Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 May 22

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May 22

Help With Math Formatting

The most recent edit to the article drift velocity introduced some formatting errors - the mathematical equations on the page now "fail to parse." I am not sure how to fix this and would appreciate help repairing the formatting errors in the article. Thanks --Pyrochem (talk) 04:58, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

The best advice I have is to direct you to Help:Displaying a formula. hmwithτ 17:42, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Citing foreign language Wikipedia?

Hello, how do you say that an article has been translated (wholly or partially) from another language Wikipedia? There's this new article, Nicole Germain, that was partially sourced from . Is there a template or something, or is it good enough to say "Parts of this article are from (source language) Wikipedia"? Thank you. LovesMacs (talk) 04:28, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

First you can place on the talk page the template {{Translated page}} (parameters: {{Translated page|original language|original page|comment|version=old id}}). In the article, you can place in the references section a note such as the one that appears in Threshing-board. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:38, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

2 x User_talk page questions

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 13:31, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

1) I've tried to leave a message at the bottom of User_talk:Searcher_1990 but my message ("Grant Hadwin") - and another message left by someone else - is getting included into the foot of an elaborate "welcome" message placed by User:Bzuk. How to fix this?

2) How to contact User:Bzuk? When I go to User_talk:Bzuk I'm only offered "view source" (as opposed to "edit"). Is there an equivalent mechanism to "{{editsemiprotected}}" for protected User_talk pages?

Thanks. 58.8.212.175 (talk) 05:58, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

I fixed the welcome template by placing a closing div tag (</div>). As for editing Bzuk's talk page, you could sign up for an account (and then wait out autoconfirmation). Also, if you sign up for an account and enable your email, you can immediately send that user an email. If that is not to your liking, I think it would work to write the message to your talk page, then place {{helpme}}, and explain the issue, asking that the message be placed on the user's talk page by the helper who responds.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 06:36, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Excellent! Thanks for your very prompt and extremely helpful reply, much appreciated. 58.8.212.175 (talk) 10:40, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

You're welcome.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 21:56, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

What does it place JaRon Harris under the last name J and not H?

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Green_Bay_Packers_players&from=H—Preceding unsigned comment added by Jrobb525 (talk • contribs)

I fixed it with this edit. The software automatically sorts by article title unless told differently, which is what I did. For more information, please see Wikipedia:Categorization. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 06:42, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Arbitration/Requests/Case/.../Evidence: Is this an appropriate entry?

I am going to participate in an arbitration case. I have never participated in one before and I am going to be posting to the evidence section. I would like to know if my entry is following the appropriate guidelines and style. In short, am I being overly wordy or did I link to too many difs? I altered the names except my own and all the links to protect the editors in question and avoid getting in trouble with the arbitrators. Thanks, Sifaka ^talk 10:13, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

I added some suggestions to the talk page - nothing major, the summary looks good, just passed along some thoughts. Sphilbrick (talk) 12:07, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Is this vandalism or not?

All previous contributions of Foote2459 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) have been vandalism, can someone check if this diff is ok? thanks F (talk) 11:57, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

• If the user did not leave a good edit summary, explaining why he changed it, I would say that is it okay to revert, but not necessarily enough to give a warning. GandalftheWise : Talk Page 12:33, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Parser Function for AM and PM

Can some one fix this parser function so that when the hour EST is AM it'll output AM and when it's PM it'll output PM:

{{#ifeq:({{CURRENTHOUR}} - 5) mod 12|{{CURRENTHOUR}}-12|PM|AM}}

I just realized that it only outputs whatever in is place of (PLACEHOLDER2):

{{#ifeq:({{CURRENTHOUR}} - 5) mod 12|{{CURRENTHOUR}}-12|(PLACEHOLDER1)|(PLACEHOLDER2)}}

--Melab±1 ☎ 13:51, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

The help desk if for question about how to use Wikipedia. You'd have the best luck at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). hmwithτ 17:34, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

You can use the #ifexpr parser function. The "+ 24" is there because subtracting 5 might give a negative answer. Here is an expression you can use.

{{#ifexpr:({{CURRENTHOUR}} - 5 + 24) mod 24 >= 12|PM|AM}}

Iceblock (talk) 17:46, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Evaluating quality of articles

Please refer me to pages discussing how an editor assigns a quality rating to an article, eg.C.Inver471ness (talk) 14:49, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

I believe the page for which you are looking is Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment. TNXMan 15:02, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Evaluating importance of articles

Please direct me to pages discussing how an editor rates an article's importance.Inver471ness (talk) 14:53, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

The page for which you are looking can be found here. TNXMan 15:04, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

German Wiki: YES - Worldwide Wiki: NO

My website realgems.org (I avoid writing the full URL because of blocking) was whitelisted on German Wiki (months ago). Because of the "automatic Wiki Spam engine" my international excternal link additions were put on Wiki's black list since DECEMBER 2008.

Since then my URL is internationally blocked, except German Wiki. German admins thought and think that all my former link additions to international Wiki pages were OK, and whitelisted my URL.

Question: How long will my URL be blocked by the U.S. administrators so that all other countries don't re-install my links? My website cannot be compared with other spamming sites but was put into the same negative pot, together with porn sites and other bad spammers! :( —Preceding unsigned comment added by F.N. Berg (talk • contribs) 15:24, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

I think the best forum to discuss this would be at this page, where you can request your website be removed. TNXMan 15:27, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

ThanX, man, but I tried that several times. No result. No, negative result. The US leading boyz told me to become active on Wiki - then they would "overthink" the blockade. Well... I did it. Only possible on German Wiki because there my URL isn't blocked anymore. I uploaded a few articles on minerals. No reaction from the US side although this and that is even better than the English articles. What can we say... —Preceding unsigned comment added by F.N. Berg (talk • contribs) 15:34, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

You might compare e.g. the EN and DE WIKI versions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benitoite and http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benitoit especially re the weblinks... and the contents!

So what. —Preceding unsigned comment added by F.N. Berg (talk • contribs) 15:42, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Well, unfortunately, there's not much we can do for you at the Help Desk. The link I provided above is the place where the local blacklist is discussed and if they've refused, I'm not sure what other alternatives you have. TNXMan 16:03, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Firstly your website is not on the en.wikipedia blacklist - it's on the meta blacklist at meta:Spam blacklist, this is why it applies to all language wikipedias and why you had to get added to the de.wikipedia whitelist for links to work there. Secondly, the FAQ on meta says that they will predominately decline any requests from site owners wishing to unlist their website - "Typically, we do not remove domains from the spam blacklist in response to site-owners' requests. Instead, we de-blacklist sites when trusted, high-volume editors request the use of blacklisted links because of their value in support of our projects. Please consider whether requesting whitelisting on a specific wiki for a specific use is more appropriate - that is very often the case." You are welcome to try there though. Nanonic (talk) 16:05, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Additional info for you, it was added to the blacklist on 20 December 2008 after what seems to be a large spamming/link addition spree (see meta:User:COIBot/XWiki/realgems.org). Nanonic (talk) 16:11, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

In light of what Nanonic's pointed out, you might try asking at a relevant wikiproject whether anyone from it wants to request the whitelisting instead. If the resource is useful, I expect uninvolved users could make representations for its whitelisting.

Also, not hugely germane to your point, but thought I'd also wave the flag to point out that we're the English Wikipedia, not the American :) Gonzonoir (talk) 16:13, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Image problems

The article Texas A&M University appears to have two images from the commons that are failing to show through (they just appear as a small vertical gray line). Any assistance would be appreciated. — BQZip01 — ^talk 15:57, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

To which images were you referring? I can see all of the images in the article. TNXMan 16:05, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

I think that it may have been an issue with your Internet connection at the time (it's frustrating, but happens to me sometimes). I can also see all of the images at the moment. hmwithτ 17:30, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Spacing

If you have a Level 2 headline, should there be one, two, or no spaces between it and the text below. Or does it not matter. Or am I in the wrong place to be asking this. Spongefrog (talk) 16:43, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

This is actually the perfect place to ask this. It's pretty standard to leave one line between the text, but you can also do zero lines (just keep it consistent). Either way, it shows up the same. However, don't do two or more, because it's just not necessary. hmwithτ 17:27, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

 –  – 

thanks. Spongefrog (talk) 09:55, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

How to identify editor/edit?

Could someone tell me the most efficient/proper way to identify a specific edit in edit history and the identity of another editor. I've been making external links, but I think there is a better way. Thanks.--Tomaterols (talk) 16:56, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

That is what I do, like this -- kainaw™ 16:58, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

What you are talking about is called a "diff". We have a whole page on it, located at WP:Diff. They are always external links, and that's the only way to link to the actual edit. hmwithτ 17:24, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Using Wikiblame, you can take some text from an article, plug it in, and it'll search for the diff on which it was added. Unless you know the diff is fairly recent, always use an interpolated search.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:00, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Paragraph breaks

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 01:07, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

I can't figure out why two paragraph breaks aren't showing up at the end of Battle of Britain#Background. Clarityfiend (talk) 20:10, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't see any breaks at the end of the esction. What are you trying to do? ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 20:26, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

New paragraphs should begin with "Although Hitler agreed with Raeder..." and "Neither Hitler nor OKW believed...", but instead, three paragraphs are mushed together. Clarityfiend (talk) 20:51, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

It seems to be caused by the <blockquote></blockquote> tags - new <p> tags aren't being added to the subsequent paragraphs, but I'm not sure why. --Kateshortforbob 20:56, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

It is the colon tag in the blockquote. Not seen this before, but I never used them in a quote. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 20:59, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

I added some additional <blockquote></blockquote> tags. It's a bit of a kludge but seems to have fixed it. – ukexpat (talk) 21:04, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Than

ks. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:25, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Someone Left a Message on my IP address discussion page and my edits underneath this person's message won't appear, can someone help me with this problem?

Hi, basically someone left a message on my IP address discussion page and when I typed a message underneath this person's message the edit would not appear on my discussion page and I've tried about everything I could think of for my message to appear under this person's message so that this person could see my response to what this person has typed on my discussion page. When one clicks the "edit this page" button on the discussion page, my edits appear in the edit box, but not on the actual discussion page itself, what should I do for my edits to appear under this person's message? In addition, my edits are copied three times for the three times I have tried for my message to appear under this person's message who left an edit on my discussion page, but to no avail none of my edits appear under the person who has left a message on my discussion page. Thank you to whomever takes the time to help me with this problem and respond to this question.65.110.146.154 (talk) 21:39, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

 Fixed—that person's message ended with an opening ref tag. Dendodge _T\^C 21:45, 22 May 2009 (UTC)