Help desk
< September 20	<< Aug \| September \| Oct >>	September 22 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help 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 Help Desk pages.

September 21

Babel "es"

Hi. I´m using the template {{Babel}} "es", but I notice the translation (or better, the text) is wrong. It says "Este usuario tiene el español como lengua materna." It should say "La lengua materna de este usuario es el español", or "El español es la lengua materna de este usuario". I have no idea how to fix it, if I can or who to tell. Can someone do it or at least tell me where to discuss the change? Thanks. --Andreateletrabajo (talk) 02:48, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The text is from Template:User es. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:02, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

OK, thanks. --Andreateletrabajo (talk) 03:16, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Horizon League

Horizon League should not have its article title italicized. Template:Italic title appears to be transcluded onto the article, but I can't find it in the text to remove it. Jrcla2 (talk) 04:32, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed. Infobox Television italicizes the title unless you add 'italic title=no' to the infobox code. Dismas|^(talk) 04:37, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate the quick help, thank you. Jrcla2 (talk) 04:46, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

np. Dismas|^(talk) 05:26, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Accidental disable

I accidentally disabled the mobile view how can i re enable the mobile view? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.253.78.57 (talk) 06:21, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Enable mobile version. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:58, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Mobile wikipedia feedback

Hello,

Mobile wikipedia is great to read on small screens, but it lacks language switcher. Since English is not my native language and I would prefer to read articles in my language when possible, I miss this functionality very much. Is there a chance translation links will be implemented on mobile wikipedia too?

Thanks, Yurii — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.233.12.15 (talk) 06:42, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What language are you trying to access? I was just able to pull up an article on my iPhone in German with no issues whatsoever. Dismas|^(talk) 07:46, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't said it's not possible to access it in other language. But you can't switch easily from page in English to the same page in Russian, for example. On main wikipedia there's "Languages" bar on the left side of window which allows to do it in one click. On mobile wikipedia you have to go to address bar and replace "en.wiki.x.io" with "ru.wiki.x.io" and replace English term with Russian term (you have to know exact translation though). 94.233.12.15 (talk) 09:27, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I see now. You're looking for an interlanguage link. Got it. Though I don't have a solution for you. Sorry, Dismas|^(talk) 09:34, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tray asking this at Help talk:Mobile access. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 14:05, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Show/Hide buttons not working on iPhone.

Hi,

For the last few days the Show/Hide buttons for sections of articles have not been working on my iPhone. This means I can't read the full articles. Wondering if this is a problem with the site or something else.

Many thanks Rik 212.183.128.100 (talk) 06:56, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

They work fine for me. It may be your iPhone. Dismas|^(talk) 08:02, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Table formatting problem

Resolved

In a draft in my userspace User:Toshio Yamaguchi/State libraries of Germany I encounter a formatting problem. In the fifth entry (the one for Hamburg), the wikilink to Landesbibliothek der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg does not appear correctly (it should appear as a redlink) but I can't figure out what the problem is. Any help would be appreciated. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 09:24, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed -- John of Reading (talk) 10:16, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a million. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 10:18, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Screenshots

Hello! I've searched through a lot of Wikipedia help, and I don't seem to be able to find a definitive answer to this...

I'd like to add a screenshot or two to some articles about some computer software that I have; in particular I'd like to use screenshots taken by myself. Is this as simple as screen-dumpinging, saving etc. myself, or am I getting onto dodgy copyright territory here? The software that I'm using is freeware.

I tried uploading one to Wikimedia Commons to use, but it got Speedy deleted.

OrbiterSpacethingy (talk) 09:45, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the fact you take the screenshots yourself isn't really relevant. The copyright of the program owners still applies, so you're difinitely in dodgy territory there. Whether screenshots of freeware are allowed in the article really depends on a lot of factors (WP:FU). I think it got deleted on Commons because they have stricter image rules. Try uploading on Wikipedia with a solid fair use rationale and keep the number of images limited to what is really needed to understand the article. - 194.60.106.17 (talk) 10:04, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See also Wikipedia:Image copyright tags/Non-free content#Screenshots and the link "a screenshot" at Wikipedia:Upload where you choose a screenshot license tag. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:48, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks!OrbiterSpacethingy (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 12:24, 21 September 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Regina Louise article got rejected

I recently submitted a article about Regina Louise and it got rejected because some of my information i think the person who edited my page knew that I took my information from regina louise's website. But she gave me permission to take the information from her website for the wiki page, because she wrote everything on her website. Is there a way to submit my wiki article seeing as though she gave me permission to make the page and to take information from her website for the wiki article. --Adrian-lashay morris (talk) 08:16, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I moved your post to the bottom of the page and added a section heading. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:23, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The permission must be verified by following the process set out at WP:IOWN, but note that even then the text may not be suitable for a Wikipedia article. Her website exists to promote her so a word for word reproduction will like fall foul of our "no promotion" policy, see WP:SPAM. – ukexpat (talk) 14:54, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Asking question again...was not answered.

Original question / answer

Hello, Someone has posted my personal information on Wikipedia and it was unauthorized. The posting went to deleteopedia and is still available to view. I would like the page completely deleted, if possible. Please provide instructions for permanently deleting pages with personal information. 174.252.1.184 ( talk) 15:31, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

The fact is that we have no control over what is done by other websites. You will have to contact those websites directly to request the removal of material from their pages. -- Orange Mike | Talk 15:48, 20 September 2011 (UTC) ↑Jump back a section

New question

Orange Mike, I did not ask about removing material from other websites. I've already accomplished that with the other websites. They told me to have the source page deleted also so my info isn't available for random sites to pull from. That's my question...could you provide information about how to permanently delete a page on deleteopedia?

Thank you.174.253.244.237 (talk) 13:47, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I've reformatted the layout above to make it clearer what's new and what's not, hope you don't mind. Wikipedia has no association with Deleteopedia and no powers to do anything about its content, so you will need to deal with that website to get the information removed. The Wikipedia help desk isn't here to help you with problems with other websites. If the material is still visible on Wikipedia, or if it is located in the accessible page history, you need to follow the instructions at WP:OVERSIGHT to get it permanently removed from Wikipedia. If the page on Wikipedia has already been deleted, then you probably don't need to worry further. Please don't tell us what or where the personal information is, otherwise you'll just compound the problem. Bencherlite ^Talk 13:58, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Deletionpedia is a Wikipedia mirror; we have absolutely no control over its content. I poked around, but don't see any deletion process there. I suggest you use the email contact at http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 14:02, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

As others have said, Wikipedia (or the Wikimedia Foundation which runs Wikipedia) has no control over Deletionpedia. It is one of thousands of independently run wikis, many of which happen to use the same MediaWiki software as us so they may look like us but they are not. The lower right corner of this page has an image saying "a WIKIMEDIA project". http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com does not say that. However, I looked around and found http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com/w/index.php?title=Deletionpedia:Archive which has a link called "Report a page" to http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com/w/index.php?title=Special:GrimReaper. I know nothing about how requests there are handled. Also note that http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com/w/index.php?title=Deletionpedia:Archive says they copy articles before they are deleted. After a Wikipedia page has been deleted, the former content can only be viewed at Wikipedia itself by Wikipedia administrators, but we cannot prevent external sites from copying pages before they are deleted. If "deleteopedia" in your post refers to some other site then we might be able to find contact info at the site if you post a link to the main site. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:59, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Email contact

Confused! I have in my profile that others may contact me thru my personal Email, however when I display my userpage, I don't see any option whereby anyone could do that. (Where is it found to contact off-WP?) Thx for answer. Ihardlythinkso (talk) 14:05, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It should be in the "Toolbox" section of the left hand sidebar. You have enabled email correctly, as I can see the link when I visit your user page. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:18, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

TOOLBOX ! Thanks for answer. (Didn't think of looking there; was looking at upper-right clickables where the heart thingy-dingy is, etc. [Which raises Q, s/ the Email clickable be there instead!? But I'm not asking.] Thx again for your answer!) Sincere, Ihardlythinkso (talk) 14:59, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Email-options at Special:Preferences link to the "E-mail this User" feature where you can see more. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:31, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How to find my wikipedia account that i have created when using the search key

I have created an account but when i get into wikipedia itself and i search the name of my account, it doesn't find it at all, so how will other people find it on wikipedia?

```` — Preceding unsigned comment added by WoodFoundation (talk • contribs) 14:53, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your question is not entirely clear, but your only contribution apart from your question here is your user page at User:WoodFoundation, which I have tagged for speedy deletion as far too promotional for a user page or a draft Wikipedia article. – ukexpat (talk) 15:06, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Editing specific pages

Hello,

I am trying to edit our company page of Wikipedia. I believe the person who created this page has now left our organisation. How can my edits be approved if they are no longer here?

Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.189.98.170 (talk) 15:08, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Nobody owns an article. See Wikipedia:FAQ/Organizations. If you need further advice then please post a link to the article. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:24, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I cant move my article, why?

Dear Sir/madam,

i ve edited a new article in wikipedia. I wanted to move it but i suprisly encountered a message as "you re too new and cant move an article". How long should i ve to wait for moving my article or what should i have to do?

thanks,

Turkerahi — Preceding unsigned comment added by Turkerahi (talk • contribs) 15:28, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your account must be autoconfirmed before you can move pages, ie 4 days old and 10 edits. I have looked at your draft and at the moment it is not ready to be moved. Please read WP:CORP, WP:BFAQ, WP:SPAM and WP:RS. – ukexpat (talk) 15:56, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Signed baseball from HARLAND KENTUCKY,1952 MOUNTAIN LEAUGE

Hello,my name is Ronald Hayes,i have a autograth baseball from the HARLAND SMOKIES,from the 1952 leauge.I remember this era in baseball.Can you help me in searching if the ball is worth anything.My email address is <blanked>. This ball brings back many memories for me.Hope to hear from you soon.Thanks Ron — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.46.249.229 (talk) 15:48, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried the Miscellaneous section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. TN X Man 15:49, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Non-English Language Source Citation

I am curious as to whether primacy is given to an English-language source as opposed to one making the same point in a non-English language. I looked at Wikipedia:Citing sources and couldn't find anything there about it.

If there is a case that the primary source is in another language and there is no secondary source in English that makes the same point, it is acceptable to use (and cite) a non-English source? If a secondary source does exist in English that backs and accurately covers a point made in the non-English primary source, is it preferable to cite the primary source from another language alongside the English secondary source or should it be omitted entirely in preference for the English material?

More specifically, let's say there is an Egyptologist who has done original research and delivered a paper in a German-language journal. Then another Egyptologist references the German article in their own English-language article. Which article (or both) is preferred from a citation standpoint? (Or does it matter?)

Could someone please point to me to guideline on this (if there is one)? Cheers! Captmondo (talk) 18:14, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

English sources are preferred but foreign language sources are perfectly acceptable provided (as with any of other source) they are verifiable by someone minded to do so. In your example, I see no harm in citing both sources. See also WP:NONENG. – ukexpat (talk) 18:44, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the response! Cheers! Captmondo (talk) 19:12, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Moving appearance of screen

For some strange reason, my laptop is displaying an image at the top of the page tonight (Wednesday 21 September) - so I can only just see the icons saying "History" and "Edit".Is there any way I can move the screen appearance down the page? I have tried using a cursor key, but if there is a Control key you can press, that may be more effective. Thannk you for any help, ACEOREVIVED (talk) 18:42, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think I might have managed to move things now, but I would still like to know whether pressing "Control" with any keys does move the screen appearance. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 22:52, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you don't get an answer here, you could try asking at computing section of the reference desk.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:06, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks for that - I did get some answers there! ACEOREVIVED (talk) 21:08, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comparing Versions

I am helping a teacher out who is doing a wikipedia based assignment. We were planning on having students write articles in their sandboxes prior to moving them. The issue is for students wanting to make edits to already existing articles or stubs. The teacher wants to be able to distinguish between what a student is adding to an article and what was already there. Right now we are planning on having the students cut and paste the existing articles into their sandboxes and just go through and make their changes. I know that you can compare versions, but this prints out in kind of an ugly fashion. Is there a way to clearly distinguish between a student's added content and the already existing article so that the teacher could accurately and easily evaluate the students' contributions? Any suggestions would be helpful.

Leejohnson898 (talk) 19:45, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The differences are displayed on the "history" section of the article, accessed by clicking the "history" tab at the top of your screen when reading the article; or by going to the "contributions" page for each student. I cannot urge strongly enough that students should not cut and paste entire articles, as this messes up the entire editing history for the article, making it appear that the student is the author of the whole new article. I'm sorry if the display seems "kind of... ugly"; but preserving the edit history of the article must take precedence over printout aesthetics. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:50, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I appreciate and understand your concern. The students are not cutting and pasting their sandbox material back into the articles, however. They are using the sandbox as a way to get to know wikipedia and experiment with making edits to pages. They will then edit the most recent version of the article and insert their changes like any other wikipedia user. Also, I have considered using the "history" section but as I mentioned, this is not conducive to grading for the teacher. We have decided we will just print out the version of the article before the student's changes were made and then the newly edited article along with a separately written word document narrating the changes.

Leejohnson898 (talk) 21:58, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I just want to make sure you understand something. Once you are in the history of an article, you use the radio buttons to select two different versions of an article, and then you click on the button at the top marked "Compare selected revisions", which shows you exactly what was changed between the two versions, side by side (example). You could also use a different (in my opinion often better) kind of comparison provided by this tool.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:10, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Cross project wikilinks

Resolved

Is it permitted to cross-wikilink to non-english Wikipedia articles instead of using a redlink? For example in User:Toshio Yamaguchi/State libraries of Germany, is it permitted to wikilink to de:Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt instead of Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt (see that entry in my draft)? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 19:53, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Does Help:Interlanguage links#Inline interlanguage links help? – ukexpat (talk) 20:01, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. {{Ill}} seems to be a good solution. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 20:05, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Way to create coordinate links without the annoying little globes

I am making a list of ~900 settlements (List of villages in Hinthada Township), most of which have coordinates, and the little globes that come with the {{coord}} template break my page (too many so the later coordinates don't have the raw data at all, just a link to {{coord}}) and make it very slow to load. I don't need the little globe but would like people to be able to click the link to get through to the map page. I tried just doing the URLs but those automatically generated the globe too. Help!! Calliopejen1 (talk) 20:18, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There's a script that adds the globe next to the coordinates when pagename is used in a link to toolserver.org/~geohack. You can force a link without the image by omitting that parameter (17.5373°N 95.3548°E). You could make a template (if one doesn't already exist) that would form these links using the same input you used with {{coord}}, then you could just replace "{{coord|" with "{{customcoordtemplate|" in that big table. — Bility (talk) 23:24, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What to do with Collaborative_writing

I've spent some time over the last couple of days attempting to improve Collaborative_writing and I've got nowhere, the text needs an overhaul and it turns out all the references are about collaboration rather than collaborative writing. I don't think there is anything in the article that isn't in either Collaboration or Collaborative_fiction so I'm tempted to propose delete, any opinions? AdamCaputo (talk) 21:51, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The proper basis for deletion is that a better article can't be written; that reliable sources can't be found, that the topic is not notable or is unverifiable, not that notability or verification hasn't yet been shown. In other words, bluntly put, barring overriding concerns such as copyright violations, we generally don't delete articles that don't meet the speedy criteria because the current version sucks if it can be improved. Please read WP:BEFORE. A seach such as this one indicates there are just scads of targeted sources to draw from. On the other hand, if indeed the article suffers from the problems you say to such a degree that most of the current content should go, you can boldly and ruthlessly cut it down to a sourced stub but I would propose doing so first on its talk page.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:18, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you :) , let me clarify - my issue was that everything that could be in the article, is either already covered in the two I mentioned, or could be covered in the two I mentioned...I'm certainly not suggesting that it wouldn't be great to have the information on wiki. AdamCaputo (talk) 11:31, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Semi existence!

Hello Wikipedia,

I have a weird problem. I created the account Ishtar1949 literally years ago, and have just picked it up again to do a few edits. On the one hand it's reminded me of my password OK, and let me get on with editing - but on the other hand it remains in red, and no editing history has attached to it. I've never done any very controversial edits or otherwise been rapped over the knuckles, so I can't quite work out why it's not just a normal live account - and if there's anything I can do about its twilight status. Any advice? Cheers, Ishtar — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ishtar1949 (talk • contribs) 22:18, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your user status is OK. Your username is shown as red because you have not created your userpage. Yes, however, you do have edit history attached (for 2010).Jasper Deng (talk) 22:20, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And just to confirm, your account has no deleted edits. Do you remember editing from it prior to the first edit shown in the history from August 31, 2010? The only thing I know that could account for that is if the edits were oversighted for some reason.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:27, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The account was created when it first edited August 31, 2010 at the Simple English Wikipedia: http://simple.wiki.x.io/wiki/Special:Log/Ishtar1949. It was created here at the English Wikipedia the same day: http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&user=Ishtar1949. By the way, I have finally solved your mystery at Wikipedia:New contributors' help page/Archive/2010/September#Article I wrote apparently disappeared... You originally created the page at the Simple English Wikipedia at simple:NHS Alliance instead of here at the "normal" English Wikipedia. After the discussion you created it here at NHS Alliance. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:55, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Donating copyrighted materials

Hi Helpdesk,

I understand why the:

http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Nethercutt_Collection

page was removed, because of worries about copyright issues.

This is arguably one of the finest collections of functioning art (cars and musical instruments) in the world. And it doesn't have a wikipedia article. It is little known and has few visitors, even though it has 33 out of 34 five star reviews on Yelp.com.

One of the reasons, I feel, it is relatively unknown is that it doesn't have a wikipedia article. lol

I have no connection with this place other than, I am a frequent visitor and a big fan.

So I went to see the chief curator of the museum, Skip Marketti (lucky guy) and informed him of my intention to produce an initial Wikipedia article about the museum. He was enthusiastic about the prospect and on my request for written and graphic material to be potentially included in the article, he basically said I could have anything I want. They have hundreds of photos and reams of written documentation about every important piece in the museum, and of course a complete written history.

So the question is:

How do I communicate their release of copyright, of the digital material they give me, that might be included in the article?

If they give me 1000 photos and 500 word documents, and I copy and paste a few paragraphs from the Word documents and choose 7 photos from the images provided, how do I/they satisfy your need to see that they wish these items are being placed in the public domain for use in Wikipedia?

Do you need a letter from the above mentioned chief curator? Or a letter from the president or CEO of the organization? Is this faxed to you? Do you need a scan of a piece of paper, with a signature? And do they need to release copyright for each individual text/image used, or can it all be released in mass?

Lastly, how do I convey their intention of releasing copyright, of all text and images, from their website, that may be used in the new article?

Thank you for your kind consideration.

Jeff Roehl Jroehl (talk) 22:28, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:DCM for the instructions on how to properly license copyrighted materials. I would caution, though, that it is always better to write an article in your own words then to just copy and paste someone else's work. Singularity42 (talk) 23:40, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Also, keep in mind that Wikipedia's policy on verifiablity requires that any new content be sourced to a published, reliable source. If no one else has access to the material (which is not the same as whether it is online or not), then it cannot be verified. Singularity42 (talk) 23:47, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Informal article help

I have been working on an article, John's Phone, which is currently stored in my userspace. I'd like to get it up to DYK-level, so could an editor please look at it and give me some informal advice on my talk page? Warmly, Kudu ^~I/O~ 23:44, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 September 21

Contents