Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 April 3

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April 3

Incorrect photo on page.

Hi,

The Michael Geoghegan depicted in the photo on this page is not the same Michael Geoghegan (CEO of HSBC) that is described on the page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Geoghegan —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.96.255.153 (talk) 03:44, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your suggestion. When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). Leebo ^T/C 03:53, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Appropriate edit summary for section zero

Normally, when editing a particular section in an article, the edit summary automatically begins with /* Section Name */. When I edit section zero, however no "section name" appears. How should I describe that I am editing the first section of an article as opposed to the whole thing? Should I just make some thing up like /* Lead Section */ or /* Section Zero */? Is there a preferred or recommended format to use, is it up to my judgment? - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 03:58, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I usually don't specify it if the edit is minor. If I'm making a significant change, I just drop the word "lead" somewhere in the summary. Someguy1221 (talk) 04:00, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

And no, there is no official recommendation. The point of edit summaries is to briefly let people know what you did. Strict formatting rules would be silly. Someguy1221 (talk) 04:03, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

If you noticed, the contents of the /* */ affect the little arrow to the left of them, allowing people to immediately move to the section you edited from the watchlist or page history. That's the main purpose, in my mind, so making it into something that isn't a section header doesn't really have a purpose. Leebo ^T/C 04:53, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I normally use /* 0 */ or /* section 0 */, but I don't think it really matters; anything that isn't a section name will jump to the top of the article when the arrow is clicked, so you can use anything that's clear to humans editing the article. --ais523 14:25, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I thought I was doing it right... But now I... Help!

I probably did all kinds of things wrong and probably broke all kinds of rules... I apologise for that

I was trying to add new information to an article Forever More. There is a song by that name and there is a band from the 1970's by that name. Basically I added information about the band to the article about the song... Then I realised that would probably pi__ off the user who created the original page.

So, I wrote an article about the band (Forever More (Band)) in the "My Talk" area of my account and renamed it "Forever More (Band)." - But I see that the "article" that it created is basically my personal talk page. What do I need to do, make a "User" account named for the article I wish to write? I am kind of lost here.

I changed the title of the original article Forever More to Forever More (Song by Moloko) and that went through- I don't know if the article is protected or not. What I wanted to do, was to make a page "Forever More" that listed the Moloko Song article and my band article so a person could choose which article they want to read.

So, I put Moloko's Forever More (Song by Moloko) article back to basically exactly how they had it, but now, my own article is a MESS - My references have vanished, the REF tags do not appear to input my refs anymore, plus, I just don't have any idea if I am doing anything right, all I wanted to do is make a page that references the 1970's band "Forever More" - References are hard to find and I do not know what is acceptable. I want to put a "Help Me" on my page but I can't figure out how to do that either.

Sorry for being such a bother,

(I managed to get a HELP ME on the pages I am working on, also, I may not be able to get in here for some days, I'll try to get back here within 2 to 5 days)

(Forgive me, I put Help Me on the User talk Page I needed help with, someone came and edited it out, cos the User Talk Page IS the article! That's what I need the help with. Should I repost the "help me?" - The guy deleted my help me before I could type in what I needed help with. I'll take this up later, I have to leave. I don't want to break any etiquette, but on the other hand I want to type in what I need help with).

Social Spit: 1980-Present (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 05:04, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Ok, I think I tidied it up, and the references weren't showing because there was no {{reflist}}. For future reference, you probably shouldn't move your talk page into userspace, and I'd suggest not using it for experiments. You have a near infinite number of potential user subpages, however (User:WeApronX/Sandbox1, User:WeApronX/Sandbox2, etc. or just User:WeApronX/Forever More). And the point is to keep the history of your talk page out of articles, as well as preventing difficulty in contacting you. Someguy1221 (talk) 07:01, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

How can i upload word document or EXCEL document on my page

Hello

How can i upload Word document or Excel document on my page. Please help me out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Buildteam (talk • contribs) 08:16, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

You can’t. Well, you could convert a Word document to text with Wikimarkup. And you could convert an Excel spreadsheet to a table. —teb728 t c 08:44, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

See WP:EIW#Imp for some tools that might help. Also search the Help desk archive for: convert spreadsheet for previous answers to similar questions. --Teratornis (talk) 15:45, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Direct article links in google

Why do the articles Denzel Washington, Commodity Market etc. appear in the links section when 'Wikipedia' is googled? 194.75.236.69 (talk) 10:01, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

When I google for: Wikipedia I do not see the articles you mention in the first five pages of results, but Google reports 270,000,000 results, so Google will probably find every page on Wikipedia if you scroll far enough. That's because the word "Wikipedia" appears on every page on Wikipedia. Wikipedia has no control over what Google does. For information about how Google decides which pages to display, see PageRank. --Teratornis (talk) 15:42, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Teratornis, if you look at the first result, there's a "Search Wikipedia" bar and above it a bunch of seemingly random articles listed. I think that's what the question is referring to. But either way, it's as you said, we can't control Google. Leebo ^T/C 16:06, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Hah. I'm so conditioned to ignore the Google ads, it's like my brain is running Adblock. Whatever is at the very top, I just skip over. I should probably use Ctrl-F search rather than rely on my eyes. Anyway, while we can't control what Google does (or even what my eyes do, in my case it seems), we can search the Wikipedia Signpost for: Google to see what Wikipedians have written about the relationship (of sorts) between Google and Wikipedia. It stands to reason that two of the world's largest sites will take each other into account. Many Google searches lead people to Wikipedia articles, and Wikipedia users have found some ways to use Google's tools (for example the {{Google custom}} template, etc.). --Teratornis (talk) 02:52, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Fingerprint

  Dear ir,
          My name ( Dr. Name removed ) 
 I have been taken my Master Degree From ( Zhejiang Collage Of    
    T.C.M ) in Hangzhou – China 
 And now am applying for Immigration to Canada
And the Canadian embassy asked my for getting (Fingerprint)   
 because   I have stay  in  Hangzhou – China from from ( 9/2001-    
    7/2004 ) 

      If you please help me were can I do these subject 

                Thanks 
              Dr. Waleed Menecy
         please you can reply me in my mail add
              (Email removed)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.201.245.105 (talk) 10:39, 3 April 2008 (UTC) 

If I understand you correctly, the canadian embassy wants your fingerprints to process your application for immigration visa. I think asking for fingerprints is quite a normal part of the process and I suggest you talk to your nearest canadian embassy for further help.

Note that this is help page for problems using Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. We are totally unconnected to the canadian embassy.

Astronaut (talk) 15:31, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

How do I create a template?

I know how to create pages but I havn't found where I can create a template yet, can someone please help? TeePee-20.7 (talk) 12:46, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Please view Help:Template on how to create templates. --Cameron (t|p|c) 13:02, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Can you just direct me to the quick way of creating one please. TeePee-20.7 (talk) 13:15, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

To quickly create a page in the template namespace, make a red link to the page name you want, such as Template:WhateverYouWantToNameIt, click on that link, go to the page, and create it. Then placing {{WhateverYouWantToNameIt}} on another page will transclude that template page. For all the info on the powerful tools available when editing templates, you'll need that help page Cameron mentioned. Leebo ^T/C 13:43, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks everyone that helped me I really appreciate your help. :D TeePee-20.7 (talk) 03:08, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

(undent) For me the quickest method is to Search Wikipedia's Template: namespace for an existing template similar to the template I want to create. Then I copy its wikitext to my new template and edit it. Note that while you are experimenting with templates you can use a user subpage to test it with. For example, I'm monkeying with a new navigation template for bioenergy articles, in User:Teratornis/Sandbox2, which I am adapting by copying the existing {{Peak oil}} template that I helped to create earlier. Testing in your own user subpage reduces the chance of a vigilant administrator nominating your prototype template for deletion before you finish it. Also, if you adapt your template from an existing template, you might be able to justify your template's existence on a basis similar to that for the existing template. Templates can get deleted too, much like articles. For example, before I worked on the {{Google custom}} template, I read the deletion discussion for the previously-existing {{Google}} template, and I took into account the lessons learned there (namely, to add code to the template to prevent its use in articles, which would violate WP:EL). Anyway, if you tell us more about the template you want to create, someone can probably give you detailed help. Templates on Wikipedia can become extremely esoteric. --Teratornis (talk) 04:04, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

PURPLE HEART LIST

MY FATHER EDWARD F. SWANTEK RECIEVED A PURPLE HEART IN WW2 BUT HIS NAME IS NOT ON YOUR LIST, PLEASE CORRECT THIS —Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.82.99.179 (talk) 13:08, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

There's a list of notable Purple Heart recipients in the Purple Heart article. Was your father notable for some other reason than being a Purple Heart recipient? Review the notability guidelines if you're not sure. Other than that, do we have some kind of Purple Heart list that is more expansive? Leebo ^T/C 13:11, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

No we merely have the mini list you mentioned. It only includes notable members.--Cameron (t|p|c) 13:16, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

PS: Please sign future edit to wikipedia with four tildes (~~~~). That way people know who to contact. Thanks!--Cameron (t|p|c) 13:18, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Note that 'notable' in the context of Wikipedia has a fairly specific meaning; to suggest that your father wasn't 'notable' for the purposes of this encyclopedia isn't intended to be a slur on him or his accomplishments. By 'notable' what the editors above mean is, "Were this individual's life, accomplishments, and/or notoriety such that he would have an article in Wikipedia, whether or not he had received a Purple Heart?" In the last century, several hundreds of thousands of Purple Hearts have been awarded ([1]); Wikipedia is unable to maintain an exhaustive list of all recipients. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 14:35, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Maybe the poster saw Category:Recipients of the Purple Heart medal and called it a list instead of a category (common for new users and this category page calls itself a list). Categories like that are only for people who have an article in Wikipedia, and Edward F. Swantek does not. The conditions in Wikipedia:Notability (people) should be satisfied to get an article. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:15, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Template

I need to know how to make templates for articles of focus from specific wikiprojects. i know a small amount about wikimarkup, so any help would be appreciated.the juggreserection ^IstKrieg! 13:42, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

This question is hard to understand. To help other people answer your question, you should use specific terms that other people can recognize and attach definite meaning to. Otherwise, respondents have to guess what the question means (and the more time we spend trying to figure out a question, the more likely we are to get edit conflicts with other respondents). If you aren't sure about the specific terms, state whatever page(s) you were viewing when you formulated the question. If we can see what you saw, then we might better understand what you need. OK, I'm done whining, now I will try to understand the question. I searched Wikipedia's Wikipedia: namespace for "articles of focus"; oddly, this finds only two results, a page and its subpage:

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Slipknot/AoF

That page gives some example templates that might be similar to what you want: {{CurrentWPSlipAoF}} and {{PastWPSlipAoF}}. Is that what you are trying to make for some other WikiProjects? For general information about templates, see Help:Template. The WP:TEMPLATES page gives examples of many templates. --Teratornis (talk) 15:19, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

sorry for being vague. I have seen the slipknot template, and thats what i need, except I need it for the Psychopathic records wikiproject. Also, i have read Help:templates, and its very hard to understand.the juggreserection ^IstKrieg! 15:45, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Sorry for my response, which borders on a bit uncivil upon rereading. On Wikipedia we have a problem that thousands of people write our project pages, so the terminology isn't fully standardized. The "articles of focus" phrase seems to be a bit rare, and it confused me at first, but Google to the rescue, it seems I found the page that motivated your question. You're not kidding about Help:Templates; I must have read that page or parts of it a dozen times when I was new. I couldn't say it's 100% crystal clear to me now. But I can fake my way through templates a little by copying existing templates to make new similar templates, and looking up the various magic words and parser functions and other odd bits. So you probably want to copy the {{CurrentWPSlipAoF}} template to a Template:CurrentWPPsycopathAoF page and edit it to display what you want. That shouldn't be too terribly hard to do, but you might want to start by editing in your user space such as User:The juggreserection/Sandbox. Do you understand how to copy text from an existing template page into a new page? --Teratornis (talk) 04:14, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Okay, i took your advice, and made a template that i think will work. Its on User:The juggreserection/Sandbox if you want to see how i did. BTW i just used Article Of Focus as an example, WikiProject Slipknot had used it.the juggreserection ^IstKrieg! 13:44, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

I glanced superficially at it and it looks pretty good. Imagine how long it would take to actually understand what you did! Too bad we can't do brain surgery the same way: just copy a sane healthy brain and edit it to fit my skull. Now you can proudly boast to your friends, "Three days ago I couldn't even spell 'template programmer'. Now I are one." --Teratornis (talk) 06:34, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

The Wikipedia Globe logo

I considered asking this question at m:Help Forum, but looking at that page I realized I'd be more likely to get an answer here. How does someone (presumably an admin) at a small language Wikipedia go about changing the Wikipedia globe logo that appears in the upper left-hand corner (in Monobook skin at least) of every page? In particular, if you look at the main page of the Lower Sorbian Wikipedia at dsb:Głowny bok, you see the logo image in its universal position is in English, while the image with the Lower Sorbian caption "Lichotna encyklopedija" appears in the text area of the main page. How can this be changed so that the "Lichotna encyklopedija" image appears in the upper left-hand corner not only of the main page but of every page there? —Angr ^{If you've written a quality article...} 14:36, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Normally in the MediaWiki software, a sysop specifies the logo graphic with $wgLogo. See m:Help:Contents#For administrators. --Teratornis (talk) 15:25, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

meta:Requests for logos suggests uploading an image with the name Image:Wiki.png. --h2g2bob (talk) 17:55, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

That's already been done: . m:Requests for logos also says "there's a pretty good chance something requested on this page will never get noticed". —Angr ^{If you've written a quality article...} 19:32, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, there was a contest for mascots. The Wikipede won. I'm not sure about logos, though. Nothing444 20:28, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

• I've made a request for this to be changed. Please protect the page dsb:Image:Wiki.png. --h2g2bob (talk) 21:20, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
  • I've requested protection of an admin, since I'm not one myself. Thanks for making the bug report! —Angr ^{If you've written a quality article...} 21:39, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia Analytics

How can I see how many people have viewed my wikipedia entry? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Briguyblock (talk • contribs) 15:32, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Maybe an admin can confirm this, but I believe the page statistics have been switched off for performance reasons; so, no you cannot see how many people have viewed an article. Astronaut (talk) 15:42, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

http://stats.grok.se/ was still working last I checked. Someguy1221 (talk) 18:00, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Why does this say [edit][edit][edit]?

I notice that this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendale%2C_CO contains "[edit][edit][edit]" about half way down next to the photo. Can someone help me figure out why this happened? Thx! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.253.171.134 (talk) 15:43, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

The image was causing the error, should be ok now. --Badgernet (talk) 15:56, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Great -- thanks!

• Also, please see How to fix bunched-up edit links for tips on why this occurs and how to fix it. —Noah 16:37, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Excellent tip, cheers, --Badgernet (talk) 16:43, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

about image uploading

why am not able to upload a image though am a user....i have logged in --Ankita garg1 (talk) 17:12, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

It's because you're still classed as a "new user". You will be able to upload images (and edit semi-protected pages) 4 days after you registered, sometime on the 5 April. --h2g2bob (talk) 17:32, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

If the image is entirely your own work (or out of copyright, or licensed under a free-content license), then you can upload it to Wikimedia Commons instead. Uploading images there magically uploads the image to Wikipedia in all languages, plus the other Wikimedia projects. It's technically a separate project, so you need to register for an account there, but unlike here you have to wait before uploading things. --h2g2bob (talk) 17:45, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

News about Wikipedia

I saw an article in the newspaper I get delivered to my home (on paper). It suggested Wikipedia might change its policies.

Here is a link to the article I saw.

http://www.charlotte.com/business/story/550264.html

Where on Wikipedia is such current news about Wikipedia?Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:36, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

That article doesn't seem to suggest that Wikipedia is going to do anything at all. It speculates on what Wikipedia might want to do, based on its own perspectives, and then shows Jimbo discussing the strengths and weaknesses of how it works now (notice, he never says "We're thinking about changing it."). Leebo ^T/C 17:44, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Press coverage is the place to record third-party coverage of Wikipedia. Bovlb (talk) 18:23, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, but is this mentioned anywhere on Wikipedia other than right here?Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:24, 3 April 2008 (UTC) Oh, thanks. I didn't see an answer because it was posted before my question and was therefore above it.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:34, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

You're welcome. As an aside, it seems common for reports of interviews with Wikipedia figures like Jimbo to present themselves as announcing a change in policy. I suppose this is a natural trend towards sensationalism and increases their readership, but it does get people unnecessarily excited when it gets back to the community. I recall Jimbo having to issue at least one "clarification" after an interviewer suggested he had decided to put advertisements in Wikipedia. For what it's worth, I don't believe that he is likely to use an interview like that as the venue to announce major changes. He's more likely to philosophise and speculate. Bovlb (talk) 18:54, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

If anything important happens with Wikipedia policy, it will probably show up in WP:SIGNPOST. You can also search the Wikipedia Signpost for text in past issues. Jimbo Wales likes to jet all around the world and kind of speak off the cuff quite a bit, when he's not allegedly enjoying a wiki quickie with Canada's answer to Ann Coulter, the fetching Rachel Marsden. Last year Jimbo was talking about his open source search engine that would rival Google, but it seems that idea hasn't gotten very far yet. If something changes and we don't like it, I suppose we could protest with a work slowdown, but things are already pretty sedate around here so I doubt anyone would notice. --Teratornis (talk) 04:33, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Memories of Worth Ranch

I don't understand why you don't like the artical —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.93.63.241 (talk) 19:36, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

The article Worth Ranch was deleted by User:NawlinWiki, and the reason given was lack of context. You can contact him at User talk:NawlinWiki. He may not check this page. Leebo ^T/C 19:42, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Keeping A Journal On Wikipedia

I've been wondering, why can't I make a Journal on Wikipedia? By Journal I mean just a page like a talk page that I can just write journal entries. I already have a link to one on my User Page but before I did anything with it I thought I should see if I actually could do it. Any help with will be appreciated. Thanks. Arkkeeper (talk) 20:30, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a blog, webspace provider, social networking, or memorial site. There are plenty of places for that; we're not one of them. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:33, 3 April 2008 (UTC) (has a LiveJournal)

(e/c) We give user some leeway with respect to their user page Still, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and you cannot treat it as a webhosting service, blog, forum, social networking site, etc. Please see WP:NOT#MYSPACE. As stated at Wikipedia:User page: "Generally, you should avoid substantial content on your user page that is unrelated to Wikipedia. Examples of unrelated content include: A weblog recording your non-Wikipedia activities..." and continues with many other examples. With the wealth of free sites allowing webhosting of all sorts and without restriction, please just use another site and feel free to keep a link to that from your user page. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk)

On the other hand, making journal entries on your user page relating to your work on Wikipedia is OK, like the articles you are working on, pages you find useful for working on Wikipedia. —teb728 t c 20:49, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

You might make user subpages for notes about your various Wikipedia projects, if you work on articles in more than one topic area, or template programming, etc. The Wikimedia Foundation is attracting some decent donations lately, so there should be no problem paying for the disk space if you have notes to write that would support the encyclopedia work. If you just want to kind of blog generally on Wikipedia, there are other sites for that, as Orangemike mentions. See WikiIndex for some possibilities, if you like editing on a wiki. Some people (waves hand) have even been known to sneak a little POV into answers to questions on the Help desk (shame on me). --Teratornis (talk) 04:22, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Improperly Cited Article?

Hey guys,

I was reading one of the articles at this site, and noticed that some of the text was very similar to what I had read on another website. Specifically, the "biography" section of the wiki article on St. Benedict of Nursia (Benedict_of_Nursia#Biography) seems to be a direct copy-and-paste from the New Advent article @ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02467b.htm.

This information isn't wrong, but it does seem improperly cited. Is there a good way to report this issue? I've never contributed to Wikipedia and really don't know how to do this; I just noticed the similarity because I had recently read the New Advent page, so I thought I should bring the issue up.

Marta <rem email for protection>—Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.189.135.147 (talk) 20:38, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Detailed procedures are at WP:COPYVIO. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:41, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I've removed the offending text. Since Wikipedia is licensed under the GFDL, we cannot accept copyrighted material. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 20:47, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I just checked. Th test was originally from the public-domain "catholic encyclopedia of 1913. The citation was lost along withe a fair amount of other stuff in messed-up vandalism on feb 6, 2008. I do not have time to fix this now. 208.226.76.43 (talk) 20:58, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I just reverted to what I believe was the last clean, pre-vandalism version. I have requested the forgiveness of anyone whose subsequent edits I have removed in doing so. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:08, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

accused of vandalism

Resolved

Please help me. I've been accused of vandalism, but I swear I've never even edited Wikipedia before. What should I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.129.161.42 (talk) 21:42, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

In my opinion you did vandalize... [2] If this was not you then can i suggest you create your own account. ·Add§hore· ^Talk/_Cont 21:44, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Just ignore it. IP addresses can be dynamic, meaning they may change frequently, or static, meaning they are assigned to particular computers every time they connect to a network. You saw that message left for "you" (probably by getting an orange bar across your screen which said "you have new messages") because your ip is dynamic and when you came here with your computer connecting under that ip you saw a message left in light of edits by another person. These are good reasons, if you'd like to continue editing Wikipedia, to create an account—click here to do so.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:12, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

ADDING AN ARTICLE ABOUT A BAND

Hi everyone,

I am new to Wikipedia and I just had a quick question. I saw that guidelines advising to not add articles about a band that I am in however if the article is written with humility and professionalism it may stay.

I am in a professional band that has an album out distributed worldwide. We are a professional act that has a lot of history even though we are unsigned an independently produced. What I wanted to know was if it was ok for me to contribute an article about the band.

Information on the band can be found at <rem self advertising> —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vanillajoke (talk • contribs) 21:53, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

If someone could please let me know, I'd appreciate it.

Best,

Vanillajoke (talk) 21:43, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Not a good idea. See Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. Also, unless the band has gotten significant media coverage, the article is likely to be deleted. Friday (talk) 21:56, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

To clarify what Friday said, indeed what you're talking about is the problem of a conflict of interest, which if you have one and you try to write an article is likely to lead to something that doesn't have a neutral point of view. The other issue is the notability criteria for bands, which basically states that unless you can verify that the band is notable - e.g. mentioned in newspapers, albums that have charted highly, etc. - the article will probably be deleted, maybe in a matter of minutes. If you think that an article can be written that meets those criteria, then one thing you could try would be to write the article as a subpage of your userspace (such as User:Vanillajoke/The Best Band Ever), and then ask someone uninvolved to look at it and see if they think it can be moved to main article space - maybe asking at the Music WikiProject. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 22:02, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I'd also like to point out that it is neutrality, not "humility and professionalism", that is important in new articles. While I'm sure you could write a professional-looking article on your band, it just isn't possible to be completely neutral and unbiased about your own band. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 23:03, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

If your band is notable enough per Wikipedia's guidelines, then it is only a matter of time before someone else starts an article about your band. Articles on unsigned bands are usually deleted on sight. --Blanchardb-^{Me•MyEars•MyMouth}-timed 01:06, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

How can this mistake be fixed?

Resolved

I just looked at my contributions page, and I saw that I mistakenly "removed the category "Wikipedia tutorial" using Hotcat". I must have done this when I clicked on the minus symbol at the bottom of the page. I didn't know what it was, so I clicked it, thinking I would be redirected to a page explaining it. What happened, and how can it be fixed? Sorry for the mistake. —Preceding unsigned comment added by MoeJade (talk • contribs) 22:51, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I've reverted the edit for you - that page should explain what a revert is and how to perform one. This is what I did. x42bn6 Talk Mess 22:54, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

login problem

I have changed my email address and cannot log in as I have forgotten my password. How can I access my account again? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.191.78.123 (talk) 22:55, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

If you can still access your old e-mail address you can still request that a new password be emailed. Other than that, unless you had a user committed identity, I don't think there's any way to recover your account. Of course, you can still register a new account, and you can note your old account on its userpage. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 23:00, 3 April 2008 (UTC)