Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 September 10

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September 10

I am being treated unfairly

I have seen a deletion notice on my article Fantastic Shabalanga, however I have provided a reference for this gentleman and yet User:And Adoil Descended claims it is not notable even though he can not read Swahili, a language of Uganda.

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Fantastic Shabalanga

I am asking for your support in this case. I feel like I am being pounced on for being a newbie by overzealous admins. Thank you. --Kijoorete-Bahnhof (talk) 00:09, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I've chimed in on the discussion. - Purplewowies (talk) 00:14, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Kijoorete, Can you explain this? http://www.flickr.com/photos/philipphamedl/1934568609/in/photostream/ and the license which appears to conflict with the image you uploaded?--Robert Keiden (talk) 00:33, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Not to mention that that picture makes no assertion that that man is the subject of the article. "Old man in nursing home" is kinda vague. Where's the proof that he's Fantastic? - Purplewowies (talk) 00:51, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Yes, that is my image and I am upset to announce that Fantastic Shabalanga is in a retirement home and gravely ill. I believe this is besides that point though. I invite all admins to partake in the discussion at the Admins Noticeboard. --Kijoorete-Bahnhof (talk) 00:53, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

This is being discussed in many places. Insofar as it needs to be discussed further (and I am not sure it does), it shouldn't be split all over the place. Let's keep this at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard --Jayron32 01:01, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Kijoorete-Bahnhof has been blocked as another Technoquat sock. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:36, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

editing references

I am trying to edit references to journal articles. The information (authors, title, journal name and so on), are already there. I would like to add link to a webpage where a copy of the artilce can be seen as a pdf file. I tried to add url = .... at teh end, but the program cut off part of the address to the webpage. Similarly for a book. How do I do this?

Thanks Adam2828 (talk) 05:50, 10 September 2012 (UTC)adam2828Adam2828 (talk) 05:50, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Are you saying that you didn't copy the entire URL of the web page to begin with? Dismas|^(talk) 06:04, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Where are you copying the URL from? If you are copying from your browser's address bar, what is your browser name and version? -- John of Reading (talk) 06:22, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Please post an example. Several things could have happened and we are forced to guess without an example. I don't see one in your edits. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:45, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

If you check the documentation for {{cite web}}, it shows certain characters that you have to fix when pasting. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 19:26, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Information I added to a page was deleted, and I don't know why or who to contact to discuss the issue

I added some releveant information to a page about a sports star, and it was removed. The information was a link to the sport star's official website, and a mention (including link) that the sport star writes a blog for another, related website.

Both these were removed - can someone enlighten me as to why? They are both relevant facts pertaining to that individual, and information that anyone would find useful and beneficial should they search Wikipedia for that particular sports person.

I was under the inpression that Wikipedia was an open forum and that, as long as you comply with the rules, anyone was free to add relevant information and data.

So why should the particular information that I added be moderated in such a way? And what can I do about it? For example, how do I contact the person who removed it?

Thank you in anticpiation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Noj3000 (talk • contribs) 09:06, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

If you tell us which article it was that will help us to work out what happened here. Britmax (talk) 09:10, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

If it was the Ben Woollaston article, both of your additions were regarding his authorship of a blog. Some editors here think that any mention of a blog means that a blog is being used as a reference, or that editing a blog is not in itself notable enough for an encyclopedia. An edit summary on the part of the person removing the information would of course have been helpful. Britmax (talk) 09:17, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

It was Ben Woollaston. And in fact, I also did the same for David Grace, Michael Holt, Liam Highfield, Stuart Bingham and Anthony McGill. They all write blogs for the Living Snooker website - surely that is in the public's interest and information worthy of being included in a reference page about them? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Noj3000 (talk • contribs) 09:32, 10 September 2012 (UTC) --Noj3000 (talk) 15:30, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm thinking no. Living Snooker does not have its own article, so that could mean people here don't think it's notable enough for an article. And if that is the case, mentioning Living Snooker in all those people's Wikipedia articles might not be permitted.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:27, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Foreign language help (Korean)

Is there a specific help desk or other page to request assistance with material in foreign languages? I'm struggling to figure out what the latest addition to Sarah Baartman#Cultural references is trying to say. It includes a link to a page on the Korean WP so perhaps somone who can read that page might be able to fix the garbled English. Roger (talk) 10:53, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

You could try Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Korea. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:50, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I am new

Good day. My name is Aitarou Omutsu (相田ルーチンオムツ) and I am a professor at Toin University of Yokohama located in Aoba-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan.

I teach in political and social sciences and I have many contributions to make to the English wikipedia.

Outside of teaching, I enjoy reading and lectures.

I am new to Wikipedia. How do I get started? Thank you. --AitarouOmutsu-TUY (talk) 12:18, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Hi,

You will find that Wikipedia:Tutorial takes you through most of what you need to know to get started.

You may also want to think about how you want to contribute. Some users like to start new articles. Some users like to make big improvements to existing articles. Some users like to make lots of small improvements in many different articles. Some users like to create maps. Some users like to take photos. And so on.

Yaris678 (talk) 12:37, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Welcome. You might also find it useful to take a look at WP:WikiProject Politics and WP:WikiProject Sociology. WikiProjects are where editors with a common interest meet to discuss articles within their field. There are also WikiProjects covering most of the worlds countries a well as for transnational organisations. This essay has some useful advice for expert editors such as yourself. Roger (talk) 12:53, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Just speaking logically and not practically

Is "Ask a doctor/lawyer; seek professional medical/legal advice" not itself medical/legal advice? It seems equivalent to the statement "On the medical/legal topic you just mentioned, I advise you to speak to such-and-such professional." Though you didn't touch the technical content, you directed them in the direction of someone who would, and for all practical purposes, cannot deny that if said person did go to a professional and get content advice, you were a part of their getting there. If somebody asked me what's going on with their transmission, and I told them to go to Joe the a mechanic, I wouldn't say that in no way whatsoever did I give them auto care advice. Not very specific auto care advice, but nonetheless advice definitely on the subject of auto care. :) 20.137.18.53 (talk) 13:52, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

There is no "logically versus practically" dichotmy. We don't tell them which doctor or lawyer to consult, your scenarios all include specifying which professional to consult. The standard template answer used here basically says "Sorry, we are not qualified to answer this question, please ask someone who is", so it is not equivalent at all. Roger (talk) 14:22, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I modified my original post after your response. It doesn't seem to cause a major change in the fact that "seek professional advice from either anyone or someone in particular on X" is advice on the subject of X. "On the subject of medical advice, seek a professional" still helps them get closer to the answer to a medical question. 20.137.18.53 (talk) 14:30, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

So what? That's a trivial fact, and not relevant here. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:19, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Does the reference desk only answer "relevant" questions? :) 20.137.18.53 (talk) 15:32, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

This isn't the reference desk, it's the help desk. This page is for questions about using Wikipedia, so relevance matters. The reference desk might be willing to discuss it, but be aware that if you are asking if you can give particular advice then that is a legal question and rather than answer it they will tell you to consult a (licensed) legal professional. RJFJR (talk) 16:25, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the legal advice you just gave me(Suggesting where I go (the reference desk) where someone would point me to a professional on the topic of legality. "The reference desk might be willing to discuss it, but be aware that if you are asking if you can give particular advice then that is a legal question and rather than answer it they will tell you to consult a (licensed) legal professional."). 20.137.18.53 (talk) 16:34, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

That isn't legal advice, at the risk of pointing out the blindingly obvious. --SPhilbrick(Talk) 00:01, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

The user has mistaken "legal advice" with advice to talk to a professional, which is decidedly not "legal advice," it is advice to talk to a professional, where your interlocutor assumes you may get professional advice. Alanscottwalker (talk) 13:13, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

• I acquiesce. 20.137.18.53 (talk) 19:35, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Uploading photos taken from the Olympic Games

The London 2012 conditions for ticket holders read as follows:

"Images, video and sound recordings of the Games taken by a Ticket Holder cannot be used for any purpose other than for private and domestic purposes and a Ticket Holder may not license, broadcast or publish video and/or sound recordings, including on social networking websites and the internet more generally, and may not exploit images, video and/or sound recordings for commercial purposes under any circumstances, whether on the internet or otherwise, or make them available to third parties for commercial purposes."

Does this condition mean users are not allowed to upload images taken at the Olympics to Wikipedia under any type of free license? If so, then what happens to the images which have already been uploaded to Wikipedia and had their licenses confirmed by an admin, like Flickr for example? Wolcott (talk) 14:48, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I Am Not A Lawyer but I believe it means that anyone who has uploaded such a picture here is in breach of UK law. I do not know whether Wikipedia is itself in breach of UK law when it hosts and uses such pictures; my guess would be that it is in breach. Confirmation by an admin would do nothing to change this. Maproom (talk) 15:38, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

The copyright/licensing experts hang out at WP:MCQ, so you should probably ask there. FWIW I am a lawyer and while it would not be a breach of English law in the criminal sense, it is a breach of the contract that you enter into when you buy your ticket. The question is whether LOCOG has the time, inclination and budget to sue uploaders for breach of contract. The ticket restrictions would however mean that any uploads probably do not comply with Wikipedia's or Commons' licensing requirements.--ukexpat (talk) 15:47, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

This was recently discussed at Commons:COM:VPC#Photos of [Olympic] Sporting Events, the view was that this is a non-copyright restriction and does not therefore breach Commons' licensing requirements, which are mainly concerned with copyright status. January (talk) 16:12, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

So if the IOC were to demand that Wikipedia delete images taken at the Olympics on the basis of the condition stated by the OP, how would Wiki admins respond? 220.255.1.111 (talk) 10:36, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Uploading a picture

Hi, I want to upload a picture from a horror movie, but it doesn't let me because I am not an "autoconfirmed user" or something like that. What's that? I'm new to the site and would like to know whether I'm asking on right desk. Thank you. Cooppeerr (talk) 15:46, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Hi, Welcome to Wikipedia. Your account will be auto-confirmed after you have made at least ten edits, and after four days have passed since it was created. Your Contributions page tells me you've already made eight changes today, so you're almost there in that respect. Rojomoke (talk) 17:11, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

But please make sure you understand the copyright position of what you are wanting to do. --ColinFine (talk) 10:48, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

Different Question

on Wiki page Gongqing I deleted the previous reference by mistake and do not know how to put it back in correctly.

RLC19808Rlc19808 (talk) 15:52, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

User:Mdann52 has put it back correctly. Maproom (talk) 16:07, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I've fixed it. What you did is accidently changes </ref> to </r .Thanks for expanding the article, Mdann52 (talk) 16:09, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

WZVN

why are the people of venice, florida NOT going to be able to see ABC'S new show, KATIE. If we can see it, what is the correct channel to view it?

thank you.

sheila hird — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.56.193.3 (talk) 17:28, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Hello, Sheila. I'm sorry, but this is the Wikipedia Help Desk, and we are only able to provide assistance with editing Wikipedia. I'd suggest contacting your cable or satellite provider with your question. We have no control over ABC's content. Hersfold non-admin^(t/a/c) 18:01, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Katie is not an ABC program. Someone at the Entertainment Reference Desk might be able to help. — Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:32, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Copyright help

I've sent a copyright question to someone. Don't know who. This is all extremely confusing. Can you please provide me with a user's guide written in English, not computerese. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonielou (talk • contribs) 17:54, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

It looks like you posted your question to the Reference Desk, here, although it doesn't look like anyone has answered yet (they're a bit confused since that was your only edit at the time). Wikipedia:FAQ/Copyright provides a number of answers to frequently asked questions about copyright, and may help you out. In general, though, it's best to avoid copying text from another source and posting it here, as that is usually infringing on the author's copyright. Hersfold non-admin^(t/a/c) 18:05, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Vandals

Every day, vandals are editing and removing content from Dennis M. Lynch page. Is there any way to stop this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.192.253.249 (talk) 18:49, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

No, this is not vandalism. Please familiarize yourself with what that word means at Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Vandalism. What people are doing is removing information which is poorly written and lacking proper references. This removal took away some very badly written and unsourced puffery from the article, and as such, by removing it the article quality is actually better. If you think the information is relevent, please discuss the matter on the article talk page, and provide some sources, so that it can be incorporated properly, using a writing style that would be appropriate to Wikipedia, and with proper references to reliable sources. --Jayron32 19:05, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I've requested additional attention here [1], and already discussed this with an IP who's taken a similar long-term interest in puffing the article [2].... there couldn't be any connection between them, could there? Drmies did a good job cutting the fat from this, and if non-neutral accounts persist in using the article as a promotional venue I'll ask that the page be protected. 76.248.149.47 (talk) 20:28, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Language settings - Gaelic (Scots)

We have used the functionality previously where we could change the English language to Gaelic. This appears not to be an option now, is this the case? Why has it been removed as an option? Or how do we now access this option if not via the language setting?

Thanks

VictoriaTorali (talk) 19:01, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Each language that has a Wikipedia is maintained completely independent of all of the others; you can't just "switch" the language from one to the other. There is a Scottish Gaelic Wikipedia at http://gd.wikipedia.org , and this is English Wikipedia. Other than both being under the "Wikipedia" umbrella, the two are independent projects. If you wish to read or edit articles in Scottish Gaelic, you would do so at http://gd.wikipedia.org . Does that help answer your question? --Jayron32 19:10, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Preferences → User profile → Language does have a setting for gd Gàidhlig, but it only affects system messages, not article content. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 19:23, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm also unsure what you mean. Some articles in the English Wikipedia, for example Scotland, has a "Gàidhlig" link under "Languages" in the left pane, but only when the Scottish Gaelic Wikipedia has an article on the same subject (and then it will often be independently written and not a translation). The English Wikipedia has around 4 million articles and the Scottish Gaelic Wikipedia only has around 11,000. There are also some browser add-ons which can translate arbitrary web pages but this is not a Wikipedia feature, and I don't know whether there is an add-on which can handle Scottish Gaelic. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:38, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

User:Felipito1.966

This user seems to be making more unreferenced edits than other editors can keep up with. Is there anyway to wind back all his edits across WP? Also, block!--Aspro (talk) 20:44, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Where are these edits? I looked and found some problems which I addressed at User talk:Felipito1.966#Disruptive editing but I saw nothing on their talk page about unreferenced edits. You should probably discuss them with the user first. If it continues to be a problem then please let me know on my talk page. I also noted that they are not a very prolific editor with less than 250 edits in total this year. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 05:35, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

Two MW: namespace questions

Question 1

It seems that the screen below the editing window has changed in the last few days; I'm using the same version of IE8 that I have for quite a while, and I've never changed my skin away from Monobook, but there seems to be increased spacing around the terms of use, "If you do not want your writing to be edited...", and other elements that are located between the typing window and all of the special characters. Is it my imagination, or was something changed? I can't find anything relevant when searching Special:Recentchanges and restricting it to the MW: namespace. Nyttend (talk) 23:40, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I don't see a difference in spacing in MonoBook. MediaWiki:Wikimedia-copyrightwarning hasn't been edited since January. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:32, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

I see a difference (it's actually between "Edit summary" and "This is a minor edit") and I've been wondering about this. I have my preferences set so that Wikipedia articles look the same as they always did. I have IE9.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:42, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Question 2

While looking for the answer to question 1, I noticed recent edits to MediaWiki:Zero-rated-mobile-access-language-options, a page that I've never seen before. What does this page do? And what is "portal"? It's given entries just like en:, de:, ja:, and the other language editions of Wikipedia, but http://portal.wikipedia.org/ definitely doesn't exist. Nyttend (talk) 23:40, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

I don't know the system but I found mw:Wikipedia Zero in a search. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:32, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

cancelling or withdrawing an AfD?

Hello.

Using the nifty Special:NewPagesFeed, I managed to spot a pair of articles by a new editor that needed some cleanup and had very few references. I checked the refs and they did NOT check out (my mistake). I looked for more references and couldn't immediately find anything that supported them. So, decided "probable hoax" and tagged the first of the two (second mistake). I posted results and reasoning on the AfD, but after a few hours of further work, come to the conclusion I was wrong. I think the source cited may be incorrect, but both articles are fully supported by it. I no longer support, and would like to withdraw the AfD; what's the best way to do that? Or what else can I do now? I can also see that "New pages feed" is both nifty enough and powerful enough to be really dangerous for someone who's not careful. :( --Robert Keiden (talk) 23:46, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

An AFD can be closed as "Withdrawn by nominator" if you would like to withdraw your nomination. I'll do it for you. Electric Catfish 23:50, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! --Robert Keiden (talk) 00:02, 11 September 2012 (UTC)