Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 October 21

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October 21[edit]

my submission was deleted[edit]

I have been trying to figure out why my submission was deleted for copyright violation. I posted my fathers bio on the columbus kansas web page , then i tried to set up a seperate page for my father Charles E. Skidmore Jr with his bio which i wrote. I also submitted a web page that also posted my dads ww2 bio as documentaion. Mike Skidmore screenname yokota

I also notice a entry for 2 years ago about something i posted about Tachikawa air base japan that was deleted. I have a web site for Tachikawa Air Base which includes 1200 former air force members that were stationed on base. The information i posted was posted on my web site by the group members. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yokota (talkcontribs) 02:17, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The deletion log entry for the Charles Skidmore Jr. article is here. There are a few concerns going on here:
  1. Your father, while probably a great man, may not have been notable enough for an article in this encyclopedia. We don't have an article on everyone that has lived. Nor should we. The relevant policy pages are Wikipedia:Notability and WP:BIO.
  2. Anything that is posted to the Internet is assumed to be under copyright of whoever wrote it unless there is something on the site that specifically says that the rights are released or that it is posted under a free license. So copy/pasting a bio that's on the net into an article here is out of the question for the most part. See WP:COPYVIO.
  3. Since he's your father, you have a clear conflict of interest. See WP:COI.
  4. Just because you have a web site about something doesn't mean that we can use it as a source for any information. It has to be deemed reliable. See WP:RS.
  5. And finally, judging by this edit, you don't seem to understand that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. It is not a repository of every snippet, joke, and anecdote about a particular subject. See WP:NOT.
I hope this helps explain things. I realize that I included quite a few links but you jump in the deep end with your edits and your questions here. Dismas|(talk) 02:54, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your help, I thought my post would be ok, I now know you have alot of rules for posting information. I will see if i can just delete myself from the wikipedia web site. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yokota (talkcontribs) 03:09, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You can't be deleted but you do have the right to WP:VANISH. Dismas|(talk) 04:16, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Apparel Technical designer info[edit]

There is lack of Apparel Technical design information on this site. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.87.149.82 (talk) 05:29, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not clear what exactly you are talking about (whether some specific organisation or a general point, for example), but this is Wikipedia, the encyclopaedia that anyone can edit, and if you have some improvements to make, you are welcome to be bold and make them. It will be best if you read some policies about notability and verifiability first though. --ColinFine (talk) 10:02, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Image transfer from project to commons[edit]

I was trying to move this image http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coppia-ferrarese.jpg to commons. I'm not a commons expert, but it seems to me that the license is correct. I tried to use the CommonsHelper but it didn't work for me and I was advised to use its successor CommonsHelper 2. But, although I provided my username and password for commons, I got the error message "Attention : You have not set a Wikimedia Commons username". What am I doing wrong?--Dia^ (talk) 07:04, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I never use external Wikimedia tools because they are far too complicated and they always create a file page that has lots of unnecessary clutter. That file certainly is eligible for transfer to the Commons. I suggest you just save the file on your computer and upload it normally as a new file on the Commons. Obviously make sure you select the same license as well as provide author attribution. Scarce2 (talk) 07:19, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the feedback. To me the upload page seems much more complicated than the tool.(°_°)--Dia^ (talk) 07:38, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Limit search to pages in a category[edit]

Is it possible to limit the wikipedia search to pages that are in a specific category? bamse (talk) 08:05, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

In the search box, append incategory:<whatever category> to your search. Click for more info –– Anonymouse321 (talkcontribs) 08:40, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. Will add a followup question below in a new section. bamse (talk) 09:49, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Archives[edit]

Can someone teach me how to archive things please (even though I don't really have many talk messages, but I want to know how to archive)?. Thanks! Garnershiqian ("leave me a message") 08:37, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See Help:Archiving a talk page. There's really no wrong or right way to do it, but the easiest way is to just let a bot do it for you automatically. ClueBot III is great at this, see instructions on how to set it up here. Scarce2 (talk) 09:21, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I tried, but nothing worked. Can someone please give me a sample of how to archive? Thanks! --Garnershiqian ("leave me a message") 09:49, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This is MiszaBot's configuration, you place this code on your talk page.
{{User:MiszaBot/config
| algo                = old(7d)
| archive             = User talk:GARNERshiqian/Archive %(counter)d
| counter             = 1
| maxarchivesize      = 700K
| archiveheader       = {{talk archive navigation}}
| minthreadstoarchive = 1
| minthreadsleft      = 4
}}
You can read about what these settings do at User:MiszaBot/Archive HowTo#Example 2 - incremental archives. Scarce2 (talk) 10:36, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Do I post it on the top of my talk page? --Garnershiqian ("leave me a message") 12:35, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes Roger (talk) 14:53, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Category for book resources[edit]

There are several pages on wikipedia where users can list books or papers or online resources they have access to and that they are willing to share: Wikipedia:WikiProject_Resource_Exchange/Resource_Request#Direct_contact, various wikiproject pages and on pages in user space (e.g. User:Bamse/Resources). It would be good if it was possible to do a single search (e.g. for the name of a book) on all of these pages. My idea is to put all these resource pages in a category and do a search limited to pages in this category (see my post above). Is this a good idea or are there better methods? Does such category already exists? bamse (talk) 09:58, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to guess this is a question for the technical village pump.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:49, 24 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

noinclude text?[edit]

I don't see why the text of the Template:Collapsible option is displayed in Adrian Wiggins. It looks like it is included in the proper tags, per instructions.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 13:16, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't belong there at all. I removed it.[1] {{Collapsible option}} is for use in templates and not in articles. <noinclude>...</noinclude> means that the thing inside is not processed when the page containing noinclude is transcluded in another page. Adrian Wiggins isn't transcluded anywhere. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:08, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Toolserver edit counter[edit]

Is there something wrong with the edit counter? Because when I type in my username, it says I do not exist. TRLIJC19 (talkcontribs) 14:41, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I tried, and it says that for my user name as well. Must be a server mistake. TBrandley 16:18, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The site could barely load for me yesterday, but it's fine (at least for my username) today. A boat that can float! (watch me float!) 12:23, 22 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The presidential endorsements page needs updating. Fun project for someone who knows how to do this.[edit]

This page contains 2008 information, not 2012. Endorsements are being announced for the 2012 election and no one is posting them on Wikipedia, which is usually immediately updated, but not in this case. Check Salt Lake City Tribute. It's endorsement came out today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper_endorsements_in_the_United_States_presidential_election,_2012

This reference should help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_States_by_circulation — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.166.60.140 (talk) 15:41, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Incidental people in photos[edit]

Does the incidental presence of unknown people in the background of photos affect the licencing or use on WP in any way? Roger (talk) 15:42, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Depends on where the photo was taken, ie public or private place. See Wikipedia:Image use policy#Privacy rights. -- Toshio Yamaguchi (tlkctb) 16:23, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Is the exterior of a ship of the South African Navy (during an "open-day" when they welcome the public on board) a public or private place? The people in the photo are all SA Navy personnel, not fellow tourists. Roger (talk) 18:30, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Reading through Wikipedia:Image use policy#What are public and private places? I guess it would be considered a public place on that "open-day". It might satisfy the definition of "a large event where many people are openly taking pictures" and thus a public place. -- Toshio Yamaguchi (tlkctb) 20:26, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I was unsure whether the public nature of the occasion is sufficient to override the private nature of people going about their work on board a ship that is not normally a public place. Maybe the guideline could be made a bit clearer about public events that happen in places that might otherwise be regarded as private. Thanks for helping, I can most probably use the photo here. Roger (talk) 20:35, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, using it here is probably appropriate. Wikipedia:Image use policy#Legal issues mentions privacy rights which may affect commercial reuse of the image. However, I think this does not affect the usability of the image on Wikipedia and only affects the reuse of the image outside Wikipedia. -- Toshio Yamaguchi (tlkctb) 20:42, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If you want more input, I suggest to ask at WP:MCQ. -- Toshio Yamaguchi (tlkctb) 20:51, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

how to change the wikipedia viewing font type?[edit]

how to change the wikipedia viewing font type? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.200.11.172 (talk) 16:14, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I know, the font used for displaying Wikipedia pages depends on the font setting of your browser and is not set by Wikipedia. If you want to view Wikipedia with a different font, you have to change your browser settings. -- Toshio Yamaguchi (tlkctb) 16:20, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The font can be changed in the skins .css but it's not simple to explain. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 05:56, 24 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Getting old CSDs in the CSD Log.[edit]

I didn't think to turn on my CSD log in Twinkle until very recently (because I didn't know it existed), and I've been nominating things for CSD for quite some time. Is there any way for Twinkle to parse through and add my old contributions or do you think this will have to be a manual job? I, Jethrobot drop me a line (note: not a bot!) 17:52, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, I asked the same question, directly below lol. I am also wondering about all of that too, see the very question. TBrandley 17:55, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hah, and we responded to each other at the same time, too. :P I, Jethrobot drop me a line (note: not a bot!) 17:57, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Twinkle CSD log[edit]

Hi. I've had Twinkle for a while now, and I have been tagged pages for speedy deletion, but none were put into a log. Do you need to manually create it, or do you tell Twinkle to somehow, because I'd like to have a log of those speedy deletion pages. Also, once created, since I haven't been doing this log thing, is there a way that all old pages I've tagged for deletion can be put into the log by looking through my contributions to that, without me having to look for all of them myself. Thank you. TBrandley 17:54, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The log has to be turned on manually. Go to Wikipedia:Twinkle/Preferences and look for the two checkboxes labelled "Keep a log", then the "Save changes" button at the bottom. I don't know of any way to add old deletions to the log. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:00, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Removing an article[edit]

Hi, There is an article about me (Sara Kamil-Yusof) on wikipedia and I would like it removed as I did not consent to it being put there and my brother who put it up does not know how to go about removing it. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sky20 (talkcontribs) 18:40, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oh dear, you've become a public figure.
If it were all (or mostly) your brother's work, it could probably be "speedy deleted" because he has a conflict of interest. But it has existed for seven years and at least 13 people (not counting "bots") have had their fingers in it. You can try putting {{subst:prod}} (proposed deletion) at the top of the article; if no one removes the tag in a week, the article vanishes. If that fails, see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. —Tamfang (talk) 19:15, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
A quick Google search shows sufficient mainstream press sources to easily pass GNG. Roger (talk) 19:34, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Tamfang, a conflict of interest is not in itself a valid reason for speedy deletion. What is a valid reason for speedy deletion is "unambiguous advertising or promotion". PleaseStand (talk) 21:48, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"talk" page of the article Ginza Rba is misused[edit]

Dear Madam or Sir,

I noticed that the "talk" page of the article "Ginza Rba" on wikipedia is misused for advertising scopes and attacking a well-knwon person in the Mandaean community. This kind of unobjective publishing is directed against the english translation of Ginza Rba by Prof. Dr. Qais Al-Saadi and his team. There is a person who tries to insert incorrect information and personal comments about this translation in order to make people purchase his own translation. This person lives in Australia and he also tried to make a campaign for his book on Mandaean yahoo-groups etc. by attacking Prof. Dr. Alsaadi and his team blaming them to be "participated in a work which was originally commissioned by Saddam Hussein" in order to alienate the readers. In my opinion, such behaviour does not comply with the use terms of wikipedia and the aim of publishing correct information, rather than the personally use of advertising. Please avoid inserting such comments or advise me to the compliant reaction.

Sincerely, Drabsha — Preceding unsigned comment added by Drabsha1 (talkcontribs) 19:31, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

An anonymous editor added criticism of the Al-Saadi translation to the Ginza Rba article. Another anonymous editor removed this criticism. There was nothing wrong with either action, though it would have been better if the the former had cited a published source, and if the latter has discussed his action on the article's talk page.
Another anonymous editor added criticism of the Al-Saadi translation to the article's talk page. You deleted this criticism. Please do not delete anything from any talk page: the contents of talk pages should be kept as a permanent record. Fortunately it has been restored by Gwickwire. If you disagree with the opinion expressed there, you can use the talk page to respond. Maproom (talk) 20:50, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Correction about Naroda[edit]

As Native of naroda, i would like to correct you A) Naroda is not subburn on Bapunagar,But ahmedabad itself, B)Naroda industrial area not established in 1980, but may be in late 70's coz i use to go to my fathers canteen wich was located in same area, when i was 5 years old,& i born in 1967.

Rakesh Shah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naroda — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.161.152.50 (talk) 21:29, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You should raise this issue on the article's talk page. Note that personal recollections are not considered reliable sources. If you can find another source that confirms your memory, then that could be used to improve the article. RudolfRed (talk) 21:50, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

search problems?[edit]

your seach box is not responding when klicked on. WHY is it so?????????? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.26.183.54 (talk) 23:32, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I added a header for your question. Search is working fine for me, but you should report technical problems at the Village Pump. RudolfRed (talk) 23:57, 21 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And please include which browser and operating system you have. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:07, 22 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Do you mean that the "Search" placeholder text fails to disappear after you click on the text box but before you type in anything? That is intentional behavior on the part of your web browser; it is not a bug. You can find more details in bugzilla:40645, a bug report that older browsers (including Internet Explorer) incorrectly hide the placeholder. The former behavior is actually specified in the current draft of HTML5, and the latter behavior is problematic for users who use the Tab key to navigate web pages. PleaseStand (talk) 00:16, 22 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]