident in doing this, you could ask on the article's talk page if somebody there would be willing to add the information. --ColinFine (talk) 22:42, 16 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A mere assertion that this splinter group is "important" does not signify, if you cannot provide some sources to back up the assertion. As it is, your wording implies that you support this "up-and-coming" movement and feel that publicizing it in Wikipedia is somehow acceptable. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:01, 17 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]