Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 February 6

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February 6

protect

What steps do I have to take to get a discussion page protected from creation for a discussion page for an article that's protected? Rzrscm 02:10, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

See WP:PROTECT. --Darkest Hour • ¿? 02:48, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia's author?

Who is the author of this site?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.159.47.104 (talk • contribs).

Please see Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia and Wikipedia:Overview FAQ#Who owns Wikipedia?.--Fuhghettaboutit 03:22, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

What do you mean by author? --science4sail ^talkcon 04:21, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

This question is nearly always from someone wanting to cite a Wikipedia article. If that's the case here, please see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:55, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Lisa Pelikan

Why do have my incorrect birth date?

I was born in Rome, Italy on July 12, 1964.

Please correct.

Thank You,

Lisa Pelikan

• Apparently that was the result of vandalism. But you can help by providing us with a written or filmed source to back up the info so other editors can check. (preferably one that is not IMDB). - 131.211.210.17 08:51, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
• A lot of places copied this info and said you were born in Paris. Can you give us a written source that says otherwise? - 131.211.210.17 08:59, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Size templates

Can someone please give me some templates relating to an article getting too big. Henchman 2000 09:08, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I couldn't quickly find anything relevant, but I suppose you could borrow the following code from Wikipedia:Article size:

<div id="longpagewarning" style="border-width:1px;border-style:solid;border-color:#aaaaaa;padding:3px">   '''Note:''' This page is XXX kilobytes long. It may be appropriate to split this article into smaller, more specific articles. See Wikipedia:Article size. </div>

...replacing "XXX" with the article's size, which can be found by searching for it. Remember to use the "Search" button and not the "Go" button. Hope this helps. —Xhantar^Talk 09:35, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

As a side-note, this seems like a useful template to have available, which I've requested at Wikipedia:Requested_templates#Article_size_message_template. —Xhantar^Talk 10:11, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

There are {{long}}, {{toolong}}, {{Verylong-section}}. I don't know whether there are others. PrimeHunter 13:05, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

And general advice on too-long articles is at Wikipedia:Summary style. -- John Broughton (☎☎) 17:19, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Printed Version Notes.

Can i get the printed version of the Data Structure using C language Notes.

• Hmm, it appears you have us mixed up with someone else. I can't find an online version to begin with. If you can find the page, you can hit "printable version" in the menu to the left. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:32, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

changing my login name

how is that done?

thanks in advance. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Seligmanpenn (talk • contribs).

You can request a user name change at Wikipedia:Changing username. However since you only have a few edits it might be easier for you just to create a new account. Garion96 (talk) 12:42, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Use of Wikipedia page for internal pedia page

I work for Intel and would like to use one of your pages for our Intelpedia site. The page I want to use is LabVIEW. Can this page be used in its entirety and just be cited or is there another process for this sort of bulk transfer of information.

thx in advance

tim

If you want to use any page from Wikipedia, that's fine, as long as you cite the original page, and maintain the GFDL license on it. -Amark moo! 15:43, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Click Export Page, and then follow the instructions. You can then go on Intelpedia and import it with Special -> Import page. --Wooty Woot? contribs 18:13, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

If there is no requirement to confine users to your internal wiki, you might consider writing what I call a wrapper page: a page on your internal wiki that briefly summarizes the Wikipedia page by the same name, gives details about the page's subject that are specific to your organization's use of it, and links to the Wikipedia page for reference. That way, users can always link to the Wikipedia page for the latest information, while your page provides a place for your users to document what they are doing with it (the sorts of details they probably could not edit on Wikipedia, as that would fail WP:NOTE and WP:OR, not to mention being proprietary). If you fork a lot of actual content from Wikipedia, you will have a continual maintenance job if you want to keep up with Wikipedia content changes. Just my opinion. The various Wikimedia Foundation wikis do something similar, for example in the Wikipedia articles (compare to: m:Wikipedia) that appear on the various wikis, but do not duplicate the same content. --Teratornis 03:18, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Confused to handle problem over image copyright tag

This photo is very widely reproduced and possibly public domain, however the tag on the photo says it is PD because its author died over 100 years ago. This is impossible since the incident photographed happened less than 100 years ago. The image is reproduced in a book I have, and its publisher "credits" a commercial picture service, "Ullstein Bilderdienst, West Berlin". I'm not comfortable with complicated image use issues, and I don't want to make a mess. Could you point me in the right direction? Professor marginalia 15:53, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I'd tag the image for incorrect licensing, and notify the uploader. Please see CSD for images. Xiner (talk, email) 19:37, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Excellent. Thank you. Professor marginalia 23:26, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

edit user name.

$Insertformulahere$

i am using cchwnn. but i would like to spell it out . how do i do that>?

If you want to change your username, go here: Wikipedia:Changing username. -GhostPirate 16:58, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

If you want to put it in the form that Skittle is in at the end of this message, type ~~~~. That will sign your message with your user name and the date and time you posted. If you are asking how to alter your signature, you need to go to my preferences (found at the top of the page when you're signed in). Skittle 18:49, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Reference tag

Hello, I have added a references needed tag to this article, because it has no references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_tube. Someone keeps removing it. Should not the tag be there? Thank you,-MsHyde 17:56, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

You may find what I wrote on my user page helpful. Xiner (talk, email) 19:39, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

MsHyde has been adding that tag to a truckload of articles, and I find it disruptive. For instance, this edit was wholly inappropriate. She seems to be adding the tag to articles willy-nilly without any regard as to whether it is needed; she also isn't going through the trouble of helping out by adding references to any of the articles she's tagged. Yes, the nixie tube article is borderline. There are a number of external links, and they are not formal references, but they seem to be about the best one can do for such a subject. I think she needs to ease up on the trigger. Lunch 20:49, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia depends on verifiability, so an article that doesn't have (or is unable to obtain) references may be determined to be original research and deleted. However, the edit you presented does smack of overzealousness, and I'd advise her MsHyde to be careful on that count, and adding tags to pure stubs may be less helpful than finding even an IMDB page. Xiner (talk, email) 21:05, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Is reverting vandalism a minor edit?

Should I consider reverting vandalism a minor edit or a major edit? Thanks. TypoSweeper 18:32, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I would match the mark of the initial vandalism. If it were marked minor, the revert should be marked the same. Hipocrite - «Talk» 18:36, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

It may seem counter-intuitive, but reverts due to vandalism are marked as minor. See minor edits. Xiner (talk, email) 18:43, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I did not know that - it appears to be widely ignored. It also would play havoc with my watch list - I have ignore minor edits on by default. As such, I'd see a lot of "blanked the page" and be diffing everything to fix it, and see very few "rvvs." Is there a reason I'm not seeing for this? Hipocrite - «Talk» 20:58, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

The edit is minor because the article is not changed from when it was before the vandalism. Thus the reverts should be marked minor. If they are not, it may be because the user didn't know the policy; isn't sure if the vandal is in fact well intentioned; or the edit is part of an edit war. The side effect on watchlists is discussed on that page, I believe, and is unfortunate. Xiner (talk, email) 21:51, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

This issue would be solved if vandals would please mark all vandalous edits as "minor." V-Man737 05:05, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Native English?

If you're a Native English apeaker, does that mean English was the language you grew up with? Or does it mean that you speak very advanced English? Fruit Boy 18:34, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

The article on First language explains the concept in detail. -- Natalya 18:40, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Regarding 'nthellworld' article

Someone keeps inserting irrelevant links into the external links section of our article. nthellworld is an entity which I operate.

I've had to remove this link twice. If you view the history of this article you will see someone keeps inserting 'nthell.net' - This site has no connection whatsoever with ours, thus doesn't belong in our external links.

Please advise on how this can be prevented from happening again?

Thank you.

Mick —Preceding unsigned comment added by MickR (talk • contribs)

You may find what I wrote on my user page helpful. Xiner (talk, email) 19:15, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

• It is right to remove irrelevant links, if they are irrelevant. These links, however, could be argued to be critical links of the article content. Disputes over content should initially be taken up with on the article's talk page. Because Wikipedia is open, you cannot stop things like this from happening, but you can try to reach a consensus on what belongs there. However, I am very concerned to hear you write "our article". It is not "your article": please read Wikipedia:Ownership of articles. Please take care not to classify things you disagree with as "nonsense": you should take a very cautious approach to editing this article, and perhaps propose all changes via the talk page, to avoid any accusations of Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. You should in no case be adding external links to any web site you are connected with. Notinasnaid 19:44, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

After reading the article in question, I'd also note WP:N and WP:V. Xiner (talk, email) 19:51, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Page formatting issue

I am attempting to format my page so that the warning template in the Wikipedia Resources section at User:TonyTheTiger#User_Info is under the resources template. Please advise. TonyTheTiger 19:17, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Fixed. Adding the "clear=all" property to the <br> anchor will page break past any floating templates (in this case the resources template). —Mitaphane _?|! 04:17, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Question about little articles and big articles

Hello, I have suggested that a two sentence article should go in a larger article. Is this a good suggestion? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Withybrook Thank you,-MsHyde 20:22, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

The answer to that depends on the article. If the little article is on a topic about which we are likely to only ever have two sentences to write, then it would probably make sense to merge the small article into a larger topic.

If the small article is likely to become larger and more detailed given time, then it may be best to leave it as a stub article; someone will eventually expand it. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 20:56, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Only where appropriate however. In this case Withybrook and Rugby (borough) are articles about two completely different subjects, which happen to coincide. And would clearly be innapropriate to merge them. There is no wikipedia rule about having short articles where appropriate. G-Man * 21:25, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Withybrook is more than a two-sentence article. But, yes, it is a stub. (And it was already marked as a stub.)

MsHyde didn't simply suggest that the article be merged into the county article. She shot first and responded later (and not particularly diplomatically). Wikipedia does encourage people to be bold, but this is getting annoying. Lunch 21:17, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

I was very nice. G-Man apologized to me. Withybrook is a town of 200 people. I do not think the article will get longer. In Borough of Rugby, there is a section called parishes and settlements, where many small villages are listed. If the sentences about Withybrook are there, I think it will make more sense.-MsHyde 21:34, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

MsHyde seems to insist on being a serial disrupter by peppering Wikipedia with tags. This is despite being (or pretending to be) a new editor with little or no knowledge of the ethos of Wikipedia. Dear Help Desk, how do we stop him/her? Saga City 00:04, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

If you believe that she is a disruptive editor or is a sock puppet, you should post something here. -- John Broughton (☎☎) 17:16, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Deletion

how do you delete an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by CosmoRadio (talk • contribs)

• There are various ways to request it, but it depends on the article. Can you let us know more, particularly which article and why you think it doesn't belong in Wikipedia? Notinasnaid 20:36, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Adding a reference

Martin Luther King Page:

I would like to add the following book to the references section: Jackson, Thomas F., From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8122-3969-0.

Which admininstrator should I contact about this and how can I contact this person? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Browns2 (talk • contribs)

You probably don't need an administrator: this sounds like a normal edit anyone can do. However, is this really a reference? The references should list material used in writing the article, or which better support the information already in the article. It isn't an open-ended bibliography (though some articles have these as well). Notinasnaid 21:28, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

<edit conflict>In the future, you can bring up requests like this on the article's talk page. I've gone ahead and added the reference. You can also edit semi-protected articles if you create an account. Let me know on my talk page if you have any questions or want to discuss anything. delldot | talk 21:37, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Whoops, I see that you already have an account. Notinasnaid, It looks like in that article there are two sections, one for citations of specific facts, and one for general references, this seems appropriate to me as further reading. delldot | talk 21:41, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

adding an internal search box

How do I add an internal search box(and go box) in my wiki?

Have you tried WP:VPT or WP:IRC? Xiner (talk, email) 22:44, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

You can get the inputbox MediaWiki extension, if that's what you're looking for. See m:Help:Inputbox for more information... if you're having trouble downloading extensions, though, you'd want to check out WP:VPT. Otherwise, just download it and go (using documentation)! Gracenotes^T § 23:10, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Image Tags and Image on Harrison Ford page

Two questions: First, when I am uploading an image, what do I need to do to add a copyright tag? I am giving the external link from where I got the image, but that is not doing it. Some of my uploaded images are Image:T.C. 1.jpg and Image:Jonathon Higgins.jpg. Please explain what I am doing wrong and help fix the articles.

Second, for the Harrison Ford article, I have noticed much controversy about the image in the infobox. Shouldn't the image be of fair-use? If not, why not? Also, what would be an appropriate picture to put in? I have noticed many, many users have tried to include an image, but all images are removed by User:Abu badali. Please help. ~Gatorgirl623~ 23:40, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Reading the upload page information you would have seen copyright/license tag where you could find all the license tags and information about them. We do not want fair use images, we only use them as a "last resort" when it's impossible to get a free image to convey the same information. You put {{tv-screenshot}} in the first image, that is likely the correct license to put in the second image. The problem with the first image is that it is orphaned. We cannot keep fair use images that are not used on Wikipedia. "Use it or lose it." Lastly, please see fair use policy for much more information about using fair use images and their restrictions of using them on Wikipedia. --MECU≈talk 23:52, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I found the copyright tag and labeled it {{tv-screenshot}}. It was still marked as "no copyright tag". How do I fix it? Image:T.C. 1.jpg is going into the Theodore Calvin page, as soon as I figure out what is wrong with the copyright image. Then, I am fixing the licensing on Image: Jonathon Higgins, to tvscreenshot. Will that solve that problem? Third, what picture then should go into the Harrison Ford infobox? Would this one (Image:Harrison Ford 1) do it? ~Gatorgirl623~ 01:10, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I'll answer a couple of these: for copyright issues, see Wikipedia:Copyright FAQ, Wikipedia:Copyrights, and (possibly best) Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. For the Harrison Ford question, I suggest posting that at Talk:Harrison Ford, and see what other editors there think. Or just be bold and see what happens, if you're adding something that is missing rather than replacing something that another editor did. -- John Broughton (☎☎) 17:11, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Uploading test from Word

Is it possible to upload text from a Word document/ If so how can I do it?—Preceding unsigned comment added by Badmint (talk • contribs)

Well you could press ctlr+A then ctlr+c then go to the page you want the text on click on it and press ctlr+V. I know that you can copy a page from Wikipedia to Word if you ever need that info... --Darkest Hour • ¿? 23:53, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

The editing tool wikEd might come in handy, in your case. One of its features is: "Pasting formatted text, e.g. from MS-Word (including tables)". It only works with Mozilla Firefox, though. —Xhantar^Talk 00:04, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Adding items to Toolbox

Is there a way to add items to the Toolbox that appears on every page? For example, making "recent changes" appear on each page.

Yes, it is possible for registered users to do this through CSS. It can also be changed for the entire site by administrators. However, a 'Recent changes' link already appears on every page, in the navigation section. Is this what you are looking for? Prodego ^talk 23:52, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it is. However, the wiki I work on doesn't have that built in (and I hadn't noticed we had it at wikipedia). I was adding it to the toolbox because the layout of the wiki I work on doesn't make sense with recent changes anywhere else. Is there a guide that you're aware of on how to add this via CSS? Thanks for the help so far!

m:Customize page layout, MW:Manual:FAQ#Changing the Interface, MW:Manual:Navigation bar. Actually it sounds like your wiki administrator at work removed the Recent changes link from the MediaWiki:Sidebar there, because by default that link is in MediaWiki. I'd guess you will have to talk to the human who set up your wiki. --Teratornis 03:00, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I removed it, actually, because we didn't need anything in that bar, most of the usage for the wiki is as a guide to tech support, but for users not familiar with wikis (so the nav bar and it's contents were deleted from the mediawiki:sidebar file). However Recent Changes doesn't fit in the restructured guide format, and having a link to it alone didn't make sense, so adding it to the toolbox was our goal since we found an increased need to use it.