Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 April 16

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April 16

Why is my username showing up in red?

I notice at the top of the page my unsername is in red, also shows up in red on the history of pages I've edited, while other names are blue. Why is that? Thanks TheDarkOneLives (talk) 00:01, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

It's because you haven't added anything to your user page. If you don't like it, many people add a period to their page just to get the link to turn blue. I'm about to turn your talk page link blue myself... --barneca (talk) 00:04, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:User page for guidelines about what you can put on the page. Pages (not just user pages) which have not been created are displayed as red links. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:07, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Alternatively, you don't have to have a link to your user page at all. For instance, you can set your user signature to:

TheDarkOneLives ([[User_talk:TheDarkOneLives|talk]])

which will show up as:

TheDarkOneLives (talk)

Another option is to link to your talk page, but have the text be your username:

[[User_talk:TheDarkOneLives|TheDarkOneLives]]

which would look like:

TheDarkOneLives

--Superm401 - Talk 04:26, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Too Much Vandalism

Can someone help differentiate fact from fiction on University School. There's so much vandalism in the article that I almost want to throw out the baby with the bathwater and start over again. This article needs help, and there's so many different editors adding stuff (mostly junk), I can't tell. Spencer^T♦C 00:32, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Alright, I have had a look over it and cut out quite a lot of mess, which should make it easier to deal with the real problems that the article faces, to be honest, I was quite gentle with my delete key, it was mostly for poor style that was in the article, such as the internal links every other word and excessive bolding, however there are alot of unverified claims and I got rid of the notable alumni section because thats inviting libel since it had no references what so ever.

For now, I am going to hold on deleting about 8/10s of the article and let others try to improve it, while the current information is believable, in so far that it is easy to imagine that it is true, however it is also easy to imagine that the universe is geocentric, this doesn't make the theory of geocentricity any more true.--Kerotan^{Leave Me a Message} Have a nice day :) 01:42, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. :) Spencer^T♦C 22:38, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

How to create my own page or file

Hello, I'm Matthew Pavlich and i'm just wondering how to make my own page or file for wikipedia? Thanks Matthew Paclich. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Matthew Pavlich (talk • contribs) 01:34, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Creating an autobiography is considered a conflict of interest, which is against policy. However, you can create anything you want as a subpage of your userpage, by clicking a link to a non-existent page such as User:Matthew Pavlich/Biography and clicking the "create this page" tab at the top of the page. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 01:36, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Apparently the page he wants to create is not an autobiography but “AFL create your own drem teams (by matthew pavlich).” It is so unusual I can′t figure out what tag to use to tag it for deletion. —teb728 t c 05:19, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Need information pertaining to magic

I've been doing a paper for school, and need to know the different types of practitioners of magic (Wizard, Magician, Warlock, Witch, Sorcerer, Shaman, etch). I was hoping for either a list to be added to the site, or preferably an article with indepth definitions of the origins of these various titles. Much of this information I've gathered through reading Fantasy books, but I would much prefer factual historical information on this subject. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.190.124.231 (talk) 02:08, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

The correct place to ask would be the Reference Desk, but keep in mind that we don't do your homework. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 02:11, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

My paper has already finished. Sorry about the miss understanding. The question has little to do with my actual paper, I merely asked it out of curiousity. I looked in several places other than this site and was unable to locate any satisfactory information. Perhaps I'll just go 'old fashioned' and look at the library. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.190.124.231 (talk) 02:20, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, did you actually search Wikipedia? Magic has several articles at the top of the page which would help with exactly what you're asking. -- Kesh (talk) 02:50, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your question. The Wikipedia Magic article may not be comprehensive. but it is our current best repository for this material. Since you have just completed a paper, you may be able to help us, even if we cannot help you. We would be grateful for your help. Based on your paper, please consider editing the "Magic" article, or starting a new article. Please read WP:V and WP:CITE. Consider: you just submitted a paper to your teacher or professor. You did a lot of work. The paper is unlikely to ever be read again. If you re-structure your work a little bit and add it to Wikipedia, it will be available to everybody, forever. -Arch dude (talk) 02:51, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

A scale of clarity for articles,

Does Wikipedia have a scale of clarity for the actual quality of the writing of articles?

That is, a ranking or grading system something like this:

• very well written
• well written
• okay I guess
• not very good
• what on earth does this mean?

Thanks, Wanderer57 (talk) 03:52, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

As far as I know, individual WikiProjects have such scales, but Wikipedia at large doesn't. All Wikipedia has is the stub/GA/FA classifications. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 03:59, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

See WP:GA and WP:FA for more about those article ratings. Users may also add template messages to sections of articles that have specific problems. See WP:TMC. --Teratornis (talk) 04:50, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

United States-Vatican City relations image

In the above article, there is a map of the world with the United States and the Vatican shaded. However, the key to indicate which shaded area is which country has the two colours (or the two countries, whichever you prefer) mixed up. How do I fix this? Sjmcfarland (talk) 06:21, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I uploaded a new version with the colors switched... hope that fixes it. Chandler ♠ TALK 06:57, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale - Whats the point?

Why on earth do I need 3 copies of the same rationale because it's used in 3 articles? What is the point of this edit except to fulfill WP:FUG when the original rationale is perfectly good at covering its use in all 3 articles? --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:25, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Because the reason the image is fair use in one article may not be a decent reason for it being fair use in another. Admittedly, the only kinds of reason I can think of why different articles would require different rationales are fairly artificial and unlikely to occur that often, but it's still a possibility. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 06:25, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

See Non-free use rationale guideline for a full discussion on rationales. I recommend using {{Non-free use rationale}} for a one-rationale image and {{Non-free image data}} / {{Non-free image rationale}} for multi-rationale image. If you are using FireFox, WP:FURME will automate the process very nicely. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 11:10, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

The fundamental reason for this seemingly ridiculous requirement is simple: The Wikimedia foundation is trying desperately to adhere to the law. In this case, the law is ridiculous. nevertheless, the foundation must try to adhere to it as best it can. Please please please do not argue with Wikipedia policies as a proxy. Instead, complain to your government representatives. -Arch dude (talk) 02:38, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

becoming a user

I want to become User:A, since the name is not taken. But when I try to become a registered user under that name, it says the name is taken. Is there some way I can make this my name? 67.161.115.214 (talk) 08:16, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Now I see that the account was created, but the user (or former user) has never used it. My question still remains.

Had the same problem when I wanted to create User:Chandler :< Don't know if they delete usernames which arent used just because someone wants it Chandler ♠ TALK 09:01, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Existing users can request usurpation of an existing username with no edits by asking nicely at Wikipedia:Changing username/Usurpations. User:A is not going to be usurped because there is a User:А (Cyrillic script). Bencherlite^Talk 09:26, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Companies should not be allowed to place their commercial advertisement on WikiPedia

Hi,

I came across several material on the wikipedia which is nothing but the advertisements placed by the companies although they have pretended as if they are sharing some knowledge.

Why do we allow such ad materials?

Regards,

Pankaj Trivedi Manager Operations TheIndiaJobs.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.160.196.152 (talk) 08:30, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

We don't allow ads. Where did you find them? —teb728 t c 08:36, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Anytime you spot an "article" which is clearly and irremediably an advertisement rather than an article, simply add the following text {{db-spam}} to the top of the article page. An administrator will examine the article and (if they agree with you) delete the advertisement. (If the company is in fact notable, they may simply trim it back to a stub instead.) --Orange Mike | Talk 14:07, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Spam. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:42, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

getting a small column in a table

Resolved

You need to read this: [1]

the short version: I want a small column in a table. th problem is how to make it more thinner that now (look on my talk page for an example!)

how can I do this? Mabdul (talk) 08:30, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

look to the Comparison of layout engines (SVG) for the result!

Irony: blocking of editing on WP:RSN

There was a debate on the reliable sources noticeboard, about whether the website Freerepublic dot com should be blacklisted. Now it has been blacklisted. And now I can't add a comment to the noticeboard because there is a link to that website. I don't want to remove the link because it is useful in understanding what the debate was about. But I want to add a comment about something unrelated. Could someone help please. Itsmejudith (talk) 10:42, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't think there's anything to do except remove the link, turn it into plain txt with a note explaining why you did this. Harland1 (^t/_c) 12:08, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Any time a site is blacklisted, you must remove the link to continue editing that page. I've run into that a few times when archiving old discussions (or merely changing a template on an archive). Just remove the URL (with a small note like Freerepublic url redacted or something in its place), save, and then you can continue editing. -- Kesh (talk) 16:57, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

what is square integrable

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Coolvijay (talk • contribs) 10:57, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

On the left hand side of this screen is a search field which searches our database of more than two million articles. Here's the article that is found through that search: square integrable. If you have more knowledge questions, please ask them at the reference desk. This page is for asking questions related to using Wikipedia.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:27, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Peace Abbey award articles

i keep on trying to make new pages for people who have won the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award and they keep on getting deleted. i do everything right and all the information is valid, what can i do to make them stay up on wikipedia?

Taykathcat (talk) 13:38, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

You did not "do everything right"! Problems with the articles you have created include: wholesale violation of copyrights; failure to capitalize people's names properly; lack of sources for article information; and above all, creation of articles about people who simply are not notable. At least one editor has also expressed a concern that these articles seem designed more to publicize something called "Peace Abbey" than to add information to Wikipedia. Do you have some connection with "Peace Abbey"? --Orange Mike | Talk 14:04, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

What the Fxck?!!

[2]

what is this? im getting paranoid that someone has my talk page on a website other than wikipedia...the juggresurection ^IstKrieg! 14:36, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

It's a complete Wikipedia mirror, user talk pages and all. Someguy1221 (talk) 14:59, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

The website is clearly mirroring some or all of Wikipedia. I'm not sure if they're following the GFDL criteria appropriately, but you should be aware that any and all of your crontributions can appear on sites that mirror Wikipedia through using the GFDL. Yes, even your user page. Leebo ^T/C 15:00, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I listed them on the compliance page, and sent a request for complete compliance. --Bfigura ^(talk) 19:11, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

• There are other such sites. http://top40-charts.com/pedia.php?title=User_talk:The_juggreserection. Following wikipedia pages in real time. http://top40-charts.com/pedia.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk SunCreator (talk) 15:01, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

• Your user page edits, like all other edits, are GFDL licensed so you cannot prevent other sites from copying it. But you can place {{userpage}} on it. Use {{subst:userpage}} if you want to make sure the text is displayed on all copies. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:18, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

In this case {{Usertalkpage}} fits better. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:25, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

For more about mirror sites, see WP:MIRROR. --Teratornis (talk) 17:13, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Tags for previously speedied articles

I can't seem to find what tags to use on previously deleted material that was speedied and then reposted. I've tried to have a good look and am at a loss. Thank you. Jasynnash2 (talk) 14:50, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Being a recreation of previously speedy'd material is not a speedy criterion. However, if the old criterion applies, you can re-tag with the same one. Also, if the user keeps recreating material that is blatantly inappropriate, you can add {{uw-create1}} thru {{uw-create4}} tamplates to their talk page. --barneca (talk) 14:55, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict) There is no criterion for deleting reposted material that was previously speedied. The previous criterion should still apply. The repost criterion only applies to previously deleted material that was deleted through a deletion discussion. Leebo ^T/C 14:56, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

• Thanks guys/girls. I wasn't sure which was the more appropriate tagging as reposts or just putting back the previous tag. Additional question would be is there a simple list somewhere of what various tag abbreviations stand for (as that is how things get displayed in the deletion log), things like A7, G4, etc seems to be the only reference given in deletion logs. Again, thanks for the help. Jasynnash2 (talk) 08:07, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

These are from Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion itself. For instance, A7 means "An article about a real person, organization (band, club, company, etc.), or web content that does not indicate why its subject is important or significant." because it is the 7th item listed under Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion#Articles. Superm401 - Talk 04:57, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

My talkpage

I don't get how you edit and use your talk page. I also dont get how an earth you see other peoples talk pages/ profiles? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Livingstonerules (talk • contribs) 16:11, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

You can edit your talk page, which is at User talk:Livingstonerules, just like any other page, but clicking the "edit this page" tab at the top. Alternatively, if there are section headers, you can click any of the 'edit' links near a header. To find other users' talk pages, follow the same format of User talk:Username (for instance, my username is Leebo, so my user talk page is at User talk:Leebo). Leebo ^T/C 16:13, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Click "talk" next to somebody's username to get to their talk page. Click '+' at top to start a new section on a talk page. See also Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:06, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Also see Help:Talk page, Help:User page, and WP:EIW#User_p. You will see usernames when you use these features: Help:Contributions and Help:History. You can look up users who share various interests with Wikipedia:User categories. You can also Search Wikipedia's User: namespace. I will add the {{Talkheader}} template to your talk page, because it adds helpful instructions. --Teratornis (talk) 17:10, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

You can also look up users on Special:ListUsers. --Teratornis (talk) 17:15, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Did I upload pics correctly

I uploaded 2 photos: here and here. I followed the GDFL instructions carefully and have obtained the proper rights from the photo owners and forwarded them to GDFL per the persmissions found one these photos. I have done this in the past and gotten an email reply in a few days that gives me the thumbs up. However, a bot came and said there were no rights... but there are. I am doing something wrong? Please help!--Endless Dan 17:02, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

The bot is tagging them because there are no image copyright tags on those images. On a side note, you can create normal wikilinks to images (also categories and alternate-language links) by placing a colon before anything else in the link. Image:Example.jpg. Someguy1221 (talk) 17:17, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Which tag should I use though? --Endless Dan 17:19, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

{{GFDL}} looks like the one. Someguy1221 (talk) 17:29, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you!! --Endless Dan 17:30, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Article exists but links to another person

Hi, I wanted to create an article about Al Reynolds, Star Jones husband. Unfortunately, a search with the terms Al Reynold already links to an article about "Alastair Reynolds", a researcher. How can I create a page about the Al Reynolds I am interested in then? How does Wikipedia deal with homonyms?

THank you so much for your answer.

Best, 64.60.8.162 (talk) 17:14, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

You edit the redirect Al Reynolds page to include at the top {{Otheruses4|Al Reynolds|Alastair Reynolds|Alastair Reynolds}}

As it's a complex one, it's now done for you SunCreator (talk) 17:26, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Is it permissible to link to Wikipedia?

We have an internal Twiki and I'm creating a page for acronyms. I have an acronym for LED. Is it ok if I include a link to the LED page on wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.146.101.26 (talk) 18:10, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Link to us all you please. Someguy1221 (talk) 18:13, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes. You do not need permission to link to Wikipedia. Please do not bother to ask for permission on an per-link basis: Just add links on your site to Wikipedia as you see fit. You do not need to worry about "shallow links" and "deep links." We do not care. Links FROM Wikipedia TO your site are a completely different issue: do not add links in Wikipedia to your site unless the links are relevant AND your site meets the WP:N criteria. I realize that you did not ask about this. The number of links FROM your site TO Wikipedia has no effect on how Wikpedia evaluates your site's notability. I add this note only because others may read this, not because I have any problems with your site. -Arch dude (talk) 01:53, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

"Internal TWiki" sounds to me like a corporate wiki running behind a firewall; if that is true, then links from Wikipedia to that corporate wiki would not work anyway. --Teratornis (talk) 04:33, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Except for the comparatively small number of users who are browsing the Internet from behind that firewall, I mean. Everybody else would see those links as broken links. --Teratornis (talk) 04:35, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Shared account or something; what to do?

Recently, from 2008-04-16T18:24 to 2008-04-16T18:58 UTC, User:Dimarks2005 made an implausibly large number of contributions to a wide variety of articles, averaging over one edit per minute, making relatively low-quality contributions. I happened to notice this unsourced change to Autism, which occurred 13 seconds after this change to Crochet hook. Obviously this wasn't done by hand, by a single person; one possibility is that several people are using the same username simultaneously (perhaps they're students, and they stopped just before class ended, say). What's the right way to proceed here? Eubulides (talk) 19:43, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Leave a note on the user's talk page inquiring about the abnormal rapidity of the edits, and ask if it's being used by multiple persons. Be polite - remind the user of WP:MEAT, but also WP:AGF. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 19:45, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

OK, thanks, I did that. Eubulides (talk) 19:52, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

If it continues, report them to an administrator - it's a blockable offence (I think). George D. Watson (Dendodge).Talk^Help 21:10, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Infobox on Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill

The infobox on this article won't display everything it's told. Indeed, things appear to be disappearing from it; which is odd as no one has touched it apart from myself. I would be much obliged if someone could help me. User:Dónall Dubh

Have these parameters always worked? I say this because the article seems to be using parameters that the template does not accept. The list of accepted parameters that you can use in the template are at Template:Infobox Writer. Woody (talk) 19:54, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Make sure that every parameter matches the documentation exactly. Any slight difference, including things like underscores, can mess up the whole template. Leebo ^T/C 20:09, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

A user recently edited {{Infobox Writer}} to remove some named parameters that contained underscores in their names; see this diff, leaving only the corresponding named parameters which do not have underscores in their names. Basically, it looks like the user removed some redundant parameter names. However, the user who removed those named parameters should have checked Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Infobox Writer to insure that no pages that currently transclude the template were still using the now-absent parameters with underscores in their names. In general, adding new parameters to an infobox template is usually safe, but removing existing parameters is not. The person who removes existing parameters from a template should check all the pages that transclude the template, and update those pages if necessary. --Teratornis (talk) 04:25, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Template talk:Infobox Writer#Cleanup 3711 suggests that someone has been updating articles that transclude {{Infobox Writer}} to use the new parameters, although it's not immediately clear what that means. Given the large number of such articles, mistakes seem likely. Incidentally, Dónall Dubh, when you make an edit, you should type an Edit summary. --Teratornis (talk) 04:30, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Lost account

Please advise who to contact to reinstate my account —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.128.254.122 (talk) 21:04, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Added section header. George D. Watson (Dendodge).Talk^Help 21:07, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Please describe the problem more accurately and sign your post. How did you lose your account? George D. Watson (Dendodge).Talk^Help 21:08, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

If you've lost your password, you can request a new one if you confirmed your email address with that account. Go to Special:Userlogin and click "Email new password." If you have been blocked, log in and see WP:UNBLOCK or your block message for more information. If you have lost your password and do not have an email associated with your account, I'm afraid you'll need to create a new one. We have no way of accessing your password. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 21:10, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

How does the "protecting a page" work?

If one user has created vandalism and a lot of problems on one page, how do I report that person? If two or more users has created vandalism and a lot of problems on one page, how do I request the page be protected? Gibsonj338 (talk) 22:53, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

• To request protection for a page, go to WP:RPP. Note, however, that if it's only one or two editors vandalizing the pages, you can simply warn them on their talk pages or take it to WP:AIV. Ten Pound Hammer and his otters • ^{(Broken clamshells•Otter chirps)} 22:55, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

For users, report them to WP:AIV. Make sure they have been adequately warned. For pages, report them to WP:RFPP. Soxred93 | talk bot 22:56, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

(ec x 2) To report vandalism, see WP:AIV. Please be sure the editors have been warned on their Talk page for the vandalism first. For page protection, see WP:RFPP. -- Kesh (talk) 22:57, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

As for actually warning the vandals, see WP:Vandalism and the list of standard warnings. Someguy1221 (talk) 23:37, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

How do you change the name of an article

I found an article that has good, true content, but its name isn't right. How do i change the name? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Danielaustinhall12 (talk • contribs) 22:43, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

• Click on the "move" tab at the very top of the page and you can enter a new page name. If you can tell me the page that you're talking about, I can do this for you. Ten Pound Hammer and his otters • ^{(Broken clamshells•Otter chirps)} 22:45, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Posting something

How do you post something like making ur own true fact about something? Can u even do that? EX. I was searching up pandas the other day and i was wondering how to make your own page on wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Termintion (talk • contribs) 22:55, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

You don't "make your own true fact" here. All articles need to have verifiable, reliable sources to show that they aren't a hoax or something you just made up. -- Kesh (talk) 22:58, 16 April 2008 (UTC)