Wikipedia:Help desk/Archive 20

Adding "Elyse Sewell" to Wikipedia

Elyse is very well known. I know that Wikipedia likes to add schools, cities, etc. That is fine. Much of that is available if she is googled.

Here is what we wanted added.

Elyse Sewell- (birthday June 10) a multi-talented model with the Wilhelmina Agency in L.A., Elyse enjoys traveling and experiencing other cultures. Her blog at www.livejournal.com/users/elysesewell is highly rated by many readers.

If you really think she deserves an article, then you can just add it yourself. However you should probably be aware that losing game show contestants have not fared well when their articles are voted on for deletion. DJ Clayworth 14:35, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

More Elyse Information

Third place is season one of America's Next Top Model on UPN
She is #16 in E's most Outrageous Moments for
Long time girlfriend of Martin Crandall (Shins)

Chinese Characters

What are the chinese characters in an article black? For example: In the article CHINESE CHARACTER in the first sentence I get "Chinese characters or Han characters (two boxes/two more boxes) are..." For some reason I don't get the characters. Can you help? Do I need special software?

Keep up the great work.

Thank you, Charles Bristow email: charliebristow(AT)aol(dot)com

You probably need to install Unicode or a specific Chinese font before you can read it. Mgm|^(talk) 20:56, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)
It might help if you say what operating system and browser you are using, and if you can see them on any other sites. Kappa 21:19, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

CARM

The people of CARM want to post a formal complaint about vandalism that is taken occurance on the CARM and Matt Slick pages. Where would they write this complaint too? Falphin 16:38, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

When they find out who vandalised the pages, that's where they should complain. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 20:52, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I worry about the people of CARM taking a particular possessiveness of the articles in question. Rick K 21:22, Jun 11, 2005 (UTC)

I understand what both are saying. They know who is vandalizing their pages but they don't have accounts. They are just really tired of that sort of stuff. But I do admit I agree with both of you. Falphin 00:50, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I think the page you may want is Wikipedia:Request for comment. DJ Clayworth 14:31, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Personal images

I have my own image that was taken using a camera by me. It isn't copyrighted so what license should it have? • Thorpe • 18:49, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You are the owner of the copyright (at least assuming you weren't hired to take the photo), so you get to decide how you wish to license it to the world. You might find Wikipedia:Image copyright tags useful; for reference, the GFDL is the license you release your writing to Wikipedia under. Shimgray 19:23, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

If he was getting hired for his photography, I suspect he'd be more well-versed about copyright :) -- Cyrius|✎ 22:12, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Also note that taking pictures inside a museum might complicate copyright matters. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:14, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC)

If you don't care what happens to the picture, and want to see it have the widest use, consider putting it in the Public Domain. If, however, it is an image of a person, public domain does give permission for people to edit it in ways the subject might not like. (Remember, copyright is in most countries automatic – the act of creation typically gives it to the creator). Notinasnaid 10:01, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Is there a way to change template depending on the page name?

I'd like to create a template for a list of ships for Freespace 2. These can be categorized by species(Terran/Shivan/Vasudan), then subcategorized by type(Fighter/Bomber/Transport/etc). Would there be a way to create a template that displays categories and subcategories, and automatically expands the subcategory for the fighter/bomber/transport/etc currently being viewed?

Some pseudo-code that may make things clearer:

Terran
Terran Fighters
<?if($PAGENAME=="GTF_Hercules" || $PAGENAME=="GTF_Valkyrie" || $PAGENAME=="GTF_Hercules"){?>
GTF Hercules
GTF Valkyrie
GTF Hercules
<?}?>

Well, you could make a template with two parameters like {{{species}}} and {{{type}}}, and you use it like {{freespace2ships|species=Terran|type=Fighter}}. Then, you could simulate the if statement by using these two parameter to call yet another template, such as {{freespace2ships_terran_fighers}}. Not sure if this sort of sub-template is the better option, and it's probably not recommended. — Kieff | Talk 11:06, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC)

"Comment" template

While editing I came across the following template: {{Comment|Blah blah blah}} which returns a nicely formatted "Blah blah blah" box. I didn't remember having seen it before so I went looking for it in the template world and couldn't find it. So, how should I have known about it (what did I miss)? hydnjo talk 23:34, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I believe it should be (but isn't) described at Wikipedia:Template_messages/Talk_namespace (probably in a new section). Would you like to add it? If not, it seems to have been originated by User:Violetriga and I'm sure if you asked, this user would be happy to add a description. -- Rick Block (talk) 05:24, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC)

Viewing pages linked to non-existing pages

How may one see list of the pages that link to a page that does not yet exist? Do such lists even exist? --Amanaplanacanalpanama 04:56, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

If you follow a link to such a page you'll be in the compose window for the page. The "what links here" link works on these pages, and will show you the links to the page (even though it doesn't exist yet). There's also a list of non-existent pages with the most links to them at Wikipedia:Most wanted articles. -- Rick Block (talk) 05:11, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC)

User name

I have been trying to register the name Elessar, but can't. On the other side, its current user has no history and no talk. Is it possible to check how long this user name has been registered already?

I would like to change my current name to Elessar because it is more often used, although both are correct. I also think that having two independent users one using Elessar and another Eleassar in Wikipedia would bring much confusion. Can I do anything about it? --Eleassar my talk 12:37, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Try to get hold of a developer. See m:Developers. -- Mgm|^(talk) 13:31, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC)

Nonsense

Hi, wikipedia has sent me a message about stopping posting nonsense, but i didnt! Either they have sent the message to the wrong person, or they just like blaming people for no reason!

Please help!

You're using a shared proxy, which means you may receive messages intended for other users. You can avoid this by registering a username (click the create account link at the top right of the page). --W(t) 16:35, 2005 Jun 12 (UTC)

Phonetic transcription

There are times when the phonetic respelling of a word is not correct. Seeking to edit it brings frustration as there are no true phonetic characters down below. How might one correct a phonetic respelling? -- Doug Myers ourson_djlm AT hotmail DOT com

I'm interested to know how this is done too. How does one type in the IPA symbols on Wikipedia pages? --HappyCamper

See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (pronunciation). smoddy 21:24, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Should common incorrect spellings be mentioned?

Hi,

I was wondering if there is policy about mentioning common incorrect spellings in an article.

Example: I did a search for "decathalon" (the second "a" should not be there), and I was quietly redirected to:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decathalon

But...there was nothing in the redirection, nor in the content of the Decathlon article, to educate the user about their mistake!

I'd expect a line, somewhere, like:

  "Decathlon" is commonly mispelled as "decathalon"
  about 1/20 of the time ... avoid this mistake.

An alternative would be to have all spelling redirects go through one of two kinds of intermediate page ... visible to the user, and requiring a user action to proceed:

 a) the word "x" is actually spelled "y" ... click here
    to continue to the entry for "y".  (The decathalon
    page would use this variant.)

and

 b) the word "x" has more than one common spelling,
    for various reasons (e.g., history and/or regional/national
    variations and/or changes in converting the original
    language to English).  We have standardized on "y" ...   
    click here to continue to the entry for "y".
    (Peking -> Beijing  or Koran -> Quran would use 
    this variant.)

That alternative would seem to provide several benefits not to be lightly dismissed:

  - education of the user

  - reduction in web traffic to mispelled pages (over time)

BTW, I did try to read the FAQs/manuals/guides for an answer, but if there is one already I apologize for missing it.

thanks, Stan sieler@allegro.com

When I go to Decathalon, I get to the page for Decathlon, with the additional text: (Redirected from Decathalon). It's subtle, but it's there. The URL stays http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decathalon because the redirection is server-side; changing the URL would require asking the browser to load another page. Bovlb 05:30, 2005 Jun 13 (UTC)

But the current "redirected from" message does not indicate any reason. I think adding a couple of redirect variants would address this request. For example, #REDIRECTSP [[Decathlon]] at Decathalon could generate "(Redirected from common misspelling Decathalon)" while #REDIRECTALTSP [[Beijing]] at Peking could generate "(Redirected from alternative spelling Peking)". In general, #REDIRECTX could use one of an extensible set of customizable redirect messages. How to request new features is described at Wikipedia:Bug_reports. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:07, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

Muhammad Ali of Egypt

Apologies, I could not find out how to edit this page, otherwise I would. Apparently the above named person's birthplace is kavala, whisch is a city in the north of Greece and by no means its in Albania. His birthplace is a monument in Kavala. It is an embarassment for someone who knows a little bit of history to read a distortion of this extend. I apologise for not being able to correct the distortion. Would someone please be able to correct it?

Many thanks.

The page says "Muhammad Ali was an Albanian born in Kavaja." (not Kavala). If you know this to be incorrect, can you provide some sources to back it up? - Mgm|^(talk) 07:45, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

Gene Hackman

My name is Ken Green. Gene Hackman's father was married to my great aunt Laura Wilson. I am not sure if that makes us somehow related. My mother took over Laura's affairs when she took ill back in the seventies and eventual aunt Laura died. As it is, my mother died in 1987 and somehow I ended up with some junk of my mothers which I never bothered to look at until I moved in March of this year.

In the box was a couple of old stock certificates of which two of them are made out to and signed by Harry Hackman. Harry must of been a real jerk as I get the impression he must of left Gene and his family fairly early in his life. I also get the impression he might not of bothered to pay any support as I remember going over to the house after my great aunt died and there were hundreds of these old stock certificates lying around and a lot of money was spent buying these stocks. Now this was back in the early thirties were did Harry get all that money?

I don't know what happened to all those certificates except for the few that I just found.

Do you know how I could e-mail Gene Hackman and ask him if he was interested in them; he's probably not. I also have two of his Father's pictures (prints) one 1945 the other around the same time ken.green@bata.com

You might want to track his agent or manager. The Internet Movie Database probably has some info you could use to contact him.

non-latin title

I was asked to sort out the article Ivić Pašalić whose title doesn't display the way it should, but my knowledge of 'foreign' characters isn't up to it. Can anyone help? There are some multiple redirects that will need changing too. Thanks DJ Clayworth 14:19, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I've moved it to Ivic Pasalic. I'm not sure if that's the best transliteration, but at least it doesn't give any technical problems, and whoever knows a better title can move it themselves. --W(t) 21:26, 2005 Jun 13 (UTC)

Copy and paste moves

Is there a standard template that can be put on a user's talk page to warn them against copy and paste moves? --W(t) 21:26, 2005 Jun 13 (UTC)

If there is, I'd like to hear about it too. I haven't come across one yet. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:51, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

misrepresentation of a contract fraud and forgery by altering a credit application

I have been trying for two years and three months to resolve my problem now that i am getting something done about it i am told their is a statue oy limitation on my problem .a local car dealer altered my credit application without my knowledge it is very clear to see where they altered it , i tried to get a copy of the application in 2003 they would not give it to me i have time and date when i tried to get it , also they put the wrong mileage on the contract they put 35 miles where it should have been 1,000 miles i bought a 60,000 warrenty which means it is only good for 59,000 miles . i have a signed statement of a witness as to why it has 1,000 miles on the vehicle . I am currently in superior court with the company that financed the vehicle .they have offered to clear my credit and not purse me for any balance on the loan .that means that the dealer gets away free of any charges and still has their money .I have been to the attorney general they say their has to be several cases before they can help . can i use the discovery rule in my case .please help me i am 64 years old and i dont have the money to hire an attorney .i made payments on vehicle for a year and could not drive it.

Can you find out how much traffic an individual page is getting?

Is there some way to find out how many hits certain pages are getting?

Fduross 12:41, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

The software that that runs Wikipedia (see m:MediaWiki) supports a page hit counter, but this feature is turned off at Wikipedia for performance reasons. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:34, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

Joining a project

Can someone please tell me exactly how you join a project? I want to join the Computer & Video Games Project, but i don't know how. Elitejeff123 15:38, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Go to the project's talk page and ask them. I don't know about this particular project, but most of the time you can probably just add your name to the list of participants and begin work on the tasks listed. Hermione1980 20:30, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

All the Wikiprojects I know of are very informal. Just show up and start working in that area, and add yourself to whatever lists are on the project page. Isomorphic 06:43, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Copyright stuff

Brian Wernham from the International Omweso Society, London, posted this on the Omweso page:

Some of the text on this webpage relating to Omweso has been copied from www.omweso.org (http://www.geocities.com/omweso/)

I am quite happy for this text to be treated as public domain, as long as the provenance is clearly stated.

I have moved it to the talk page, but I am not sure what the implications of it are. Since the material appears to be copied should we use it? Do we need to make sure Brian Werham understands Wikipedia copyright policy for him to give permision to use it? Is the permission he has given thus far enough?--JK the unwise 12:52, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Jose Hernandez -- Martin Fierro

I have signed prints of the illustrations used in the book. Where do I find out more information about them.

When adding a VfD comment, how do I add my signature?

Having read all the comments and the original article, I want to vote on a "vote for deletion" election. I added my comments, but others have their names/time of entry added as a hyperlink; how do I do that?

Put four ~~squiggles~~ tildes like this: ~~~~. Kappa 16:52, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

South Australia

is not listed in your Australian surf section...why isn't it?

An excellent question. If you know the answer, or have some good things to say about it, why not edit the article yourself. That's what Wikipedia is all about. If on the other hand you think an article is biased or could be improved and you don't want to write it, you can make suggestions on the discussion page for the article. Have fun! Notinasnaid 18:19, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

User account

I created an account, but when i search for it in the search bar it never shows up. What do I need to do to have it show up in a search?

Presuming you want to have a search for your username, you need to append "User:" to the beginning. To sign in (as this previous message was anonymous), click the link at the top of the screen. Cheers, smoddy 18:12, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Also, it's quite possible that the servers need some time in making the search engine aware of the page. Waiting is a good strategy. Once you start editing, you'll spread your name across the 'pedia anyway. Mgm|^(talk) 21:06, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

Having my article show up in a search list

I just started an account, but when I enter it in a search, my organization never shows up. What am do I need to do?

Are you looking for an article that you have written? Otherwise, see my above response to the last question. smoddy 18:12, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Alternatively, if you wrote it and someone believed the page on your company to be an ad it may have been deleted. Please see Special:Log/Delete for a log of recently deleted pages. You can make a case for keeping it at [[Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:07, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

cannot move page

I am trying to move/rename the article Beauharnois—Salaberry to Beauharnois-Salaberry (i.e. hyphen instead of the en-rule) but message comes back "Cannot perform this action on this page" (or something). Could somebody do it please? (And maybe check for other pages with an en-rule in the title. Surely there shouldn't be any?) Shantavira 18:26, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

There is a reason for the Canadian use of the long dash, IIRC - it's for cases like Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine or Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles which would otherwise get confusing. There's a discussion on Talk:List of Canadian federal electoral districts. Shimgray 18:30, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Crap. I'll undo that move, then--I had just done it. Best, Meelar (talk) 18:36, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

OK but most people don't even know how to type an en/em-rule to search for such articles. There should at least be a redirect. Shantavira 18:32, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I'm not best happy with it myself - I think it's causing undue trouble - but I figure they'll sort something out consistent across the lot, and I'd personally prefer to leave it to them whilst the project is working on it... otherwise I'd have done it myself. The redirect idea is a good one, and I think it'd certainly help to start adding them. Shimgray 18:39, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

WP:VIP and WP:AIV

I've been trying to add a reference to WP:AIV to WP:VIP in the intro sections, but it seems like the intro section is a template {{Wikipedia:Vandalism in progress/Intro}} . How do I edit that to add a link (and mention) to WP:AIV? Thanks! Flcelloguy 20:04, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Just edit Wikipedia:Vandalism_in_progress/Intro. As simple as that! The subpage is simply transcluded across. smoddy 20:24, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

De-listing from WP:RFC and WP:RM

How does an article listed on these pages (specifically: was Petrol (Gasoline) and is now Gasoline) ultimately get de-listed? hydnjo talk 20:39, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

If there is no doubt at all that the dispute is over, you can just remove it. It is helpful when people do this, as otherwise RFC becomes very congested. You should list it at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Article content disputes archive. Cheers, smoddy 20:45, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

User sub-pages

I apologize profusely for asking a question that must have been asked many times before, but I am caught in my usual wiki round-about. "X" page tells me to go to "Y" page, and "Y" page tells me to go to...you know. In this case, it's just x tells me go to y, and y tells me go to x, but I still can't figure out how to add a sandbox to my user talk page. I have a nice new pail and shovel that need a place to go. Thank you for any patience you can spare. --Mothperson 22:19, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

~~oh, and as long as I'm here asking idiot questions, can the tildes be used to incorporate one's talk address?~~ I'm going to try to look this up. Unless someone truly saint-like takes pity on me. --Mothperson 22:19, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Create sub-page User:Mothperson/Sandbox, User talk:Mothperson/Sandbox, or something similar. (If you like that title, you can just click on the redlink and create it.) And yes, the tildes can incorporate your talk page. Go to Special:Preferences, put your desired signature in the box labelled "Your nickname (for signatures)" (for example, [[User:Mothperson|Mothperson]] [[User talk:Mothperson|(talk)]], and click "Use raw signatures". Also see #Signatures above :-) Hermione1980 22:30, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You are a saint. Aren't you the Hermione who answered PicaPica's question about uploading images? Which I immediately socked away - oops, bad verb here, - stored away in my personal files for future reference because I understood it (I think - haven't actually tried it yet). Now I will go build my sandbox and work on my signature. Thank you very much. --Mothperson 22:57, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yup, that was me. You're welcome. Just leave a message on my talk page with your new signature so I can see it. Cheers, Hermione1980 23:04, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I'm working on that signature. Meanwhile, the sandbox is built, and now I'm wondering how people get theirs to have tabs within their own user pages. It's out there, but I'd like to move it closer to the garage. Thank you again, and I will come sign your talk page once I figure out what I want it to read. --Mothperson 23:43, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. If you're wanting to link to it from your user talk page, just put [[/Title of page]] on it. If that's not what you're asking about, can you give me a link to an example? Hermione1980 23:52, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Beet red. Let me try that. Some day I will grow up to be a real wikipedian. --Mothperson 00:04, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Who is the Original Author of Postmodernmusic?

I would like to cite this page as a reference for my doctoral dissertation. I understand the wiki concept, but certainly there must have been a preliminary author.

Thanks,

Is there an article called either Postmodernmusic or Post Modern Music? If so (because I can't find either one), you should check the "history" tab of the article. However, plase go to Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia for more information.

If this is asking a factual question, instead of about an article, you should ask it at the reference desk. Flcelloguy

Give me a note!

^{Desk 03:04, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)}

This might help: Postmodern music --HappyCamper 04:15, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Can I post bitmap pictures?

Can I upload bitmap (.bmp) pictures onto Wikipedia? Is it compatible? -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 04:31, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You could try by uploading it, but the general vibe around here, is that such bitmaps are too large in size. It should be easy to convert it to png or jpg. - Mgm|^(talk) 05:00, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

As well as size, there is the problem that not all browsers will necessary support that particular bitmap format (which is primarily used on Microsoft Windows); so the answer to "is it compatible?" is probably "no", in that something on the Web should generally be compatible with all/most browsers. - IMSoP 19:31, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I know MediaWiki can block file extensions. I'd wager that .bmp is blocked. smoddy 19:47, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

How can I make my own Wikipedia on my computer just for my personal use?

I want to make a Wiki document on my computer for my personal use. No web connection or anything. For my eyes only.

Hi! There's lots of different wiki software, most of them requiring a web server, but not all of them! One example of a Wiki that is self-contained, and designed to be lightweight and personal is Instiki. Something along the same concept, even though it's not a wiki like instiki and this wiki (media wiki), is TiddlyWiki. These are just some personal tips from me. — Sverdrup 06:43, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Random pages

I'd like to know if it will ever be possible to use the Random page feature within individual categories, such as History or Geography.

Lapsed Pacifist 07:42, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Maybe, a lot of people have requested similar features. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:13, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

What does Oscar Lewis mean by culture of poverty?

Did you check Culture of poverty? - 131.211.210.11 11:01, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Please take factual information questions to the reference desk. Thanks! Flcelloguy

Give me a note!

^{Desk 14:35, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)}

Minor edits in watchlist

As far as I can tell, my watchlist doesn't show minor edits to the pages I'm watching. Is there a way to enable this? Thanks. Ajnewbold 17:24, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It's in your account preferences options (click the preferences link), under recent changes and stub display. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:21, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

How do I

How do I edit the votes for deleation page? I added this page to it but it won't show up on the votes for deleation page.

Admiral Roo Talk to me|My Contributions 17:40, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

Do you mean Wikipedia:Votes for deletion#How to list pages for deletion? The page you mention is already gone, and the votes for deletion process really doesn't apply to user subpages (which it was). To delete one of your user subpages, generally all you need to do is follow the process for "speedy deletion", described at Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:29, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

Yes, I do mean Wikipedia:Votes for deletion#How to list pages for deletion. I will put User:Admiral Roo/Links in speedy deleation. Thanks. -- Admiral Roo Talk to me|My Contributions 18:37, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

I see there's a talk page for the page you seem to want deleted, is user talk:Admiral Roo/Links the page you've been talking about all along? If so, requesting it to be speedy deleted should do the trick. -- Rick Block (talk) 22:16, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

Footnotes?

I want to add a footnote to an article--not strictly a reference, but an explanatory note. What do I add to the article to do so? Meelar (talk) 18:49, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

{{fn|Add name of footnote here}}, then at the end of an article, create the section ==Footnotes== and add each footnote letter by placing {{Ref #}} in each note you have in the page, and place the url next to each reference. -- Admiral Roo Talk to me|My Contributions 18:53, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

I see now how to get the little superscript "1" using {{fn|Add name of footnote here}}, but I'm still a little confused on what comes after that. What do you mean by "footnote letter"? Thanks again, Meelar (talk) 20:34, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

Is there a particular place where you want this? If so, I'll have a look and see if I can help. Cheers, smoddy 21:10, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It's on User:Meelar/List of House Committees. I want to put a footnote after "Ranking Minority Member" in the section on "Joint House and Senate Committees", explaining how I used my references to get the name of the ranking minority member (feel free to fill in "Your explanation goes here", if that's easier for you). Thanks, Meelar (talk) 21:26, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

fn and fnb have gone out of fashion now. The modern way is with {{ref}} and {{note}}. I have done this for you. What do you think? smoddy 21:48, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

"Gone out of fashion," I like that..."Your template is like so five minutes ago! (Said with a hair flip and Valley girl accent) ;-> -- Essjay · Talk 23:08, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

This is Wiki! Real world time doesn't count on here. smoddy 23:12, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

What? Howabout1 Talk to me! 23:15, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Lowest power processor?

Of the following process, which takes the least amount of power (wattage).

Mobile AMD Athlon 64 2800+ (120nm)
Mobile AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (90nm)
Mobile AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (90nm)
Mobile AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (90nm)

My guess would be the Mobile AMD Athlon 64 3000+, but I want to make sure as a I want to build a laptop with the longest battery life that still uses AMD processors.

Go to the reference desk. Howabout1 Talk to me! 22:04, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

Use of email on wikipedia

I have my account set up so people can send me emails, without see my email address. Is there anything else that I need to do, like place a linke on my user page or something? Also, is there a way I can get email when I have messages on my talkpage? Thank you. whicky1978 03:01, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)
Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! First, all emails are "anonymous"- i.e., no one else can see the email. You don't need to put a link or anything; if someone wishes to send an email to you, all they have to do go to your user page and click "Email this user". This is in your toolbox in the bottom left hand corner- should be below the search bar. As for being alerted when you have messages on your talk page, whenever someone edits your talk page, an orange bar saying "You have new messages" should light up on your screen if you are on Wikipedia. See, I'll drop you a message on your talk page and you can check out the alert! Thanks for joining us. Flcelloguy Give me a note! Desk 22:34, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

A minor clarification - your email address cannot be seen by anyone unless you send them an email from wikipedia (in which case, your email is listed as the "from:" address) or you reply to an email someone sent you from wikipedia. As far as I know, there is no way to arrange for wikipedia to send you an email to notify you someone left a message on your talk page. -- Rick Block (talk) 22:42, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

You could put a note on your talk page asking users to email you instead of leaving the message on your talk page, but that would really defeat the purpose of a talk page. -- Essjay · Talk 22:33, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Use of clipart

Is it legal to use clipart, espcially Microsoft Clipart on the web, and particlarly wikipeida? What is the copyright liscence on it?-whicky1978 22:13, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

Probably not. See here. Can you assure yourself that your use within Wikipedia and all its mirrors will comply? See also Wikipedia:Fair use where the answer would be either "Recreate" or "Contact Microsoft". Bovlb 05:07, 2005 Jun 17 (UTC)

RNG KILL?

What is RNG kill in the Pokemon emerald Action Replay codes Special section?

By that, what does it mean?

Please refer your question to the reference desk! Thanks. Flcelloguy

Give me a note!

Desk 22:38, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Maybe a Reference Desk question

But does anyone have a good remedy for dizziness? The speed of Wikipedia page-changing suddenly has me feeling sort of nauseous, but happy. --Mothperson 01:08, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Happy? Hell, I'm hysterical. And I'm on dial-up! Mothperson 01:12, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Too good to be true deals (e.g. Blue Hippo)

When I move, I am getting a paying job (their are no job opperatunities here in Ashtabula county). I will need my own computer, and I want to get one through Blue Hippo. What is thier website, and can anyone make the article on Blue hippo pleas? Thank you.

Admiral Roo Talk to me|My Contributions 06:05, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Google is usually the best way to deal with this. Go to http://www.google.com and type search terms. I suggest '"blue hippo" computer' including the double quotes but not the single. I would strongly suggest reading the pages that turn up before sending them any money, especially this and this. There seem to be a large number of complaints that they take money but don't send anything.

PS. Questions like this belong at Wikipedia:Reference desk, not here. DJ Clayworth 17:25, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

This section should be deleted. There is ample evidence that the Blue Hippo company is not a trustworthy company and therefore we should not be giving them any ranking help, in fact, anyone who is currently familiar with the Internet can find many deal websites, with computer deals from major vendors on a daily basis.

No; we are not giving them any ranking help - there are no links to their site. Requested entry created a week or so ago, coincidentally; google led me here. Elvey 01:08, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Olerud

I did not want to screw up your Encylopedia with crappy editing so I am going to just comment at the help desk. John Olerud (red sox 1st baseman) recently played a few games in the minors. Second, the 100,000 dead civilians in Iraq is not accurate. The entry is well written but it is not a realistic estimate. Sorry for wasting your time comment desk.

"100,000 dead civilians" if it's true it should be have references, but my guess is that you were looking at a vandalized version. Please, provide us with some sources to check the information before we add it. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:38, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)
- It'll be a reference to the Lancet paper last year. It's astonishing how many people have by now disproved it through good old assertion... Shimgray 11:25, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- Ah, there's an article on it at Lancet study. Still no idea what article he was reading, though. Shimgray 11:31, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

To get a template to work

there is currently a template for Dragon Ball characters Template:DB Character but when it is used the image file will not work proplerly. Example: Babidi's page says "Missing Image Babidi_photo.jpg" even though i uploaded a picture with that exact name and the picture says "Articles that link to this image: Babidi". Can someone help me? The template seems to work fine on some pages like Son Goku (Dragon Ball). Please reply on my talk page. Supersaiyanplough 09:08, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Piped links

Hello! I'm a newbie.

Could you please tell me what key I press to get the vertical line, as in public transport|public transportation. Thank you. User:gillean666

On my keyboard, it's "Alt Gr" + 7. Don't know what it might be on your keyboard. Funnily, the character shown on the key is an interrupted vertical line. I suppose you are trying to write a piped link? Lupo 11:19, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

On my keyboard... well, a UK English Windows keyboard has it on the key to the left of "Z". A UK English Macintosh keyboard has it immediately to the left of the Enter key. In both cases, "Shift backslash". Some Windows keyboards, however, show that as a broken bar which might look like '¦', which however I only get with using Alt Gr and the key to the left of "1". Notinasnaid 11:24, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thanks guys! I never knew what that key did, I'm a dummy :-) User;Gillean666

Comment: By the way, it seems like you are manually typing in your signature, judging from the above signature with a semicolon between "User" and your user name. You can just insert three tildes ( ~~~ ) to insert your signature, or you can insert four tildes ( ~~~~ ) to insert your signature and the current date and time. The raw signature comes with a link to your user page! In addition, you may also customize your signature (like I did with mine) by going to preferences and changing your signature. Oh, just a note: My "pipe" (|) link is found to the left of the shift key on the right of the keyboard, not that it matters... Again, welcome! Flcelloguy Give me a note! Desk 14:05, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Question about psychology template

In the psychoanalysis article, you will see a psychology table, and it has the psychodynamic part selelected. When I went to see how that was done, I just saw {{Psychology sidebar}} without any thing exra. How as that done? Also, could applied psychology be added, or psychometics, or school/educational psychology. I would do it myself, but it looks way too complicated, and I think I would just screw it up. Thanks. whicky1978 15:34, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

The {{Psychology sidebar}} syntax includes a template, which resides in the Template namespace by default. Hence, it is in Template:Psychology sidebar. Tip: If you hit edit on psychoanalysis, you will see a clickable list just below the edit box of the templates that are used in the article. You may wish to consult Wikipedia:How to use tables, and remember that your changes have to be appropriate to every page that uses the template (use the "What links here" link at the left, thus). In fact, you may wish to start by discussing your proposed changes on the template's talk page. Bovlb 16:51, 2005 Jun 17 (UTC)

Password question

I created an account a while back, but I didn't register it, and I have lost the password. (Hanging head in shame) Does this mean the account is forever more lost? I found a section called "What if I forget the password?" in meta:MediaWiki User's Guide: Logging-in, but there's nothing in it!

If you added an email address in your account preferences, you can click the "e-mail new password" button on the login page. If you didn't add an email address or can't access the email account, I think the account is lost (sorry). -- Rick Block (talk) 17:57, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. Adding an e-mail address is what I meant by "register". I can't be the only one who's done this (accidentally or intentionally)! Eventually unused accounts/passwords in the database would have to be culled, right?

Actually, I think all accounts are kept permanently as part of the edit history. All edits ever made by anyone on any article are kept. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:38, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

As for what you can do without an e-mail associated, if a) you really want the account back and b) you think you can "prove" that it's your account then you might be able to find a developer who will manually retrieve it for you. Otherwise, I would suggest setting up a new user account (perhaps with a variation of the same name) and redirecting the user page of the old account to the new one (or leaving a note there saying "this user is now known as..."). - IMSoP 18:56, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

That's a good suggestion, thanks. Regarding the first part, I wonder how anyone could really "prove" an account was theirs?

Copyrights

Is it legal for me to take information published on Wikipedia that is otherwise uncopyrighted and publish it as long as due credit is given? i.e. I publish a good article on my personal website and I make sure to note the author of said article.

All of Wikipedia's content is copyrighted under at least the GNU Free Documentation License (some users' contributions are covered under alternate licenses as well). You can do whatever you'd like with it, as long as the terms of this license are met. The basic requirements are spelled out at Wikipedia:Copyrights (linked at the bottom of every page). -- Rick Block (talk) 22:20, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Uploading Images

I have tried repeatedly to upload a photograph. Judging from the progress bar at the bottom of the screen, I seem to have succeeded, but I don't know where to look to find the photo. It is titled "extension spring" and is one of many that I will need for the article that I want to write.

Once the photo is located, how do I move it to the page that I am writing?

What is the filename of the image (including suffix, such as .gif, .jpg, or .png)? There are no files uploaded with the filename extension spring.

Once you have the image uploaded, you link to it like this: [[Image:Extension spring.jpg]], along with certain other parameters. See Wikipedia:Images for more. Cheers, smoddy 21:55, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Also, you can check for your image uploading in Special:Log/upload. Notinasnaid 22:09, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The easiest way to find the image (if it has been uploaded) is to go to the link at the top of your page that says "my contributions" and the image should be in there. I checked your contributions before posting this, however, and there were no images uploaded, which suggests that the upload didn't "take."

Hope this helps, and welcome to Wikipedia! If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them at my talk page. -- Essjay · Talk 22:59, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

Two category questions

I would like to know if this Help desk is where I should ask this or where else to ask it. I have two issues.

1. Why are there both an overstuffed "United States musicians" category that has a message at the top requesting people to move the artists into subcategories by state or region and also an even broader "American musicians" category at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_musicians? Shouldn't the latter one be deleted after moving all the artists into the applicable nation category, which in the first 30 musicians listed I looked at yesterday were all from the United States? Then since someone has requested subcategorizing, the U.S. musicians could be broken down into states and regions and the United States musicians category could be used strictly for the musicians known to be from the U.S. but whose state of origin is not known or who have been based in several states and not associated with any one region. This came to my attention recently because someone started changing the category of two Boston musician articles I've edited in the past from "United States musicians" to "American musicians" without any particular reason and then I started to pay more attention to this subject.

2. Someone who recently acknowledged to me being a fan of a particular record label began adding new categories of Record label artists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Record_label_artists) and three specific minor independent labels they are a fan of. I believe that, while obviously well intended, this creates a problem of adding a huge amount of unnecessary additional future categorizing work at Wikipedia because if we begin adding a label category out of a fan's desire to promote their favorite label, it leads to the unintended consequence of having to do the same for all record labels and all recording artists at wikipedia, which this person did not consider. Wikipedians noticing the category will feel obliged to add all record labels under the sun to the label categories (a huge undertaking) -- and the additional problem of the fact that many recording artists have recorded for 6 or 7 or more labels in different countries in their careers arises as well. I suggested to the person that adding more history and info to the label's article at Wikipedia would be better. If every artist were tied to just one or two labels their whole career and were regarded as being owned by a label, it might make some sense to have these categories, but such is not the case with most artists, aside from the handful who stay with one label for their whole career.

Can an admin who knows what is best take up whatever should be done about the above two concerns for me? I am not an admin, and am only asking questions and making suggestions. I would prefer those who know what is best to do among the ones who work a lot with music articles and Categories decide what is best. Emerman 03:22, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Both of these sound like issues for the relevant talk pages (BTW - as far as specific content questions like these are concerned, admins are no different from any other user). You might also try to find a relevant Wikipedia:Wikiproject. For the musicians issue I'd suggest asking at category talk:American musicians and/or category talk:United States musicians and/or the talk page for the individual user who is recategorizing the articles you're interested in. For the record label issue I'd suggest asking at category talk:record label artists (and, yes, this is the correct link, yours would be the first entry on this page) and/or the individual user doing the categorization work you think may be problematic. Category talk pages are sometimes not heavily watched, so you might have more success getting responses from the individual users involved in these cases. If you have already talked with the parties involved and are wondering what to do next, please see Wikipedia:Resolving disputes. -- Rick Block (talk) 16:08, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll read that. It was simply a new contributor starting out at Wikipedia who is not intending a "dispute," just someone who had a lot of energy. There are not multiple parties involved. I agree that few people will look at the Talk page and I would think it's something to do more with Admin. As for the United States musicians v. American musicians category, I think the more specific one should stay and the other should be deleted. There is no reason for an "American musicians" category. I can see how someone might have preferred the adjectival form (as with "Canadian musicians"), but you would not use the adjectival form for a state (New Jersey musicians, Tennessee musicians, but not Tennessean musicians) so I think being precise is best. For the label one, I think those should be deleted before a problem starts. Right now the label categories are the work of one person, but it could lead to a lot of people doing a lot of unnecessary work in the future. Emerman 22:18, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You could always force the issue with the label categories by listing them on wikipedia:Categories for deletion, but I strongly suggest you talk this over with the user first to avoid being viewed as hostile. -- Rick Block (talk) 22:33, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

The labels category person has been made aware I believe it should be deleted and that I'm listing them for deletion. I don't think the well-intended new person starting the category had really considered all the implication deeply before creating them. They can vote against it if they disagree. I'm also planning to list the American musicians category for deletion because it is a duplicate of another category created six months before, and I think it is just a mistake by someone who wasn't aware of the other category; I have also informed that user as well, plus made comments and recategorized the items on the American musicians duplicate page. *notation: I do think the "labels" category idea of the new person might be ok for List format instead, since these three labels the person was interested in seems to be related to their being a fan of these labels. But it's not NPOV to start favoring certain labels in categories and elevating certain labels in importance ahead of others just because someone is a fan of them (and I'm a fan of the minor labels this person made categories of as well); when a label has fans, though, a list would be good, especially if the List can be linked to in an article on an artist. I'm not clear how to start a List or I'd help the person start them. In fact the Categories, Lists and series boxes page doesn't point to example pages I can look at for reference. Emerman 01:11, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Other users

Hi, im a new contributor and was just curious about what we should do about users that are not quite doing the right thing. For example, the user User:Chris McFeely is doing a great job contributing, however the user is uploading lots and lots of photos and none of them have a clear description of the source or what the images are, nor do they have any Image copyright tags. I put unverified tags on all his images, in the hope he will see them. I also left a friendly message on his talk page welcoming him and reminding him to include the tags. That was a few days ago and the user, either doesnt know how to view/use their talk page or is ignoring the message. What happens? Do I just follow him around putting unverified tags on all his new images? Im just not sure what the general rule is. Thanks. Also if the unverified images do get deleted how long does that normally take? - UnlimitedAccess 03:58, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You did the right thing. You may try contacting him by email as well, but that's about all you can do to get his attention. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:20, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

Questions about Copyright

If I find some valuable information on the web that is copyrighted, and I want to put this information on one of wikipedia's articles, what should I do? --Exir 05:23, 2005 Jun 18 (UTC)

Paraphrase it, and cite the web page as a source. If you have to, quote a short extract with attribution. Try to find multiple corroborating sources and present the distilled facts. IANAL, but in general facts are not copyrightable, only their specific expression. I could help more if you gave some details. Bovlb 05:47, 2005 Jun 18 (UTC)

So, for example, in Encyclopedia Brittanica, it has an article about something, and I quoted the article, what should I do? Should I ask for permission, or should I just quote it and cite the source?--Exir 01:29, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

It's not generally appropriate to quote something like an encyclopedia, unless you're quoting what the encyclopedia says about itself, or (rarely) writing an article about how the EB covers a specific topic. Direct quotations are for primary information, like what a famous person said, not for reuse of copyright text. I wouldn't waste your time asking the EB for permission to use their work in Wikipedia, as they're unlikely to agree. But again, you're free to read their article, and then paraphrase the relevant facts in your own words. And you if do this, then you can and should cite them as a source. Bovlb 01:42, 2005 Jun 19 (UTC)

translation inside Wikipedia

If a subject is missing in my language but it does exist in another language, can I translate, with changes, the existing text to add the subject in my language ?

It's encouraged, if you're working from another wikipedia article - all of it is published under the GFDL, so is available for such use. Note that most of our articles aren't translations of each other; we take what we get, though it's generally hoped most of them will contain the same information...

Two things you might want to note -

a) It might be a good idea to leave a note on the talk page of the new article to say you got it from a translation of PAGE on the LANGUAGE wikipedia; this helps with attribution, and is useful if someone is trying to chase up an odd detail the article mentions.

b) Remember to add Inter-language links; these help people find other versions of the article.

WP:MI deals with multilingual co-ordination issues, and may also be of interest to you. Best of luck! Shimgray 11:51, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

USING THE SEARCH BUTTON

Hi,

A couple of days ago I edited the article on Bayside, a suburb of Queens, New York.

The subject I was interested in then searching, which I added, was Veronica Lueken.

However, when I searched "Veronica Lueken" it did not refer me to the article I edited.

I guess I am checking how reliable the search mechanism is.

For performance reasons, the search function uses index files that are only rebuilt occasionally. The search should work the next time the index files are rebuilt. For more information on searching, please see Wikipedia:Searching. -- Rick Block (talk) 15:46, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

Use of materials from US Army field manuals?

Is it okay to use US materials (especially diagrams and illustrations) from US Army Field manuals that have been "Approved for public release"? An example is at: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/20-32/

If so, how do I tag the image to show its source?

"Distribution unlimited" probably means we can use this like US Military Public Domain material. Appropriate image page tags are found here. Insert one of those tags on the image page, and give a link to the source and it should be fine. — Sverdrup 17:51, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Image copyrights

Is there a tutorial page giving a short simple explanation of Wikipedia's current approach to image copyright issues? Something for general users who just want to write articles, not debate obscure precedents of international copyright law? I saw the intimidating threats on the upload pages of Wikipedia and Wikimedia, and I researched project pages for hours to try to understand what I was supposed to do, but it just confused me more. I don't have the time to get a law degree. I would rather just get sued than read this muck. --Yannick 20:01, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You don't need a law degree. All you need to remember is that all images we use in wikipedia should be freely distributable. Basically, this means that you need to give images you made and want to contribute to wikipedia a GFDL or public domain copyright tag. (for a more detailed explanation see: Wikipedia:Image copyright tags). There are users well versed in copyright law, which you could ask more. User:Quadell comes to mind right now. The best to learn about copyright issues with images that are not yours is learn on a case to case basis. Is there any specific image you'd like to know about? - Mgm|^(talk) 20:46, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)
- For images that I make myself, the instructions are clear. But for anything else... Wikipedia:Image copyright tags is huge and neither consistent nor complete. It's too much legalese for me. As a specific example, I wanted to put a couple of stamps on the Magdeburg hemispheres. There are three copyright tags available for stamps, one of which sounds like its for copyrighted US stamps post-1978 and therefore should not be used. (So why is there a tag for it?) But OK, {stamp} sounds pretty all-encompassing, although this doesn't tell me if I'm allowed to use them or not. Now I've got to choose between agreeing to the Wikipedia upload checkbox threat, or the slightly softer Wikimedia version with extra fair use warning. So I flip a coin and go for Wikimedia. But guess what? Wikimedia doesn't have the same tags, doesn't include {stamp}, and... did I need to call on fair use for this? I forget... OK, philately's a big thing, there must be some detailed discussion of stamp copyrights out there. But it's for American stamps, and these are German stamps. Scrawt! This is just another monochoice installation license, isn't it? Just check the box, put it up, and wait for the court orders in the mail, that's what I say.
- That was just one example. Don't bother spending too much time untangling it, I'll just have a new one just as complicated by morning. The existing system isn't usable to general editors. I don't know what the solution is, but here are some ideas:
  1. Just be honest and declare that editors may only upload original work, unless they are international copyright whizzes.
  2. Build a full on-line course in international copyright law.
  3. Form a legal team to review each uploaded image.
  4. Build a choose-your-own-adventure series of pages that asks you questions and then declares things like You may upload your image to Wikipedia and Wikisource, but not Wikimedia. Please use copyright tag {UStemporaryTreatyExclusion9-GermanyGovFairPlay-ParisAgreement1976}
- I hope no one is offended by my aggravated tone. I'm just frutrated. --Yannick 07:01, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)
As far as I know, fair use images aren't allowed on the Wikimedia Commons. They've got stricter rules. So if you've got fair use images of stamps, it looks like the should be here with a {stamp} tag. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:33, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)
- Except that I can't "affirm that the copyright holder of this file agrees to license it under the terms of the Wikipedia copyright" per Special:upload. I'm not about to contact the German postal service. And there's a substantial amount of discussion that "fair use" doesn't work outside the US and is being greatly abused, and I can't figure out on my own whether it even applies to stamps. And then there's a vague restriction on resolution, so that it can't be bootlegged - does that still apply if the stamp was cancelled? We can go on about this all night long, but at best it will only give us an answer for this case only, and probably not even that. Thanks for your effort, but it sounds like the answer to my original question (is there a simple tutorial page?) is No. --Yannick 08:29, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  - If you want a "choose-your-own-adventure" for determining copyright, you could try Wikipedia:Fair use. Don't forget your D10s. Perhaps we need a copyright helpdesk. I agree that there are some things not covered well. Bovlb 13:38, 2005 Jun 19 (UTC)

Can I add my frustration to that of Yannick on this issue. I too have wasted what feels like hours trying to get to grips with even the general concepts of image copyrights. I have often felt morally certain that no harm would be done (no legal threats, no damage to anyone's interests) by uploading to an image I couldn't in all conscience be sure was kosher. It seems to me that articles are nearly always better for having an image, and an image is often available that is probably OK to use, but to make sure of this is really beyond the capabilities of the aveage contributor. The risk is surely that either (a) people will be scrupulous and just give up trying to add images except in the rare cases where it's clear there's no problem (eg "I took this photo of my house myself using my camera and am happy for anyone to use it for any purpose"); or (b) people will get cavalier and just start bunging in images willy-nilly that don't seem obviously problematic to a non-expert. I accept that maybe it just is a complicated and debatable area of law and that's not the fault of Wikipedia, but there must be ways to work round this. Some ideas: (1) Wikipedia must have its copyright experts. How about a tag (or checkbox or list or whatever) for images where the contributor feels some confidence that's it's OK to use the image but is far from sure, and needs to have someone check it out? You'd supply all the info you could about the image and leave the expert to make a decision. Perhaps the majority of these cases would be very simple for the expert, since they would see many cases and be able to categorise easily, and the treatment would be more consistent too. (2) What about (as a last resort) linking to an image held elsewhere on the web -- either on an existing website or even a page set up by the contributor who doesn't mind the risk of personally contravening a copyright but doesn't want to get Wikipedia into any trouble? Obviously that would not be a good idea in the case of very frequently-consulted entrien but then they would probably have more people involved in editing them and more choioce of images anyway. (3) As it happens I have a specific query about image copyrights -- a personal image which would greatly improve the article, which I can only find on one place on the web, hosted by people who are happy to lt me use it, which I am 100% will not cause any trouble, but which I am not certain Wikipedia is strictly speaking entitled to use. Is there a page where specific queries like this can be submitted for guidance to someone who really knows what they're talking about? Forgive me if the answer to this question is obvious. Flapdragon 08:54, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

American Football anon posters

I have noticed for a while that there are anon posters that like to do articles on American Football. However, they do it in such a style that the articles have to be cleaned up. Several examples of these posters include these: [1], [2] [3]. My question is that if there is any way in which other posters can be alerted over this, such that changes can be made? This isn't vandalism, but I think that it's a problem that seems hard to keep up with. ErikNY 20:05, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Posting on the help desk here, or the Village Pump (assistance or misc. section) should draw in enough attention. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:49, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

How can I find out how my activity compares to other contributors?

Hi, I have made quite a few additions and changes to articles since I first found out about Wikipedia a few months ago, but have not got involved at all in the behind the scenes stuff, by which I mean discussions about how Wikipedia is organised and what it is all for. Is it possible to see metrics on how many contributions I have made, and whether I am in the top 1000 (or whatever) most active contributors? Thanks. BrainyBabe 22:09, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The "my contributions" link at the top of the page doesn't give a number, but does allow you to split out edits in different namespaces (ie, this page is in the Wikipedia: namespace; leaving a message on someone's talk page is the User_talk: namespace, &c &c), and if you want to put in some effort you can count these. The counter here tells you how many edits you've made to that wiki (this is my 2050th!), but doesn't break it down by namespace, so it can be a bit confusing. You're currently on a hundred edits overall.

WP:1000 is a list of the thousand Wikipedia users with the most edits, as of late April; there hasn't been an updated count since then. There's about 25,000 (?) users, and I don't think anyone's produced a complete list by edit-count. "Activity" in a sort of first-differential sense is harder to measure, mark you. Back then, 2000 edits or so to all namespaces would peg you at thousandth place; I suspect it's about 2500 or so now, given that people's edit counts never decrease by any significant margin. There's some other pages linked from there that might be interesting. Shimgray 22:21, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I meant to add - if you look at that page, and compare the two lists, it's interesting to see how much "main space" and "system space" (anything not an article, really) differ - the thousandth person in the article-namespace-only list is merely at 1450, a good 500 or so short of the equivalent all-namespaces one... Shimgray 22:30, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It's perhaps also worth repeating that you should NOT focus on how many edits you have. There are any number of things you can do to artificially increase your edit count - please don't do them. By and large, nobody cares how many edits you have. This is not to say minor edits or fixing typos are not welcome, but making edits just for the sake of increasing your edit count is strongly discouraged. -- Rick Block (talk) 22:41, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

I believe we've got 250,000 contributors, not 25,000. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:35, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)
- 25,000 registered users as of mid-May [4], although this number is limited to those who've edited at least ten times since they registered. Not sure how that compares to anon. edits... hmm. Shimgray 12:32, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

search not showing substring result; cycle time on updates?

I recently authored two articles. Say that the article is titled "A B". Oddly, when I search for "A" or "B" separately, it doesn't show my page for "A B". Only when I search for "A B" will it find the page.

Shouldn't this be immediately updated or am I doing something wrong in my page?

Or is there a delay time before some index gets updated?

There is a delay in the updating of the indexes
If you want to find something, by not using the full title of the page, you should click "search" instead of "go". The "Go" button will look for a page with the exact same name as the string you typed. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:37, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

...

Thanks for your reply.

It does work on GO, but it's been nearly four days since I entered the article. Using search doesn't find it or anything in it. Say the article is entitled "FIRSTNAME LASTNAME". If I put in 'FIRSTNAME LASTNAME' (no quotes) and hit enter or click GO, it finds the page. Similarly for the other pages.

But if I enter simply 'LASTNAME' or even 'FIRSTNAME LASTNAME", and hit SEARCH it doesn't find the pages or anything within them at all.

Is it really that after four days Wikipedia indices haven't been updated?

Help!

This is really critical.

Many Thanks.

Wikiklrsc 23:34, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

St. Andrews

I am looking for a coat of arms or shield of St. Andrews. We have seen one of interest (Brick roof on top, on the left St. Andrews or a man in robe holding a staff or X on the right a tree with what looks like a dog at the roots of the tree. I would appreciate anything you can do. 6/19/05

Try asking at the Reference desk. Hermione1980 12:12, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

If you do ask at the Reference desk, be sure to specify which St. Andrew's (the university, the golf course, the saint himself, or one of the many cities). You might try St Andrews (disambiguation) first. -- Essjay · Talk 12:41, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

Two universities, in fact, and a diocese which'll have arms itself. University of St Andrews and St. Andrew's University have copies of the arms of those institutions; I think the one they're after sounds like the arms of the city. Shimgray 17:52, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Searching Wikipedia

I was on an external website the other day and it gave an a-z list of wikipedia page tiles in an quick and easy to search way. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I can't find it anymore. 131.111.250.45 14:06, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Wikiwax? Shimgray 14:24, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Or see Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks. Bovlb 14:26, 2005 Jun 19 (UTC)

Aye, that's it. Thanks! 131.111.250.45 14:27, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

How do I fix incorrect edit summaries?

My browser (Safari) auto-completes text in forms. It often auto-completes the edit summary and I don't notice, leading to bizarre entries. For example I just edited Snug Harbor Cultural Center and meant to put "copyedit" as the edit summary. What I ended up with was "copyedit, moved some material to Glover's Rock)" which was a summary I used some time ago on another article and my browser remembered; it obviously makes no sense here. Is there any way to fix that after the fact? --RoySmith 16:30, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

One of my computers, which users IE, also does that. I don't think that there's any way of fixing it- I've never seen it done and it's been brought up in several discussions. However, there may be some out there that we don't know of- anyone know of any? Thanks. Flcelloguy | Give me a note! | Desk 16:35, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Safari usage note (and I understand this is not what you're asking): you can clear the history of these (by website) under Safari->Preferences->AutoFill, you can also disable this entirely (but not by website as far as I know). -- Rick Block (talk) 17:04, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

No edit summaries cannot be changed except maybe by a developer, but they have a lot of other stuff on their plate. The best thing to do is make a trivial edit to the article and use the edit summary to explain your earlier mistake or put a message on the talk page. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:51, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

Gallery

Hello... technical issue- A user suggested on WP:FAC that the gallery in Pope John Paul II looked like it was missing two pictures (it's a 2x4, with no images on the bottom right). I've tried formatting it so that it becomes a 2x3, with no success (there are 6 images in the gallery currently). In addition, Help:Gallery doesn't provide any details- the example gallery is similar to the one in the article. Any ideas? Thanks in advance! Flcelloguy | Give me a note! | Desk 16:31, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

According to m:Help:Images_and_other_uploaded_files#Gallery_tag.2C_category.2C_table_of_images, the gallery tag generates a 4-column listing, so the choices seem to be to make your own table (not using gallery) or add text in the empty spots indicating no image is supposed to be there ("this space deliberately left blank" or some such). -- Rick Block (talk) 17:17, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

Old VfDed articles replaced by new, but different, VfD candidates

The article Ashley Bloom was marked for speedy deletion. I decided that it is not a speedy candidate and so I have started the process of moving it to VfD. In doing this I discovered that the page Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Ashley Bloom already exists. However, looking at the previously deleted page it seems that this new article is about a different person, so the previous VfD debate is not relevant to this article. What is the policy in this case?—The article should go on VfD, the old discussion is not relevant to this VfD but should not be deleted. I have looked through a number of policy pages but I can't find anything that covers this situation. JeremyA 17:08, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The policy page you are looking for is Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Maintenance#Renominations (yeah, I know it's obscure). --cesarb 17:10, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

That works (and has been added to my bookmarks). Thanks, JeremyA 17:21, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

How to or User Manual

Dear Sirs: I have embarked on a research project during my retiremnet and fortuitously discovered Wikipedia ... I have never had so much enjoyment in all my life ... searching, discovering, and collecting knowledge. At this point in time, I find myself in a situation where I have accumulated a massive amount of knowledge; however, I am having difficulty organizing or generally ensuring I have "run a subject to ground". To keep this short, I am searching for a User Manual for Wekipedia, perhaps more oriented to searhing vs. contibuting. I am making some progress, e.g., created a userid, and even made a contribution (anonymously, trans ID99F39381E902440W), prior to discovering userids. I am from a generation where the printed word is more useful than an other type of media .... i.e. am searching for a manual to print, download (then print), or whatever.

I would deeply appreciate an assistance you could provide (and am quite willing to pay for such a document ... having searched the private sector with no success.

I close with the deepest admiration for your project and personal awe for it.

pinkpanther --64.12.116.12 17:18, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the compliments to Wikipedia! You can check out Wikipedia:Help, and Wikipedia:Tutorial. Each of these offers a lot of information regarding Wikipedia and how to contribute. In addition, feel free to ask any user (including me) or post on the help desk or village pump to ask for help- we would all be delighted to help you! If you left your user ID here, we could leave you a welcome message and we could all help you more. Here's the welcome message anyways:

Welcome!

Hello, Help desk/Archive 20, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!

Once again, welcome! Do not hesistate to contact me (click "Give me a note" and then edit that page) or any other Wikipedian. Thanks, Flcelloguy | Give me a note! | Desk 17:26, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

supply of agrocommodities to olam in nigeria

venep nigeria limited is a registered exporters of commodities such as sesameseeds,cotton,cottonseeds,gingers etc

we want a link to olam or chanrai office in nigeria, we have the stocks for urgent delivery.

ali ismaila email;samaliya2000@yahoo.com

more on search not showing substring result; cycle time on updates?

search not showing substring result; cycle time on updates?

I recently authored two articles. Say that the article is titled "A B". Oddly, when I search for "A" or "B" separately, it doesn't show my page for "A B". Only when I search for "A B" will it find the page.

Shouldn't this be immediately updated or am I doing something wrong in my page?

Or is there a delay time before some index gets updated?

1. There is a delay in the updating of the indexes

2. If you want to find something, by not using the full title of the page, you should click "search" instead of "go". The "Go" button will look for a page with the exact same name as the string you typed. - Mgm|(talk) 07:37, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

...

Thanks for your reply.

It does work on GO, but it's been nearly four days since I entered the article. Using search doesn't find it or anything in it. Say the article is entitled "FIRSTNAME LASTNAME". If I put in 'FIRSTNAME LASTNAME' (no quotes) and hit enter or click GO, it finds the page. Similarly for the other pages.

But if I enter simply 'LASTNAME' or even 'FIRSTNAME LASTNAME", and hit SEARCH it doesn't find the pages or anything within them at all.

Is it really that after four days Wikipedia indices haven't been updated?

Help!

This is really critical. I had intended to write other articles, but I cannot unless this is understood.

Many Thanks.

Wikiklrsc 23:46, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You could make the page more visible by linking it to appropriate other articles and categories. I'm not sure about the regularity with which the indexes get updated. Using google may be a good idea, though. They update a lot quicker. - 131.211.210.13 08:06, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for your kind response. I did try to look the articles up on WikiWax but they didn't show up. The article is linked to an existing known and indexed article. Using Google doesn't find the entry on Wikipedia. Is there some way else you meant? Thanks for your help. Any further ideas would be appreciated! I hadn't expected the article not to be indexed after nearly five days!

BTW, I am not sure what you mean about Google. Searching using www.google.com doesn't find the article. Did you mean some other way?

Wikiklrsc 20:54, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC) (talk)