Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 November 7

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November 7

Making or requesting a "BOT"

How does one go about creating or requesting a "BOT" to go around and make specific changes? I edit a lot of music articles and have been encountering a lot of links to AllMusic that are written "http://allmusic.com ..." instead of "http://allmusic.com ..." -- the wm06 makes it into a bad link. A brief search shows a lot of these out there, I certainly don't want to go fixing it manually. No idea how long they've been there, either, just seems like I've been encountering it a lot lately. I've seen the "date/maintenance fix" bot and others, can we get one to do this repair? Thanks. Salamurai (talk) 05:16, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

• All Music Guide underwent a name change that already has at least one bot going around changing links. I thinkk you're best off finding whoever that was. Unfortunately, I have no idea where I saw that edit, since I come across a lot of music articles on a daily basis. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:52, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

And if that doesn't work, try Wikipedia:Bot requests.--A bit iffy (talk) 08:35, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

User:J Milburn Bot is the one that replaced All Music Guide with Allmusic, but it did not change any links. There are over 300 links to wm06.allmusic.com. [1] --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 11:03, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

• Such prefixes are often names of specific servers. Is that server completely dead then? - Mgm|^(talk) 11:51, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
  • It returns "You are not authorized to view this page". Changing wm06 to www gives the correct page. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 12:36, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
• thanks! Salamurai (talk) 03:15, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Signature Personalization & Tables

I read the help article on personalization but I am still not clear how to change the font and color of my signature.

also, I need help in making tables.

Can some please explain how to do all this right from the basics?

Torque3000 (talk) 10:35, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

• For me the personalization page was pretty clear. What is it exactly that you're not getting? Is it about where to do it, or about what markup to use to actually change your sig appearence? With regards to the tables: did you read Help:Table? - Mgm|^(talk) 11:50, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

i dont know what markup to use —Preceding unsigned comment added by Torque3000 (talk • contribs) 12:18, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

• Leave a note on my talk page (hit talk in my signature, and add a note to the bottom of the page) and tell me what kind of formatting you want to achieve on your signature. I'll help you write out the code and explain how it works. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:29, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Editing using page to moderate far-right hate site.

I have come across an editor who seems to be using his user space to explain his decisions as a moderator on what appears to be a far-right hate site. As well as editing the wiki, I also donate to the foundation and object to my donations being used for people to contact business for off-site race hate sites. Is there a template I can use to ask them to stop? --Cameron Scott (talk) 16:16, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

What user? --Orange Mike | Talk 16:19, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

This guy - User:Ed Poor, I thought the site was some sort of parody to start with but it preaches hate against muslims, homosexuals, pretty much anyone who isn't white. What the guy wants to do on his own time is his business but I'd rather it wasn't done here. --Cameron Scott (talk) 16:23, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

I don't see any references on his user page to another site. Maybe I'm missing something? TN‑X-Man 16:33, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

He seems to be a moderator of www.conservapedia.com which I became aware of because of another forum I'm a member of and then ended up back here after looking at some of the pages. I thought it was a wikipedia parody to start with. Anyway the guy is a mod there and seems to be conducting business for that place here. Like I said, I don't care what anyone wants to do in their own time but I don't see why the business of the far-right should be done here. --Cameron Scott (talk) 16:36, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

I see what you're talking about now. The discussion is on his talk page. Personally, I don't see any real problems there, but if you are concerned, the best first step is to drop him a note on his talk page. If he doesn't reply, you can ask other editors to look at the issue and see if further steps are needed. TN‑X-Man 16:42, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

(outdent) If anyone would like to know more, this issue is being discussed at ANI. TN‑X-Man 17:16, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

I've been claiming for some time that the various POV-pushing wikis out there such as Conservapedia and RationalWiki (which was started in direct opposition to Conservapedia) act as important safety valves for Wikipedia. I believe we want the various ideologues on the right and left and wherever else who find their way to Wikipedia to become aware of wikis catering to their views, because otherwise they will want to push their views on Wikipedia. If they think Wikipedia is the "only game in town," they will want to fight all their battles here. I think it is much better to show them wikis where they find everyone agrees with them. Most people find disagreement unpleasant, so the people who can't live with Wikipedia's rules will be much happier elsewhere, and Wikipedia will be much happier if they go elsewhere. I am aware that this might result in someone somewhere publishing something I disagree with, but that's life. Better that those opinions are on some obscure wiki than to have them soiling our paradise of neutrality here. Just my opinion. --Teratornis (talk) 18:27, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

I might add that no less a personage than Jimbo Wales has expressed discomfort with userboxes on Wikipedia. However, getting rid of userboxes might cause more harm than good to Wikipedia, by discouraging some of the people people who donate labor to Wikipedia, for whom userboxes are a valuable reward. People can learn to contribute to articles with a neutral point of view, in brief spurts, and subject to constant correction by others, but nobody is actually going to be neutral. As long as Wikipedia can only be built by people who hold opinions, we have to make some allowances for them. However, we should and do draw the line against outright advocacy for any cause on Wikipedia other than Wikipedia itself. --Teratornis (talk) 18:51, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

comments & suggestions

where can i add comments & suggestions inoder to improve this beautiful world of knowledge & wisdom............my appreciation & gratitude to the people behind the scenes & to those running the show

Regards, R Carter —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.5.151.66 (talk) 18:58, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

It really depends upon the subject of the suggestion. Wikipedia has discussion boards all over for different subjects. I would say the closest thing to a centralized suggestion board would be the various boards of the Village Pump, but even there you are likely to be pointed to somewhere else more directly on the topic of your suggestion. - TexasAndroid (talk) 19:07, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

You are also invited to improve it yourself. We mean it. Jump right in, make any changes you want. If you screw up, don't worry, anyone else can fix it. Have at it! --Jayron32.talk.contribs 19:19, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Before suggesting anything, study what others have already suggested. See for example Wikipedia:Perennial proposals. Newcomers to Wikipedia tend to form mistaken impressions about it, and some of these mistakes are stereotypical (that is, made by wave after wave of successive newcomers). I suggest that in addition to whatever you do on Wikipedia itself, you should keep some private notes on your computer about your initial impressions of Wikipedia and ideas for it. Then after you have spent a year or two editing on Wikipedia, you can go back to your notes and have a good laugh. That's what I recently did when I pulled out some of my early (and, thankfully) private musings about Wikipedia. My ideas weren't entirely ridiculous, but much of what I thought about doing was more applicable to doing on other wikis. Wikipedia is actually a very specialized wiki, just one of many thousands on offer, albeit one of the largest and most popular. Many ideas one might randomly have about what one could do with this technology are better suited for other wikis, some of which already exist, and some which might be waiting for someone like you to start them. --Teratornis (talk) 21:43, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Question of the day

I would like to know how many gigabytes of information Wikipedia uses as a whole. Sorry, I'm a sucker for statistics :) Digital^Ninja 21:36, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

WP:EIW#Statistic should keep you busy for a while. --Teratornis (talk) 21:44, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:FAQ/Technical#How big is the database? for some old numbers. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:55, 7 November 2008 (UTC)