Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 November 24

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November 24

EDITING tables

I wish to make an alteration to a table that appears on several different but related articles. However, I can find no way to get into it. Nor can I find anything in the Help pages that deals with this concept. Please help. Ted Watson (talk) 00:03, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

It sounds like it's a template that is transcluded on different pages. Click "edit this page" on a page where it's displayed and the bottom of the window will have list of transcluded templates, for example Template:Warner Bros. cartoons. You can also look for the right template name inside {{...}} in the source for the article. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:12, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

I presume you checked the record of my contributions, as the template you linked in is precisely the one I had in mind. More effort than I expected; well done. However, while the template is listed as "Warner Bros. cartoon characters," and in the appropriate brackets, at the bottom of the edit window for both Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny articles (and I admit that I haven't checked any others), your template link here for it was what I needed. If I should find myself in an analogous position in the future, I now know to put that name in the site's search engine preceded by "Template:", and will do so. Thanks. Not meaning to be offensive, but I believe that this is the first time I've asked a question at the Help Desk and gotten complete satisfaction from the initial response (though certainly every time the situation did get satisfactorily resolved). Maybe I've just been unlucky in the past! Anyway, thanks again. Ted Watson (talk) 16:30, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks and yes, i checked your contributions. I do that a lot at the Help Desk because it often reveals important information for the reply. You can also search templates without knowing the exact name by first clicking the "Search" button, and then checking "Template" (and optionally unchecking "Main") at the bottom of the resulting window, for example giving [1]. By the way, some boxes made by templates have their own links to the template in a corner, for example the two bottom boxes at Warner Bros., but not Template:Warner Bros. cartoons. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:46, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

How can I lock a page from people other than myself and/or my IP address?

well people have been vandalizing my articles and my user page so how can I lock a page from people other than my user name and/or my IP address? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kotosb (talk • contribs) 00:57, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

You have to make a request for page protection. -Yamanbaiia (talk) 01:02, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Note that you are entitled to protection of your user page but as for the articles, they are not "yours", and protection will only be granted if there is a recent pattern of vandalism. There is no protection that would entitle you, and only you, to edit a certain page. There is semi-protection which would not allow any IP users / user's who's accounts are less than 4 days old to edit, and there is Full protection which does not allow anybody to edit, except for Administrators. - Rjd0060 (talk) 01:23, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Showing that I've cleaned up an article

If I've just cleaned up an article that needs cleanup according to the community portal, how should I inform Wikipedia that I cleaned it up? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hostile Amish (talk • contribs) 02:26, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

You can remove the cleanup tag from the article if you feel you have improved an article enough to warrant removal of the tag. NF24^{(radio me!)} 02:29, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

You don't need to inform us about it but you can't write in the article space that you cleaned it up. Tim Q. Wells (talk) 02:39, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

world of warcraft

I just have a technical question for you. My boys have WORLD OF WARCRAFT at my house, can they play there game at there Dads house, he lives in another home? Or does he have to have his own account?

Thank you, Jackie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.109.171.167 (talk) 02:44, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

This is for questions about using Wikipedia, please go here. Thanks. Cheers,JetLover (Report a mistake) 02:47, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

• Accounts, like the one for World of Warcraft and Wikipedia are attached to a player. As long as the player can reproduce the right username and password they can use it on any computer that is capable of running the game or site you want to access.- Mgm|^(talk) 10:32, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

"Edit this page" issue

I've had an account here for more than a year, and have never had an issue like this. For the past week or so, whenever I've clicked on the "edit this page" tab at the top of the page to edit an article, I've been unable to, getting a popup saying:

_______________________________________________
|Do you want to save this file?                |
|                                              |
|  Name: index.php                             |
|  Type: Unknown File Type, 219 bytes          |
|  Form: en.wikipedia.org                      |
|           __________  __________             |
|           |  Save  |  | Cancel |             |
|           ----------  ----------             |
|______________________________________________|

I've never had this problem before, and I have no idea what to do. I can click the "+" tab to create a new section on talk pages with no problem. But I can't click the "edit this page" without getting that popup. Is there anything that I can do? Ksy92003(talk) 03:55, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Try going to Special:Preferences, the 'editing' tab, and making sure that 'Use external editor by default' is unchecked. Raven4x4x (talk) 05:05, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

It could also be a browser problem; make sure that you've updated to the latest version. You may also want to check file-related settings (in Windows, for example, Control Panel->Folder Options->File Types), where you may be able to revert changes made by a rogue software program. Nice ASCII drawing, by the way. =P NF24^{(radio me!)} 12:53, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

The "Special:Preferences" change worked. It does somehow amaze me, Raven4x4x, that you were able to identify the issue. I wasn't sure anybody could figure out what was going on. So thanks. I realized that if I did anything under the IP address of my computer that I didn't have that problem, and I remember that several days ago I was looking at the preferences and checked that box just to see what would happen... apparently I found out and didn't even realize it. Thank you so much. That was really starting to bug me to death. And NASCAR Fan, thanks for complimenting my ASCII drawing... I'm actually somewhat good at those, but horrible in real-life on-paper drawings :-) Ksy92003(talk) 14:33, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

If you like ASCII art, you may be interested in List of text editors#ASCII art. I don't know how Raven4x4x solved the problem, but this problem comes up on the Help desk every month or so, so I would suspect it was a matter of recalling the solution. For example, search the Wikipedia Help desk archive for "use external editor by default". --Teratornis (talk) 19:25, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! I've been browsing the help desk for a while, and this problem does come up semi-frequently. I recognised the 'index.php' message. Raven4x4x (talk) 23:02, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Categories in templates

Suppose I made a deletion template and wanted whatever page it was applied to, I wanted that page to be added in the Pages Nominated for Deletion category. I figured I would just put [[:Category: Pages Nominated for Deletion]] in the template, but it gives me that string literally. How can I do this? 209.81.124.72 (talk) 05:02, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Write [[Category:Pages Nominated for Deletion]] without ':' (and choose an existing category). If you don't want the template page itself to be in the category then write <includeonly>[[Category:Pages Nominated for Deletion]]</includeonly>. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:36, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

And note there is a Wikipedia:Deletion policy with corresponding templates. Don't make your own deletion template without discussion. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:39, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Is this really wikipedia?

Resolved

 – Issue is resolved, right?

VivioFateFan ^{(Talk, Sandbox)} 11:44, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Is this really wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Has no brain (talk • contribs) 05:25, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the domain is wikipedia.org so this is the real thing. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:23, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

The question is reasonable because Wikipedia has many mirrors and forks, although those I have seen tend to look different than the real one. --Teratornis (talk) 19:27, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

I know it's reasonable. That's why I gave the crucial evidence: wikipedia.org in the domain. A mirror could potentially fake everything else. I haven't seen it attempted, but I have seen other sites make misleading claims about Wikipedia association. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:28, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

You gave a reasonable answer so I know you know the question is reasonable. I should have been more clear that I was directing my comment at other potential readers who might think the question was unreasonable, lest someone else would feel inclined to chime in with "Of course this is Wikipedia." However, see Pharming - it might be possible for a sufficiently motivated evil genius to hijack the domain name and transfer some users to a bogus site. I have not heard of anybody pharming Wikipedia yet, but I don't hear everything. --Teratornis (talk) 01:28, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

I suppose an evil hacker could also hack some readers browser and make it display a false domain at a fake site, without having to hijack the displayed domain. I don't know whether this has occurred. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:44, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

What's with Northern English Nationality Association of South England?

What's with this Northern English Nationality Association of South England article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Has no brain (talk • contribs) 06:01, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

It has now been deleted as patent nonsense. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:23, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

PLEASE THIS IS URGET READ NOW!!!

Resolved

 – Admin deleted image

VivioFateFan ^{(Talk, Sandbox)} 11:42, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Ive uploaded a picture to the Matthew Underwood wikipedia page and i dont own the copyright to it please get rid of it for me because i dont know how to pllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeee —Preceding unsigned comment added by IV21GAL (talk • contribs) 06:53, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Deleted. John Reaves 07:05, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Hi

Hi i am trying to edit the page Steve McClaren but it says "This page is currently semi-protected, and can be edited only by established registered users". How many edits do I need to make to become an established user? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.72.5.42 (talk) 08:41, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Pages that are semi-protected "disables editing from anonymous users and registered accounts less than four days old," so you can create an account and wait four days, or make a suggestion of your edit at Talk:Steve McClaren. It seems Talk:Steve McClaren has been semi-protected as well, so you can make a suggestion of your edit here and another user may edit it into the article. --Silver Edge (talk) 08:54, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

You could also use the "requests for significant edits to a protected page", here. Regards, Rudget.talk 14:47, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Talk page seems to have been unprotected, you can now make any edit requests there. VivioFateFan ^{(Talk, Sandbox)} 07:52, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

e-mail

dear sir , when i was creating my account i was in a hurry and forgot to provide my e-mail address . how can provide/change my e-mail address ?? siddharth —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sidb252 (talk • contribs) 15:04, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Click "My preferences" at the top of the page. Type your e-mail in the "E-mail (optional)" box. NF24^{(radio me!)} 15:06, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Or just click here. - Rjd0060 (talk) 15:53, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Interpreting policy

This is with the regards to the MS Explorer article and the accident in the Antarctic. Yesterday evening a blog of a first hand account of the rescue was added to the article, which has since been deleted because an admin believed that it contravened. Although articles should not normally be linked to blogs, this blog provided a unique insight into the atmosphere and events of yesterday morning.

The line of policy that would normally exclude blogs, is line 12 of "Links normally to be avoided" of Wikipedia:External links however the title here is "Links normally to be avoided" rather than "Links to be avoided"; and another line in "Wikipedia:External links" under Links to be considered offers the following "Sites which fail to meet criteria for reliable sources yet still contain information about the subject of the article from knowledgeable sources." I take this to mean that under some circumstances less than reliable sources may be linked to if they offer something unique. Is this one of those cases in which the blog policy could be set aside? KTo288 (talk) 17:47, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

I took a look but was not able to find the specific removal. My question is, was it a blog added to an external links section, or was it a blog linked as a source? If the former, nevermind, move on to the next comment. If the latter, WP:EL is not the policy you should be looking at. The issue is whether the blog constitutes a reliable source. See also Wikipedia:Verifiability#Sources and Wikipedia:Reliable source examples.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 18:02, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

It was in the external links section. KTo288 (talk) 18:51, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

• If the blog was clearly by a researcher involved in the whole thing, then it really doesn't matter it is a blog. Some people believe blogs are de facto unreliable without taking into account the author's identity. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:19, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Account Closure

How to close account of Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fznreturns (talk • contribs) 18:14, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry, there is no way to close a Wikipedia account. If you do not want to contribute, scramble your password and remove email, that way, you will be unable to retrieve the password and the account will go stale. Regards, Neranei (talk) 18:19, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

To comply with the terms under which all contribution are licensed, an account cannot be deleted. Just stop using the account is the easiest thing to do. 87.114.135.129 (talk) 18:22, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Right to vanish. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:19, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Searching categories

I'd like to do a search of articles that are in multiple categories. For example, Category:Stub-Class Ancient Egypt articles and also in Category:Top-importance Ancient Egypt articles. There should be exactly two articles that are in both categories. How do these kinds of searches? Jeff Dahl (Talk • contribs) 19:19, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Go to WP:EIW#Cat, and scroll down to the "Intersection of two categories:" heading. By "a search of articles" do you mean merely to list the titles of articles that are in multiple categories, or to search the text of those articles for key words? --Teratornis (talk) 19:30, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

I entered my previous answer quickly to avoid an edit conflict (common when answering the newest question). The index entry of interest is: m:User:Duesentrieb/CatScan - CatScan is a tool that can do various types of category scans, including intersection (may or may not be using up-to-date version of database). --Teratornis (talk) 19:32, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, that's it. Worked like a charm, thanks. Jeff Dahl (Talk • contribs) 19:42, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Inserting an image

I uploaded my image, but I cannot figure how to incorporate it in the page i want to? Please advise —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jakekent (talk • contribs) 19:43, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Add to the page [[Image:name|thumb|right|caption text]]. See WP:IMAGE for further information.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:35, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

By the way you need to add an image copyright tag to Image:California prison growth.gif, indicating what license the image is released under. Without a tag the image will be deleted. --teb728 (talk) 20:39, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Image:Einstein_Memorial.jpg

Image:Einstein_Memorial.jpg was uploaded to Commons and later deleted from Wikipedia as a duplicate of Commons. It was just deleted from Commons as derivative; so the Wikipedia copy should be restored. Is this a good place to request that? If not, where? --teb728 (talk) 20:20, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

This must be a good place to make your request as it worked:-)--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:32, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Default Signature for anons .. .. ..

Why did it change? There's no policy against anons having user pages, so logically there's no reason not to link to an anon user's user page in their signature.. .. ..--172.135.106.105 22:03, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Well, it is a pseudo-policy as it is technically impossible for anons to create their userpage due to the software. GDonato (talk) 22:08, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

I could for instance slap a {{helpme}} template on my talk page and ask someone to create a user page for me.. .. .. besides, it's not a software limitation, nor is it policy, it's just the decision of a handful of users that anons can't be trusted to create new pages, even though some of wikipedia's oldest and best developed articles were originally created by anons back in 2002, 2003, and 2004.. .. ..--172.168.226.201 22:14, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Oh please, it's not about lack of trust, it's about the fact that most IP addresses don't have user pages, and for the sake of accessibility to the pages needed to be accessed most (i.e. contributions and talk pages), the default signature now links to only the contributions page and the talk page. There is no policy against IP addresses having user pages, and it is completely possible to create for IP addresses to create their own pages. Spebi 22:20, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

The problem is that an IP Address will change periodically, so if you create a page under your IP, in 2 weeks, someone else will be using that IP Address, and that user page will belong to that person. To avoid confusion, we recommend you Create an Account. Feedback ^☎ 22:37, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

By the way, notice that your signature DOES link to your (non-)user page. --teb728 (talk) 22:43, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Only if I sign manually, otherwise it looks like this .. .. ..--172.135.100.242 (talk) 23:06, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Are you aware that you used 3 different IP addresses in this section? (Assuming all 3 are you). If your IP changes every few minutes then a user page seems pointless as I just wrote at User talk:172.168.226.201, but you may already be gone from that IP. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:16, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

If I wanted to I could keep it completely static and confine all my posts to one IP. --172.135.135.208 00:50, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

can anyone help me

i asked about the hard days night movie and no one even helped me! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.253.198.153 (talk) 23:25, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm sory to hear that, please can you explain in further detail what you mean? Thanks! —Qst 23:27, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

If you want to know information about the movie, you may want to ask at the Reference Desk - we're only here to help you use Wikipedia. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 23:30, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

(Edit conflict)Well in defence of the people who help here, you did only just ask "hards days night" which is extremely vague putting it bluntly, I suggest if you want to ask a question about the subject in question go to the reference desk, there is a link on the top of the page in red and underlined.--Kerotan^{Leave Me a Message} Have a nice day :) 23:31, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

To be precise, the help request [2] at #help me again said "a hard days night" and nothing else. One editor asked what you wanted and another gave a link to A Hard Day's Night. It's hard to be more helpful based on that input. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:08, 25 November 2007 (UTC)