Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 March 4

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March 4

Changing the shape of the Contents list

Is there any way to change the shape of the Contents list? What I mean is instead of having a very tall ToC, Id like to make it extend it horizontally instead. Heres a crummy example of what Im looking for. --Ekoi (talk) 00:09, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

WP:EIW#TOC has some links, but probably not to exactly what you seek. It's worth seeing what Wikipedia users have done so far with compact TOCs, however. That might give some clues about what it would take to implement what you're after. You're not the first to ask for something like this on the Help desk. --Teratornis (talk) 00:48, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

template help

i'm creating a template with code like this:

{| class="infobox bordered" style="float:right; width:264px; font-size:90%; text-align:left;" cellpadding="3" |- ! colspan="2" style="font-size:110%; text-align:center; background-color:#D1DBDF; color:#000;" | {{{name}}} |- | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;background-color:#FFF;" |{{{image}}} |- | style="background-color:#EEE; color:#000;" |Universe |{{{universe}}} |- |}

which looks like

{{{name}}}
{{{image}}}
Universe	{{{universe}}}

now i was wondering how do i add a part of the template to make it look like this

{{{name}}}
{{{image}}}
Universe	{{{universe}}}
{{{other}}}
Other stuff	{{{otherstuff}}}

but i want {{{other}}} to be hidden and only appear if something like other=yes is used, allowing everything under {{{other}}} to appear as well. i dont want html in the code though (<td></td>, <tr></tr>)--Necky998 (talk) 02:00, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

You can make a pair of rows conditional just like a single row. See also m:Help:Table#Conditional_table_row.--Patrick (talk) 15:34, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Images

Can you use images from Google Images? Mm40 (talk)

Usually not. "Google Images" doesn't produce any images itself; it's just a search engine to find images on other Web pages. Most images on the Web are copyrighted and are not available under a free license, so they are not acceptable here. For more specific questions, try the image copyright help desk. —Bkell (talk) 02:36, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

We have a {{Google images}} template you can use to link to Google Images search, but the template is not suitable for articles. In general, links to search engines violate WP:EL#Links normally to be avoided. However, you can use {{Google images}} on talk pages and on pages in the Project: (Wikipedia:) namespace (such as this Help desk page) if a Google image search is relevant to a discussion. --Teratornis (talk) 04:49, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Deletion review

Can deletion review be used to contest nonarticle (such as an image) deletions or do they have to go elsewhere? NanohaA'sYuri^{Talk, My master} 03:23, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Nope, that's appropriate. Deletion review can be for images, templates, categories, articles etc..etc.. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 03:59, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Container of 6 lines with vertical scrollbars

Not sure how to explain it. This is kind of what I want. [1]. nothing fancy. just a container with vertical scrollbars. maybe using a div somehow? I know nothing about wiki code or html. :/ 71.123.183.141 (talk) 03:50, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Here you go:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus. Nulla gravida orci a odio. Nullam varius, turpis et commodo pharetra, est eros bibendum elit, nec luctus magna felis sollicitudin mauris. Integer in mauris eu nibh euismod gravida. Duis ac tellus et risus vulputate vehicula. Donec lobortis risus a elit. Etiam tempor. Ut ullamcorper, ligula eu tempor congue, eros est euismod turpis, id tincidunt sapien risus a quam. Maecenas fermentum consequat mi. Donec fermentum. Pellentesque malesuada nulla a mi. Duis sapien sem, aliquet nec, commodo eget, consequat quis, neque. Aliquam faucibus, elit ut dictum aliquet, felis nisl adipiscing sapien, sed malesuada diam lacus eget erat. Cras mollis scelerisque nunc. Nullam arcu. Aliquam consequat. Curabitur augue lorem, dapibus quis, laoreet et, pretium ac, nisi. Aenean magna nisl, mollis quis, molestie eu, feugiat in, orci. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.

Fusce convallis, mauris imperdiet gravida bibendum, nisl turpis suscipit mauris, sed placerat ipsum urna sed risus. In convallis tellus a mauris. Curabitur non elit ut libero tristique sodales. Mauris a lacus. Donec mattis semper leo. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Vivamus facilisis diam at odio. Mauris dictum, nisi eget consequat elementum, lacus ligula molestie metus, non feugiat orci magna ac sem. Donec turpis. Donec vitae metus. Morbi tristique neque eu mauris. Quisque gravida ipsum non sapien. Proin turpis lacus, scelerisque vitae, elementum at, lobortis ac, quam. Aliquam dictum eleifend risus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam sit amet diam. Suspendisse odio. Suspendisse nunc. In semper bibendum libero.

Just play with the border and background as you see fit. Enjoy! Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 05:55, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

P.S. - Please DO NOT use this code in an article. This code doesn't display perfectly on all browsers, and should be limited to the Wikipedia: and User: spaces only so that as much information as possible is visible on actual content pages. Thanks. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 05:57, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! 71.123.183.141 (talk) 04:23, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Renaming a Page

The Help: Moving page mentions two manners by which to change the name of an article: renaming and moving. This page only describes show to move a page in order to change the name, but not how to simply rename it. I am interested in only renaming as the name of the article is clearly mistaken. Moving it seems unnecessary in such a case. Supertouch (talk) 05:14, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Moving is the only way to change the page's actual title. There are processes to fool browsers into displaying a different title, but moving is the only one that actually changes the name. Master of Puppets _{Call me MoP!☺} 05:18, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Help:Moving a page says: The terms "rename" and "move" mean the same in this context. They just refer to different models for picturing the operation. "Rename" and "move" are just two words for the same operation in Wikipedia. The term "move" is used more often and the button to do it is called "move". PrimeHunter (talk) 05:32, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, after I actually read the help page carefully I figured it out. Supertouch (talk) 18:22, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

question

how to ask a question? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.99.221.141 (talk) 06:58, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Um, you just did. If you'd like a personal response, you could use {{helpme}} on your talk page. Master of Puppets _{Call me MoP!☺} 07:01, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

offensive content

not sure who put this up, but needs to be addressed quickly

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_united —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.16.250.53 (talk) 07:45, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

re http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_united

never mind, has been addressed songs about munich air disaster poking fun at dead / dying are not funny —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.16.250.53 (talk) 07:47, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

I can not edit with my username

There is something wrong with my account. Whenever I want to edit, it says "Sorry! We could not process your edit due to a loss of session data. Please try again. If it still doesn't work, try logging out and logging back in." AND at the same time, it logs me off so that I need to log in again. I am not able to make any edits when logged in (User:Aminz). I have tried this over a variety of articles and talk pages and it is always doing the same thing. --76.126.116.57 (talk) 08:16, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

It may not have any affect, but try purging your cache. It appears to be a bug that is affecting other users as well. There's a current post about this at the Village pump technical with at least three users saying they are experiencing the same problem. Unfortunately, I don't have any solution for you, but it's best you know it's not exclusively an issue with your computer.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 09:12, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply; I cleared the cache but it didn't help. It is still keeping me out. I have never experienced such a thing before. Hopefully it will be fixed by tomorrow. --76.126.116.57 (talk) 09:22, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

You're welcome. Hope it clears up. Oh, and here's another report.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 09:28, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

How to export a page with prefix 'Special'?

Does anyone know how to export a page such as 'Special:Contributions/UserID' or a history page of a certain page?

I found it wasn't work when I type 'Special:Contributions/Abhaac' into the text field of page 'Special:Export'. The returned xml file just contained the information of site and namespaces. Thanks. Abhaac (talk) 10:17, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Exporting applies to stored pages only, not to pages created on the fly. The content of a special page can be stored on the same or another wiki, but plain text only, no links: copy the result and put pre-tags around it.--Patrick (talk) 11:54, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

However, most of the information in special pages (including contributions) can be accessed via the API; see http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php. --ais523 11:57, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

notibility?

im am writing an article on myself, Stephen McKeever, all in the article is true and non-biased yet, the article is saying that the aticles notibility is questionable, i do not understand how to make this notible? could you pleases assist me. Thank you, Stephen McKeever —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smck125 (talk • contribs) 10:28, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Hi Stephen, and welcome to Wikipedia.

First, I can see that the "Its notability is in question" phrase can be misleading. What's being questioned is the notability of the subject of the article - in other words, it's questioned whether you are notable (i.e., famous enough for to be included in an encyclopaedia). As I have no understanding of motorcycle racing, I'm not someone who can judge. However, to establish notability of yourself (or anyone/anything else), the usual rule is that there should be multiple, non-trivial references to an article's subject.

Second, there is actually a principle on Wikipedia that, generally speaking, people should not write articles about themselves as there is the potential for bias, even if unintended. See Wikipedia:Autobiography.

Hope this helps.--86.149.56.123 (talk) 11:10, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

If you're not notable enough for Wikipedia, everyone is notable enough for WikiBios. --Teratornis (talk) 23:17, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

adding image

How do I add an image from the MOD uk website to the Northumberland Hussars page , I was lookiong at the unit cap badge? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jamessweney (talk • contribs) 11:46, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

To copy an image from another website to Wikipedia, you would have to download it from the website to your computer, and then upload it to Wikipedia using the "Upload file" link such as on the left of this page. HOWEVER...in general you're not allowed to do this as most images on the MOD site are Crown copyright - see this.--86.156.182.128 (talk) 20:16, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

conversion tables for measures

hi there

im trying to find the above for converting kgs and Nm to horsepower and lb/ft of torque

can you pls assist?

marlun —Preceding unsigned comment added by Marlun (talk • contribs) 12:19, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

• Try the reference desk they can help you with the conversions. Gtstricky^{Talk or C} 15:16, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

copyright

I have read the articles on copyright laws and tags etc. and all the pictures i have uploaded belong to me, and there are no copyrights against my pictures, how can i change the status of my pictures from 'speedy deletion' as they do not conflict any copyright issues? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smck125 (talk • contribs) 12:36, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

That depends on what right you want to give to your images... If you want to put them in PD (public domain) replace the speedy delete template with {{PD-self}}.

For other licenses, check this page: Wikipedia:Image_copyright_tags

Just replace the speedy deletion stuff with that tag and it should be fine.. oh, and maybe if those images are free.. you might want to consider uploading them to the Commons instead of Wikipedia, if thats not what uve been doing already ;)

Hope that helps.. --Yzmo ^talk 12:45, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Notability (people)

Does this guideline apply to images or just to articles? Vivio Testarossa^{Talk Who} 13:31, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

• The notability guidelines don't apply to images. There doesn't seem to be a speedy criterion for the image you've linked to, but you can IfD it as an orphaned image, if your intention is to get it removed. AndyJones (talk) 13:43, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

export page

Hi,

I am trying to use the export page. As mentioned there the tool can export the text and editing history of a particular page or set of pages wrapped in some XML. I just entered the title of a page in the text box and un ticked the first option which says "include only the current version not the full history".

The result is an xml file ( a part is shown under)

xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.mediawiki.org/xml/export-0.3/ http://www.mediawiki.org/xml/export-0.3.xsd" version="0.3" xml:lang="en"> - <siteinfo>

 <sitename>Meta</sitename> 
 <base>http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page</base> 
 <generator>MediaWiki 1.13alpha</generator> 
 <case>first-letter</case> 

- <namespaces>

 <namespace key="-2">Media</namespace> 
 <namespace key="-1">Special</namespace> 
 <namespace key="0" /> 
 <namespace key="1">Talk</namespace> 
 <namespace key="2">User</namespace> 
 <namespace key="3">User talk</namespace> 
 <namespace key="4">Meta</namespace> 
 <namespace key="5">Meta talk</namespace> 
 <namespace key="6">Image</namespace> 
 <namespace key="7">Image talk

Am wondering if someone could explain how the above codes contains the content and the full revision history.

Another intersting point is that. I did this for several different article an the xml out put for all is exactly the same.

All comments and helps are mora than welcome.

I am quite sure that I do something wrong but couldnt find it out.

--Naz (talk) 13:40, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

how to email

how do I email information from your website to a friend14:41, 4 March 2008 (UTC)Rashad abdul haleem (talk)

We do not have that capacity. I would advise sending your friend the URL of the page which contains the information you wish to share. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:47, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

IFTHENELSE

Identify and describe the IFTHENELSE control structure —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.181.180.2 (talk) 17:17, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Hi! Sorry, we don't do your homework for you. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 17:21, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

We do have articles like Conditional (programming) which may help. Friday (talk) 17:27, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

if (you_do_your_homework_yourself && post_to_the_correct_page) then { we can help you } else { we can't } --grawity ^{talk / PGP} 17:30, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Public proxy?

rootshell.be provides free SSH shells (OpenBSD if you're interested), and users can use it as a SOCKS proxy (with SSH dynamic forwarding), also browsers such as lynx and w3m are available. New user requests are processed by hand. Does this count as a "open proxy"? (the current server's address is honey.rootshell.be) --grawity ^{talk / PGP} 17:36, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

You might want to try posing the comment/question at the reference desk. Cheers. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 21:43, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Zorro Series

I wonder if it is possible to get the entire series of Zorro on DVD. I have seven disc but would like to get all of them. How can I get them if available

Rich. B —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.187.76.196 (talk) 17:56, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

This Help Desk page is for questions about how to use Wikipedia. You should ask your question at the appropriate Reference Desk page - probably Wikipedia:Reference desk/Entertainment.--86.156.182.128 (talk) 18:08, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Try e-bay :) Pedro :  Chat  12:54, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

No copyright violation if it's my own work.

I am flummoxed and don't know what to do. My entry, a bio of Ilia Kulik (under Ilia Kulik) was removed because it's on www.kuliks-krew.com. I am the writer of the original bio. I have posted it both here and on Kuliks-Krew (I am the President of the group). So someone took it down for copyright violation. But if you try to contact that someone, it gives you a warning that the IP is at Harvard and used by lots of folks. How can someone take it down and not be responsible or contact-able. Please restore it. I have already had this go-round with photos and I've given up with those even those the photographer has give express permission for them to be up on Wikipedia but the copyright police keep taking it down no matter what I say.

I would like the bio restored and the IP from Harvard blocked. Thanks.

Willowway (talk) 20:13, 4 March 2008 (UTC) Willowway

(Nancy Hall)

At the moment www.kuliks-krew.com has a copyright notice prohibiting reproduction of content without permission. Thus User:140.247.131.86 was acting quite rightly in defence of your copyright, for which he/she is certainly not going to get blocked. If you control the website, then all you have to do is add a note there saying that the text is released under the GFDL. You can then add it to our article again, and no-one will delete it (at least for copyright reasons). Note that, with text as with photos, a 'permission to use on Wikipedia' license is not sufficient: Wikipedia has to be freely usable by others, which means text has to be released under the GFDL. Algebraist 20:28, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

That's a bit misleading. The fact that Willowway licenses the material in a proprietary way in one place does not mean that, as the copyright holder, she(?) can't also license it via the GFDL somewhere else. The FSF's FAQ on the GPL says this explicitly, and I see no reason why the GFDL would be any different. It's exactly analogous to the way that MySQL AB licenses their database both under the GPL and under a standard commercial license for those who want to do things the GPL prohibits.

Willowway ought to be able to do exactly what she is trying to do, and it's unfortunate (and reflects badly on Wikipedia) that this has been prevented.

Unfortunately I don't know what best to suggest; you might try re-posting the material together with an explanation on the talk page (and "see talk" or similar in the edit summary). But I well appreciate the dispiriting feeling that the citation-and-copyright pedants tend to leave in their wake, so I understand if you can't really be bothered to do that. 81.187.153.189 (talk) 22:43, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Anyone claiming copyright must prove it. We can't just take somebody's word for it that they own the rights. There have been too many cases where the copyright claims have been proven false (especially with images). Corvus cornix_talk 03:23, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:32, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Meth song edit

Hi, I wanted to link to a remix of the Meth Song to show an example of its cult status. Instead it got removed. I didn't mean to break a rule or anything but it does show a good example. Any explanation? Was it because it was a link to the youtube video?

98.20.118.131 (talk) 21:29, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps because the YT video was a copyright violation.. Yzmo ^talk 21:32, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

how to link to sections of a page

Hello Wiki people,

I am setting up a Wiki page and I am wonderin how I can click on a link and have user taken to the MIDDLE (specific section) of another Wiki page.

Thanks!

Use [[NAMEOFPAGE#SECTIONNAME|TEXTTODISPLAY]], where SECTIONNAME is to be replaced by the name of the header to link to, so if you would want to link to this entry on this page, you would use Wikipedia:Help desk#how to link to sections of a page The TEXTTODISPLAY this is optional, but good if you dont want the link to look cluttered. Hope that helps! Yzmo ^talk 21:41, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

See also Help:Link#Section linking (anchors). PrimeHunter (talk) 22:10, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Newsweek Wrong?

I had previously found an article on newsweek talking about yahoo! and it had a small mention of yahoo's beginnings; information that was not in wikipedia. I decided to add the information and correctly referenced my addition. However, the addition was reverted by someone who said that Newsweek was wrong. Do I stay quiet and let others steamroll my research? I respectfully asked the person to back up their findings, but they would not refer me to anything else. (The conversation can be seen on yahoo's discussion page. Any help would be appreciated. I would prefer if you left a message on my talk page but I will check periodically here too. Thanks! Monkeytheboy (talk) 21:45, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

According to Yahoo! itself, Newsweek was right: See here. But in any case the threshold for inclusion is not truth but verifiability. —teb728 t c 22:44, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Newsweek seems reliable to me. Corvus cornix_talk 03:24, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Me too (being sure to specify that reliable in the Wikipedia sense is not the same as infallible). I was surprised not to find Newsweek in the list of top 500 sites linked from Wikipedia. I used to subscribe to the dead tree edition, and I took to calling it "News a week late" once I got used to reading news online. --Teratornis (talk) 03:32, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

IP address

I made 2 changes before creating an account- I did this out of sequence. i would like to hide my IP address and attribute the changes to my name. Samcph (talk) 21:55, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

IP edits cannot be attributed to an account. They will continue to show the IP address unless the page is deleted or the edits are oversighted, but the latter only happens in rare circumstances. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:09, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Chatter Box

I am so confused. Can we only ask questions here, or is there a message board that you can talk about books you have read, and things you have learned, and diffrent stuff like that?

See WP:NOT#SOCIALNET. You may be interested in some social networking sites. --Teratornis (talk) 23:05, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

For more information about Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:About and Wikipedia. If you have never edited on a wiki before, Wikipedia can be pretty confusing at first. If you have read some books and you would like to help write articles about them, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Books and Wikipedia:Notability (books). If you like the idea of collaborative editing on a wiki, but you aren't ready to contribute to an encyclopedia, see WikiIndex for several thousand other wikis catering to a wide range of interests. Wikipedia is the world's best-known wiki, but by no means the only one, and probably not the most appropriate wiki for lots of people, depending on what they want to write. --Teratornis (talk) 03:27, 5 March 2008 (UTC)