Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 December 3

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

December 3

Finding mediawiki messages

How do you guys find things in the mediawiki namespace? For instance, say I wanted the easiest way to find what mediawiki message generates the text at Special:LonelyPages or Special:UnusedCategories. Can you tell me your method of finding it?--141.155.144.171 (talk) 00:33, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Most comes from Special:AllMessages. Sometimes (at times of slowdown or error) the system has to fallback on the language defaults, which are in php files distributed as part of MediaWiki itself (and thus aren't in the database). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 00:41, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Use the search at Wikipedia:MediaWiki messages. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 00:45, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

publishing problem / save page caution message

Hello to all Wikipedians;

I am experiencing following problem - I am trying to publish an article - however when I click on "Save page" following message appears:

"Caution: An automated filter has identified this edit as a possible autobiography. Please be aware that writing autobiographies is strongly discouraged, and may result in the article being deleted. For more information, please see Wikipedia policy on autobiographies and Wikipedia policy on conflicts of interest."

And the article does not go live. My article is not an autobiography so I am not sure what to do to resolve this problem.

Can anyone help with an advice?

Thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Labelzine (talk • contribs) 00:45, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

This message is usually triggered when you are editing on a subject that matches your username. If that is the case, I suggest your read Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. If the article you are creating is not an autobiography or a conflict of interest, then that message will not stop you from creating it. Press "Save page" again after you see the message, and the article will be created. --Mysdaao ^talk 02:04, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Considering your test edit in the Sandbox, I think you should seriously consider reading Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. Dismas|^(talk) 03:04, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Editing toolbar

What generates the edit toolbar? I know it is really just a selection of images (which can be found here), but how are the captions generated? -- Anxietycello (talk) 00:46, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Brown Lake

How large is Brown Lake in Steuben County, IN? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.54.119.113 (talk) 01:36, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Wikipedia:Reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer 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. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. --Mysdaao ^talk 01:55, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Question about TV Show pages (and possibly Merge/Delete?)

I'm pretty new here so I'm not sure what to do (or where to address this), and I don't want to get anyone upset! I've found 2 pages for the episodes of 10 Things I Hate About You (TV series) and I'm trying to figure out if there really is supposed to be/needs to be 2 of them. The two articles are:

10 Things I Hate About You (Season 1)

List of 10 Things I Hate About You episodes

The second page seems redundant to me, with show descriptions appearing to be directly from the first page. I don't see any added content/necessary info in the second page. From what I can see by surfing around Wikipedia, TV shows often have pages for each season of episodes. So eventually there would be a Season 2 page for 10 Things. Does there need to be a complete compilation also?

My personal thought would be to delete the second page (List of 10 Things I Hate About You episodes). (According to proper protocols, of course.) I don't think there is even a reason to merge anything. But as a newbie, am I just missing something here? Like I said, don't want to get anyone angry. Any input would be appreciated, even if it is to just 'mind my own business'. --Logical Fuzz (talk) 03:42, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

• You have brought up a valid point. At this time I would agree that without a second season, it is redundent having both articles. The difficult issue then becomes do you propose deletion (PROD or Afd), ask to move it to the creator's sandbox to a time when the article is warrented, or leave it knowning there is a high likelyhood that unless the series is cancelled, that both the series episodes list and the season 1 articles will be needed. A look at the featured Project Lost will show why it is helpful to have both, once the series has progressed. The list giving one a quick summary of all the episodes with links to their articles, while the individual season articles give a synopsis of the season and a recap of the seasons episode in a little more detail, along with production and cast information. My oppinion would be to keep it for now; however, that is just my rational. Kindly Calmer Waters 07:18, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your response. From the Lost example, I can see why a second page might be needed. While this show has no where near the fan base (or eventual longevity) of Lost, I guess it does makes sense to keep it just in case for now. The descriptions would eventually be removed from the second article as the episode list grows, bringing the page more in-line with other shows. Thanks for your input, I needed another set of eyes. --Logical Fuzz (talk) 12:20, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

LOGIN info, please

Dear Wikipedia support, Pleased to meet you. Requesting my login information, please. Thank you, annett strahan —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.3.76.36 (talk) 03:45, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

We can't retrieve it for you. If you registered an account with an email address, you can go to the login page and request that a new password be emailed to you. --AndrewHowse (talk) 04:27, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

This will also require you to remember your registered username, however.—WAvegetarian (talk) 04:29, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

You can create an account at Special:UserLogin/signup. 04:35, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Username problem

I am also having a problem. The system will not let me create a new user account under the name I am trying for (42). It says the account is already created when I try to create an account, and checking the list, there is no "created on" information with the account name in question. When I try to log-in using the name, it tells me that account already exists. My e-mail is . Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. 69.182.192.195 (talk) 04:08, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

That username exists. See Special:ListUsers. Creation dates were only made available for accounts created after a cutoff. Please choose another name. --AndrewHowse (talk) 04:26, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm not surprised the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything was taken long ago. If you really want it then see Wikipedia:Changing username/Usurpations. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:32, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I am using that name on another wiki, looks like will have to rework it for this one. Oh well. Might see about getting it, since there seems to be little to no activity on the current "42" name. Thanks both for the help and suggestions. 69.182.192.195 (talk) 05:46, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Spamfilter

When I wrote an AFD comment for Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Zanimana: The Blue-eyed Cat, I accidentally triggered the spamfilter by including a link to lulu.com. Well, in that case, I'll remove it. When I hit the back button, my entire contribution was gone, even though edits are usually remembered by my browser. Not only does this make discussing the particular information from the link more complicated than it needs to be, it forced me to write a rather lengthy paragraph twice and waste time I could've spend doing other stuff. Is it possible for the filter to be adapted so contributions don't disappear on an accidental trigger? Besides, we have an abusefilter now. We can disallow the use in articlespace specifically. Why is it even blocked? There are plenty of valid reasons to link there. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:05, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

The back button in Firefox 3.5.5 works for me in a test and goes to an edit page with my text. Are you sure you used the browser back button and not the link on the spam filter page saying "Return to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Zanimana: The Blue-eyed Cat". PrimeHunter (talk) 12:34, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

• Yes, browser back button. I did something even worse, I used IE... But surely that should make no difference? - Mgm|^(talk) 13:09, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

IE is known for not keeping form data when the back button is clicked. See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 67#Functions. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:25, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

User page Page protection

Are admins the only ones who can protect their own user pages and talk pages?Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 14:14, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes. Admins (and bureacrats, as well as stewards I think) are the only editors who can protect any page. Any other user needs to request page protection. -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 14:27, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, just admins and stewards. The 'bureaucrat' flag doesn't give the 'protect' right, but, since all 'crats are admins, they can protect pages. User talk pages are not generally protected, except in response to heavy vandalism or trolling by sockpuppets.--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail} 14:54, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I didn't mention that, as I don't think there's ever been anyone with the 'crat flag who didn't have the admin flag - and I can't see a situation arising where someone would only have a 'crat flag, as I assume if they gave up the admin bit, they'd also give up the 'crat one! -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 15:30, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, if there was a non-admin 'crat (doubt it. If they can't survive RfA, there's no way they can survive RfB), they would probably give themselves the sysop flag.--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail} 16:30, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Theoretically, arbcom could de-sysop but not de-crat. Likewise, theoretically, the discussion allowing de-sysoping by a community process oculd allow removing the admin bit but not the crat bit. In reality, I expect any admin who loses that bit to surrender or at least not contest the stripping of bits that either practically or historically require adminship unless the process that stripped the mop allowed him to keep the shovel or other high-level privilege. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs)/(e-mail) 14:55, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Migration

I tried to sign in @ Wikileaks and my user account has not migrated to that site. Can I migrate my account manually ? Mark Pearcy (talk) 16:49, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Wikileaks seems to use the MediaWiki software, but their accounts have no connection with Wikipedia accounts. If you want an account there, you create it there. —teb728 t c 17:21, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Yep as far as I'm aware Wikileaks and Wikimedia aren't affiliated in any way. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 18:25, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

google searching locates text in a wikipedia entry, but wikipedia entry does not include the text (why?)

I am a professor grading a student's paper. I suspect plagiarism. When I search for long phrases in his paper, Google says the paragraphs are found on the following site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desegregation

But when I go to the site, none of the text is there, nor can I find it on any of the links from that particular wikipedia entry. Where is it? And why does Google still find it? (and how the heck did my student find it?)

Here's an example of some of the missing sentences: "Beginning in Philadelphia after the American Revolueiont, the black community created a separate system of religious denominations, in part because of discrimination." "The black churches grew after the Civil War because freedmen wanted their own organizations. The churches were also an expression of a distinct black spirituality. Since then, blacks developed their own churches within nearly all of the leading Protestant denominations."

Any help you can offer (maybe finding an earlier, archived version of this site?) will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Pam Pennock University of Michigan-Dearborn 69.14.154.132 (talk) 18:41, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

It's just an archived version that has previously been stored. It's easier for the search engine to pull it up. Since the time it was stored, the text of the actual article (as hosted here) has changed. Atleast that's my interpretation of it, I'm not big on computer science. Grsz¹¹ 18:43, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I have found that text in this version from May, but it was unsourced and that is likely why it was removed. Grsz¹¹ 18:46, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

If you click the "History" tab at the top of the article, you can view prior versions of the article. The specific text you mention is in the version of the article dated November 25th - it was removed by an anonymous editor on Nov 30th.

Within Google, there's frequently a link marked "Cache" which will show the older version of the page which caused Google to find the page originally. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 18:49, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

That specific language was part of the article since it was added in a revision on 13:17, 3 April 2008 by User:Parkwells, and remained part of the article until edited out on 30 November 2009 by an anonymous editor. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:27, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Sometimes viewing Google's cached version of the article is a faster way to see the version that included the text. It will also tell you the time that Google grabbed the file, which can help you quickly find when in the edit history the text was removed. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs)/(e-mail) 14:49, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Cannot access account

I cannot seem to get logged in. I started creating an account this morning on my iPhone, and when I tried logging in to finish, it would not work. I set it up as The company name is Art Box International and the email address for the account is (I tried having a new password sent to me but nothing has come yet!). Please reply to Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.16.84.146 (talk) 19:24, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Publishing your username and pw on the web might not be the best idea. That account, in fact, does not appear to have been created. In any event, it would probably be blocked as a result of this post, since it contravenes our username policy - see WP:USERNAME. Your best bet is to register a new account under a different name, after reading WP:COI. --AndrewHowse (talk) 19:29, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

The account in question does not seem to exist. Please pick a more secure password and a username which does not violate WP:USERNAME when you register. When you edit, bear in mind WP:COI will severely limit the edits you make on topics closely related to you or your company. davidwr/(talk)/(contribs)/(e-mail) 02:53, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

enviromental organizations

i was very impressed with your list of enviromental organizations and wondered if it was possible to gat a list of email addresses to facilitate a mass email inviting participants in an organized effort to reduce carbon footprints and help save the planet! we are a small group of canadians and costa ricans looking to help organize and empower these groups! thank you for your time and effort ... pura vida ... j —preceding unsigned comment added by 201.204.10.174 (talk) 20:09, 3 december 2009 (utc)

Next time, please find your capslock key. It's on your keyboard at the left, and when it's on, people will find it very annoying. To answer your question, no we do not have lists of email address, and we certainly don't hand out such lists for spamming purposes. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:17, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia is part of the open source and free content movements, and in general most people who are involved in these movements behave as if they believe it is better to let interested people "pull" the information they want, rather than try to "push" information at them which they did not request. In other words, it is better to ask people what they want, rather than tell them what you think they should want. If you want to help people cut their carbon footprints, the first step is to inform yourself as completely as possible about all the efforts already underway by other people to do just that (for example, 350.org, Category:Climate change organizations). If you find a group that is already doing what you want to do, you could join that group and start local chapters. If you have thought up some completely new way to cut your carbon footprint, then you might publish it somewhere, but not on Wikipedia because we do not accept original research. Your small group is probably not the only small group that has had the idea to "organize" the efforts of the vast array of environmental organizations which are already active. However, I am sure all of those organizations are already busy with advancing their own agendas. I doubt they are all just sitting around waiting for someone to come in and "organize" them. No offense, that's just the way the world works. The world always has a lot more "thinkers" than "doers". If you're interested in "doing", there are lots of things to do on Wikipedia, but first you would have to understand Wikipedia's neutral point of view. That is not a natural way to think for people who advocate a cause. You can also edit on other wikis that do not have a neutral point of view; see Wikiindex:Category:Environment. You might like Appropedia. There is a Wiki Global Warming which is at the moment spammed and in need of wikilove, but to clean up the spam you would need to get administrator access from whoever owns the wiki. --Teratornis (talk) 21:49, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Infoboxes

Hello, I don't understand why the information I'm putting into the infoboxes does not show up on the page (on some articles). For example, all the titles for Solomon Eliezer Alfandari don't appear in his infobox, whereas the title does appear for Ben Zion Abba Shaul. Also, the word "position" is misspelled several times on the template (Template:Infobox Jewish leader), but I can't seem to fix it. Thanks, Yoninah (talk) 20:30, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

The reason the information you added is not showing up in the infobox on Solomon Eliezer Alfandari is because the infobox expects the field to be called "organisationposition" with an s, while the article is using "organizationposition" with a z. And you most of the misspellings of on Template:Infobox Jewish leader originated from the documentation page Template:Infobox Jewish leader/doc. I have fixed the spelling mistakes. --Mysdaao ^talk 20:48, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

"Template loop detected"

When I tryed to make an infobox for my user page, it didn't work and a message came up saying Template loop detected . Why did this happen? Dannyboy1209 (talk) 20:34, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

You've created template Y that uses template X that uses template Y, creating a cycle. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:35, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

And I would strongly recommend that you don't advertise your age. Very very strongly recommend. Franamax (talk) 20:37, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Actually, its a template X that uses template X. Spitfire^Tally-ho! 20:38, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Alright, I've tagged said template for deletion. May I suggest that you use {{Infobox user}} instead? If you need a hand on how to use the template parameters just ask. Also, I agree with Franamax, you should be careful about revealing your age on the Internet. Kind regards, Spitfire^Tally-ho! 20:45, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Dannyboy, I've switched your user page over to use {{Infobox User}} so the ugly deletion message doesn't show up, hope that's alright. Franamax (talk) 20:48, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia editor review in my Sandbox

Hello,

I would like to contribute articles--namely biographies of leading innovators at several Fortune 500 companies.

I am wondering if I can have someone edit/review my first article contribution to ensure that it won't be deleted.

I would put it in the Sandbox first but wanted to see if someone would have the time to check it out.Renee Weiss (talk) 22:30, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Sure we will take a look, and WP:FEED also exists for feedback requests. Before you begin, please take a look at WP:YFA, WP:BIO, and WP:RS. Also the Article Wizard can help you create articles. – ukexpat (talk) 22:34, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Your best option is to go ahead and create the article in your personal sandbox, and then come back here and ask for a review. There are hundreds of experienced editors that patrol this help desk and many will look it over once it exists. You may want to use Wikipedia:Article wizard 2.0 to help you create the article (use the "Userspace Draft" option), since the Wizard will walk you through some of the common pitfalls users run into when creating new articles. You should also read Wikipedia:Your first article for some more tips. --Jayron32 22:37, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Of course, I would be willing to review your article. As I see you have not yet created it, permit me to give you a few tips. *Biographies of living persons need to be sourced *We have a Manual of Style for your perusal *For first time contributors, see Your first article and How to edit a page *Wikipedia is not... *We have a tool to guide you through, step by step. If you have any questions, you can ask me on my talk page, here again, or on any other help page (such as this one and this one). Cheers, Intelligentsium 22:39, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I think there's an echo...echo...echo...in here! – ukexpat (talk) 01:59, 4 December 2009 (UTC)