Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 November 19

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November 19

Sources?

How do I find a Source? What type of sources are appropriate? How do I put down a Source? These Sources stuff is confusing me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Makinmorewiki67 (talk • contribs) 00:09, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Start by reading WP:RS, also WP:V and WP:Referencing for beginners. - David Biddulph (talk) 00:22, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps it will help if I point out a source that is not appropriate: You tried to use Facebook, but that is not a reliable source because the person can say anything they want there. So a bot reverted your addition of Facebook and everything else you included in that edit. —teb728 t c 01:01, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

If my name is referenced in an approved article, can I create an entry to explain who I am?

Hi, My name was mentioned in an approved article on the site. Is there some way I can create an entry to link to my name in order to explain who I am. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.112.163.30 (talk) 01:21, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

I would strongly advise against it. Read these guidelines on autobiographies for an explanation of why. --Orange Mike | Talk 01:51, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Beside the fact that you should not write about yourself—being mentioned in an article does not justify an article: To have an article one has to be notable. —teb728 t c 01:59, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Now, I'm curious as to who this person is and how he/she was referred to. WylieCoyote (talk) 13:45, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Baiji

I am trying to research the Baiji, it is stated under the Evolutionary History on the Baiji Wikipedia page that "A traditional Chinese story describes the Baiji as the reincarnation..." what story would that be from? I would like to know please, it does not say what story it is from and is not included from what I can tell in the list of references at the bottom of the page. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.18.147.49 (talk) 05:57, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Humanities reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 06:20, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

About wikibooks

The books which you are providing in wikibooks are downloadable or just to read online? If only for online reading, how to read them? Because I'm not able to or I don't know. If we can download them, how to download them? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.211.89.51 (talk) 06:00, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Please note that Wikibooks is a sister project but not part of the English Wikipedia. See the main page in Wikibooks and their help pages on Using Wikibooks. And yes, you can download them and print them freely. There is usually a link beside each Wikibook's page on the formats available (for an example, see this wikibook: Kings and Queens of England). You can also go to the left panel. Under Print/export, there is an option to download as a PDF file or access a printer-friendly version.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 07:04, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Due to a bug in the Print/export rendering, however, Print/export does only the first page (the contents of the Kings and Queens of England book). —teb728 t c 11:12, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Transclusion of TPS template

I notice that the documentation of Template:Talk page stalker contains code to transclude this template. I would think that this template should be substituted, or am I confused? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 10:05, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

I would say that the advantage of transcluding is that if the template is changed, the documentation will automatically reflect the change. I can think of no advantage to substituting it. —teb728 t c 10:58, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

The advantage of substituting would be that it would reduce the strain on the Wikipedia servers. Whether the strain caused by the transclusions of this template is significant enough to justify this change I can't say. Furthermore I think templates used to produce markup inside a discussion that could also be written out "by hand" should be substituted, but that might just be my opinion and I would like to have a consensus on this before I am going to request any large scale bot tasks to change this. I can also bring this up on VPR if that would be a better place to discuss this than here (or at the templates talk page, but I don't know how intensively that page is being watched). Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 11:13, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

The "strain" occurs only on the rare occasions when somebody displays the template page. (I intended to say but forgot in my first reply that if it were substituted, it would have to be re-substituted whenever the template is changed. Probably people would forget to re-substitute from time to time (or not realize it was necessary) resulting in out of date documentation.) —teb728 t c 11:26, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

I think the "strain" occurs whenever someone views the page the template is being transcluded onto. I don't know whether this template is going to be changed a lot in the future, but any such re-substitution should be easy to be handled by a bot or semi-automated tool such as AWB. I still wonder why this template isn't indef protected anyway, as it is currently transcluded on over 1000 pages. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 11:34, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Well, indef protection would definitely be overkill, as I think we do not indef protect pages that haven't shown a need for such a protection in the past and the revision history doesn't seem to justify semi either. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:38, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

No, in the template the transclusion of the documentation is enclosed in <noinclude></noinclude>. This means that the documentation is transcluded only on the template’s own page, and not when the template is transcluded or substituted. Otherwise when the template was transcluded or substituted, the documentation would appear too. —teb728 t c 13:46, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

I understand that the documentation is only transcluded onto the template page and that the noinclude tags prevent the doc subpage from being transcluded onto a page where the template is transcluded onto as well. And I didn't suggest changing that. Is there a guideline or policy regarding when a template should be transcluded and when it should be substituted? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 14:13, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

User Papaursa

Do you think Papaursa should be reported to the ANI? He clearly shows no interest in working along side fellow Wikiepidians, refusing to listen to any open suggestions, clearly this user values his own opinion over to those who have fresh ideas from what he says. I was offering some very useful suggestions at the WP:MMANOT's discussion page, as with the criteria as it is right now only whatever is considered a 'top tier' promotion is safe, whereas any other promotion, such as BAMMA and EliteXC are put on shaky grounds. He refuses to even acknowledge what I'm saying, going as far as saying that it is me who isn't open for suggestion. Now I've always had the best interests of all pages on Wikipedia, and I am a team player so I cannot see how he came up with that theory, just because I questions the criteria on WP:MMANOT, a page I should point out that HE created. I noticed that many of the users who offer suggestions always ask him, as if he owns the page, which is a direct violation of WP:OWN. No-one should have to ask for permission from him to edit the page, especially as it seems that he is the one with the final say everytime. Here is the last comment he put on that page -

'Actually, the reason I haven't bothered to respond to all your statements is because it would be a waste of my time. It's clear you have a viewpoint (which you repeat/repost over and over) and that no facts will dissuade you from your beliefs. Since you've made it clear you value no opinions but your own, why should I bother? Answer--I shouldn't.'

Now again it is like I said I've never had a problem with taking in other people's opinions, so this is insulting for me to read. I will, however, try to reason with a bit, if he refuses to listen and take in what I say, I may go a head and report him to ANI. (BigzMMA 10:19, 19 November 2011 (UTC)) — Preceding unsigned comment added by BigzMMA (talk • contribs)

ANI isn't needed at this stage. Try to resolve the conflict using something like WP:3O or WP:DRN. --Jayron32 14:22, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

• User:Jayron32 Thank you for the advice, I will post this on both page's discussion pages and gain opinions from there. Just I have had run ins with this user in the past, so that is where I think his vendetta comes from. Anything I suggest, even if it is useful information or it is a legitimate good idea, he will write it off before he can have time to actually think about what I said. But again thank you for your opinion. (BigzMMA 15:22, 19 November 2011 (UTC)) — Preceding unsigned comment added by BigzMMA (talk • contribs)

DONATION

I know we have to donate to Wikipedia, to keep it free. But the way to donate (Visa – Master Card….) is not suitable for everybody. Why we can not buy a donation cards (like plastic gift card) from retail electronics stores, department stores, (BestBuy-FutureShop, etc.). I believe it works…. During the Holiday Season could be very effective too. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.93.221.107 (talk) 15:14, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Hello i am not a help agent clerk. They should allow us to have a kinda separate deposit account connected to original like having one section that has thousands of dollars and another section with maybe 50$ just to keep it safe from being overtaken from your thousands of dollars on your credit card or debit savings account. Shawn laser lightning plasma (talk) 23:28, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

If you're talking like a Best Buy or Walmart gift card, those won't work because they're confined to the store you buy it from. If you're talking about the Visa/Mastercard/American Express gift cards that they sell at grocery stores and the bank and such, those work just like a credit/debit card of the type they're labeled as when used online, and they should be able to be used for donations. - Purplewowies (talk) 07:33, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Variables

Hello, I've been starting to experiment with my skin .js pages and trying to modify other scripts for my own use (in my own userspace of course). During this process I keep on finding variables like wgScriptPath, #wpSummary, wgCanonicalNamespace, etc. While I've been able to figure out the basic meaning of those above, there are many others variables I can't find out about. These variables aren't defined anywhere in the script so my first guess was that they were MediaWiki global variables, or something like that. Can somebody please explain to me where I can find a listing and explanation of all these frequently occurring variables. Any help is very much appreciated,  M   Magister Scienta^talk (19 November 2011)

Anybody. Even a nudge in the right direction would be immensely helpful.  M   Magister Scienta^talk (19 November 2011)

There is some info here about those variables. Goodvac (talk) 23:17, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, you're help is appreciated. What I wonder is where did all the other Wikipedian programers learn these variables. Certainly there has to be information somewhere.  M   Magister Scienta^talk (20 November 2011)

Continued here. Gary King (talk · scripts) 03:24, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

PubMed

I would like to reference an article that's contained in pubmed. I thought the html is <ref><pmid>pmid</pmid></ref> When I do that, what appears in the reference list is <pmid> pmid</pmid> L509alumni (talk) 17:40, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Please see WP:CITE for how to cite references. --ColinFine (talk) 17:52, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Note: I converted the HTML code to non-HTML entities to avoid having it appear to Wikipedia as a ref entry. -- kainaw™ 21:58, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Probably looking for {{cite pmid}}. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 12:23, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Cannot move a draft into mainspace

I want to move User:Toshio Yamaguchi/Cell (Dragon Ball) into the main namespace. However, when I try to move the page, I get the following error message:

Error message text

This image name or media file name is protected. When uploading files to Wikipedia, please use a file name that describes the content of the image or media file you're uploading and is sufficiently distinctive that no-one else is likely to pick the same name by accident. Examples of good file names: "City of London skyline from London City Hall - Oct 2008.jpg" "KDE Kicker config screenshot.png" "1863 Meeting of Settlers and Maoris at Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.jpg" "Polyhedron with no vertex visible from center.png" Examples of bad file names: "Image01.png" "Joe.jpg" "DSC00001.JPG" "30996951316264l.jpg" For more information, please see Wikipedia:Image file names. If you have a good reason for uploading a file with this name, or if you receive this message when attempting to upload a new version of an existing file, please let us know at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard. Be sure to specify the exact name of the file you are trying to upload. Thank you.

I don't really see what I am doing wrong. I can only guess it is because the redirect Cell (Dragon Ball) is protected. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 19:56, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

You will have to request a move at WP:RM, the redirect needs to be deleted first to make place for the move. Cheers, CharlieEchoTango (talk) 20:06, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Ok, thanks. I will request the move there. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 20:10, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

I made the request at WP:RM#Technical requests. Thanks again. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 20:21, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

chnage it please!!1

the following links consist of a picture and its of Sahara club,pokhara,nepal but this logo is found to be logo of sankata club kathmandu nepal in this atricle so i want it to be ammed soon?

http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/File:Sankata_Boys_Sports_Club.png

Sanzay69 (talk) 21:06, 19 November 2011 (UTC)sanzay69

The team used to be the Sankata Kathmandu Mall Club. They changed the name to the Sankata Boys Sports Club. Are you certain that the logo changed with the name change? -- kainaw™ 22:13, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Editors keep nominating a page for deletion, even though it is labeled as a new project!

The page is for Project N.E.O., a military and multi-country funded project being developed and controlled in the United States. However, editors keep nominating it for deletion (even though it has the tag for a new page, and requests for it to not be quickly nominated for deletion) and are not giving it a fair chance. This article is new, as is the project itself (founded in July of 2011.)

The project itself is under wraps, and the Head of Engineering and Design Michael Adams is trying to leak small amounts of information to the outside world without jeopardizing the project's safety. This project will reshape the world if it is complete, and many members of Project N.E.O. nominated Wikipedia to have the first articles of information. At this president-ed time though, it may not happen. So I'm requesting help on this! -Codename: Xero — Preceding unsigned comment added by ProjectNeo (talk • contribs) 21:23, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

A page or project being new cannot prevent an article being deleted alone. If as you say, the project under wraps that is likely that there is simply not enough sources with verifiable information out there to support the general notability guideline. If safely is a concern then surely it'd be in the projects best interests to not have an article on Wikipedia? And as an outside opinion this does not appear to be anything like a "military and multi-country funded project" but some kind of hoax, or at the very least someone's pet project. Яehevkor ✉ 21:31, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Xero: This is a real project, their work has been spotted in several places during their testing. As to why, they simply replied they want the world to have a "Small, yet simple introduction." — Preceding unsigned comment added by ProjectNeo (talk • contribs) 21:41, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not your personal webhost. That the project is real doesn't matter, what matters is its notability (or lack thereof). If you can make an encyclopedic article, based on reputable, third-party sources, then go ahead. But do not use Wikipedia to "leak small amounts of information" or to tell the world about your cause. CharlieEchoTango (talk) 21:44, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

It actually looks like a (really bad IMHO) story concept for an anime film or series. Roger (talk) 21:53, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Until you can demonstrate notability, the article should and will be deleted. -- kainaw™ 22:07, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

The article is utter junk. The linked website is worse. Speedy delete, then block User:ProjectNeo under WP:ORGNAME, and for wasting our time. AndyTheGrump (talk) 22:21, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Is there a way

that we could put the links to change pages on search results on the top as well instead of just the bottom? it would be a lot more convenient because, well for example i fix typos and sometimes there are thousands and thousands of results and i can check if what i'm looking for is on that page with the whole control f thing and sometimes there's nothing but then i have to scroll through 500 links to change the page like i'm doing right now while screening for "wasnt". :| Glacialfox (talk) 22:09, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Most keyboards have an End key (see lead there for alternative) which jumps to the bottom of the page in most browsers. Does this not work for you? PrimeHunter (talk) 22:14, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

oh this works, thank you :D still think it would be a good idea though xP Glacialfox (talk) 22:25, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Edit status credit/ create article

Pretend a article is written vertical up and down example, list of energy resources. Now if u had added some information words to that energy article but someone switches the vertical article to horizontal sideways like list of solar energy topics but does not delete or add any new information, do u still get credit for adding all that information even tho someone switched it to a different format angle. I am going to create a article that list a certain topic maybe list of thermodynamic topics or related articles not outline, if its going to be over 500 words list topics about 1500 total words at least should it be horizontal sideways or can it be vertical up and down like index of wave articles.Because sometimes up and down format is easier to read and scan, and can i write on it please limit to writing any scientist names but only if they are really notable or famous than its ok. People tend to write to many scientist names on a list of certain articles or to many facilities or dates. Could i just add that kind information onto the bottom of the article separate from the A-Z index of articles. Most people really dont care to know all scientist i think its best to put them on the bottom of article unless if your notably famous like Einstein. Can u set the max capacity limit in category articles higher than 200,300 maybe about 500. Shawn laser lightning plasma (talk) 23:21, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

If u look at my user page Shawn laser lightning plasma (talk) 23:49, 19 November 2011 (UTC) i had copied and pasted from my raw watch list onto user page and it appears up and down list of words on the edit user page but when u look at it originally it appears side to side probably to save space is there a way to paste it up and down permanently instead of side to side.Its just harder to read it on the edit user page the format style words dont look normal. I still dont know if your watch list gets deleted due to to many word articles over ride because it will take long time to load could possibly delete it. Would the raw watch list be deleted also it does load way faster so i figure it wont. Some people claim to have 15000 on watch list. Shawn laser lightning plasma (talk) 23:49, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Working through...

If an article uses one format and you change it to another format, the page history will show exactly this. Anyone interested in the article will be able to see that various editors added the content and that you then reformatted it. This won't give you any formal "credit" or "score", but if the new format is clearer then you will have improved the encyclopedia.

For adding names to a list see MOS:LIST; for adding names to the "See also" section of an article see WP:SEEALSO. It's hard to give exact advice without knowing which articles you plan to edit or create.

According to Help:Category, the category pages display at most 200 article names at a time. This figure is built into the software and cannot be changed for individual users as far as I know.

Yes, the list of article names on your user page would look better as a bulleted list of blue links...

• Abbe number
• Aberration of light
• Ablation
• and so on

...and the wikiEd text editor is clever enough to reformat the list in this way. Would you like me to do that for you? Or perhaps you would like to paste your entire raw watchlist in there and then have someone reformat it?

I haven't seen any reports of a user's watchlist getting deleted through being too large. As I said above, if this worries you then you can make your own backup.

Finally, it might be helpful if you explained why you are intending to create such a large watchlist. There may be simpler ways to achieve the same result. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:33, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks john sure u could help me do u want me to paste my watch list on user page now. I want to make it big probably around 15000 or more because it helps me remember all the word articles and plus my brain remembers better when words are in order like concussion condor conviction convection all the words with cons.It will help to to use this colossal raw list to add articles to list of what ever it is like list of wave articles. When my new name gets approved i will ask for your help to see if i created a new article correctly. But new name user change is still on delay i send them message but no reply is there a way to speed it up. If my list of unknown article has over 500 different word articles can i make it up and down it seems easier to read than side by side. Is there a way to automatically add [[ ]] in the edit box. If i list word articles that are not in alphabetic order is there a way it will automatically put it in order.So i guess if someone changed the up and down article page to side by side i will still get credit as long as the words i added are not deleted.is there a way to high light your whole watch list in one try button.How would i add space line like 2.0.How do i make my whole watch list high lighted to click and go to that wiki article. Shawn laser lightning plasma (talk) 18:51, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

I think we've got past these questions; the editor has created the article and has asked for feedback below. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:57, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Article Title Capitalization

I recently created an article for "The National Locksmith Certification Program", unfortunately I did not correctly capitilize the title and since my account is new, I cannot move the page. Could someone help me correct the page title? It should be: The National Locksmith Certification Program. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TylerJThomas87 (talk • contribs) 23:41, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

 Done CharlieEchoTango (talk) 23:43, 19 November 2011 (UTC)