Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 November 25

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November 25

Category intersections

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 14:40, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Is there an effective way to see which articles contain the same catgories? For example, if I wanted a list of all articles related to Zambian politicians that were tagged for weasel words, could I magic up a list Category:Zambian politicians and Category:Articles with weasel words? What I have in mind is some tool like the wikistalk one, but for articles.

For bonus points, would it be possible to do the same for a talk category and an article category? For example, Gustav Landauer is in Category:Articles lacking in-text citations, while Talk:Gustav Landauer is in Category:Start-Class Germany articles. Would I be able to find this out by searching for Start-Class Germany articles lacking in-text citations? the skomorokh 19:10, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:CatScan ? Nanonic (talk) 19:17, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Fantastic, thanks! the skomorokh 10:58, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Gerald N. Epstein

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 14:40, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

I have prepared a new article on the work of Gerald N. Epstein, a psychiatrist who has pioneered the use of mental imagery and am trying to move it from my user page to an article. But apparently his name has been blacklisted. Is this so? Can you tell me why? David Hollidays (talk) 20:29, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

The article appears as a redlink for me (Gerald Epstein). Your account does yet appear to be autoconfirmed. Autoconfirmation (automatically granted once your account has been active for four days and has made ten edits) allows you to move pages. I will move the article for you momentarily. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 20:32, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Done. Your article should be live at Gerald Epstein. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 20:34, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 14:41, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Every now and then I find myself wanting to add a {{coord}} template to an article about a place that lacks coordinate information. So far the only way I've been able to figure out for determining the actual coordinates to insert in the template is to search, by coordinates, in Google Maps for a nearby place that I know the coordinates of (having obtained them from a WP article), then repeatedly diddle the coordinates in the search box and re-search until I get the place I'm looking for centered in the map. Surely there must be a better way that I'm too incompetent to recognize. One would think that, having found an appropriate map by searching for a place by name in Google Maps, there must be some way to make Google Maps spit out the corresponding coordinates, but I haven't been able to find it. Can anyone enlighten me? Deor (talk) 22:16, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Can you install Google Earth on your computer? I know that spits out coordinates. Not sure if they're in the right format, though. - Mgm|^(talk) 22:24, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Obtaining geographic coordinates. For background, see also WP:GEO. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 23:04, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks; it looks as though I'll be able to find something to help me in Wikipedia:Obtaining geographic coordinates. I wasn't aware of that page. Deor (talk) 23:42, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Yes, EarthTools does what I want. Deor (talk) 23:50, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Photo

how do I put a photo on my talk page —Preceding unsigned comment added by Whatisupwithyou (talk • contribs) 00:53, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

See WP:Images Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 12:43, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Back to top

Is there a button that can be added to take you to the top of a page?--intraining ^{Jack In} 01:17, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

I thought about putting in a Wiki link to direct back to the article but that reloads the page (I do not want it to reload the page!)--intraining ^{Jack In} 01:22, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Many modern keyboards have just such a button, often marked "home" (and one to go to the bottom of a page marked "end"). Look on your keyboard for something like this nearby to and below the F12 key.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:26, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Yes I know about that, I am just asking if there is such a button I can add to an article.--intraining ^{Jack In} 01:28, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Well you could use something like this: <div style="position: absolute; top: 1.3em; right: 1.0em; border: 1px solid #a9a9a9; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 1px; background: #FFFFFF;" class="boilerplate metadata plainlinks"><small>[[#footer| Skip to the bottom ]]</small></div>.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:38, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Oh, wait, I reversed it. That's for going to the bottom. To go to the top: <div style="position: absolute; bottom: 1.35em; right: 1.35em; border: 1px solid #a9a9a9; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 1px; background:#FFFFFF;" class="boilerplate metadata plainlinks"><small>[[#globalWrapper|Back to the top]]</small></div>. Both of these codes are taken from those used to create the "skip to bottom" and go to top" buttons on this very page.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:46, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

O.K thankyou, I just noticed a back to top icon on the Help Desk template at the top of this page was that there already or have I just noticed that?.--intraining ^{Jack In} 01:45, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Public domain after 40 years?

Who's in the right here? I don't think a performance can be in the public domain after just ~40 years, whether or not I'm being insulted. Dismas|^(talk) 01:43, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Don't know about 40 years... I would start by looking at the Public domain page. —Noah

• Since copyright expires 70 years after the death of the creator (last time I checked), it makes no sense for it to enter the public domain any sooner. - Mgm|^(talk) 05:34, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

You're right. The user has claimed in an edit summary that because some third site (which I am not linking because it's apparently a copyright infringer) makes a recording of the song available, and has a disclaimer which generically claims public domain for all songs on the site, that is proof of public domain. Talk about bootstrapping from the tenuous to the specific. Likewise, the Youtube page says nothing about the copyright that I can see. Of course, the song could have been expressly released into the public domain by the owner. But we must assume it is copyrighted without some actually evidence, and the burden of showing that is on the user, which hasn't been provided.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:02, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Can't suppress fundraising banner

Resolved

I've seen instructions to check a box in the Gadgets tab of my Preferences in order to suppress the fundraising banner. When I do so, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Save, I get the following error:

Your password is invalid or too short. It must have at least 1 character and be different from your username.

My password has worked fine for quite a while now; it's not "invalid or too short." What is going on? --Tkynerd (talk) 04:03, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

• Sounds like the same problem I had a while back. The answer should still be in the HD archives. Try to remove any content from pre-filled password fields before you make changes to your prefs. - Mgm|^(talk) 05:32, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
  • Thanks for the tip. I actually got it to go through at work today, so problem solved (without searching the archives, even!). :) --Tkynerd (talk) 22:36, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Changing Stub Status

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 14:42, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

I did some work on a Stub article. I believe I have made enough contribution to this site that I believe it is no longer a Stub. How exactly do I change the Stub status of this article? I have looked everywhere on the page but cannot find the link to change the stub status!!. Thanks,

dale —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dazzacoyle (talk • contribs) 04:51, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

You just need to delete the stub template, like I did here. :) --PeaceNT (talk) 04:56, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

cool, thanks:) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.241.154.194 (talk) 14:34, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Search result question

Why does this search[1] appear to lead to “(section Naval service in World War II)”, rather than to where it is mentioned in Gerald Ford#Foreign policy? CasualObserver'48 (talk) 05:30, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Is there a more appropriate place to ask this question? Thanks. CasualObserver'48 (talk) 12:49, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Here or Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) is OK. The search result apparently includes Naval service in World War II with II in bold to indicate a partial match in a section heading. This is not useful in the given example. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:37, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply. Seems very inconsistent, will ask at technical. CasualObserver'48 (talk) 01:58, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

How to edit a specific part of the page?

Hello,

I am trying to update several point in the page Altiris but I could not find how to edit the list of products listed in the right box under the link "Products"

Thanks

Most sections have their own edit hyperlink, but the infobox (the box with the list of products) is part of the first section which doesn't have an edit hyperlink. Instead you can click the "edit this page" link at the top of the page (the infobox will be the first thing on the edit page).

Alternatively, if you register a username, you can change your preferences so that an edit hyperlink appears for the first section, too.

Cheers, This flag once was red^propaganda_deeds 06:06, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Thresholds: dab page when lots of in-text disambiguations are then required

I came across 'dayan' used as the type name for one of the Tabla drums in Tabla terminology. After editing that article/list to point directly to Tabla I found there was a redirect of Dayan to Beth din. This confused me as I was arriving at Dayan thinking of a thirdfourth meaning in addition to the twothree I now saw noted in the dablink at top of Beth din. So I wondered why it wasn't already a dab page.

Checking the history of Dayan I found a minor edit-war over just this thing - should Dayan be a redirect or a dab page? Peeking at the talk page seemed to say that the argument for the redirect was the sheer number of references from articles concerned with one meaning - somewhat over 100.

But hey, rather than add one more link to the dablink, does this sound rational? That rather than to disambiguate the 100 or so inbound links to Dayan by editing them as dayan, we should lazily add stuff to the top of Beth din?

The question is, what is the guidance on thresholds of when it would be better to dab all the usages? Is laziness on the editor's part (me) really the only factor? After all, I wouldn't want to get into an edit-war after several dozen edits. Shenme (talk) 06:15, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Gosh, that's a very old (and very minor) edit war. I was still a newbie. If there's another definition of Dayan relating to Tabla, there's a good argument for making it a disambig, but I'm not convinced. It might be better putting a hatnote at Beth din, as very few will search for Dayan meaning Tabla. --Dweller (talk) 09:57, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Edits don't show on page

Hello

I've been updating the page Premier Soccer League 2008–09 fixtures & results, but as soon as I edit further than December on the page the edit that I make don't show. Please can you let me know what the problem is or am I doing something wrong. Please let me know on User talk:Jonathanburger.

Kind Regards Jonathan Burger 09:00 25 November 2008

The page appears to have been badly formatted before your update. I don't see a purpose for all those

{{col-begin}}
| width="67%" align="{{{align|left}}}" valign="{{{valign|top}}}" |

They are unclosed and experimentation indicates there becomes one too many unclosed of them when your December 5 is added. If an earlier section is copied then the problem appears when the same number of unclosed {{col-begin}} is reached. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:00, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

To avoid confusion with other Premier Leagues (Premier League and those listed at Premier League (disambiguation) for example), shouldn't this be renamed Zaire Premier Soccer League 2008–09 fixtures and results, Premier Soccer League 2008–09 fixtures and results (Zaire) or something similar? – ukexpat (talk) 14:49, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

The article is about a league in South Africa. What has Zaire got to do with it? Algebraist 16:07, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Easy, easy - I was misled by the .za domain name in the infobox. – ukexpat (talk) 20:34, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

I'm fine, thanks. FYI, .za stands for Zuid-Afrika=South Africa. Zaire was .zr and is now .cd. Algebraist 23:28, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Moved to ABSA Premier Soccer League 2008–09 season. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 17:51, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Halp! My page no longer archives

Hi there. Can anyone give me some technical advice about the auto-archive bot? I have a template flag on my talk page that used to work but has not in some time and my talk page is now at 300K+. If anyone knows how MiszaBot works and could spare the time looking into it I would be greatly appreciative. Thanks, Wikidemon (talk) 08:30, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Fix attempted. Bencherlite^Talk 09:01, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

new article

Hello Wiki team

I recently got my own computer and now am an account holder in Wikipedia. I just got the account and would like to publish an encyclopedic article. I tried to follow the instructions to create a new article, but can't seem to find any links which says 'create new article' or the likes of that. So could you please tell me how I should go about doing so?

Thank you

Sid —Preceding unsigned comment added by Siddharth Tampi (talk • contribs) 11:39, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Message left on talk page, pointing to Wikipedia:FIRST#How_to_create_a_page. Bencherlite^Talk 11:46, 25 November 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 Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at 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. – ukexpat (talk) 14:52, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

I notice you write your user page in the third person. If you were thinking of publishing it as a short autobiography, you should know that most people are not notable enough to have a biography on Wikipedia. —teb728 t c 19:22, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

3RR Template

Where can I find this template? HairyPerry 16:02, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

You mean {{3RR}}, or some other 3RR template? Algebraist 16:04, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

No, I'm looking for the one that starts out..."You appear to be involved in an edit war." HairyPerry 16:19, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

{{uw-3rr}}. Algebraist 16:24, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Watch my User Page

Can somebody please watch my page until December 1, please? I have to go on Thanksgiving break and can't get on until then. HairyPerry 19:13, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

I have added your page to my watchlist. Have a good break! TN‑X-Man 19:17, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

I greatly appreciate it, Thank you and I will. HairyPerry 19:18, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

You could always ask for it to be protected while you're away. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 22:01, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

File:

Signpost reports that the Image: namespace has been named File: but it doesn't seem like it works - links are red and even the namespace when searching is still image:. What's happened then? -- Mentisock 19:42, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

In the report, it's important to note the sentence at the top: "Note that not all changes described here are necessarily live as of press time; the English Wikipedia is currently running version 1.14alpha (r43634), and changes to the software with a version number higher than that will not yet be active.", while the configuration change mentioned is listed as r43639. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 19:46, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm, then again, it also states that "Configuration changes and changes to interface messages, however, become active immediately.", and the namespace change is listed under the "Configuration changes" section, so you're right, it appears that it should have taken effect. I'll try looking further. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 19:48, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Columns

I am trying to do a list of columns for baseball statistics. Any ideas on how I do it? Bbstats49 (talk) 20:30, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Tables are probably better than columns for doing that. Take a look at Help:Table and WP:WTUT. – ukexpat (talk) 20:41, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Help Me... I am confused on how to post "NEW"

I am very new to Wikipedia and trying to post. Where exactly do you do that???

Kknute (talk) 21:41, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

You mean you're trying to create a new article? --Fullobeans (talk) 21:44, 25 November 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 Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at 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. – ukexpat (talk) 22:20, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Need help merging histories

It looks like someone tried moving the content of Little Tahoma (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) over to Little Tahoma Peak (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) by doing a copy/paste. I was unsure as to the correct forum to request that an admin delete Little Tahoma Peak so that the other article could be correctly moved/renamed to retain the edit history. Where should I post such a request, or does here work? It seemed too low level of an item for WP:ANI, and couldn't think of another page that would be appropriate. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 23:34, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Although, come to think of it, there may also need to be some guidance on which is the correct name to use. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 23:36, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

WP:AN (the central administrator's discussion board - different then ANI) would probably be the best place to post this type of request. Mister Senseless™ (Speak - Contributions) 23:38, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

• In my opinion there should be only a redirect page at Little Tahoma as there is now. It is my understanding that the policy at WikiProject Mountains is that articles about mountains use official names found on U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Help desk/Archives/2008 November 25. I now see that I went about this the wrong way. I will request that Little Tahoma Peak be deleted so that a normal page move will succeed. --DRoll (talk) 23:47, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Editing infobox content

OK, so the page Anton has an infobox Given Name Revised featuring names derived from Antonius. I want to edit the content of that infobox in order to include Swedish names. How do I do it? As far as I can tell, it's not about editing the infobox as such but editing one certain instantiation of it, and I just can't find out how to do it.David ekstrand (talk) 23:56, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

The list of names derived from Antonius is transcluded from Template:Antonius. You need to edit that page. Algebraist 00:19, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

It can be confusing that Template:Infobox Given name by itself has no indication where the text comes from. But if you click "edit this page" on Anton then the transcluded templates are linked at the bottom and Template:Antonius is there (because Template:Infobox Given name is called with origin = Antonius). PrimeHunter (talk) 01:13, 26 November 2008 (UTC)