Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 February 21

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February 21

JIM BAILEY ENTERTAINER PAGE

IS THERE SOMEONE I CAN PAY TO DO THIS PAGE??????

IM AN AGENT FOR JIM BAILEY AND THIS IS TOUGH

Williamkieffert (talk) 00:06, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

If you're Mr. Bailey's agent, we discourage you to edit his page. Please read Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. GlassCobra 00:14, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

(editconflict) You can try going to Wikipedia:Reward board, note however that it might be deleted if it fails to meet certain criteria.--Sunny910910 ^{(talk|Contributions|Guest)} 00:14, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I've cleaned up the article and left a note on this editor's talk page. GlassCobra 02:07, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

There is a way to pay people to edit articles; see: Wikipedia:Bounty board and Wikipedia:Reward board. --Teratornis (talk) 08:36, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Just note that even if you offer it on the reward board, your best-case scenario is "article is brought up to Wikipedia standards but remains open for editing", not "article is written the way you want it to be, and kept that way". Even a million dollars from Microsoft won't prevent its article having a Criticism section. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 22:18, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Statistics

Hello. Is there a way to track the number of visitors or page views to a particular article?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ntia78 (talk • contribs) 00:40, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia's built in feature to count how many times a page has been visited has long been turned off for performance reasons. However, this third party site purports to count Wikipedia page hits. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:56, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Request for cleanup assistance

Please delete the entry "BallenIsles Country Club". I was trying to use it to redirect the incorrectly typed "Ballen Isles" to something correctly spelled.

If you could also retitle "Ballen Isles" to BallenIsles", life would be perfect.

Thanks in advance and sorry to be a pest.

Ed McMenamy BallenIsles Communications Committee <removed email address> —Preceding unsigned comment added by Edmcmenamy (talk • contribs) 02:03, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

It looks like you have made a cut and paste move from BallenIsles Country Club to Ballen Isles. This is bad because Ballen Isles has lost the page history at BallenIsles Country Club. See Help:Moving a page. I will look at fixing it. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:25, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

The article is now at BallenIsles. You have a conflict of interest so you are strongly discouraged from editing the article. It looks like some of your edits have problems with our policies like Wikipedia:Neutral point of view but I don't have time to examine it further. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:43, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

E-mail authentification won't work for 20 months!

I'm also registered on German language Wikipedia, on Wikimedia Commons, and now on the Austro-Bavarian Wikipedia site, too (bar.wikipedia.org). On each of these three sites,

getting an authentification message to verify my e-mail address, thus activate the personal message link in the left column on my user page to enable others contacting me without providing the address - just like you strongly recommend -

worked perfectly at first try.

Only here, so-to-speak on the foundation's mother site, it does not. All my profile entries are the very same, and all the settings, too - but from here, never a single authentification message reached my mailbox, though I tried between 10 and 20 times during the past 20 months.

My e-mail provider told me they block off messages with non-matching sender and answering addresses - as the only possible explanation. I have absolutely no idea, feeling left alone between two admin areas - yours and that of www.reflex.at - both shaking their shoulders and ensuring me it can't be their fault (implicitly indicating it must me mine!). Thus, I'm forced to

• either accept I may answer notes or questions only after months (no wise recommendations, please - I've always been forgetful: that's precisely what reminder services and automated e-mail-forwarding settings are made for ... if only they work like destined),
• or, much against your recommendation (and my own intention), have my e-mail address on my user page - not visible at first sight, but rather easy to view in the status line or to right-click-copy.

So, when will this bug finally be terminated? joeditt (talk) 02:29, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

That sounds very frustrating, but it's hard to say exactly what the problem is. Could you not ask your e-mail provider to stop blocking messages, if that might be the problem? Or perhaps try another e-mail address – since they are so freely available from Gmail, HotMail, many other places, etc.? It would not be as convenient but it would be better than nothing. (You can never have too many email accounts.) • Anakin ^(talk) 14:53, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Completely blank page

This page comes up completely blank, yet it is listed as a 'What links here' for the Rovio page. How can I fix this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Swiss_municipalities/List_of_title_variations —Preceding unsigned comment added by Milw (talk • contribs) 03:17, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Woah! Your right! I think it's a glitch.--Sunny910910 ^{(talk|Contributions|Guest)} 03:21, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

That is a very impressive glitch. The page history seems to be still available:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Swiss_municipalities/List_of_title_variations&action=history

You might try reverting to the last revision that isn't blank, if there are some. You might also contact the last editor and ask what he or she did. I can't recall seeing this type of problem before, but maybe Google will: Search Help desk for: completely blank page. --Teratornis (talk) 07:46, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

This appears to be the "killer diff":

• http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AWikiProject_Swiss_municipalities&diff=192088133&oldid=188825400

The last editor removed the {{inactive}} template. I'm not sure how that could make a page become completely blank. This is weird. Maybe someone can figure it out. --Teratornis (talk) 07:48, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

That’s the main page, not the broken subpage. The broken subpage is http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Swiss_municipalities/List_of_title_variations&action=edit . Maybe the problem is the length 318 KB. —teb728 t c 08:16, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Oops. I had too many browser tabs open and hit the wrong one for my second reply. I originally browsed to the history of the parent page so I could edit the URL to get the history of the invisible page. I got the right link on my first reply but I got on the wrong page when I looked at the diff. I suppose I could slow down and check my answers ... when pigs fly. Anyway, if the problem is that the page is just too long, that might be straightforward to fix by breaking it into another level of smaller subpages (like Wikipedia:Wikipedia Swiss municipalities/List of title variations/page1, etc.) and transcluding them back onto the page that is now too long. I've made some very large pages that way on another wiki. WP:SIZE#Very long articles says pages over 400KB may render incorrectly or not at all. I guess the problems can start a little earlier than that. --Teratornis (talk) 08:46, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Actually someone had already created subpages. I replaced the page with links to the subpages. —teb728 t c 09:02, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

(undent) There might be a similar problem with Economy of the United States, which I noticed I cannot load right now. I can see the history and the Google cached version, but not any of the recent revisions from the history. My Firefox browser just keeps spinning the Loading... graphic. I will start this as a new question at the bottom of the Help desk. --Teratornis (talk) 22:18, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

create account

It will not let me crete an account. Can you please help me!

Bessie <email removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.116.125.88 (talk) 03:48, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Please see Wikipedia:Request an account. GlassCobra 06:15, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Citing References

I have a reference. Who is a living person, THE person who is the authority, but how do I get the uncited reference tags off? I can't find any clear info. It is very muddled to find....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupo_Oasis#References

Thank you.

See WP:RS, WP:CITE, WP:FOOT, Wikipedia:Notability, and Wikipedia:Notability (music). You probably could not see how to edit the {{unreferenced}} template because it is in the lead section; see Help:Section#Section editing for details. If this seems confusing, it is. Wikipedia is very complicated, as are the other nine of the world's top 10 sites. Wikipedia is just the only one that lets everyone see the ghastly underlying complexity. Anyway, back to Grupo Oasis. Basically a living person is not an authority according to Wikipedia's rules. Instead we need reliable, published sources. That is, we need to have some reputable newspaper or magazine articles, or books, that give the facts about Grupo Oasis. If there are none, and you are connected with the band, you could call some reporters and get your band some press coverage. --Teratornis (talk) 07:41, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Wiki Text

I would like to use more complex techniques in editing and I'm trying to find a full description of what is possible with the wiki markup language. I can't find a general tutorial or menu that shows all functions available and how to use them. Retarius | Talk 05:01, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I hope you get some good answers. As a recent editor, this has been a real bugbear for me too! Pee Tern (talk) 05:10, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Try Wikipedia:How to edit a page, or Help:Contents/Editing Wikipedia a subpage of the main help menu. -- Quiddity (talk) 05:12, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

If you want more advanced details, see: Help:Parserfunctions, Help:Magic words, Help:Template, Help:HTML in wikitext, and Help:Category. Basically read the entire MediaWiki Handbook, which has four large sections: for readers, for editors (this section tells the most about wikitext markup, naturally), for moderators, and for administrators. Also melt your brain on the Editor's index, which gives a pretty full description of what is possible on Wikipedia. A solid introduction to Wikipedia editing could easily fill up a year of college-level work. And that would be a fun course to teach. But on Wikipedia, everything you see is built by and for people who self-educate. I suggest that you take some notes on a user sub-page with links to the manuals you are reading. Also see the {{Google custom}} template, which has a table of examples which link to a list of places I have found handy for answering questions that come up in the course of Wikipedia editing (I wrote the table of examples, so I put in the links I use routinely when looking up answers to questions on the Help desk). --Teratornis (talk) 07:29, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Thank you all - especially Teratornis - that's just what I was looking for! Retarius | Talk 05:55, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Category intersection

If separate categories share some common articles/pages, is there a "Wiki function" which will produce a list/category, probably virtual, of the common articles/pages? How does the "ask" stuff work. Or is there nothing enabled in Wikipedia yet? Pee Tern (talk) 05:07, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

This question appears semi-frequently on the Help desk: Search Help desk for: category intersection. Go to WP:EIW#Cat and scroll down a few lines to the "Intersection of two categories" subheading, which mentions CatScan and some related links. --Teratornis (talk) 07:08, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Same reference but one is rejected and the other accepted?

This in regards to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristina_P%C3%A9rez_%28judge%29

I noticed today that whoever entered this information listed only one source - the official website which I wrote for Ms. Perez. We attempted to enter data from that very source awhile back and it was rejected.

By the way, why isn't this help desk form asking for my email? How will you know how to reach me with a response? This is very confusing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.227.136.101 ([[User talk:69.227.136.101|talk]]) 05:59, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia is written by its users. Apparently, one editor thought that her website was not a good reference at one point, but now a different editor thinks it is. For your second question, we will not reach you with a response. You must return here to read my response and anyone else's. Were you a user, you could be e-mailed, but that is moot at this point. --Evan ¤ Seeds 06:17, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

We can reply under your post (like this) or on your IP addresses talk page (I'll leave a note for you to see). The latter will produce an orange bar on your page that will state that you have New Messages, similar to your e-mail inbox.

As for the article, I'll take a quick peek at it. Seicer (talk) (contribs) 06:18, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Articles are edited by many people, such as yourself, who all have different opinions about what the article should say. If you go to the article and click "history" at the top you can see the list of edits by various people, and what they wrote in their edit summaries, which should explain the edits. If you go to the article and click "discussion" at the top, you get to the talk page for that article, which is here, and which you can use to discuss things like this with the other people editing the page, and try to reach consensus on what the article will say. --Coppertwig (talk) 13:40, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Per Wikipedia:Reliable sources and WP:SPS, self-published sources are not good ones, since we have no way of verifying any of the content. • Anakin ^(talk) 15:02, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

page editable!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenchu:_Wrath_of_Heaven

the link given is from a page that can be edited by an user who isnt even logged in.

regards,

CN

PS: you should make a helpdesk with email support rather then this.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.87.62.155 (talk) 09:31, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Most pages on Wikipedia (“The free encyclopedia that anyone can edit”) can be edited by users who are not logged in. That is the ideal situation.

On websites that have email help, the help desk is run by employees. This help desk is run by volunteers. I am not about to reply from my personal email. —teb728 t c 10:04, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

One reason to run the help desk this way is so that many people can read the answers to the questions. Also, sometimes more than one person answers the same question, so they need to see what's already been said so they don't repeat themselves. That wouldn't work if it were by email, (with volunteers such as ourselves), since it wouldn't make sense to email a bunch of answers to someone just on the off-chance that they might spend a few minutes answering questions that day. --Coppertwig (talk) 13:35, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Most pages on Wikipedia can be edited by people who aren't logged in. I don't agree with it, but that's the way the Foundation thinks it should be. See Wikipedia:Introduction for more info. • Anakin ^(talk) 15:08, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I think it's a good idea, because it encourages people to join. On most websites, registering is a tedious and time-consuming process involving agreeing to a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo. People may not realize how easy it is to register a username on Wikipedia, and may be reluctant to do so until they've made a few edits and seen how satisfying it can be. Besides, many productive changes are made by non-logged-in editors. --Coppertwig (talk) 03:18, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, but I'm rather of the (quite biased) opinion that the people who think registering is a tedious and time-consuming process won't find editing Wikipedia very enjoyable either. I think the net effect of open editing is overwhelmingly and astronomically negative. • Anakin ^(talk) 05:38, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

(undent) As to the suggestion to provide support by e-mail, we use this Help desk page instead because:

• If you're going to edit on Wikipedia, you have to learn wikitext markup anyway, so the Help desk might as well be a wiki page like the rest of Wikipedia.
• By implementing the Help desk as a wiki page, we automatically gain a bunch of handy features, such as links, a history, the ability to go back and edit our answers like this, etc.
• Often the answer to a question involves some sort of wikitext markup; on this page, we can show examples that would not work in e-mail.
• We have a nice {{Google help desk}} template that we can use to create links in our Help desk answers that search the Help desk archive. Doing the same thing in e-mail would be uglier.
• Since we control the formatting on the Help desk page, we don't have to look at any nasty top posting which tends to pollute e-mail these days. This helps avoid sickening and thus driving away the technically competent volunteers we need to answer questions.

--Teratornis (talk) 07:27, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Needing an Admin

Just somewhat frustrated, needing an Admin. for the Dixie Chicks band page, as the political stuff has run the band page far too long. The suggestion to split it has been there for months. Really would be good to have an Admin. take a peek. Thanks. --leahtwosaints (talk) 12:11, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

• I've just spent the statutory 90-seconds looking at the page and I can't see what you think the problem is, or how you think an admin could help. Can I suggest you put a statement of the problem at the bottom of the talk page, then list at WP:RFC? Would that help? AndyJones (talk) 13:25, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Remember, you can be bold and trim some of that stuff yourself. Because the information is lengthy, I'd suggest just placing a message on the talk page of the article stating your position. If done the other way around, other editors will view it as a hatchet job and most likely revert you. This can lead to frustrating results. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 19:50, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Image Justification

I am trying to embed a image in the centre of the page? Not sure about the code for this. Dunphy.d (talk) 13:49, 21 February 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dunphy.d (talk • contribs) 13:48, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I found it |centre|.

thanksDunphy.d (talk) 14:12, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Access to Lucene Index

Hi, I'm doing some research which involves searching Wikipedia and would like to be able to use the Lucene indexes. Are they (or could they be) available as part of the Wikimedia downloads? Obvious I could download all the articles and create my own index but it would be much easy (for me) if I could bypass that stage, especially as I imagine you must generate the indexes systematically. I am guessing the indexes will be several 10s of Gigabytes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Neilireson (talk • contribs) 14:19, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I think only page content is available for download. Wikipedia:Database download doesn't mention the search indexes, and they're not listed in any of the dumps at http://download.wikimedia.org/. It sounds like you may have to generate the Lucene indexes manually I'm afraid. • Anakin ^(talk) 15:16, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Our article on Lucene lists these links: Lucene Wikipedia indexer — introductory article with Java code for search on Wikipedia data. The wikipedia download link no longer works though I'm afraid, so manual it might have to be. Woody (talk) 15:21, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the replies. I know about both these source and there limitations. What I am hoping is that I could find someone from the Wikipedia/media world who might be amenable to making the indexes available, do you know of any more appropriate place I might post the question to direct it at the people responsible for the downloads. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Neilireson (talk • contribs) 15:31, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

translation

Hello. I want to translate some articles from english wikipedia to czech wikipedia. What I must do to to keep the copyright? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cosmologist (talk • contribs) 16:27, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Hi. I have done some work with GFDL, but not extensive. Somebody more experienced may have more specific information. Any material on Wikipedia can be used or modified in any way as long as authorship is properly credited. There are specific steps set out at Wikipedia:Copyright. As I interpret them, you should be okay as long as the new material is licensed under GFDL and you provide a direct link back to the article at its new source. You can take a look at Zumstein catalog as an example of how that's been specifically handled when translating from other language wikipedias to English. On the base, the translator included in his edit summary the note "translated from German article". On the talk page, there is a specific template: Talk:Zumstein catalog. This links back to the source. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 16:42, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Dynamic Column widths in tables

I neatened List of bus routes in London, which has several tables. In particular I reduced some entries from two rows to one by abbreviating the bus operator's name if too long for one row. I piped the full name and its shortened form so that rolling over gave the full name and the link to the company's WP article was kept. For example [[Arriva Southern Counties]] became [[Arriva Southern Counties|Arriva S. Counties]].
I previewed often and saw all went well ... until the last "Arriva S. Counties" where using the piped expression made the whole column become narrower and even the previously tidy "Arriva S. Counties"s spilled on to two rows.
What is happening and what's the fix?
Some of the tables have different numbers of and widths of columns (and the data in them is liable to be edited) so an automatic(ish) fix rather than specifying actual column widths seems preferable.--SilasW (talk) 16:35, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

You can use the {{!}} template, which is a pipe without ruining the table. Now, the table thinks that Arriva Southern Counties and Arriva S. Counties are on two different columns. _{WEBURIEDOURSECRETSINTHEGARDEN} ^{that one guy who buried stuff} 16:46, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

You can forcibly prevent a title from breaking to two lines by using the   symbol – a non-breaking space – in place of the spaces in the piped name. Note that the concept of 'too long for one row' is a bit arbitrary, as people will view Wikipedia at a wide range of resolutions and window sizes using a number of different browsers and browser settings; formatting that looks 'correct' to you will often appear very different on another person's computer.

Though I appreciate the effort, perhaps it would be best not to abbreviate the operators' names. Some people may find the stubstition of Arriva Sh's & E'x for Arriva Shires & Essex a bit cryptic, while looking at those tables on my monitor I see several centimeters of whitespace before the edge of the page. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 19:37, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Vandalized Minot, ND Page

I have tried to change the Minot, ND page to the right nickname, but the wrong nickname keeps coming back. How can I clean up the vandalized page to Minot, ND permanently? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.111.230.142 (talk) 17:25, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Vandalism is common but easy to fix. See Wikipedia:Vandalism and Help:Reverting. You can request protection of the page if it gets a lot of vandalism, but this is far from enough to get protection. The nickname has not been changed for a week since [1]. It's not possible to protect only a small part of a page such as the nickname. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:44, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Login Problem

I've just started having a log in problem with Wikipedia. Wikipedia remembers me when I log in the first couple of times, but after I close firefox a few times, the site forgets who I am. So I then go to the log in page from Wikipedia's main page. Once at the login page, the site then remembers who I am and I'm now logged on. Its not really a big deal at all, its just annoying since I don't know why the site can't remember me from the start and not when I get to the log in page. Under my preferences I have remember my log in check off and I accept cookies from Wikipeida. I think the problem is caused by Outpost, the firewall I'm using, since the problem disappears if I close outpost. I'll appreciate any help anyone has. Noneforall (talk) 17:27, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:VPT#Comments_summary: lots of other people are reporting this problem as well. Some people have reported that bypassing your cache when viewing the main page can help, but for some other people it didn't work. Clicking on any of the links on the Main Page to go to a different page seems to work as well. I haven't seen any reports that anyone knows what exactly is going on yet, though. --ais523 19:23, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Creating a new entry that already uses that name

I would like to set up a page for the author and journalist Robin Wright, but when I attempt to do this [search] I am directed to the page for Robin Wright Penn. What do I need to do to create this page--a distinct entry not related to Robin Wright Penn Clintonjay (talk) 19:13, 21 February 2008 (UTC).

You can create a page at Robin Wright (author). For more information, see WP:DIS. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 19:24, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Hersfold meant WP:DISAM, or just WP:D. Either two letters too much or too little. All these shortcuts can be tricky. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:45, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Oops. Sorry, I can never get that shortcut right. I saw the blue link and assumed it was going the right place. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 21:04, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Still Vandalized on Minot, ND page

I would like the vandalized page on the Minot, ND page to be cleaned up and then have the page be protected. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.234.211.236 (talk) 19:25, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Vandalism you can remove yourself by editing the page - for more information on how to do this, see Help:Editing, WP:REVERT, and WP:VAND. I can't see that there is any vandalism currently visible on the page. Requests for page protection should go to WP:RPP, however they will only be granted in cases of excessive vandalism. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 19:29, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Code vs. symbols

I have come across an editor who does little else but change symbols to codes: "–" to "& ndash;"; "≠" to "& ne;" (spacing has been added to the code so it doesn't parse; why don't nowiki tags work for this which I used at first?; consider that an add on to this question) etcetera. Is there some reason behind this? What is it? Can you point me to some style-guideline-policy-talk page which discusses this? Thank you very much!--71.247.16.31 (talk) 20:43, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I think it's just that user's preference. Either that or they're trying to get their edit count up. They shouldn't do it for no reason. As for the nowiki tags, I have no idea, it doesn't work for me either. Thanks, George D. Watson (Dendodge).Talk^{Help and assistance} 21:11, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Certain characters don't display properly in all fonts or in all browsers, and by converting to the HTML equivalent, those shortcomings can be avoided. There's no policy that recommends this be done, however in order to make sure articles are completely legible some editors or bots will "Unicodify" articles as you saw. AutoWikiBrowser will often do this to articles by default. Help:Special characters provides a little more information on this. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 21:11, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Ermm, so there's no real need most of the time. Somehow I can't believe that any browser doesn't know how to display an en-dash.--71.247.16.31 (talk) 22:40, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Question regarding OTRS permissions for image use

I've received permission to freely use an image for Wikipedia's purposes, similar to other works. I noticed when publishers or copyright holders give permission, the OTRS system has been used, i.e. like here. However I have no idea how the process works. Can someone fill me in? David Fuchs ^(talk) 20:54, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not accept permission for use in Wikipedia only; such permission is as good as no permission at all. Wikipedia accepts only licenses which allow reuse and modification by anyone. See WP:COPYREQ. —teb728 t c 21:01, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

If you have the appropriate permission (a license that allows both commercial and non-commercial distribution) and a commons account, I have a "how to" guide here: User:R._Baley/Free_photo_essay. R. Baley (talk) 22:31, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia Shortcuts

Are the Wikipedia Shortcuts assembled on one page anywhere? Thanks. Voiceperson (talk) 22:02, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:List of shortcuts has a lot, but almost certainly not all. Another helpful link is WP:EIW, which is the semi-official index of all the Wikipedia guides and so forth. Back in the day, you would have been able to search Special:Prefixindex for pages starting with WP:, but that won't work now. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 22:07, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Readers of this page may also be interested in "keyboard" shortcuts: Wikipedia:Keyboard_shortcuts. —Noah 22:08, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Michael Lucas (porn star)

There are numerous and protracted BLP violations at this article. Editor David Shankbone has inserted unsourced material and original research into the lead paragraph. He has also substituted material into the existing text, e.g., escort for prostitute and escorting for prostitution, despite the source referenced not supporting his changes. These changes he made seemingly at the behest of the subject of the article, Michael Lucas, who posted a statement on the article's talkpage. Other violations include the use by Editor WJBscribe of a photo of a purported birth certificate, written in a foreign language and foreign alphabet, posted on the talkpage, as proof of Lucas' birthname, and the use by Editor Hux of the same photo as proof of Lucas' birth (only he confuses the photo as being one of a passport, when it's actually the same photo WJBscribe used).

This and related matters have been brought to AN/I, BLP, and COIN and each time they have either been ignored, shot down, or the thread outright deleted, all by the same small group of editors and a few others.

Concurrently, an anon editor or editors has/have posted attacks and vicious comments on the article's talkpage, the various editors' talkpages, and other article talkpages, such that editors have intervened and protected those pages and this article page, precluding any editing by non-registered or new editors.

In summary, Michael Lucas is editing his own bio by proxy, through David Shankbone and others, and is supported by a small group of editors who prevent anyone from intervening to restore accurate and sourced content to the article.

What can be done about this?--71.127.229.113 (talk) 22:51, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, I guess you could open a long, involved ANI thread about this, and abide by the consensus that forms there. Oh, wait... --barneca (talk) 23:05, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Oh that's so funny my sides are hurting from laughter! There's more than that one issue listed above; can you give help on the other issues? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.127.229.113 (talk) 23:18, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Not if they are extensively covered on the talk page or at ANI. You are seeking a user who is not at all familiar with the page for a second opinion whose opinion aligns with yours. Accusing David and others of sockpuppeting and of other actions (which I removed per BLP), without sources, is just begging for this to be placed as more evidence of ill-will at ANI. Seicer (talk) (contribs) 23:23, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Opinions from editors outside of the group described above (who work in concert and cover for each other) would be helpful, yes.--72.76.3.220 (talk) 00:15, 22 February 2008 (UTC)