Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 August 6

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August 6

Hiding categories

Is there a template or magic word that removes (or hides) all categories in a regular page, even if in templates? • S • C • A • R • C • E • 01:23, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I don't think so. What do you want to do that for? Algebraist 01:25, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

No. See bugzilla:835 for a discussion. Nothing has been implemented so far. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:53, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Where did you did that up?! Good to know. For Userpages and Portals • S • C • A • R • C • E • 02:31, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm sure you can add a CSS rule so that you don't see the category section on any page. Let me know if that is what you are looking for. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 02:48, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

If you do, the code would be

div.catLinks {display: none}

Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 02:58, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

override this function

When I go to Apollo 5, I get the message "Override this function". It has happened on a few other articles, but not all. IS there a problem? Bubba73 (talk), 02:14, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Well, now it is working.Bubba73 (talk), 02:15, 6 August 2009 (UTC)  Fixed

It was apparently a temporary problem. Others reported it at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). PrimeHunter (talk) 02:24, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I saw it too • S • C • A • R • C • E • 02:29, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I just saw it for the first time 3 minutes ago on Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous) so it may not be so temporary as I thought. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:35, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

It happens repeatedly when using HotCat • S • C • A • R • C • E • 02:43, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I encountered it trying to go to the Nissen hut article. Hellbus (talk) 03:06, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Just hit Refresh and it'll go away. It's probably a temporary server bug or something. rʨanaɢ ^talk/_contribs 03:36, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

The main page is blocked and hitting Refresh does not solve the problem. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.70.118.178 (talk) 04:26, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

PAGE DELITED WITHOUT ANY REASON

The page Serbian surnames has been deleted without any reason, and there has not been any reason for it written on the deletion log. I am just a user, not an author of the page, but I managed to read the text from the Google's cache. Please return the page, that is proper. The page is lacking some smaller details, that you can edit, but basically it's fine. Note to "Jforgot", please don't do that. GREETINGS TO YOU ALL, YOU ARE DOING PRECUS JOB!!!

IĆ 195.74.239.50 (talk) 03:26, 6 August 2009 (UTC) Please do not type in all caps, as it is considered rude. If you view the page, you'll notice that the deletion reason contains a link to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Serbian surnames, at which the reasons for deletion are discussed in depth. Dcoetzee 03:35, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Please don't use all upper case. The deletion log for Serbian surnames shows it was deleted at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Serbian surnames. See also Wikipedia:Why was my page deleted? PrimeHunter (talk) 03:37, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Can you change a page as I do not know how to edit a page?

Hi! There is an error on a page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palbasha_Siddique) on your site. The page says she is an "american singer", when in fact she isn't. She doesn't have an american cititzenship but rather a green card (lawful permanent resident) that is a conditional one. So, more than likely, she will have the green card and not be able to apply for her US citizenship for a while, making her a Bangladeshi passport holder for a while. I did not know how to "edit" that page to reflect that. So, I am letting you guys know so that you can fix it. I know about her immigration status as she is a local person and well known in the local Bangladeshi community and she has talked about it, at some point, with some folks, including a friend of mine.

So, please update the page, when you get this. Thanks. Sincerely, - RR 66.41.60.223 (talk) 04:20, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! A few points:

• "American" does not necessarily mean "of American citizenship", but I agree that the article should be more nuanced.
• On Wikipedia, anyone can edit (almost) any article! At the top of the page there is an "edit" button, which you can click to edit the article. So you can go ahead and change the information if you wish.
• When you add or change information, keep in mind that on Wikipedia, all information must be verifiable, ie it must first be published somewhere else before it can be added here. I'm afraid that "knowing through a friend" isn't good enough - particularly when an article is about a living person, the information needs to be somewhere else first. Her official website, an article in a newspaper, etc.
• If you don't have a source for this information, you can still mention it on the article's "talk page" (at Talk:Palbasha Siddique. Talk pages are places where the editors of an article can discuss its contents. Post a message there, and perhaps one of the other editors can track down a reliable source for the information.

Hope that helps! — QuantumEleven 08:29, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I copy-pasted the info above to the talk page.--SPhilbrickT 15:29, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

enquiry about the identity

[[Media:Media:Example.ogg]]

Could you tell me the identity of the attached fern plant. (e-mail redacted) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.197.151.51 (talk) 07:30, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid something went wrong with the link. Also, I recommend you head over to the Science reference desk, where all the experts hang out; they should be able to help you. Lastly, please don't post your e-mail address, you will only get spammed. — QuantumEleven 08:21, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Thomas Chippendale

It looks like the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Chippendale article is broken, can someone look into it ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.127.10.94 (talk) 08:08, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

The article looks fine to me - how is it "broken"? Try clearing your browser cache to see if that solves the problem. — QuantumEleven 08:18, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Tool to find all pages which two editors edited

Hi there. I think I remember that there was a tool somewhere that allowed you to input two editor names and it would list all pages which those two editors have both edited. Has anyone a link handy? Regards SoWhy 08:42, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I found this among the gazillion tools I've bookmarked in my browser :) I think (if I remember correctly) that this was used for the purpose you mention, but it doesn't seem to be working anymore. Doesn't help you much if that is the case, but maybe it'll work for you. ≈ Chamal ^talk 11:26, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Fairly recently, tedder (talk · contribs) demonstrated a tool, with very advanced capabilities related to the analysis of interaction between two users. I have no idea how it works, or if that was what you were thinking of, though. decltype (talk) 11:34, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

(thanks to Decltype for pointing me here). Wikistalk, as Chamal pointed out, is great for finding ALL pages that both editors have edited. My WikiBacon is for finding the "best fit" articles between the two editors. HTH. tedder (talk) 16:08, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Ah yes, Wikistalk. Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, it's down but at least I know which tool it was. Regards SoWhy 17:57, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Citations and external links

Resolved

Thanks Chamal.

Are external links and cites allowed to foreign language sites. (Off2riorob (talk) 10:44, 6 August 2009 (UTC))

Yes, provided that there is no equivalent in english. In the case of references, english sources are obviously preferred since this is the english Wikipedia, but non-english sources can be used if english sources can't be found (See WP:NONENG). For the relevant guideline on external links, see Wikipedia:EL#Non-English_language_content. ≈ Chamal ^talk 11:09, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

E-MAIL ADDRESS'S USEING INTERNET STICKS

DO I HAVE TO HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS VIA SKY,VIRGIN,BT ETC TO USE A INTERNET STICK,CAN THE PROVIDER OF THE STICK PROVIDE ME WITH AN E-MAIL ADDRESS? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.154.206.253 (talk) 11:06, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

The appropriate venue for this question is the Computing Reference Desk. But if I understand your question right, the two are not connected. An "Internet Stick" is a device you use to connect to the internet, and you can create an email address for yourself using any e-mail service provider (which you can access through any connection). If your service provider can give you both then answer is yes, but that's something you have to ask from that company. ≈ Chamal ^talk 11:20, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

How to create Musician list in wikipedia?

I want to use Wikipedia database to contribute some categoried pages in wikipedia. like singer of different type. as for example rock, folk, pop... How can i do that? is there any programming language using scope? I know c++ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fuzkabir (talk • contribs) 11:58, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

We have categories. See Category:Rock singers, Category:Pop singers and Category:Folk singers for the examples you mentioned. Is this what you mean? ≈ Chamal ^talk 12:59, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Image with no license

The owner of this image didn't provide any license. Should I remove this image from articles? + What is the default license for this image ? Arteyu ? _{Blame it on me !} 12:01, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

There is no "default license" that we can assume if none is specified by the uploader. Image should be tagged with {{di-no license}} and deleted after a few days if uploader fails to add a license tag.--59.95.118.66 (talk) 13:14, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I have tagged the image and notified the user. I'd AGF and say the user is not familiar with the uploading process, but just to be on the safe side. If he can provide a licence, it's just a matter of removing the tag. I don't think it's a copyvio. ≈ Chamal ^talk 13:24, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Deletion of a page on a company

I added a page on a company that was entirely factual (Greystone.Net). I was notified that it was subject to immediate deletion, and I commented on that. I didn't get any response to my comments, and the page was deleted without me having the opportunity to change anything or ask any questions. What are my options now, or do I need to start over?

Bladelink (talk) 13:21, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

You can ask the deleting admin, IronGargoyle, to copy a version of the deleted article to your userspace, where you can work on improving it. They'll usually do this as long as the page wasn't offensive or a copyright infringement. Gonzonoir (talk) 13:26, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Since the page was deleted as promotional or advertising material, you can then take a look at our WP:CORP and WP:SPAM guidelines to find out the rules on articles about companies. Our guide to writing your first article may also give you some useful pointers. Gonzonoir (talk) 13:27, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Apparently it was deleted for promotional tone, or the editors who tagged and deleted the page thought it was advertising. You could try to create it again, but don't forget WP:NPOV and add as many sources independent of the company as you can so the page meets the notability criteria. --59.95.118.66 (talk) 13:27, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I can't see your deleted page, but if it was the same as your draft page, User:Bladelink/Greystone.net, the latter is certainly promotional. And what's more it is largely a copyright violation of the company's about page. So yes, in that case you need to start over, writing in your own words in an encyclopedic, non-promotional tone. If however (as I suspect) you have a close connection with the company, you have a conflict of interest and should not be writing about it at all. —teb728 t c 16:54, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

vatiswa

what does vatiswa mean —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.210.90.180 (talk) 13:47, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia doesn't have an article on vatiswa. Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about 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. hmwitht 13:52, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Music Council Of Australia

Somehow I've made a mess of creating this entry. I wrote in as a subpage of my own. Then I selected an item of that name in an entry that containes it (the David_Worrall_(Composer) entry) and made a new (public) page by copy and pasting the contents of my private page of that name. It jumps to the correct version when I select it from that page, however when I put Music Council Of Australia in the search requester, it directs me to my private page, not the public one. What have I done wrong and how do I correct it? Yergnaws (talk) 15:10, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Works just fine for me. Either entering "Music Council of Australia" or "music council of australia" (without the quotes) goes directly to the page in the mainspace. Also, instead of copying and pasting, you can move to the mainspace, unless you are a very new user, I think.Naraht (talk) 15:16, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Whether I search for the page or click a link from another page, I see the page show up normally at Music Council Of Australia. It appears to be working fine now. Are you still having issues? hmwitht 15:26, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

The meaning of your post was unclear to me but I see you created both Music Council of Australia and Music Council Of Australia with different capitalization in of/Of. They were separate pages with separate page histories and content. I have redirected Music Council Of Australia to Music Council of Australia. If you want to copy something from the page history of the former to the article at the latter title then the page history is here. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:34, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Oh I see the error. a big "o"  :-) I'll just mark the wrong one for deletion - is that OK? Yergnaws (talk) 15:46, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

It's OK to leave the redirecting Music Council Of Australia as it is. A non-mixed case redirect to a mixed case page name has advantages due to the way the Go function in the search box works. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:52, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Looks like the wrong one has gone. Thanks for your help. Must say that when case is sensitive is not at all intuitive.Yergnaws (talk) 16:01, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Both page names are still there but Music Council Of Australia is a redirect to the lower case "o" version. This is OK. There should never bee non-redirecting different case versions of the same article. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:12, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Re: adding a link to the Container Garden page

Hi, I added a link to an educational site on container gardening by editing the page. When I previewed the page, it was listed, so I saved it and saw that it appeared. However, when I went out of that page, did a search, it doesn't appear on the page. I'm not sure what the problem is. I think the info. would be useful. Please advise.

VSVSContainerGarden (talk) 18:00, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I've actually cleaned up the external links section per our policy. I would encourage you to read that before reinserting the link. TNXMan 18:08, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

The search index can take a while to be updated to show recent changes. Because of the size of the database and rate of changes it can actually take several days for the index to catch up. If you can see it when you view the article then eventually it will be updated in the index. RJFJR (talk) 21:10, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Trouble finding confirmation totals of past SCOTUS justicies

Sonia Sotomayor recieved 68 votes (68%), Where can I find a list of confirmed justices and their confirmation votes.--68.209.2.187 (talk) 19:31, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

You can probably find the totals in each justice's individual article. For example, this page lists Scalia's confirmation vote as 98-0. TNXMan 19:44, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

edit warring

how do you report edit warring? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Star123456789 (talk • contribs) 20:15, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

You can make a report at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring. Deor (talk) 21:21, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Valid source or not?

Does Wikipedia count as a valid source for school papers? Even though it is revised constantly, anyone can edit it, and although it has a .org top level domain, which is required for a source to be valid, according to my teacher in the University, citations and sources cannot always be counted as valid. But there's nowhere that says "Wikipedia is a valid source" or its counterpart. So who is to decide? And has it been decided? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.172.78.168 (talk) 20:57, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Does WP:CITEWIKI help? – ukexpat (talk) 21:01, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

My opinion is no, not for anything beyond middle school. It's an excellent place to start to do research, and it should provide you with a lot of sources to review, but a formal paper should be citing primary and secondary sources—Wikipedia is a tertiary source. By the way, many teachers say that Wikipedia should not be used as a reference- I agree, but but for the same reason that Encyclopedia Britannica should not be used as a reference. Both are tertiary sources. The argument that WP can be edited is a weak argument, IMO. --SPhilbrickT 23:25, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Changing the Title of a page

My own name is listed as a title, with an incorrect descriptor in the title. Lisa Miller (parapsychologist) is not correct, as it should instead read Lisa Miller (psychologist). Kindly may I ask your help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.86.126.94 (talk) 22:19, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

First of all, you should bring up the issue at the article's talk page. There, you (might) discuss the issue with anyone interested. If it is decided that the article title is incorrect, a page move is in order. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 22:23, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Please do bring it up on the article's talk page (that link is to the specific talk page, rather than to a discussion of talk pages in general). You appear to have been editing the article already, which is strongly frowned on, as a conflict of interest. I understand that you are concerned about what the article says about you, and according to WP:BLP any information about a living person which is both false and unsourced can be deleted immediately; but as far as possible you should avoid editing the article yourself, but discuss the changes you want to see in the article on its talk page. --ColinFine (talk) 23:11, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Movie Quotes

How do I submit. I tries to start a Wooderson headline on the Dazed and Confused page, but could't. I'm a movie quotation savant, they are a part of my everyday ineraction with people.

                                       "Good Morning Mr. Martin."

                                       "You better have your woodscrews in, cause I'm gonna blow your doors off!"
     

                                       "What?"  

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Ckm0092 (talk • contribs) 22:40, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Question above reformatted. If you have information to add to Dazed and Confused (film) which is encyclopedic and has a reliable source, then go ahead and edit the article to add it, citing its source. But if it is just a bit of dialogue you are fond of, it probably does not belong in Wikipedia. --ColinFine (talk) 23:04, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

If you are thinking about adding quotes from a movie, Wikiquote would be the place for you. ≈ Chamal ^talk 01:10, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

How to add photos and certain descriptions to articles

Resolved

I just added an article for a director/author. I went to upload a photo of him and it says I'm not authorized to do so, as I haven't been confirmed or auto-confirmed. How do I get authorized so I can add his photo to the right of his page, just as other director's have. Also, how do I add his name the "Director's list" "Author's list" and "Living persons list"? Thanks! Timemachine1967 (talk) 23:47, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:User access levels#Autoconfirmed users and Wikipedia:Categorization. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:03, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, but I need a wikipedia page that tells me exactly how to list an existing article in different categories (i.e., Living person, American filmmaker, screenwriter, musician, author). How do I do it? Is it done in the editing template? How? Timemachine1967 (talk) 00:33, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

The page PrimeHunter linked does tell you explicitly, but I'll describe it. Go the article, click edit this page, go to the bottom, add

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Jay}}

[[Category:name of category]]

[[Category:name of category]]

[[Category:name of category]]

[[Category:name of category]] (obviously replacing "name of category" with the appropriate category for the article subject).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:00, 7 August 2009 (UTC)