Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2014 February 2

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February 2

I need to insert a correction along with the proof to Wikipedia

I have tried to insert a piece of news that corrects something that is wrong and has been with Wikipedia for years. How do I add my version of the facts and then give the subsequent proof that can be cataloged below under the article? I was not successful. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JohnBook (talk • contribs) 05:46, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi, it appears that some of what you contributed here remained in the edits that followed yours. What got lost was your comment that the "Indian newspaper The Indian Express even confirmed in their issue of 19 February 2008 that Indian Air Force's claim was bogus." As explained in @TheRedPenOfDoom:'s edit summary, the content was removed for "POV commentary", that is, you seem to be forcing a point-of-view that is not expressly stated in the article. The article says that the world record claim was invalidated for "lack of documents or evidence", and that is what you should have written, instead of "bogus", which implies a deceptive scheme. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 08:54, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Can't Edit (text disappears)

I wanted to tweak the opening/closing ceremony dates for the 2014 Winter Olympics but when I attempted to make the edit the text is not there. What's this all about, why is the text disappearing when you try to edit? 24.193.43.35 (talk) 13:25, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Your contributions show no edits to that page. When you clicked Save page, were you led back to the main article, instead of the edit window, and was there a box at the top that said, "Your edit was saved"? ~HueSatLum 13:31, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

I couldn't even make the edit because the text disappears once I click edit. 24.193.43.35 (talk) 13:35, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

The dates come from the relevant templates. It is not clear what "tweaks" you were trying to apply but if you explain what and why, someone may be able to help you. --David Biddulph (talk) 13:38, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

I'm confused. What exactly are "relevant templates"? 24.193.43.35 (talk) 14:29, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

templates are coding that allows content to be displayed in a different format than plain text, such as a conversion from feet to meters, or a few key codewords to bring back as a display a complex set of information that can be used in many pages and have to be updated only in one spot. In wiki markup templates are coded within double braces

• { { key words to call the template |parameters that may be specific for this article} } .

only without the space between the braces. see WP:TEMPLATE -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 15:20, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

The text "Opening ceremony 7 February" and "Closing ceremony 23 February" in the box on the upper right of the article is transcluded into the 2014 Winter Olympics article (e.g., the text "Opening ceremony 7 February" and "Closing ceremony 23 February" cannot be edited directly from the 2014 Winter Olympics article. The text does not disappear on selecting the edit tab, it never was directly part of the article text in the first place.) Looking at 2012 Summer Olympics, the Opening ceremony and Closing ceremony year 2012 is omitted from the infobox as well. Likely, there was some agreement somewhere to omit the date. I think that the year 2014 should be added to the text "7 February" and "23 February" 2014 Winter Olympics. Since current consensus is to leave out the year, you may need to obtain agreement at Talk:2014 Winter Olympics to make such a change. -- Jreferee (talk) 15:18, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Are you saying the edit box is completely blank or just that you don't see the dates you want to edit? If the edit box is blank then say which edit link you click, which browser you have, and whether you are logged out when you try to edit, like when you posted here. If you are only missing the dates in the infobox then they are added by Template:Infobox Olympic games/opening ceremony and Template:Infobox Olympic games/closing ceremony. Many page elements are added by templates. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:03, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Primehunter I don't see the dates but everything else is there. So how do I go about tweaking the text if it's not there? I'm confused by this whole template thing, I apologize. 24.193.43.35 (talk) 17:20, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

The dates are in the pages I linked: Template:Infobox Olympic games/opening ceremony and Template:Infobox Olympic games/closing ceremony. You can edit those and change the entry for 2014, but what exactly do you want it to say? PrimeHunter (talk) 17:41, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

It didn't work. I just edited the template but the date is in the same format. 24.193.43.35 (talk) 18:05, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

The reason was probably that it takes some time for template transclusions to fight their way through the cache. You would therefore have had to clear the cache. But I have reverted your edit. As I explained to you earlier, the intention of such use of templates is to achieve consistent formatting. If you have a good reason for displaying the 2014 date in a format inconsistent with that currently used for other years, please discuss it on the template's talkpage, or at the associated Wikiproject, rather than unilaterally implementing the change. --David Biddulph (talk) 18:13, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

This article appears to be semi protected. i.e. IP editors cannot directly make changes to the article. Instead, you will have to suggest the change on the talk page and if accepted then a logged in user will make the change. Op47 (talk) 18:23, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Downloading

I am a teacher in the rural area and it is impossible to get access to the internet.can i download the history for each country so that i can use it in the rural area without internet connectivity. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.189.160.42 (talk) 15:06, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Hey. While you are in an area with Internet connectivity such as now, you can go to any article you want, look to the menu on the left hand side of the page titled "Print/export" and click on "Download as PDF". Once you've downloaded an article to your computer you can call that up any time you want, print it, email it, etc. without any need for an internet connection. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:01, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Fuhghettaboutit, can you elucidate on how to email without an internet connection? Rojomoke (talk) 16:55, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

LOL! Yes, that sure would be a neat trick wouldn't it. The answer is that you just haven't accessed your deeper mental powers like us evolved types.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:58, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

IP has been implemented (and therefore email could be) over a connection by carrier pigeon. Of curse connection speeds are low :) More seriously, email can be sent over a local network connection that does not reach the internet proper. DES ^(talk) 18:22, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

You can also make a Book of all the pages you want and download them together. - Purplewowies (talk) 17:24, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that AOL still has the capability to use the Internet through a dial-up connection. That might help you. Lou Sander (talk) 01:22, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure AOL does not offer dial-up service in Ghana. -- Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:58, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

You might also check out Wikipedia:Wikipedia CD Selection which refers to free cd/dvds covering a substantial portion of the content.--S Philbrick(Talk) 19:46, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Dead link on Portal:Current events calendar

The calendar on the current events portal shows a dead link (Portal:Current_events/Calendar/2014/32). It needs to be changed to Portal:Current_events/Calendar/2014/31 in order to display the February calendar properly.

Thanks. 96.48.151.67 (talk) 21:48, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

(EC) Portal:Current events is showing a red link in the calendar section but I can't begin to understand how that section works. Can anyone see what went wrong? Portal:Current events/Calendar/2014/31 does exist (although February doesn't have 31 days). Rmhermen (talk) 21:48, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

The suffix number is the "day of the year", increasing from 1 to 365. The red link is being discussed at Portal talk:Current events#Calendar. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:06, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Trouble with Lua

OK I just tried to put a ref in Kesur Singh and it through up missing Url right next to the Url. When I checked the help page it was completely in helpful. I don't like leaving a page lookinbg stupid, and actually I don't like feeling stupid when I try and do something I have done countless times and find that all I get is cryptic comments and nothing at all helpful. I would be grateful if someone could fix it, and explain to me my own undoubted stupidity in this matter. Leutha (talk) 22:32, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

It appears you were using {{cite journal}} but not defining a |title=. Looks like you got it fixed. --  Gadget850 ^talk 22:46, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Reusing nested |encyclopedia referencves

It would be convenient If one could nest | encyclopedia references in such a way that the nested reference could be reused without retyping the entire thing. Or, perhaps more lucidly, would like to have references in the format "John"'s publication as cited in Jack's publication", with "Jack's publication" being reusable in the same manner as in print one would use "op. cit." To extend the example, a subsequent reference might be "Joe's publication as cited in Jack's publication".

I cannot locate examples or instructions for this.

Dwsafford (talk) 23:22, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi Dwsafford, you can! When you first use a reference you can name it, allowing you to just cite that named reference later on. If you do this the Wiki software will automatically use the data from the first time you named it. To name a reference, change your reference from <ref>Some reference</ref> to <ref name="name">Some reference</ref> where name can be whatever you want it to be, but make it different for each unique reference. To use the same reference later on, just write <ref name="name"/> :) Samwalton9 (talk) 23:33, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

See WP:REFNAME and WP:REFNEST. --  Gadget850 ^talk 00:05, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Balletine, Mississippi

Hi there. I checked the GNIS entry for this place, and its name should be "Ballentine". Thanks. Magnolia677 (talk) 23:23, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi. Thanks for pointing that out, I've moved the page and renamed the relevant fields. Samwalton9 (talk) 23:27, 2 February 2014 (UTC)