Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 August 27

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August 27

Lost password?

How to change it or recover it? I may not have registered an email initially, and I tried to create a new account and was told that the username was already in use. Yes, I know, because it is my username.

Even worse, I can find no pages that address this fairly common issue.

thnaks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.177.190.232 (talk) 04:22, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

If you have not registered with an email address, I'm afraid there is no way to recover your password. You'll just have to get a new account if this is the case. If you have included an email adress, then you can get a new password sent to it from the email new password option on Special:UserLogin. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 04:28, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Also see the discussion above. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 04:37, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Okay, thanks. Maybe Wiki should consider requiring an email for registration as does the rest of the free world for this reason alone. Or maybe changing the log-in register box so that it doesn't require scrolling down the page to enter an email address. I really believe that this is a mediawiki issue, since my keychain log-in just quit working here, and hasn't at any other sites, including my banks and numerous blogs and forums that I visit, including one that I admin. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.177.190.232 (talk) 05:55, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

If you like the username then you may be able to usurp it depending on its history, or request a new name so close to the old one that you are not allowed to create it yourself. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:18, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

definition for cable assembly and harness

i want to know the differnce between cable assembly and harness through their definition and application. thanks very much! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arthurleenanjing (talk • contribs) 06:17, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried the article on cable harness? If that doesn't give you the information you need, you can try asking at the reference desk, since they specialize in knowledge questions. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 06:28, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

semi protected page

how can i access a semi protected page Parafan 2 (talk) 06:21, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Your account needs to be autoconfirmed. This should already have happened by now, since it requires only 10 edits and 4 days. Are you editing through a Tor network? If so, the limits will be higher than this. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 06:25, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

My mistake. sorry. Parafan 2 (talk) 06:49, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Include my email address when other people are notified of changes I make

I just noticed the option "Include my email address when other people are notified of changes I make" in my preferences. I've never heard of the functionality to get notified of changes; how can I access this? Who gets these notifications, and why would anyone want to indiscriminately give all of these people one's e-mail address? — Sebastian 06:50, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

The feature to get email notification of changes is disabled in the English Wikipedia so I don't think the quoted option has any effect here currently. See mw:Manual:$wgEnotifWatchlist and mw:Manual:$wgEnotifUserTalk for the disabled MediaWiki features. Although disabled they were actually displayed in preferences for a couple of months until recently (see bugzilla:19468 and rev:52762). I guess your option should also have been removed. Some people show their email address (or in some cases an easily thrown away alternative email address) in many places, for example user page, own website, public mailing lists. See also Disposable e-mail address. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:06, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply and the many links! I must say, I'm a bit more confused now, because I don't see the connection between what you say (DEAs, or users writing their e-mail address in their user page) and the feature (sending my e-mail address to others), but since it isn't used now, I'm not worried about that for now. — Sebastian 17:56, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

It was just a comment on your last question which wondered why people would give away their email address. I guess you are protective of yours to avoid spam and abuse but many others freely give it away. I can easily imagine people who are rarely on Wikipedia and want others to be able to easily contact them about edits they have made, without having to use Wikipedia's email feature. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:24, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Template help

What is the difference between

{{otheruse}}

and

{{otheruses}}

?--Mikespedia (talk) 07:55, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

The former allows you to specify up to 4 other possible articles the user might be looking for. The latter will give a link to a disambiguation page. There are formats of otheruses that allow you to do other formats, but these are all mentioned in the documentation at Template:Otheruses. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 08:43, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

They give the same result when written without parameters like that. {{otheruse}} can take a bunch of parameters which are not present in {{otheruses}}. Variations like {{otheruses4}} also have parameters but are not identical to {{otheruse}}. PrimeHunter (talk) 08:45, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Fix infobox at Broadmoor Hospital please

Hi, this is a complicated template code problem I think. In the infobox at Broadmoor Hospital in addition to the image is the text [[Image: 225px|]] which should be removed. I can't figure out the problem, but it might have something to do with {{Infobox Hospital}}. The {{Location map}} code used in the infobox seems to render ok by itself.--Commander Keane (talk) 08:10, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Hiya! The first thing that was wrong is that the map should not be against the "image" parameter. You need to use the "map_type" parameter. Also, instead of Location map|Berkshire, it wanted just "Berkshire". Why, I'm not entirely sure, but I went to a hospital I'm familiar with, Frenchay Hospital, and looked at how they did it! Hope that helps. Maedin\^talk 08:29, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Change in policy?

I'm seeing these news articles about Wikipedia implementing editing oversight. Where's the official discussion or FAQ? Clarityfiend (talk) 11:11, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

It's just a two month trial (initially, at least) and naturally the media organizations are going to town with it. See Wikipedia:Flagged protection and patrolled revisions. The trial is not yet exactly scheduled. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 11:15, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

This discussion may be informative as well. TNXMan 13:20, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Using wikipedia articles on travel info websites

Hi,

I'm creating my own travel portal website on India in which I want to give information on all states, districts, places to visit and many more. I want to know if I can use Wikipedia articles for my website. I'm ready to give credit to Wikipedia in the credit page of my website. Please let me know if there is any policy or rule to use the content of Wikipedia.

Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.160.127.70 (talk) 11:54, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

You can reuse Wikipedia content if you follow specific rules regarding attribution and such. See Wikipedia:Reusing Wikipedia content. Xenon54 / talk / 11:56, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

You might want to look at Wikitravel, as well, as that site is more travel-specific. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 19:22, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

qui

How do you add qui (online/offline) system?Accdude92 (talk) (sign) 13:15, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Follow the instructions at User:TheDJ/Qui. And remember that Wikipedia is not Facebook so don't be going online and offline every 5 minutes and don't have friend lists of 300 users, because you can be blocked. Xenon54 / talk / 13:25, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Discussion Pages

I notice that there is a project page for each wikiproject. I also notice that these project pages have discussion pages. Is the discussion page only for discussing the wikiproject page, or is it for discussing the entire wikiproject? Is the discussion page just for suggesting improvements to the project overview article, or can it be used to make suggestions about what kinds of articles should be included in the project, what image should represent the project, and so forth? MathEconMajor (talk) 13:25, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

It's a place for pretty much any discussion about the WikiProject. Discussion about specific articles should go on the article's talk page. Xenon54 / talk / 13:28, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Deleting an article

A while back I created the article Nickolay Mladenov, however I have just become aware of the existence of another article on the subject listed as Nikolay Mladenov. I would therefore like to delete the former article if possible. Many Thanks Flaming Ferrari (talk) 13:48, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

I've redirected your page to Nikolay Mladenov, instead of deleting it (the title appears to be common misspelling). Let me know if that's what you wanted. TNXMan 13:58, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Good idea! thanks! Flaming Ferrari (talk) 14:12, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

How do I change the list of Alternative Medical Syatems

Under the Category:Alternative medical systems, there are currently 7 subcategories. I would like to add an additional subcategory entitled "Colon hydrotherapy" as a recognized sub category to Alternative Medicine. Please let me know how this can be accomplished. Thank you for your time. Dick hoenninger (talk) 15:16, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

You create a category the same way you create an article (at this red link - Category:Colon hydrotherapy). Then, you just add the cat to the pages (removing the parent cat). hmwitht 15:21, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Addendum: You add a category to a page by adding [[Category:Colon hydrotherapy]] to the bottom of the page by the rest of the cats. hmwitht 15:22, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

I have completed those tasks, and the changes have not been reflected. I understand it may take some time to be updated. Any idea how long that should take?

Once again, thank you for your time.Dick hoenninger (talk) 16:06, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Image help

Am trying to replace existing pictures with new ones, can anyone assist?

Its not high level stuff just a soccer club crest and colours.

MG —Preceding unsigned comment added by FTFC Fan (talk • contribs) 15:48, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

You need to become autoconfirmed by making 10 edits and waiting 4 days from account creation. For the crest, go to File:Fleettownfc.jpg and click "upload a new version of this file". See Wikipedia:Uploading images for more. Changing the kit colours is very complicated, and I suggest you go to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Football for help. Xenon54 / talk / 16:46, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Project tags

Is there a script that helps you add project tags to the talk pages of articles (sort of like User:TheDJ/HotCat)? Theleftorium 16:11, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Is AssessorTags what you are looking for? It seems to be pretty new and only supports a few WikiProjects, but you can suggest a project to be added. Xenon54 / talk / 16:37, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Stubs

How can I indicate a stub ? Wild mine (talk) 17:05, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Just add the appropriate stub template at the bottom of the article. They'll look like this: {{stub}} and you can read more about them on this page. TNXMan 17:13, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Speedy Deletion?

The photo at Harvey Milk#Briggs Initative has been tagged as up for Speedy Deletion by a bot, but It doesn't seem to be when you got to the image's page. It has OTRS approval or something. What gives?----occono (talk) 17:17, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

It was up for speedy deletion, so the bot tagged the image wherever it was used. A little while ago, permission to use the image was received, and the speedy tag was removed from the image. I'm fairly sure the bot would have removed the tag from the article itself on its next run, but I've gone ahead and removed it now. So, all settled I think. --Floquenbeam (talk) 17:24, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Ah, alright, thanks.----occono (talk) 17:31, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Twinkle

Can any autoconfirmed user use Twinkle? Dogposter 18:16, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

As far as I know, yes, but I also remember hearing that there is a blacklist for users that have misused it. Kotiwalo (talk) 18:22, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Should this be deleted?

Etc (band). It has lots of problems.----occono (talk) 18:24, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Depends. If the subject is notable, it's better to fix those problems instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Kotiwalo (talk) 18:26, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

I reverted it a few dozen edits. Better?----occono (talk) 18:33, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

My First Question

I need all details about windows 2003 server an example Shortkey, features, and etc —Preceding unsigned comment added by Signnature (talk • contribs) 18:38, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

http://microsoft.com or have you tried the computing section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.. – ukexpat (talk) 19:08, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Mars?

I see a very bright star moving from east to west in the southern sky. Is this Mars or what am I seeing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.165.150.0 (talk) 20:02, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Possibly. You may want to read our article on Mars or ask at the science reference desk, as they may be able to answer your question. TNXMan 20:08, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

If you are in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere you may be seeing Jupiter, which is currently very noticeable in the southern evening sky. This site has useful maps of the current sky seen from various latitudes, and Jupiter's position is clearly marked in this one. Karenjc 21:14, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Conflicting image names

There is an image on commons which I want to use in an article. Unfortunately, there is another image on the English Wikipedia with the same name. How can I get to use the commons image? --Geronimo20 (talk) 22:53, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

The English Wikipedia image is only used on one article (Bass guitar) at the moment - perhaps it could be renamed as 'Stingray guitar'? I'm not sure how to go about that though. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 23:02, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

I can't find a way listed to rename it. I'm guessing that perhaps an admin will have to delete it and restore it to a different name (unless they can directly rename it). -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 23:08, 27 August 2009 (UTC)