Wikipedia

Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 May 8

< Wikipedia:Help desk | Archives
Help desk
< May 7 << Apr | May | Jun >> May 9 >
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.


May 8

edit

David Krikorian

edit

I work for David Krikorian and his bid for congress in 2010. I am to put up a David Krikorian wikipage but when I search his name it just takes me to the results for the 2008 election. I do not know how to edit his name so that he can have his own page and not have the page auto direct to the 2008 results! Can anybody help me please? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sportsblogger327 (talk • contribs) 02:31, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Please read WP:COI and note that you are strongly discouraged from editing/creating articles where you have a conflict. – ukexpat (talk) 02:40, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Please read also Wikipedia’s notability guideline for biographies. As minor party candidate Mr. Krikorian is unlikely to be notable enough to have an article on Wikipedia, in which case an article about him would be deleted (as hundreds of articles are deleted every day). If you honestly think he meets our notability standards, and if you think you could write an article that meets our neutral point of view policy despite your conflict of interest, you could create an article by going to David Krikorian, which is the 2008 election page; then going to the top of the page and clicking on the David Krikorian link there. This will take you to the redirect, which you could replace with an article. —teb728 t c 04:42, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I created a wp:Stub page for you at David Krikorian. Just add what you want to it, and I will check it to see that it conforms to Wikipedia policies as much as I can. Begin with his biography and leave out any attacks against his opponents (but I expect that you already know that!) Sincerely, GeorgeLouis (talk) 05:44, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Living person's biography

edit

How long or detailed should a living person's article be to not be considered a stub? For example, suppose there is a 280 word biography of a person, plus a photo and additional information in an infobox, and two inline citations?--DThomsen8 (talk) 02:59, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Same as for any stub, see WP:STUB. What you have described does not appear to fit the description. – ukexpat (talk) 03:30, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Double Oval.jpg

edit

Can someone help me by putting File:Double Oval.jpg on Commons? 217.68.49.85 (talk) 07:37, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, you can use the {{Copy to Wikimedia Commons}} tag on this file, and it will put it in a category of images eligible to be moved. Powers T 11:59, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How do i set up a brand new page?

edit

Hey,

I want to set up a brand new page, about my friend and his life. He was a famous photographer and died 6 months ago.

Thanks,

Christian —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mrsmokealot (talk • contribs) 08:53, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note that Wikipedia is not a memorial, you cannot use personal knowledge but must rely on verifiable material already published by reliable sources, and see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. Below is more general advice about creating new articles.
Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.
Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.
If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:58, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

question

edit

hi, please whatis wiki all about? i want to know cos am picking intrest on it. thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.100.71.44 (talk) 09:37, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:About if you mean Wikipedia. See wiki if you mean wikis in general. Wikipedia is one of many wikis, but probably the best known. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:47, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Citation of Wikipedia in an article

edit

I have been searching to find out what is the correct format for the citation of a Wikipedia article.

Please advise —Preceding unsigned comment added by Panamajack47 (talk • contribs) 10:23, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to cite Wikipedia in a work outside Wikipedia then see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. If you are writing a Wikipedia article then you have to use reliable sources outside Wikipedia. Do not cite one Wikipedia article in another Wikipedia article. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:43, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Compress SVG file

edit

How do I compress SVG file ? I've tried to compress them by using Inkscape, but the compressed image extension became SVGZ and I can't upload it to wikipedia. Thanks. Arteyu ? Blame it on me ! 10:45, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Because the file size is too big Arteyu ? Blame it on me ! 11:10, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Just make a copy of it at a smaller size. GeorgeLouis (talk) 23:17, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Cite Errors

edit

Hi, I've created an article for my local amateur football team. I have sourced info from several sources and attempted to follow the directions for referencing them in the article, but I'm getting the following message -

Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a <references/> tag; see Help:Cite errors.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Michaels_FC"

I've followed the guidelines on the Help:Cite errors page but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm at the end of my tether! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Danny Agger (talk • contribs) 12:03, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed. Just as the error tag says, you have to designate a section for the references to appear in by placing <references/> (or {{Reflist}}) in a references section, which I have done for you.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:06, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have also reformatted all the naked links you added into the article as inline citations. They could still use some work, such as adding titles, accessdates, publishers, titles, dates of publication but they're now working as references. Please see {{Refref}} for some explanatory material. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:31, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
As the error message showed, Help:Cite errors has information on the error and the resolution. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) talk 18:41, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Please review new article

edit
  Resolved
 – ukexpat (talk) 14:59, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask for assistance with changing the status of an article, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_translation one. Since it was marked as orphan, needed to be wikified, was written like a personal essay, and was written as an advertisement, I decided to write a NEW article, using little of the information of the original text. I did so a couple of weeks ago, posted the new article, linked it to as many other articles as I was able to find, and also made subsequent editing of the text. However, the new article appears to have not been read by higher level Wikipedia editors and the OLD remarks are still visible on top of the new article. I would therefore like to ask the text to be reviewed and the remarks removed / updated so that I know if any further editing of the text is necessary. Thank you in advance! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dalai.lamia (talk • contribs) 12:50, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can remove those yourself if you feel that you've made the change. Anyone can remove them. hmwithτ 14:04, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
But please explain on the article's talk page why you are removing them, ie, how have the issues been resolved. – ukexpat (talk) 14:19, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I did not know I could remove these. I will do so and write explanation in the Talk page. A third-person(s) review would still be useful, of course. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dalai.lamia (talk • contribs) 14:25, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

And don't forget to sign your messages on talk pages. – ukexpat (talk) 14:59, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

protection for consumers

edit

I would like to know how I could show, express my ideas. I alone developed a solution to protect consumers of beverages and I believe tha it is not only helpful, but can also save lives. My patent is ASEPTIC PROTECTION SEALING CUP FOR TIN CANS. I have a personal site : www.superlata.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andreluizfigueiredodecarvalho (talk • contribs) 13:44, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid you're in the wrong place. Wikipedia does not publish original thought. However, if your ideas already have been the subject of significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of you and your ideas, then it is possible to create an encyclopedic article about these ideas on Wikipedia. I hope this helped. Goodraise 13:55, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If you would like to write an article, I would suggest you read our guide to writing your first article, our info on writing neutrally, as well as what makes something notable. TNXMan 14:39, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

wikipedia downloadable version?

edit

is it possible to download wikipedia for use in offline wiki-browsing? if so, how would one do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.63.189.106 (talk) 15:13, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Take a look at WP:DOWNLOAD. – ukexpat (talk) 15:50, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Infobox Templates

edit
  Resolved
 – ukexpat (talk) 01:19, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I have made a template called Infobox Government Budget. I'm trying to add a division at the bottom to put notes in, like in the "below" function in the Infobox template. Is there an easy way for me to use that in my template? Short of searching through the source of the Infobox one and trying to cut and paste out the relevant bits? Thanks, TastyCakes (talk) 15:55, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I thought maybe the functions in the Infobox template could be called from other Infobox subject templates, so I added this to the template:

{{#if:{{{notes<includeonly>|</includeonly>}}}| |below = {{{notes}}} {{!}}- }}

But it didn't work... TastyCakes (talk) 16:05, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
nm, I figured it out. TastyCakes (talk) 16:30, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
edit
  Resolved
 – ukexpat (talk) 01:19, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I want to know how I can find all the articles that link to, for example, paper and pencil game. Today I was looking at Bulls_and_cows and notice it linked to paper and pencil games, but wasn't on the list of paper and pencil games. I want to figure out how I can search for all articles that link to paper and pencil game in case there are any other games missing from the list. Thanks. Anythingapplied (talk) 16:27, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Click on "What links here" in the toolbox on the left. AvN 16:32, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I hadn't noticed that, thanks! Anythingapplied (talk) 17:35, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Where do I add this new info to the article Grove City College

edit

The first result in this Google News search shows a Grove City College-related story that has gotten significant media coverage. How do I add that info to the GCC article given its structure? On a related note, how should the layout of the article be? ~EdGl ★ 16:36, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean the "Gay pornstar withdraws from Grove City College"? I guess it would fit under a criticism section. It doesn't really seem to fit anywhere, and I'm not sure if it's really notable enough for inclusion in the article, in a year, say, will anyone remember? TastyCakes (talk) 16:42, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I think this falls under our not-news guidelines. TNXMan 16:43, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict)The story reflects the values of the college, so it does have some relevance. Based on the layout of the article, it would probably fit best under "Recent history," which for some reason includes the policies of the college. Should a new section be made, either for criticism or for rules and policies? (Or maybe, like you said, it shouldn't be mentioned at all...) ~EdGl ★ 17:12, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Edits and Abuse

edit

Hello, I am a Head Teacher at a Comprehensive School in the UK. I notice Wikipedia does Abuse Reports of IP Addresses where often if pupils of a school misbehave on Wikipedia, the school will be contacted. I have been made aware by a number of teachers that there have been problems with students accessing Wikipedia. Whether they are behaving appropriately on it I do not know but I would like to find this out as we expect the best from all pupils at all times, if this is not happening they will be dealt with.

Is there a way I can view an edits log for my school and a way to check whether any abuse reports have been sent - or will be sent (I am not aware of any, but that is not to say that none have been sent). I would be very grateful for any advice and similar help.

Thank You.

Hi there! I see you're editing from this IP: 81.157.119.196. This IP has not vandalized Wikipedia, as there are no warnings on the IP talk page. If you know your school's IP, we can easily check whether the IP has been warned or blocked. As for whether edit reports have been sent, I doubt it, as they rarely are. But don't quote me on this. Cheers. AvN 17:02, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately at the current time I am accessing the site from my home address, but I have phoned my I.C.T. department and they have confirmed the address to be 82.109.174.214.
The IP address you mentioned (82.109.174.214) has been involved in a significant amount of vandalism. It has been blocked numerous times (click). You can see the edits done by the IP here. A quick check shows a lot of page blanking, etc. Where it says Replaced content with ... it means the IP blanked the page and replaced it with certain text. If you wish I could point you to other articles vandalized by the IP, but you could check that by clicking on diff on the left of the article name. Note- The IP address has been blocked from editing till September 2009. AvN 17:23, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I am upset to hear that, and accept my reassurance that this list will be forwarded to the Network Administrators for all appropriate action to be carried out. In a school of 1,100 students, I understand that a number of rogue edits is obviously unavoidable and expected, but can I ask how that amount of edits compares to others schools or colleges?
In my experience schools and colleges vandalize the most on Wikipedia. Your school's students vandalize no more than any other school (in general). I must inform you, however, that the following warn template was placed on the IP talk page, but was removed by the IP 4 days ago.
 
To edit, please create an account at home and log in with it here.

Due to persistent vandalism, anonymous editing from your school, library, or educational institution's IP address is blocked (disabled). You will continue to have access to read the encyclopedia. If you are logged in but still unable to edit, please follow these instructions. To prevent abuse, account creation via this IP address might also be disabled.

If account creation is disabled and you are unable to create an account elsewhere, you can request one by following the instructions at Wikipedia:Request an account. Please check on this list that the username you choose has not already been taken. If editing is required for class projects, please have your instructor or network administrator contact us (with reference to this IP address) at the Unblock Ticket Request System with a contact email address that is listed on your school's website. Thank you for your cooperation.

This should give you adequate information about how to handle the situation. I'd urge you to not worry unduly about this. Kids are kids, and there's a certain novelty about having the power to edit online, and seeing your edits displayed on web pages in real time.
I'm logging off now, so someone else will take over. Good luck, and best to you. AvN 17:40, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for your assistance with this, I will ensure that said template is returned to the page so that students have word of this. If it is removed again, then I will consider advising that Wikipedia is blocked from student accounts for a small amount of time. This should hopefully teach them to not take what Wikipedia offers for granted. Thank you again.

"Edit conflict" on this page

edit

Why are there little links in blue marked "edit conflict" at the beginning of some of the answers on this page? I mean, who really cares to know if more than one editor has replied within seconds of another? Yours, GeorgeLouis (talk) 19:45, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I use those when reading replies to understand that some info may be duplicated across responses. It indicates that the replies should be read in parallel instead of one-after-the-other. TNXMan 19:47, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A very good use of the tags for seasoned editors, but it's not immediately clear that such is the case, and when one clicks on the link, one is taken to a page which tells how to avoid edit conflicts or how to deal with them when they do happen. So the question remains, why are they here on this page, which is dedicated to answering questions, not raising new ones? I would like to propose an end to the use of these little tags on these particular pages, so where do I do that? Yours, GeorgeLouis (talk) 19:59, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You could propose it on our talk page, but the usage of the tags varies from editor to editor. For example, I rarely use the tag, but I know of other people that use it religiously. TNXMan 20:02, 8 May 2009 (UTC)4127345700[reply]
I asked this same question a couple of years ago, and notice I used (edit conflict) a section or two above this one :). Why do I use it now? No good reason, just Wikipedia conventions I guess... ~EdGl ★ 20:12, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I think those of us who use the {{ec}} template or just a humble text (e/c) do so, well, because we can... – ukexpat (talk) 20:15, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, the Bill Clinton version of sex with "that woman"! Thanks to all. I will move this discussion to the talk page. Yours, GeorgeLouis (talk) 20:20, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"Expert Needed" tag

edit

When I tag an article with { {expert-subject|topic} }, will the article be automatically referred to the proper Project or Portal, or will the tag just lie there with nobody notified? Yours questioningly, GeorgeLouis (talk) 19:53, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Much the same as most tags at the top of an article, it places the article into an associated category (Category:Articles needing expert attention), but does not do anything further. If you are aware of a portal/project that may be interested, it might be a good idea to mention it on their talk page. TNXMan 19:57, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, TNXMan! One can find at the bottom of that page a series of links with headings like "Jazz articles needing expert attention." While working at WP:ASE, I marked an article needing attention from an expert on Hindu religions; how would such a category be added to the bottom of the Category:Articles needing expert attention page. I do not see it there. Sincerely, GeorgeLouis (talk) 20:08, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It can be done by using the parameter in the template. You just need to add the name of the appropriate Wikiproject after a pipe. You can see the documentation at {{expert-subject}}. I have to run, but if you have questions, feel free to ask. TNXMan 20:58, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, yes. Exactly what I did, but it hasn't shown up on the Category:Articles needing expert attention page yet. I'm assuming a bot will take care of it; I'm assuming that someday it will show up there; but I'm not assuming that any expert will come calling until another bot also notifies the Hinduism project. This latter is the substance of my question herein. Does anybody know if the notification to an affected Project or Portal takes place, and, if not, how can it be made to occur? Sincerely, GeorgeLouis (talk) 23:35, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong info at PS3 main article.

edit

Playstation 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ps3) main article is giving a wrong information with a missleading reference.

At the main summary box it says that "Motorstorm game" is the best selling video game of the system as of December 31 of 2008; the problem is that the reference used for such statement is linking an "Edge Magazine's" article made in December 20 of 2007. How can a article from 2007 afirm sells made in 2008, that doesn't make sence.

Such statement should be fixed, because is causing disclaimers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pirulee (talk • contribs) 20:53, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have changed the date.[1] The article history and talk page shows some disagreement about which source to use for the best selling game. "as of December 31, 2008" was left from another source.[2] PrimeHunter (talk) 23:57, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk/Archives/2009_May_8&oldid=1079807735"