Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 January 5

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January 5

Hi

I got into wikipedia thru morfix.co.il a Hebrew English website. How do I search for a word? when I write the word in the search area it takes me back to the English Wikipedia.

the only link that works for me is http://www.morfix.co.il/DETL/detlfs.aspx?q=http%3A//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pantry

I have to manually delete the last word in this above link and re-enter the other word I'm searching. Is there a better way? thanks

p.s. You can e-mail me back at <e-mail removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vicki123456 (talk • contribs) 00:29, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia and discourages dictionary definitions. A sister project of Wikipedia is Wiktionary, which can be accessed at http://en.wiktionary.org. However, we do have a search box that you can use to find encyclopaedia articles. It's on the left hand side of every page. See Wikipedia:Search for more info. NF24^{(radio me!)} 00:47, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

The website at http://www.morfix.co.il is not operated by Wikipedia or by the Wikimedia Foundation that runs Wikipedia. It is site which can apparently load a page outside the site (not necessarily from Wikipedia) and add something in Hebrew to it. The site does not appear to have a real search function but just makes an English Wikipedia search on terms in the search box of a page originating from the English Wikipedia. Wikipedia has no control over this and I don't know a way to get url's at that site from a search. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:13, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

I tried to look at the morfix help page, and frankly, I have no idea what it does really. It seems to mix in some strange way searches in the Hebrew and English Wikipedias, translations, morphology and whatnot. One thing is certain, this has nothing to do with Wikipedia itself and you should contact morfix for any questions. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 14:24, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Missing Photo graphic

I've seen on some pages (though I can't recall any atm) a graphic in a profile box for a person, that says something along the lines of "we don't have a image of this person. Would you like to add one?". I would like to use this in an article I am editing, but cant' seem to find it. Thanks Chopper Dave (talk) 00:55, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

...moments later - Replace this image male.svg , thanks for looking anyway. Chopper Dave (talk) 00:56, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

How can I create a page on Wikipedia?

I'd like to know how to create a page on Wikipedia.

ArwenUndomiel [my username] —Preceding unsigned comment added by ArwenUndomiel (talk • contribs) 01:00, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. NF24^{(radio me!)} 01:09, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Copyright - attribute to who?

I'm making a picture that I'd like to be used here at the big WP but also on a website about bikes. I would like the picture to be released under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (maybe dual with that other one people seem to like a lot also). I want to know; does the website owner have to attribute it to me or to Wikipedia? And where can they put the attribution? Must it be right by the picture or at the bottom of the page? ----Seans Potato Business 01:55, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

According to the page on Creative Commons licenses, you can choose whether attribution is required, and it would be attributed to you, not Wikipedia if you choose to require it. You can also choose whether derivative works are allowed; if you do allow derivative works, you can determine whether they have to be under the same license as well. The CC license has the possibility of requiring non-commercial use only as part of it, but you can't use it on Wikipedia unless you allow potential commercial use.

Of course, you could just avoid the whole copyright bureaucracy and release it to the public domain. Much simpler if you don't care about attribution and such. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 04:56, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Oh, and were you thinking of the GFDL? That's the other commonly used license on Wikipedia. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 04:58, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

I was thinking about "GNU documentation" as in this image [:Image:Ligation.svg]. I prefer not to use the public domain on account of it allowing people to copyright and derivative works, and the share-alike license wont allow that. ----Seans Potato Business 10:33, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Okay, so yeah, I was thinking of GFDL... :) Thanks for the help btw. --Seans Potato Business 13:15, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

User0663 - Lunar Impact

Hi This is User0663 and i,m wondering if i could create a new article for you wikipedia Admin guys on how a large asteroid could impact on moon and screw up it's orbit resulting in the moon smashing into (IF NOT THROUGH) The Earth! Resulting in... THE END OF ALL THINGS! this theory of a lunar asteroid impact with screwed up orbit and a falling moon is known as a Lunar Impact.

so can i create a article on this?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by User0663 (talk • contribs) 02:31, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Welcome to the ranks Wikipedia editors! Do you have reliable sources to get your information from? Wikipedia is not the place for wild speculation... see WP:Notability for in-depth advice! Even if it turns out that this is not a suitable topic for an article, I'm sure you'll find tons of other ways to contribute. Good luck! ----Seans Potato Business 03:01, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Random note: admins make up only a small percentage of Wikipedia editors. Plenty of non-admins—such as me, for example—help out with answering questions here too. Pyrospirit (talk · contribs) 05:02, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Converting PNGs to SVGs for company logos

Is the conversion of a PNG to an SVG compatible with the fair use rationale which says something about low resolution (arguably doesn't exist in the world of SVG)? ----Seans Potato Business 03:36, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

I'd say so. .png isn't all that different to .svg, but watch this space. Rudget. 16:20, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

But the resolution on an SVG is arbitrary and doesn't really mean anything. Of course, the law might mean (and to be fair probably envisaged, when it was written) that the display resolution has to be low, and that the ability of people to expand it not a concern. Why ought I watch this space? (are you going to find out for sure?) --Seans Potato Business 17:26, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

No I thought someone else who has a better knowledge of image policy than I would. From the top of my head I'd refer you to Remember the dot, who can practically recite the policy in his sleep. Rudget. 17:36, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I'll go pay him a visit. --Seans Potato Business 18:46, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

E-mail confirmation

I recently responded to a "Wikipedia e-mail address confirmation" request. I was concerned that the request came from "wiki@wikimedia.org" (rather than wikipedia.org) and the following appeared in the header:

tagged.as.spam.by.relays.prodigy.net.list.66.230.200.216

Thank you,

Asteriskit (talk) 04:04, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

The Wikimedia Foundation operates Wikipedia and the confirmation mails come from wiki@wikimedia.org. Wikimedia sends a large number of similar machine generated mails. Some spam filters suspect they are spam which apparently happened here. Dont' worry about that and just be glad the mail wasn't blocked as it sometimes is. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:40, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Block log

Hello, I renamed myself from User:Lex94 to User:Feedback. When I was Lex94, I was blocked once for suspected sockpuppetry (a lie, if I may add). However, when I search my block log, the block is no where to be found. But when I search the block log under my past username, it appears. Feedback ^☎ 05:12, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, as your contributions have been reassigned, and it's been about a month and a half since the rename now, I have to assume that the block log doesn't transfer for some reason - however odd that may be. Either that, or the job queue is seriously screwed up and backlogged, but then we'd be getting other problems as well. Should it need to be checked for some reason, your rename was logged, and it can be checked through that if necessary (which hopefully won't be the case). If you ever go for RfA or anything, just make sure you disclose that our front - it'll go much better for you if you let people know about it rather than letting them discover it on their own. Someone else please feel free to correct me on this if I am wrong about something, and/or providing a reason as to why they don't transfer, as I'm rather curious about it myself. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 05:48, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

I believe that when an account is renamed the block log does not go with it, but in most cases the bureaucrat who completed the rename is supposed to block the new account for very short amounts of time (i.e. a couple of seconds) to put the reasons for the blocks on the previous account into the new account's block log. If the b'crat didn't do it, I wouldn't worry about it, just make sure you disclose if you ever run for RfA or ArbCom or something like that. Mr Senseless (talk) 19:08, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

How to remove a page?

What is the procedure to remove a redirect page that should not have been created in the first place?

Thank you, --Jazzeur (talk) 05:20, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Post it at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion, or if it is just there for no reason whatsoever, put {{csd-g6}} on it. Soxred93 has a boring sig 05:25, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

G6 works for some situations but there are specific speedy deletion criteria for certain types of redirects. For those to non-existent pages, you can use {{db-redirnone}}; for redirect to a user page, user talk page, or talk page from the main/article space, you can use {{db-rediruser}}; and for recently created implausible typos, links or misnomers (the most common redirect deletion reason), you can use {{db-redirtypo}}.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:19, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you much to both. Very useful. --Jazzeur (talk) 05:39, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

User Page Help

I made my own sandbox on my user page since I wanted to start to expand the Northport High School article. Somehow I deleted half of my witting that I already had down but luckily I had my witting backed up. So I then went to edit my user page and recopy in the deleted material but then I ran into my problem. My user page does not update when I recopy in the material and save it, but when you go to "edit this page" all the witting comes up. Does anyone know why I can see all my writing under the "edit this page" but not under my user page? Thanks for any help! Noneforall (talk) 07:03, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

You had an unclosed <ref> tag, I fixed it here. Mr.Z-man 07:15, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks a ton, I almost had a heart attack when I lost my work! -Noneforall (talk) 07:17, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Guy Pewsey

I would like to be able to read all articles written by Mr Guy Pewsey if possible? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.178.183.243 (talk) 08:35, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

You will need to know the persons username before you can do this. Wikipedia editors mostly do not use their real names as usernames. The editors real name is confidential and Wikipedia would not reveal it even if they new. Only Guy Pewsey himself cvould tell you this, if you know him.

You should also note that articles are not written by, or belong to, any one single person. It is one of the founding principles of Wikipedia that anyone can edit any article. SpinningSpark 11:42, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Changing the wikitable template....

Is there a way to change the template for wikitable? There is a layout problem in Internet Explorer when table width is set to 100% (a horizontal scrollbar is shown). Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steppres (talk • contribs) 08:53, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps it is due to the size of the border. You can simply avoid specifying a width of more than 99%.

Example:

abc	def	ghi
jkl	mno	pqr
stu	vwx	yz

Patrick (talk) 11:22, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Infobox Help

For some reason, I can't get Infoboxes to work. I tried just recently to put one on Tom Kenny, but it doesn't seem to want to cooperate. I don't know what the problem is. It's formatted correctly, but it won't display as anything besides text. CoolKid1993 (talk) 12:11, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

That had me stumped for a bit -- still does, really -- missing bracket apparently was the problem, but I'm not sure why that would cause such a serious break. Seems to work, now, though. :) – Luna Santin (talk) 12:55, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your help! CoolKid1993 (talk) 15:26, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Renameing your Login Name

Is there any way you can change the name of your username here on wikipedia if so, how? Thanks (talk) 17:45, January 5, 2008 —Preceding comment was added at 17:46, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Changing username. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:53, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

How to actually post an articel for the first time

How to actually post an article for the first time: PLease make this topic a lot clearer. You go on and on for pages and state what you should not do or how to use the sandbox. There is no obvious button to click to "post" or "submit" a topic. I have no idea (nor do you explain) the diffence between "save a page" vs. "show changes"

And on this page you don't have any discernible buttont to "send" this email to the help desk.

Try having your instructions that are currently computer geek level and re-translate for an average layperson. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hlernermd (talk • contribs) 17:55, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. The Helpful One ^{(Talk) (Contributions) (Review Me!)} 18:19, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Threatened with a block for re-posting an encyclopedic article

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well.

Last month, two articles that I had written were deleted. The reasons given were strongly worded, but from what I can see, they were not supported by the OR policy cited (WP:NOR). In particular, they didn't contain "unpublished facts, arguments, speculation, [or] ideas"; "unpublished analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to advance a position"; or "opinions, experiences, or arguments" not found in the sources. Instead, they presented ideas taken from different sources as in the example found at (WP: SYN):

Smith says that Jones committed plagiarism by copying references from another book. Jones denies this, and says it's acceptable scholarly practice to use other people's books to find new references.

The policy presents the passage above specifically as an example of "good editing" (WP: SYN).

One of the articles, Interlingua and the characteristica universalis compared, was then speedied because it had been previously deleted. I responded by thoroughly and reliably referencing the article inline, revising questionable statements, and returning the article to Wikipedia. The deleting administrator, User: Pablo, was agreeable to this, wished me happy editing, and everything was fine.

However, the revised article was speedied again, this time by user: Accounting4Taste. The reason given was G4, which applies only when the article "is substantially identical to the deleted version" and "any changes to the deleted page do not address the reasons for which the material was deleted" (WP:CSD). This clearly is not the case for this revised and now thoroughly referenced article.

The other article, Begriffsschrift and Interlingua compared, was prodded. This is contrary to WP: PROD, which states,

Articles that have been discussed on AfD are not candidates for {{prod}}. (bold in original)

I noted this on the article's talk page, as the {{prod}} tag suggests, and removed the tag, something that WP: DP explicitly permits under "Proposed deletion". Then, user: Accounting4Taste speedied this article as well. I had revised the article in response to the original reasons for deletion, so again, I don't feel that it should have been speedied. It's true that I didn't reference it inline, because it was already referenced below the text. In any case, I've now re-revised and thoroughly referenced the article inline. I'm ready to return the article to Wikipedia, which seems to be consistent with Why Was My Page Deleted, since it is far from identical to the original article (See "What not to do about it" at WP:WWMPD).

However, user: Accounting4Taste has threatened to block me. His message is,

Please stop. If you continue to introduce inappropriate pages to Wikipedia you will be blocked from editing. Accounting4Taste:talk 20:52, 4 January 2008 (UTC) (from my talk page)

To my knowledge, neither of these articles was ever inappropriate, and they certainly aren't now. I think the threatened block should be prevented, so that I can post the thoroughly referenced articles and create additional, encyclopedic articles if I choose. I have carefully reviewed and followed Wikipedia's policies and guidelines from the beginning, and that isn't going to change. I'm not at all sure that user: Accounting4Taste should be acting as an administrator at this point, since he has threatened to block someone who is only following procedure the best he can. My priority, however, is just to be allowed to participate.

Another player in this drama is user: CastAStone, who requested the speedy deletions. Thank you for your help, and have a good day. Lumturo (talk) 17:58, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

I have posted a note about this at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents and believe that further discussion should take place there. Accounting4Taste:talk 18:04, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

The Help Page is probably the wrong venue for this issue. I think that Editor Assistance or Mediation would be a good place to start. Although, a quick and hasty look at the issue seems to indicate that you are ignoring what others are trying to tell you.—Noah 18:09, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, I'll post at one of the sites that the two of you have mentioned. What I'm saying is that those others are mistaken in what they are telling me, and that it's OK to re-post the deleted articles after they've been revised and thoroughly referenced. User: Pedro was fine about how I responded to his deletion. But again, thank you for your help, and I'll address this elsewhere. Lumturo (talk) 19:53, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

outline maps

I need to find out how the notation for latitude is shown on Desk Outline Maps. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.102.252.21 (talk) 21:27, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia's 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, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. NF24^{(radio me!)} 22:02, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

capitalization in title & protected uploaded image

I've created a page for an album, entitled Slaughter Daughter. When i created the page, though, it was made as Slaughter daughter (with no capitalized letter D). I'm not sure if this was a mistake on my part or if it just defaulted to assuming it wasn't a proper noun. So my first question is, how can I correct this?

My second question, which may be related, is that the link from the Die Mannequin page referring to Slaughter Daughter isn't finding the page for the album. Maybe it's because of the capitalization? Also, i uploaded a picture for the album before i had actually made the album page, figuring i could then just pop it in. Apparently, i cant do that, because it needs the page to be created, so it protected the details of the image and wont let me edit them. Whenever i go to the image page and try to edit, i keep getting the same message saying it is protected, and the link for Slaughter Daughter there still isn't working, either, claiming the album page doesn't exist. Again, this may be related to the capitalization - I'm not really sure. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pointingandlaughing (talk • contribs) 23:36, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

1. Y Done. In the future, you can click the "move" tab at the top of any page.
2. It's because of the capitalisation.
3. The image should work now. See WP:F to learn how to write a fair use rationale; it appears incomplete. NF24^{(radio me!)} 23:46, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Fixed the rationale for you. It does not need the [[ ]] in the template. I have merged the two rationales that you gave. Make sure you read WP:F on how to meet all the criteria. Woody (talk) 23:51, 5 January 2008 (UTC)