Miscellaneous desk
< June 1	<< May \| June \| Jul >>	June 3 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference 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 reference desk pages.

June 2[edit]

"phone-friendly" formatting[edit]

I don't approve of Wikipedia's "phone-friendly" formatting. I used to be able to navigate Wikipedia comfortably with my Samsung from MetroPCS, but due to many pages now being automatically formatted to "suit" my phone, everything's gone STUPID. When I try to open my options menu, I'm only given two options: "Home" and "Random". Home doesn't redirect me to what I've assigned as my home page (Google) or even Wikipedia's homepage; instead both options redirect me to a random Wikipedia page. With only these two choices, I do not have access to my page history so I have no way of navigating away from the phone-formatted wikipedia pages once I'm in. There should at least should be a hyperlink that you can use if you choose not to view the page in this format. It's a pain in the ass.

I realize I'm supposed to be asking a question for which I can receive an answer but when it comes to contacting Wikipedia, it's a total mess. Here's a question for you: How do tell wikipedia directly that I've got a problem with their phone formatting? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.131.160.134 (talk) 13:52, 2 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A website, including Wikipedia, can't change how your browser's "home" button works, nor can it disable the history. Your options menu is part of your phone's browser, not part of Wikipedia. Wikipedia doesn't behave at all as you describe in the Android web browser, nor in the official Wikipedia Android app. It sounds like you are using some other Wikipedia app, and the author of that is the place to whom you should address your concerns. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:05, 2 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Finlay, the OP is talking about the mobile Wikipedia site, which you can see on your desktop browser by going to m.wikipedia.org. The home/random buttons appear when you press the giant 'W' icon in the top left corner.

It IS possible to get to the non-mobile version of the site, although the method isn't particularly obvious. Instead of using the menu at the top of the page, scroll all the way down to the bottom where it says 'WikipediA' (sic) and has a 'More' button. Clicking 'More' reveals the footer, which has a link saying 'Desktop'. Clicking that link will switch to the original version of the site and stay there even when you follow links to new articles, although if your phone is like mine it will forget the setting if you leave the site for more than a few minutes, so you have to do this every time you go to Wikipedia on your phone. 59.108.42.46 (talk) 09:10, 4 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think Finlay is aware of what the OP is talking about, since he specifically refers to the "Android web browser". FWIW tapping the Home option on the mobile site, when viewed on my Android phone, does not lead me to a random Wikipedia page as the OP reports, it leads me to the featured article of the day. Finally, the OP may wish to note for future reference that the best place to post queries like this is the Wikipedia help desk. --Viennese Waltz 13:59, 4 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

First names sounding like "what"[edit]

People often change their name to something fun for the fun of it, and I was wondering, are there any forenames originating from Western countries that sound like the word "what", either in full or when the name is shortened? Thanks 109.148.89.13 (talk) 23:06, 2 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"Watt" is the closest I can think of. Other than the old Abbott and Costello routine about, "Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:09, 2 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wat Tyler is one. And Watkin Tench is another. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 23:23, 2 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The WotWots from New Zealand may help. HiLo48 (talk) 23:36, 2 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

But those aren't their first names (which are Spotty and Dotty). Adam Bishop (talk) 06:30, 3 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Of course. And it's good that you have such detailed knowledge of this area ;-) HiLo48 (talk) 06:54, 3 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See also Wat (disambiguation)#People.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:18, 3 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you all greatly for your help! I never knew the name Wat existed, that's great. 109.148.89.13 (talk) 13:40, 3 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See also this 1980s British advert on YouTube. Alansplodge (talk) 17:37, 3 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There's also the obscure name Wart, which is how some people pronounce "What". --Dweller (talk) 11:14, 6 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Only the folks who live in Warshington. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:43, 7 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]