Wikipedia

Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 April 1

< Wikipedia:Help desk | Archives
Help desk
< March 31 << March | Apr | May >> April 2 >
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.


April 1

edit

(WARNING: April Fools' Day)

Image problems..

edit

Howdy, I can't seem to get an image to upload correctly. It's just your standard jpeg.. I've uploaded a few other photos here before without incident. The filename is not a duplicate. After I upload it, it states that it uploaded correctly, but then won't display the picture, only the red x in the upper corner. Any suggestions?Ryet0 00:03, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What Image? Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 23:25, 31 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

-Metcalfeswiki.jpgRyet0 00:03, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm checking it out and its giving me:

'The image “http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/en/2/29/Metcalfeswiki.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.' Perhaps it wasn't completed uploaded or the image is corrupted? Can you view the image without problems on locally on your computer? —Mitaphane ?|! 23:51, 31 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]


No problems opening it on my computer. Hmmm...Ryet0 00:03, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed it. Thanks for the help. Ryet0 00:08, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Userbox Situation

edit

Hello Wikipedians,

I have a proposal to make conserning the Userbox issues. I did not know where to propose it, so I am placing it here. Since Userboxes are used by everyone, I do not think they should be put in User Spaces, per the userbox migration policy. Also, the template location does not work well, because they are not really templates. What I propose is to make a different section of Wikipedia for them. We have the template section for templates, wikipedia things are in the wikipedia section, user spaces are in the user section. I believe userboxes would be well organized and more easily used in a section called "Userboxes"; thus, in order to go to a userbox you would put in http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Userbox:{{{Userbox Name}}}. Having them in both the Template section and the User section is a bit confusing and not well organized. Also, this would work well with the different kinds of templates. All different types are cluttering the Template section. There are over 50000 in the template section. I believe the ones that are for inside articles (such as ones showing other related articles and showing detailed information on the chemical or animal that the article is about) should be moved to new sections, rather than confusing the sections with all kinds of templates. What do you think? If someone can find a better place for this proposal, go ahead and move or copy it to the desired location. SadanYagci 23:24, 31 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

We don't need to set up a new namespace for something that has nothing to do with the project. But if you really want to propose it, Village pump would be a better place. --Sam Blanning(talk) 00:44, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Leaving Wikipedia

edit

Hi. Is it possible to have all my edits reverted, now that I've decided to leave Wikipedia? Thanks. Xiner (talk, email) 00:07, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No. First because you licensed them all under the GFDL, and second because you're obviously pranking us. --tjstrf talk 00:08, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Better go be desysoped. Prodego talk 00:17, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Xiner's talk page is cool! Xiner (talk, email) 01:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hamilton Bulldogs Listing is Incorrect

edit

For the Hamilton Bulldogs Hockey Club, Wikipedia incorrectly has two listings

Hamilton Bulldogs (1996-2002) Hamilton Bulldogs (2002-Current)

These should be consolodated, while 'affiliation' changed in 2002, the club has continued to exist as one franchise (same name, location, team mamangement, etc...) for 11 consecutive years. The 1996-2002 listing is the more accurate of the two, but the 2002-current statistics should be added.

Many teams have had affiliation/ownership changes - but the "organization" does not and should not have two separate representations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chesterfield99 (talk • contribs)

I've placed merge tags on Hamilton Bulldogs and Hamilton Bulldogs (1996-2002). 151.202.74.135 00:55, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
See WP:MERGE for info. Adrian M. H. 13:39, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

template for converting imperial (american) measurements to metric??

edit

is there a template that converts metric units to imperial (american) and vice versa? it would be particularly useful, for example in athletes infoboxes for height and weight.--Macca7174 00:59, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

For height and weight, {{height}} and {{weight}} work. -Amarkov moo! 01:02, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

wikipedia article

edit

There are serious factual errors in the article Wikipedia. I don't think a single fact mentioned in it is correct. The so-called "sources" are completely ludicrous. The entire article should be removed immeadiately. It is a disgrace to the organization. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 01:13, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree completely. The whole site, in fact, is riddled with inaccuracies. Just look at the Main Page, it says George Washington was a coffee maker! Preposterous!
Seriously, though... this is why I'm taking a wikibreak. Hersfold (talk/work) 01:58, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I've deleted the article. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Xiner (talk, email) 02:39, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Vassar College

edit

Dear Wikipedia,

Although the article for "Vassar College" is very well written, you will noticed that the College's logo does not come up, just an empty box. When you click on that box, though, the correct logo does seem to be uploaded to the website. Can you fix this?

Thank you!

~ Brian Farkas (email redacted)

More information on this bug: I'm getting the image but also seeing code from the image specific section of {{Infobox_University}} displaying around the logo (it says [[image: on one side of the logo and |center|200x200px|]] on the other). You might try reporting this at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) but it may just fix itself.--Fuhghettaboutit 03:44, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Page creation

edit

how do i make a page about someone or something —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nauslar (talk • contribs)

See the list of very frequently asked questions. Dismas|(talk) 05:31, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
And/or see Help:Starting a new page for technical help getting started. Also, be sure to read Wikipedia:Notability and Wikipedia:Attribution for guidance on the substance of the page you want to contribute.--Vbd (talk) 11:04, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
edit

I've been through this before, but can't remember what I did: How do I report an image that is suspected of being a copyright violation? (The image lacks source information; the uploader has been contacted twice, once on February 2 and once on February 10.) Thanks, Ibn Battuta 08:07, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You can follow the directions for images at Wikipedia:Copyright problems. -SpuriousQ (talk) 08:15, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
edit

I have requested a permission statement from AFP for specific permission although inclusion of the following notice may be sufficient: AFP copyright non-commercial use restriction. Since only commercial use appears restricted how do I document permission in the tag on the upload page? Nebraska bob 10:15, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Non-commercial images and images with permission for use on Wikipedia are not permitted and can be deleted under speedy deletion criterion I3 as content can be used for commercial purposes by people/organisations other than Wikipedia. If and only if the image meets the fair use criteria, it can be uploaded under fair use. mattbr 10:26, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Multiple contribs

edit

This editor (203.135.4.85) has made several changes to the article Mianwali, without any explanation. They seemed not right to me, but I am probably wrong. I was not sure how to approach, warn or revert or to leave it alone. Any help would be appreciated. eddie 11:12, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know anything about the subject, and the changes aren't obviously wrong. You could try contacting the user on User talk:203.135.4.85 and asking what they're doing (try to be polite and try not to scare them). Most anons don't use the edit summary box. --ais523 11:15, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
Okay, thanks very much. eddie 11:21, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm certain this is vandalism, but haven't reverted the earlier edits. Xiner (talk, a promise) 14:01, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Page name changes

edit

I have created an article about a Cambodian temple whose name can be rendered in more than one way in Roman script. I want to change the page name to reflect a more common spelling than the one I used. How do I change the page name?

Writer128 11:22, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See Help:Moving a page. mattbr 11:27, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm looking for Logos

edit

I am doing a worksheet about Logos , and there are six logos altogether . I have already found four , and I'm desperate to find the other two . Is it possible that I can see all the pictures of Logos and see which is the one I want ? I need to give the full name of the organization that is using that particular Logo , and I haven't a single clue to what is related to those two Logos ! 219.75.69.207 13:16, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Xiner (talk, a promise) 13:56, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How can I spot FAKE mail from Wikipedia vs. GENUINE mail from you?

edit

I just received this message from wiki@wikimedia.org, but I am not sure whether it is a hoax or whether it is your office that sent it to me. Please advise. Thanks.

Subject: New temporary password for Wikipedia Date: 4/1/2007 9:16:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: wiki@wikimedia.org

Someone from the IP address 221.xxx.xxx.59 [I x-ed out those numbers for safety reasons] requested that we send you a new login password for the English Wikipedia.

The new password for the user account "MySceenName" is "[seven digit password]". You can now log in to Wikipedia using that password.

If it was you who requested this new password, then you should log in to Wikipedia and change it to your desired password by clicking "My Preferences" at the top right of any page, or by visiting the following URL:

http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Special:Preferences

If someone else made this request, or if you have remembered your password and you no longer wish to change it, you may safely ignore this message. Your old/existing password will continue to work despite this new password being created for you.


~Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wiki.x.io

It looks like someone decided to enter your username and then say "I've forgotten my password". If you can remember your old password, then you can just ignore the message. (It shouldn't matter whether that message is genuine or not; Wikipedia will never ask for your password, and if you're given a temporary new one but can still remember the old one, just ignore the message and nothing bad will happen). Hope that helps! --ais523 13:53, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
They may have intended to get your password instead of you getting one. [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 18:13, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

formatting question

edit

I've done a lot of work on The Great Red Dragon Paintings. Due to the way I've inserted the pictures, all the section edit links are now grouped together and appear in all sorts of random places depending on the size of the browser window. How can I fix this? Thanks, guiltyspark 14:49, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:How to fix bunched-up edit links. --ais523 14:53, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

emeka ojukwu

edit

your article eroniously gave emeka ojukwu place of birth as nnewi it's zungeru?please check and correct.yours truly rober biggar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.166.237.42 (talk • contribs)

Thank you for the comment. If you have a reliable published source to verify this claim, please go ahead and edit the article with the true information yourself. That is what wikipedia is all about. — Lost(talk) 15:49, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Meanwhile, I have added your information to the talk page of the article — Lost(talk) 15:53, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I have made the correction, with a seemingly reliable source.--Vbd (talk) 16:06, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How do you edit it

To edit a page see Wikipedia:How to edit a page.Tellyaddict 16:14, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Saved edit doesn't stay

edit

I have been trying to edit the entry for "Yeshivat Shaalvim". After rewriting the entry I save it, and it seems to have been saved, but upon returning to check it I find the old version. I have repeated this process a number of times to no avail. Why is the entry reverting to the old version? Toshba 18:07, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You have 3 registered edits to Yeshivat Sha'alvim (history) today. Maybe you see a cached version. Try WP:CACHE and WP:PURGE. PrimeHunter 22:40, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How to put contrary view to a long article ?

edit

I was referring the contents of the topic "Division by Zero" (related to mathematics). I have my own contrary views on whatever stated there. My opinions, I hope, will direct many to rethink on the topic. I wrote an article on the subject (not posted on Wikipedia as yet so also elsewhere). Title of my article is "Infinity Dissolved ( Division by Zero : a different approach). I want to put it on Wikipedia first. Can I put such an article on Wikipedia and under which catagory? Or can I put it on help desk and get it discussed?Purushottam Kabra 18:16, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, MGM. I am new to internet. So far, I have not contributed any article to any journal and even donot know how to go for it. Can you help me by suggesting a proper platform where I can get discussed my views before mathematics community. I know that it is not part of your contributory work as administrator for Wikipedia. Please do me a favour. Can I send the article to you by email? Purushottam Kabra 08:56, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Purushottam Kabra. Although your article may not be acceptable for Wikipedia, there is a chance that it may coincide with established research already in published, reliable sources. If so, then your article might have some acceptable content. To determine this, the best step would be for you to create a "draft" article in the Wikipedia "user" space, and then submit it for review and comment. See WP:UP. dr.ef.tymac 14:52, 6 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Messaging other users

edit

how do i send a user a message so they get it next time the visit wikipedia, like a user is doing to me?Tonyppe 20:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Simply click on their name in their signature, go to their discussion page (see the tab on the top of their page), and add a new section by clicking the "+" sign on top of their talk page. Xiner (talk, a promise) 20:27, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Whenever their talk page has a new section added or an edit performed Wikipedia notifies the user like it does yours. Scottydude talk 22:48, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Message box doesn't disappear

edit

On every single page I visit, the "new messages" box appears refrring to the same change to my IP's talkpage. Why isn't it going away even though I've clicked on it? BTW, I'm not personally responsible for the vandalism to which it refers -- this is the general "main" IP for Guilford College. 192.154.65.1 20:45, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I can attest to the bug (unless it's intended?). In any case, this is a reason to create an account. Xiner (talk, a promise) 20:50, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yea, I would get a new account.Scottydude talk 23:10, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is anything underway to fix the bug? 66.195.208.91 03:14, 6 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
edit

The page User:Reuvenk/archive01 contains a blacklisted spam link. I am trying to remove the Fair Use image on the page (The Olympic Rings), while leaving the rest of the page intact. Is it possible to do this? It seems that it is also forcing me to remove the link. However, it's an archive page, and I'd rather not do that... tiZom(2¢) 21:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Cool wall top gear

edit

It has been suggested that the Cool wall section of the top gear article is a copy vio. could some one please help out as to weather it is or not?--Lucy-marie 21:26, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Inappropriate users given admin privileges

edit

Is there anyway of re-evaluating weather a user deserves admin privileges?--Lucy-marie 22:58, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes; file an RfC, and then go to Arbcom if that doesn't resolve it. However, being wrong is not a reason to revoke admin priveleges, and he isn't even wrong in this case. -Amarkov moore cowbell! 23:00, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Usually you have to go through the arbitration committee in order to get someone desysopped. For a list of reasons why we have no standard process for revoking adminship, see WP:RFDA --tjstrf talk 23:01, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

spell checker for editing the pages themselves

edit

Is there a spell checker for editing the pages themselves? Note that I'm not asking about the search engine on the left. I mean, when you are writing up a whole article. Or have written one and want to check it.

If not, how about getting one? If there is, how about making it more obvious in the advice on editing.

Related question: any advice on how to write articles (on line or off)? Should one compose in Wordpad? Notepad? And transcribe? Or best to do it direct? How much should one type of a complete article before getting it up?71.246.149.92 23:07, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There might be a spellchecking addon via your monobook.js file but I am not sure. Such a database would be huge. It can be useful to work on articles on text editors because they have various tools. On the other hand, there are various tools users have created so that the browser's GUI can be used: See Category:Wikipedia tools. x42bn6 Talk 23:31, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for responding. I looked and did not see a tool to use. Certainly not one that was easy to find. I'm not asking for an automatic spellchecker for the entire system. Just a button on the top that you can hit to look at a page or a section of text. I don't think this would be that hard, particularly if it just used a common dictionary. I realize it would take some coding, not just building up in the wiki way. But this is the computer age. Would be nice, to catch typos like "histry" rather than having to eagle eye proofread. It is actually hard to proofread on line. Printing out the article would help. But still...this is the computer age, guys. 71.246.149.92
If you use Firefox, it underlines mis-spelled words in the edit box with a little red, dotted line. It's very nice. You can right click on the misspelled word and a menu gives you suggestions for re-spelling and an option to add it to your dictionary. I just corrected the spelling of the word "history" above :-). I think it gives you this service for any form that you edit, not just Wikipedia forms. Sancho (talk) 00:17, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm a typical computer user, use IE. Wish it had that. Or wiki had a spell check. I changed my "histry" back.71.246.149.92 02:51, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Oooooh, oops! Haha... that was an intentional misspelling. I didn't realize, sorry. Wow... I guess that's a downside of not reading what's been misspelled and simply letting the tool do the work. Sancho (talk) 02:55, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Rename wiki to include capitalization

edit

How do you rename a wiki so it is capitalized? Example Traynor amplifiers should read "Traynor Amplifiers". Wiki will not let me "move" it because it has the same name as the suggested change.

Thanks. Ncix 23:22, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The article Traynor Amplifiers redirects to Traynor amplifiers. Do you see the text (Redirected from Traynor Amplifiers) on the top of the page of Traynor Amplifiers? That should explain it. x42bn6 Talk 23:27, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Why would it redirect if they are the same thing? The only difference is in capitalization which would not effect searching.

Thanks Ncix 23:41, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's just so that the articles match the naming conventions described at Wikipedia:Naming conventions (capitalization). It's the same kind of idea for the naming of section headings -- just one capital for the first word, unless one of the other words is a proper noun. Sancho (talk) 00:21, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, but I guess in this case, it is a proper noun... Sancho (talk) 00:40, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I am not sure if any articles fall into this category but there could come a case where the non-capitalised version and the capitalised version might constitute different things (a company name, and an object, perhaps?). I guess this is where it comes in. x42bn6 Talk 02:41, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the info guys! Ncix 01:27, 3 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Title Editing

edit

I've created an article, but I would like to change the title of it. Is this possible, or should a just create a new article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by edonnelly (talk • contribs)

Thanks 23:42, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

After four days being registered, an editor can move an article using a "move" tab which appears at the top of the screen. If you tell me what article you want moved and where you want it moved to, I can do so for you. -Amarkov moore cowbell! 23:43, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Is this the article you wanted moved? Seems that you accidentally put this on the Wikipedia:Introduction page. The text has actually since been removed, so you are free to create a new page. Just enter the title in this box, go to that page, and edit (Keep in mind that punctuation and capitalization matter!):

You can find a lot more information at Help:Starting a new page. And if you have any questions about how to edit, just ask :o) Happy editing! tiZom(2¢) 23:50, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How Can Adminship be taken away?

edit

How is someone stripped of their administrator privaliges? I think Irishguy should have his administrator stauts taken away. He is deleting articles like crazy and he is not being curteous. It is an abuse of power. Look at this exchange that I copied and pasted from his talk page:

Hi. I noticed you deleted two of my articles, the reason you stated was that they were "attack articles". I tried where possible to conform to NPOV, but in both instances, the articles if anything sway towards describing both characters in a very positive light. As such, I would like to know why you deleted them. For the time being I shall assume in good faith that it was accidental rather than malicious on your part, and so will be recreating both articles.--Professor Hamish Ross 23:48, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

They were attack articles. Should you continue to recreate them, you will be blocked. IrishGuy talk 23:48, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Have you even bothered reading them? They are not attack pages. Stop being such a dick.--Professor Hamish Ross 23:53, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Enjoy your block. IrishGuy talk 23:54, 1 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Someone please help Randomfrenchie 00:59, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Of course...you left out the other parts where he continued to return as an IP and insult me. He recreated attack articles. He was warned. He continued. Finally, he was blocked. You, however, are angry because your article was deleted. IrishGuy talk 01:06, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I was just on a newpages patrol and was beaten to several of the articles in question by Irishguy. The articles I saw him delete were well outside Wikipedia's policies and merited deletion under the Criteria for Speedy Deletion. Unless there is something I really missed, Irishguy is operating well within his rights and powers as sysop. I suggest you read those criteria carefully to learn what is acceptable on Wikipedia and what is not. Hersfold (talk/work) 01:20, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk/Archives/2007_April_1&oldid=1138523604"