Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2014 April 26

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April 26[edit]

WW1 Military Cross Recipients[edit]

My grandfather Harold Methven Musson was awarded the Military Cross and gazetted in the London Gazette on 18 July 1917, yet he is not included in the list of recipients within Wikipedia. I have tried to edit the page but have been unable to do so. How do I get his name added to the list of recipients? Regards, KennardJim — Preceding unsigned comment added by KennardJim (talkcontribs) 02:57, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry, but we don't try to list every recipient of awards like this (there are over 48,000 MC holders). The list contains those people who are notable in some other way, and warrant a Wikipedia page of their own. Rojomoke (talk) 05:53, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Are we talking about the very short list in Military Cross or is there some other list that I haven't found? The list at Military Cross#Notable awards does not even include every recipient who has a Wikipedia article. SpinningSpark 12:57, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
A list of every MC recipient with a Wikipedia article would be at least 1,283 names long. Such a list would be very unwieldy, and merely duplicate the category entries. - Arjayay (talk) 15:17, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't suggest there should be such a list. I'm just trying to establish which list the OP was referring to. SpinningSpark 16:08, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

no match[edit]

when i come into the accounts sign in page my email address is not matching my new email address so therefore i have to type in my new email address every time before typing my password in. will this ever change automatically so i won't have to type in each time. everywhere else in the system seems to have changed but not here. i have received emails from you confirming my new address. please advise and help me to get this showing correctly tonight will be three nights since the new address has been given to you. thankyou! ≠≠≠≠ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.125.170.166 (talk) 06:39, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

did you try signature. Maz132 (talk) 06:51, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I don't fully understand your request. You are not required to provide your e-mail address when logging in to Wikipedia, so whatever you are looking at, it is not our login page. There is a space for providing an e-mail address when creating an account, but this is only optional, and you only need to do it once, you should not be creating a new account every time you edit. Once logged in, you can change your e-mail address under your preferences. SpinningSpark 12:38, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted Article[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Hi, I am written an article but could not save page due to unconstructive and filter on the person of interest. I would like the block and filter removed, if possible?Maz132 (talk) 06:46, 26 April 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maz132 (talkcontribs) 06:45, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"Pages that have been creation-protected are sometimes referred to as 'salted'. Contributors wishing to re-create a salted title with more appropriate content should contact an administrator (look for one who was previously involved) or use the deletion review process." Maproom (talk) 08:24, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

IP address[edit]

I am just curious to find out if it is actually possible to see if two users (verified users/editors) share the same IP address?--Catflap08 (talk) 07:26, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It can only be seen by a Wikipedia:CheckUser. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:20, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Why do you want to know whether two registered users share the same IP address? If two members of the same household both edit Wikipedia, they should both have their own accounts. Robert McClenon (talk) 17:54, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
No, there's no "should" about it: while there are advantages to having an account, there is absolutely no requirement on an editor to have one. --ColinFine (talk) 21:38, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I meant that the "should" is that they cannot share the registered account, so it is valid for them to both have accounts and use the same IP address. Sharing of an account is not permitted. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:38, 27 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
People who go to the same school or college or use computers at the same library would also have the same IP address for Wikipedia edits, and they might not even be aware of each other.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:19, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Displaying a particular page number of a DJVU file (of a book) as a thumbnail[edit]

The Fortunate Union: A Romance, an 1829 translation by John Francis Davis

At Haoqiu zhuan I want to display a particular page number of File:Fortunateuniona00davigoog.djvu - Instead of the Google page, I want to show the cover, on page 11.

Thanks, WhisperToMe (talk) 09:49, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

@WhisperToMe: Page parameter can be used. For example, [[File:Fortunateuniona00davigoog.djvu|thumb|page=11|''The Fortunate Union: A Romance'', an 1829 translation by [[John Francis Davis]]]] will render the image on the right. --Glaisher [talk] 12:45, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you! WhisperToMe (talk) 12:49, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

When multiple P41 values exist, how to retrieve the correct one[edit]

When using {{#property:p41}} in a template or on a page, it returns the name of the flag image of a country/state/..., but in the case of country United States it returns:
Flag of the United States.svg, US flag 49 stars.svg, US flag 48 stars.svg
Three file names! In this case {{#ifexist:media:{{#property:p41}}|[[File:{{#property:p41}}{{!}}35px{{!}}]]}} has a false condition and does not show a flag image. A difference with other countries (and other geographicals) is the presence of a start date and an end date. So to solve my problem, I need to access the one with the highest start date or the one witout an end date in case of multiple values for P41. But I also need to get the ones that have no start/end date in case of a single value for p41. What can I do? --FredTC (talk) 14:05, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

You might want to post this at WP:VPT. Editors there are likely to be much more knowledgable on technical template issues. SpinningSpark 14:49, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I have posted it there. --FredTC (talk) 14:56, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Suitable reference source[edit]

Hi. I'm currently working on the Scientology in Australia page. Is this a suitable url for the following reference?

Crawford, Wayne (2 August 1982). "Scientology makes its move for an 'all-clear'". The Mercury. Hobart. p. 7.

I quite often come across copies of new articles in strange places, but I tend to ignore them as potentially suspect. Should I not be?

(The archive on the paper's website only goes back a few years. There's the Australian National Archive but that stops in 1954 for this paper.)

Is this the right place to ask this, or should I post it somewhere else - I've not worked out what to ask where yet? Thanks for your help. —Otus scops (talk) 15:27, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

You should have been able to get an answer here. However, Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard might be a better place. I'm not a good judge of whether something is acceptable or not.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:24, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Vcimpanzee. I'll go and ask over there.--Otus scops (talk) 21:36, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

How to change user name[edit]

Can anyone help a newbie to change my user name from AlphaCaptureTechnology to Alpha Capture Technology (just adding spaces between words) Thx! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:2000:FFC0:13:DDC:AE4:4603:3544 (talk) 15:41, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Changing username and then make a request at Wikipedia:Changing username/Simple. SpinningSpark 16:02, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think that changing the spelling of a user name will circumvent the issue that has caused the user name to be blocked as an organizational name. You should change it to something else. Robert McClenon (talk) 18:52, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Citing tv episodes[edit]

Is it possible to cite tv episodes? There does not seem to be anything in the citation templates regarding them. GiraffeBoy (talk) 15:53, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:Reliable sources#Definition of published. SpinningSpark 16:12, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
See also {{Cite episode}}, which can help with the formatting. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:09, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

sign previous edit[edit]

First I made an edit on a talk page using my ip address. I have made an account now. Is it allowed to sign my message again with 4 times ~? So that others know that was me. Should I remove the old signature? Grt36YD69kSUCph8lA40sqDbHsrreVxp (talk) 16:06, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

you may. if you have only made one or two edits while logged out, you may wish to contact the WP:OTRS team to have them oversight the edits to maintain your privacy/suppress the link between your IP and your account. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 16:11, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Articles_for_deletion/Death_of_Allen_Ross[edit]

Death of Allen Ross https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Death_of_Allen_Ross

something wrong here, no replies at all? Mosfetfaser (talk) 17:19, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

ta User:Spinningspark, sorted - Mosfetfaser (talk) 17:33, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Something is wrong here. Is the article whose deletion is being discussed Death of Allen Ross or Dana Nuccitelli? There had been a deletion nomination for Death of Allen Ross, but it now has a link to an empty AFD page which was moved to an AFD page for Dana Nuccitelli, which was then speedy-deleted. I think that admin action may be necessary. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:53, 27 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

A ten dollar donation to Wikipedia[edit]

Hi. A while ago I donate $10 to wikipedia because I used it frequently. However, over the last 4-5 years I have seen an increasingly vitriolic slant against anything alternative under the guise of "objectivity". I no longer find wikipedia useful. I would also like to suggest, based on the increase in popularity of natural medicine and alternative modalities among people of all education levels, that moderators either revert to true objectivity (i.e. impartial respect for major viewpoints) or cease the use of the tag line "The Free Encyclopedia." While it is not reasonable to expect a refund of my $10, wikipedia has likely seen it's last donation from me. K. Pentland — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.121.150.157 (talk) 18:26, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"Wikipedia's policies around this kind of thing are exactly spot-on and correct. If you can get your work published in respectable scientific journals - that is to say, if you can produce evidence through replicable scientific experiments, then Wikipedia will cover it appropriately.
"What we won't do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of 'true scientific discourse'. It isn't." -- Jimmy Wales, earlier this year.
--Demiurge1000 (talk) 18:35, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the commenter, and my comment is about Jimmy Wales's apparent line on views like his which you quote above. There has always been bias against alternative and so-called "natural" medicine for that very reason, the perceived lack of scientific evidence underpinning it, i.e. evidence produced through replicable scientific experiment, but lack of formal proof does not mean that all alternative medicine must necessarily be suspect, much of it is very effective and has been for centuries, and who are Wikipedia to judge when the promoter of a particular type of alternative medicine is a lunatic charlatan? It is a very difficult judgment for non-medical people to make. Even expert pracititioners of some alternative treatment modalities are not sure how they work, they only know that they do. I think Wikipedia are playing safe by following the line taken by conventional medicine that there must be always be scientific underpinning, and who can blame them, for how can non-experts possibly judge these matters? But playing safe will inevitably lead to discrimination against alternative medicine, without good enough reason in my view. (I would never go so far as to say that Wikipedia are bowing to pressure from Big Pharma on this, though I can imagine some might say it.) I think Wikipedia should be completely impartial in its treatment of alternative medicine and cover all alternative therapies on its pages. If there are any doubts about a particular therapy being described in an article, there is nothing to stop the article expressing the reservations that may be held about it by those who are known to have doubts about it. That would be true impartiality, and would not leave gaps in Wikipedia that might lead some to question Wikipedia's impartiality and reputation as a good encyclopaedia. Could this perhaps be put to Jimmy Wales? --P123cat1 (talk) 20:13, 27 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting thoughts! A bit beyond the scope of the help desk though... 20:16, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

Yes, rather stupid of me to post them on the Help Desk! Is there any way of getting the message across to someone in Wikipedia who has control over which articles are and are not accepted? It seems from Jimmy Wales's comments that Demiurge1000 quoted that Wikipedia is blocking articles on alternative therapies to some degree. --P123cat1 (talk) 11:37, 28 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia community has control over which articles are accepted and which articles are not accepted. --Glaisher [talk] 11:42, 28 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In that case, where is the appropriate place for me to put across the concern I expressed in my comment, i.e. that Wikipedia seems to frown on articles being submitted on alternative therapies? I have given reasons why I think this is wrong, and I would like the community to see them. I can copy and paste my comment wherever you say is appropriate. I hope you can help out. --P123cat1 (talk) 14:01, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine may have the answer.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:48, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I will try that! --P123cat1 (talk) 22:27, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Compressed natural gas[edit]

The article Compressed natural gas contains an external link to the website of a private company, J-W Power Company, which is in that line of business. Is this appropriate? Librsh (talk) 21:24, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

No, it is not. WP:ELNO Thanks for pointing it out!-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 21:30, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Removed a redlink to non-existing page for that company as well. Jarkeld (talk) 21:31, 26 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]