Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 April 23

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April 23

AfD problem with Vilnius letter

I am trying to tag the Vilnius letter article article for AfD. I completed all steps in section I on Wikipedia:Articles for deletion and started the first step in section II. Apparently, the "Preloaded debate" page was not correctly created because it doesn't exist yet. What should I do now? You help is appreciated. By the way, the justification for the AfD is that the article has "content not verifiable in a reliable source" as stated in Wikipedia:Deletion policy. Simply put, it has no references and has been tagged for almost a year. Thanks. Truthanado (talk) 00:49, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Creating AfDs is easier with Twinkle - it's been a while since I did it manually. Go back to the article and look at the AfD notice. The second section says "Steps to list an article for deletion". Click on "2. Preloaded debate" and carry on from there. Bencherlite^Talk 00:53, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Its AfD has started. Truthanado (talk) 01:14, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Twinkle is great, but it does require FireFox (which is also great). --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 01:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

No problem, I use Firefox. Truthanado (talk) 01:23, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Drop Down Menu?

This is gonna sound dumb, but i cannot for the life of me figure out how to disable the little drop down suggestion box that appears when you try to search...Thank you in advance.SykesMacabre (talk) 01:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

It seems to be: Special:Preferences, Search tab, Disable AJAX suggestions. As a skydiving instructor once said to me, the only dumb question is the one you don't ask. --Teratornis (talk) 01:28, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! SykesMacabre (talk) 02:39, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Title issue

Should Crucifix Toad be moved to Crucifix toad (with a lowercase t)? Spencer^T♦C 01:37, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm... I would think it would be, but perusing Category:Amphibians of Australia, most of these are capitalized. As best I can figure from Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna), it is capitalized. So- no, don't move it. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 02:20, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

HI

OK, basically, I was editing an article, spent about 30 mins adding material and refs to this article and then clicked save page, by which time somebody else had already editted the article and I lost all my adjustments :(. Does anyone know how to prevent this happening in future? Best to copy to clipboard in future or is there another way? Thanks 79.77.159.40 (talk) 02:26, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that's one way to do it - whenever you're done making a large change, copy and paste it first. Also, if you get an edit conflict, just click the back button on your browser. That takes you back to the page you were editing in the first place..with your text salvageable. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 02:28, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I used the back button but my changes had gone :( —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.77.159.40 (talk) 02:32, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Also use the {{Inuse}} template if you realize you are making a large change. Sorry about losing your changes, it happens to all of us. Also when you ask questions, please use a more descriptive title in the future. -Optigan13 (talk) 02:42, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree it is very frustrating to do a lot of editing, click "Save" and then find you have lost the connection and all your good editing has disappeared. Sometimes I copy the existing text, paste it into a Word document, do all my editing in Word and then (an hour later, or a day later) paste it into the Wiki article and click "Preview". Alternatively, if I suspect I have been working on the Wiki article for too long I copy the relevant text and paste it into a Word document before returning to Wikipedia and clicking "Preview" or "Save". Dolphin51 (talk) 02:49, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Two windows should have opened. The upper window has the changes made by the other editor, the lower window has yours. You should be able to copy your edits, open the article for editing again (open it in a new tab if your browser supports it) and the paste your edits in. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 02:51, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Please use a descriptive title in future questions....... Dendodge.Talk^Help 15:11, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

(undent) See Help:Edit conflict for more information about this problem. I find my browser's "back" button usually works, but a more reliable way to detect an edit conflict before saving your edits is to click the "Show changes" button. This will show you if anyone else has saved changes to the page or section you are currently editing, since you started editing. If "Show changes" shows that someone has saved changes, then you can open another browser tab to the page you are currently editing, open another edit window to the section you are editing, and copy your changes into that new edit window, working around the latest edits by the other editor. The basic rule is, before you click "Save page", always click "Show changes". --Teratornis (talk) 19:42, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Citing the same source more than once in an article

If a sentence in an article cites a source and I wish to add another sentence and cite exactly the same source, what is the best way to do this please? If I simply add the citation in the same way as the original it creates a duplicate entry in the reflist. GTHO (talk) 03:18, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The code you want to use is:

<ref name="name"> Citation info goes here </ref> for the first usage, and <ref name="name" /> for the second (or third, etc.). (Where name is the name of the particular source.) --Bfigura ^(talk) 03:22, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

You can give the first instance of the reference a name, and then simply use that name for further uses of that reference. See some instructions at Wikipedia:Footnotes#Naming_a_ref_tag_so_it_can_be_used_more_than_once. Sancho 03:24, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Phanart

hi, my name is pete mason. i am the creator/editor of Phanart: The Art of the Fans of Phish. i created this book over the course of the last 3.5 years. we recently made a wikipedia page, in anticiaption of its publication in a few months. they want to delete it. i dont want it deleted. please let me know hwo to deal with this so it isnt deleted by the 25th or april thank you pete mason [redact email for privacy] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pmmason11 (talk • contribs) 03:30, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

There are two issues here involving Phanart: Conflict of interest, since you are the creator of the subject of the article and Notability. It is up to you to show the subject of the article is notable. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 03:41, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

(E/C) There are a few problems here. One is that you have a clear conflict of interest in this area, so you probably shouldn't be creating articles about your own projects. (Many feel that this can violate Wikipedia's requirement of having a neutral point of view. Second, articles must be about notable subjects. In this case, the book would have to have been covered in a non-trivial way in multiple reliable sources. Since the book has yet to be published, that seems unlikely. Third: Wikipedia is not to be used for advertising or promotion. --Bfigura ^(talk) 03:43, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

There are specific criteria that define what is notable for a book, which you can read here. However, I will reiterate the point that has been made about not making an article about something you have close connection with, as it will be a conflict of interest, and will almost certainly be regarded as an advertisment. StephenBuxton (talk) 06:57, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Please sign your post by typing four tildes (~~~~) or clicking the signature button above the edit box (as shown to the left ←). Do NOT sign in articles....... Dendodge.Talk^Help 16:14, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Clearing the search bar in Wiki

How do you clear it? I've tried the Tools process in IE, but it doesn't affect Wiki.

Slaughinghouse (talk) 04:28, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

If you mean search history, you may have mistaken it for the new Ajax search suggestions, to disable that, go to Preferences > Search, and check "Disable Ajax suggestions". If you are sure it's search history, clearing your "form/search history" or something should work. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 04:42, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Also see clear search history for previous answers in the Help desk archive pages to this question and variations on it. However, most of those answers pre-date the recent Ajax search suggestions feature, so if that's what you are really asking about, searching the Help desk archives probably won't turn up much. But if you are asking about clearing your search history in your Web browser, the old answers contain instructions for many different browsers. --Teratornis (talk) 05:18, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Need 'one word' for a meaning.

Hi

I want to know if there is one word for the meaning "even before asking" in english.

The sentence could be, Thanks for the bonus that was given to me "even before asking".

Regards, Guru

````````` —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.164.178.156 (talk) 07:59, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The word "unsolicited" is often used in this context. For example "I received a generous bonus and it was unsolicited." However, if you are acknowledging a generous action it would be more appropriate to use "prompt" and say "Thanks for the prompt payment of my bonus" or "Thanks for the prompt reply". Dolphin51 (talk) 08:16, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Language reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. --— Gadget850 (Ed) <sup>talk</sup> - 10:37, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

<moved to language desk Julia Rossi (talk) 11:05, 23 April 2008 (UTC)>

Please sign your post by typing four tildes (~~~~) or clicking the signature button above the edit box (as shown to the left ←). Do NOT sign in articles....... Dendodge.Talk<sup>Help</sup> 16:12, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

About this article - is it fake?

Resolved

I don't get why this article User:SlamDiego/E. M. Washington is like it is. Is it vandalism? It looks to be an article about an art forger (though unwikified style), but is it really an article, or a "fake"? Sorry I don't know where else to ask about it. Julia Rossi (talk) 10:41, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Looking at the edit history, SlamDiego used his/her userspace to rewrite an existing article, which is in the mainspace as E. M. Washington. So the answer to your question would appear to be that it's a final draft of the current version of a real article. Bencherlite<sup>Talk</sup> 11:03, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks Bencherlite, it appears in the category art forgers[1] along with the existing article. Is that a problem? Julia Rossi (talk) 11:58, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I've left a message on SD's talk page about that - normally userspace pages like that shouldn't appear in categories, but I'm sure SD will sort that out without anyone needing to edit his/her userspace. Incidentally, Julia, for future reference, to wikilink to a category, you can just type [[:Category:Art forgers]], and the ":" makes it appear like this – Category:Art forgers – whereas leaving out the ":", of course", puts the page into the category. Bencherlite<sup>Talk</sup> 12:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Been bold and done that myself. Although at the same time as your message, apparently... x42bn6 Talk Mess 12:12, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

All cool and thanks both. So much to learn. : ) Julia Rossi (talk) 12:38, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

My thanks to X42bn6, who disabled the cat tags in that page. I was distracted when I created that clone, and didn't think to disable them.

As to the instantiation itself, just as Bencherlite infers, I was rewriting the article (to bring it into conformance with a consensus that it needed some structural changes, especially in-line citations). I didn't know at the out-set of my rewrite whether I would complete it relatively quickly, and I didn't want some Flub-a-Dub in mainspace during the transition. —SlamDiego<sub>←T</sub> 16:27, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

DELL sales persons COMPANY email address

96.227.42.79 (talk) 12:48, 23 April 2008 (UTC)≤I have called this phone number which is a DELL.com phone number, <removed>. After the short interval I put this extension number in: <removed>.

The sales person recorded voice comes on with an explanation. Tpowards the end of that explanation he says in so many words " due to the high call volume he may not be able to return the call immediately and that to contact him, it would be better to send an email at"

This is where I get confused. I have sent every conceiveable variation (I think) of what I think I hear as far as that email address is concerned. It IS NOT A PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS. It is a DELL address.

Can someone please check this for me and maybe you can get the correct address. I have sent emails to vatious Dell locations and am just getting a run around. Its not like I am asking someones social. I JUST WANT THE $%^# EMAIL ADDRESS so I can talk to this guy to make a change in my order.

I don't think we can help you with this— this is an issue between you and Dell. First- this is the Wikipedia Help Desk where we answer questions about Wikipedia. The Reference Desk is for other questions, but I don't see how they can help. I suggest you call the Dell main sales number and ask for help. --— Gadget850 (Ed) <sup>talk</sup> - 12:54, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm guessing you've been to this page. That's probably your best option. If you were trying to make the phone call during the last couple hours, try waiting another 5 minutes or so. The number you wrote here isn't monitored until 8:00 CST. --Onorem♠Dil 12:57, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

If I understand correctly, you want to contact a Dell sales person via their personal email address? Why? This person works for Dell, and whilst at work dealing with Dell customer issues they will use a work email address. I think you will find the same is true of ALL employees, no matter where they work. Astronaut (talk) 20:47, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

My name is...

Hihi! I use name "Iakov" in Commons (commons:User:Iakov), Russian (ru:User:Iakov) and German (de:User:Iakov) Wikipedias. So I would like to use it here too. If it is possible, let me know what I suppose to do: ru:User talk:Iakov. --62.105.155.114 (talk) 14:36, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

It appears that Iakov was registered here in September of 2006, but the account has no edits. You'd need to go to WP:USURP, although it appears that they prefer only to grant requests from reasonably well-established users. I'm not sure if activity on other wikis is taken into account. --Onorem♠Dil 14:42, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Just to expand, they should grant this usurpation request on account of your activity on other wiki's as long as you create an account to usurp it with. Alexfusco<sup>5</sup> 14:48, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, guys! I really appreciate your help. --Name to change (talk) 10:20, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Articles on years

Someone has created loads of articles on years (e.g. 178) where the headings don't follow the Manual of Style - for example, they've been created as "By Topic" with every word capitalised, instead of "By topic" in sentence case. Can someone create a macro or something to correct all of these, or is it a case of going through them one by one??? 86.152.200.47 (talk) 15:38, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh, and this also applies to the articles on decades, e.g. 120s 86.152.200.47 (talk) 15:41, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

If the work is sufficiently unified in its repetetiveness, and if it's large enough to warrant automation, Wikipedia:Bot requests might be the appropriate place to propose such an idea. I suggest you get a good idea first of exactly how much work there is though. Leebo <sup>T</sup>/C 15:53, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I also fixed the edit bunching in 178 using {{FixBunching}}— compare it to 179 and look at the [edit] links to see the difference. --— Gadget850 (Ed) <sup>talk</sup> - 16:19, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

user pages

Hi im new and I see mnay of you have really brilliant user pages with tables & charts and pictures etc but i have no idea how to do this and would really like to have a one of my own so it would be brolliant if you could help me!! is there a list of charts or somethinh that you can use too?

LOts of love Christine MELVARDER (talk) 18:35, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

18:34, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

See WP:EIW#User_p for everything you need. And back at you with the love. --Teratornis (talk) 19:34, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia is the world's biggest do-it-yourself project, which means it's mostly up to each user to read the friendly manuals and figure stuff out mostly on his or her own. Obviously, not everyone enjoys plowing through lengthy, mind-numbing technical instructions, especially in the very early stages of learning Wikipedia. You can request adoption and possibly find someone to give you detailed help in your early going here. --Teratornis (talk) 19:48, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

MAIL LITERATURE

I'M VERY UPSET ABOUT RECEIVING BILLING INFO AND ADVERTISEMENT THOUGTH THE MAIL IN MEXICAN. I DON'T APPRECIATE IT. I DON'T SPEAK, READ OR WRITE MEXICAN. PLEASE STOP SENTING MEXICAN LITERATURE.

                                       THANK YOU.

Private Data Removed - Manors—Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.122.135.2 (talk) 18:34, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Please be more detailed in your question as it is a little puzzling. Are you receiving e-mails/messages from a Wikipedia address of some sort? Did you ever sign up to any Mexican websites at all? Adam (Manors) 18:40, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

My guess would be that the anonymous user went to the Wikipedia page for the group sending him things in the mail, clicked help, and thought this page was affiliated with that group. This page is for help with using Wikipedia, and Wikipedia isn't affiliated with most of the subjects covered in the encyclopedia. Leebo <sup>T</sup>/C 18:48, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I'd love to receive mail in Nahuatl, just as a surrealist thing. Or does the IP have the idea that there is some language called "Mexican"? --Orange Mike | Talk 19:21, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Side note to Manors, and to others who are reading the Help desk to learn how to answer questions here, see: Wikipedia:Help desk/How to answer#Totally confused questions and {{Astray}}. --Teratornis (talk) 19:26, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
You're quite right Teratornis. Adam (Manors) 22:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over two million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the left hand side of your screen. If that is not fruitful, we have a reference desk, divided into various subjects areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. Adam (Manors) 22:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I feel very stupid...

Resolved

Here's the deal. I'm trying to report a page at WP:COPYVIO.I click on the "today" link for articles, fill in my info at the bottom of the list (below the arrow), hit "save". Nothing shows up in the list. I go back to here--no, it's still there where I typed it, and it shows up when I click "April 23 Articles", but when I go back to the list, all I see is "images"--not my report. I then copy-pasted my info UNDER the arrow--it shows up in the list. Okay, I think--I just put it in the wrong place. I go back in and delete the one ABOVE the arrow--now it disappears from Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2008 April 23! To have it show up at Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2008 April 23/Articles and Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2008 April 23, I have to have one copy of the item ABOVE the arrow, and one BELOW the arrow, and I know THAT can't be right. What am I doing wrong, and what is it SUPPOSED to look like??Gladys J Cortez 22:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Hi Gladys. Grab a chair, take a load off. First be assured that both pages are showing your changes. Here's what I think is going on. before going to "the list," you visited it while it was empty. When you did that your computer loaded that page into its cache memory. When you made changes to the page and then visited it again, instead of seeing what was actually there, which included your edits, your computer recognized the page as the one it had in its cache and, in order to save memory usage, showed you the state of the page that was in the cache, instead of loading it anew. Try clearing your cache and see if this fixes the issue. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:34, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Man, do I hate caches. Problem solved--thanks! Gladys J Cortez 22:43, 23 April 2008 (UTC)