Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 November 13

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November 13

Aviation and Airports

How much does it cost and airliner to use the airport for the planes. Basically how much does it cost to rent a hanger? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.120.16.131 (talk) 01:23, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Miscellaneous 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 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. Someguy1221 (talk) 01:26, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

download

how to download an article from wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shonchrox (talk • contribs) 01:25, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

If you're reading an article while logged in, there will be a link on the left side of the page, to convert the article to a PDF, which you can save on your computer. It's one of the last links on the bottom. Someguy1221 (talk) 01:28, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Picture upload

Hi,

A guest here.

Can someone with the appropriate authorizations please receive from me by mail a serie of photographs I've created and upload them globally & freely, so one can use them within some relevant articles on several language-wikis?

It should be noted that I'm an active editor on some 4 language editions.

Thanks in advance

/O 02:21, 13 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.0.113.254 (talk) :"...I'm an active editor on some 4 language editions." Then log in with your SUL account and upload them yourself (you can request permission at WP:RFPERM). I assume you know how, but in case not, see WP:UPLOAD. Intelligentsium 03:31, 13 November 2009 (UTC) :::...Why assume I know how...??.. -Well no, I knew not about these options. /O 03:36, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Never mind; just log in with your SUL account at Commons: and upload them there. Intelligentsium 03:32, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Aha, thanx. Does it mean I necessarily have to create a registered-account or so? Again - all I requested was that someone with the right authorization get my files through. /Orrling 03:41, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Admin help please re File:Guitarist.jpg

Resolved

 – --Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail Review} 02:51, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

A new user inadvertently uploaded a different image with this name over an existing image. Would an admin please undo? Thanks. – ukexpat (talk) 02:47, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Apparently, any user (or maybe just rollbackers) can revert this.  Done--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail Review} 02:50, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I guess I should have tried before asking - thanks for the tip! – ukexpat (talk) 02:54, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Delete My Page

Tammie Souza (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

How do I delete my entire page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tammie.souza (talk • contribs) 03:17, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

There is no such thing as your page. All pages belong to the Wikipedia community, unless you mean your userpage, in which case you can put {{db-u1}} at the top. Intelligentsium 03:24, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Articles can be nominated for deletion, at which point community discussion will work out where we sit. I've noticed that discussion generally takes the subject's wishes into account, but in this case you are very well respected as a weather forecaster, and it may be that the consensus would be to keep the article. You may find some good advice at the help page for biographies of living people, and I would add that if your concern relates to some of the personal information - such as date of birth - that was included in the article, it may be possible to raise that on the talk page, as we do have policies regarding protecting people's privacy. - Bilby (talk) 03:38, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

You could also try the BLP Noticeboard if there are persistent BLP problems with the article. --Bfigura ^(talk) 03:57, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

As an aside, the editor seems to want to remove information about her son (which seems reasonable, since it's a birthday, which isn't necessarily public info) and her prior acting career (about which I'm less certain -- there appears to be a reference or two supporting it). -- Bfigura ^(talk) 03:59, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

WP:OVERSIGHT and WP:OTRS would be good links, then, as well. UltraExactZZ ^Said ~ Did 21:21, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Whats with the WP Forever thing

That damn Wikipedia forever bar at the top of the site reads like a bad batman movie title. Whose bright idea was it to add that here? And how long is the stupid eyesore going to be around? - Daniel Cordova —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.108.67.131 (talk) 03:45, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

As long as the foundation wants it to be, but roughly a week I think. You can permanently remove it by going into your preferences, going to gadgets, and selecting the box to hide the banner. -- Bfigura ^(talk) 03:52, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

...if you have an account. (if I'm not mistaken) Dismas|^(talk) 05:25, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

If it helps, none of us who write Wikipedia like it much either -- but we can't do much about it. :-( -- llywrch (talk) 05:48, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, it isn't an advertisement, or if anything, it's an internal advertisement. I'd rather see something like that on top of every page than whatever ad Google Adwords deems appropriate for a particular page. There is honestly nothing incredibly annoying about it, and if you really despise a box asking you to donate for the sake of knowledge, than simply disable it or have it shrink. Think of it as a small sacrifice so that you can view and contribute to an immense amount of shared knowledge amongst many people in the world. Don't think too much of it.

Ojay123 ^{(Talk•E-Mail•Contribs•Sandbox)(Respond on my talk page!} 00:25, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Uneditable template?

I want to nominate the template "Tracy Gable films" (e.g. in Boom Town (film)) for deletion, but I can't edit it to add the tag. Clarityfiend (talk) 04:11, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

It's here. Somehow the edit button got linked to the wrong name. --Bfigura ^(talk) 04:25, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Fixed the name link problem. Clicking the 'e' in the upper left of the box should work now. --Bfigura ^(talk) 04:26, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Bold Title Automatically

Is there a tool that, when you go to a page where the title isn't bolded, bolds it for you? If not, I just created one. Would anyone try it out? Just put the following script into your monobook.js file. This will add a tab that says bold when you are viewing an article, and when you click on it, it will automatically bold the title.

importScript('User:Btilm/bt.js');

Thanks. Btilm 04:56, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Hi Btilm, the help desk isn't really the ideal place to post this, it is a page only for questions about using Wikipedia. Cheers Spitfire^Tally-ho! 10:15, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Take a look at Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts - they have a page where you can add your script for others to use. — QuantumEleven 13:12, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Dr. Lionel David Harry

Dr Lionel David Harry, a bible student from Teamwork University USA achieves Doctorate Of Ministry degree. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.210.163.73 (talk) 08:14, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

• I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 15:19, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

notes and references tutorial.

Could you please help me find the detailed tutorial for notes and references. How are notes and references made. I am trying to finalize a couple of wiki pages. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bak0ne (talk • contribs) 10:35, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Citation templates and Wikipedia:Footnotes should help. If not, please feel free to ask a more detailed question here. — QuantumEleven 13:09, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Was this harassment?

 ClosedNot the right place for this. -- Bfigura ^(talk) 05:17, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

I was deeply concerned to discover that another user accused me of harassment, and deleted a post I made about four hours ago to the talk page for the medical cannabis article on that basis. I'd really appreciate an opinion or two as to whether or how I might have been out of line, or whether I can reasonably revert to preserve the comment/query I made there. I addressed the objection and deletion here, btw, on my talk page, and asked the deleting user to restore my post. ( I'd be perfectly happy to edit out the time-of-day observations I made, before reposting, if folks here think that advisable, and if reposting seems appropriate. ) Thanks! Ohiostandard (talk) 17:12, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Actually i am more concern with the way User:Viriditas dealt with this..deleting post that did not concern him and a some what of a threatening post to you (Ohiostandard)Buzzzsherman (talk) 17:32, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Buzzsherman, I suggest you look into this more closely. Medical cannabis has been plagued by trolls, sock puppets, and POV pushers for some time now. Ohiostandard ignored several open threads regarding concerns about the content and launched into a bad faith attack on User:Alfie66, questioning his good work, and asking him to reveal personal information. I have informed Ohiostandard that this is not the place to file a COI notice, and that he should take it to Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard. Furthermore, Ohiostandard is trying to wikilawyer over outing other editors, and his assessment about the other users edits is in error, as the user has made a significant effort to improve the article, including discussing his edits, usually before making them. Viriditas (talk) 22:25, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Viriditas, all the facts are already available to people here, so let's allow them to answer the question on their own, please. Because you've stated a preference that our own dialogue should remain on my talk page I'll not reply further here; I am still awaiting your reply on my talk page, however. Opinions on this question from additional editors that neither of us have interacted with most welcome, including contrary opinions, of course. Thanks. Ohiostandard (talk) 01:26, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Here are the facts: WP:TALK, WP:NPA, WP:COI, WP:SCOIC: "Comment on content, not on the contributor: Keep the discussions focused upon the topic of the talk page, rather than on the personalities of the editors contributing to the talk page....Behavior that is unacceptable: No personal attacks: A personal attack is saying something negative about another person...Never post personal details...The talk page is for discussing improving the article...What is considered to be a personal attack? Using someone's affiliations as an ad hominem means of dismissing or discrediting their views—regardless of whether said affiliations are mainstream. Note that although pointing out an editor's relevant conflict of interest and its relevance to the discussion at hand is not considered a personal attack, speculating on the real life identity of another editor may constitute outing, which is a serious offense...When investigating possible cases of COI editing, Wikipedians must be careful not to reveal the identity of other editors. Wikipedia's policy against harassment takes precedence over this guideline on conflict of interest. An editor's conflict of interest is often revealed when that editor discloses a relationship to the subject of the article to which the editor is contributing...Editors with a conflict of interest are permitted to contribute to Wikipedia, so long as they abide by other policies and guidelines, including avoiding controversial edits on articles where they have a conflict...The first approach should be direct discussion of the issue with the editor, referring to this guideline...Editors responding to such a COI-compliant suggestion should...Make a polite summary of your concerns on the user's talk page. If persuasion fails, consider whether you are involved in a content dispute. If so, an early recourse to dispute resolution may help. Another option is to initiate discussion at WP:COIN, where experienced editors may be able to help you resolve the matter without recourse to publishing assertions and accusations on Wikipedia. Using COI allegations to harass an editor or to gain the upper hand in a content dispute is prohibited, and can result in a block or ban....Wikipedia places importance on both the neutrality of articles and the ability of editors to edit pseudonymously. Do not out an editor's real life identity in order to prove a conflict of interest. Wikipedia's policy against harassment prohibits this. Suspected conflict of interest incidents may be reported on the conflict of interest noticeboard..." Viriditas (talk) 01:29, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Once again: All the facts are already available, so let's give people the space to answer the question. Ohiostandard (talk) 05:05, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

This isn't the appropriate venue. This page exists for questions on how to use wikipedia. I'd ask everyone to take several deep breaths, perhaps have some tea, and if necessary post on Wikiquette alerts or the conflict of interest noticeboard. --Bfigura ^(talk) 05:08, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

I do not want my article merged

Hello,

I am trying to create an article on ANTIQUE Persian carpets. My article has been deleted and threatened to be deleted because of wanting a merger with Persian carpets. How do I keep the content of my article? Can I write an article on antique rugs and include a section on Persian rugs without it being merged? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Antiquerugs32 (talk • contribs) 18:58, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Couple of points: It's not your article, you may have created it but once it's in the mainspace it is freely editable by other editors; if you want to argue against merger, please contribute to the merger discussion. If however the consensus is that it be merged, then it will be merged. – ukexpat (talk) 19:09, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

And please stop adding inappropriate external links, such as this one, to articles. – ukexpat (talk) 20:24, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Check the alternative outlets, and see WikiIndex where you might find another wiki with content rules more to your liking. You can edit on as many other wikis as you like, in addition to, or instead of, Wikipedia. The wiki whose goals are closest to your own will make you happiest. See Flow (psychology). The greatest satisfaction comes from knowing exactly what to do. Having your worked overruled and second-guessed takes the fun out of it. --Teratornis (talk) 22:31, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Now we've gone and frightened him, so he's started editing as User:Nazmiyal instead! --Orange Mike | Talk 00:48, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Donating

Do I get any perks for donating?Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 20:12, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

• Well, you get that warm feeling from doing something good... also, if you donate more than $1000, you go on the public list of Benefactors - and if you tick the box, you can leave a comment on Real-time donor comments from around the world -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 20:17, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Nope, just a fuzzy, warm feeling inside. – ukexpat (talk) 20:18, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, Wikipedia remains free of any non-voluntary costs and free of ads thanks to its donors. Spitfire^Tally-ho! 20:21, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

You help keep a great service alive for another year. Isn't that reward enough? Plus, you get that nice feeling of helping someone else in their time of financial need. The sensation of "Hey, I helped" is always FAR GREATER than any monetary or other material reward. Unfortunately, this value - the willingness to help others without anything in return - seems to have been lost on those of the most recent generation. Xenon54 / talk / 20:55, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Doesn't wikipedia get enough donations?Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 20:57, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Probably - WMF was several million US dollars in the black on their last financial report. But you have to use common sense: if they had enough money, they wouldn't be asking for donations (and they definitely wouldn't be plastering "Wikipedia FOREVER" all over the place). If everyone thought "eh, enough other people donate, so I don't have to this year", then there wouldn't be any donations. Xenon54 / talk / 21:58, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia has by far the lowest operating costs of any other Web site of similar popularity (such as Google and Yahoo!), but running Wikipedia still costs money. Wikipedia is like a helicopter hovering in flight. It can stay aloft as long as it has more fuel to burn. Even if there is plenty of fuel in the tank now, getting more fuel buys more time. Also, having lots of small donors probably makes it easier for WMF to attract some large donors. The many small donors give credibility to the project. In any case, charitable giving is not something a person needs to be talked into. To some people, giving to causes they believe in is the obvious thing to do. To those people we owe all progress. So I say thanks to all of Wikipedia's donors. --Teratornis (talk) 22:24, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Scaling svg files

Hi, I was interested in looking at the graphic on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia-servers-2009-04-05.svg, but a lot of the text is too small to be legible. Because this is an svg image I assume that it should be possible to expand it to any size, and hence read the text, but I can't figure out how to do this. I don't want to download the file, and don't see why I should have to -- and in any case I don't, as far as I know, have any software that could display it. I'm using IE 8. Any ideas anyone? 21:51, 13 November 2009 (UTC). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.152.242.27 (talk)

You can go to the file's page on Wikimedia Commons (:Commons:File:Wikimedia-servers-2009-04-05.svg), where there is an option to render the svg as a png in various sizes, the largest of which is 2000px wide (3 times wider than the average computer desktop). Hopefully, IE will allow you to zoom in on the png and make it readable - though be warned: I wouldn't put anything past Microsoft when it comes to IE displaying stuff correctly. Xenon54 / talk / 22:31, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, that works fine. Since the image is currently not fully usable at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia-servers-2009-04-05.svg, I was going to transfer the list of higher-resolution links to that page from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia-servers-2009-04-05.svg but I don't see how it's been done. Have you any ideas on that? 86.152.242.27 (talk) 22:55, 13 November 2009 (UTC).

I think that's a software feature (as opposed to something inserted using wikicode) and is thus only available on the wiki that the image is uploaded to. So that wouldn't be possible, sorry. Xenon54 / talk / 22:58, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

The problem (as often) is IE8 - the svg is actually (1,200 × 1,290 pixels), but the page shows a reduced view - if I click the image (in FF3.5) I get the full size picture - all IE8 does is offer to download the image. BTW Inkscape (freeware) will display svg files if you do download them  Ronhjones  ^(Talk) 23:11, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't see how the problem is IE's. As you say, the svg is nominally 1,200 × 1,290 pixels. I assume these values are coded into the svg. The graphic displayed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia-servers-2009-04-05.svg is actually a png, which I assume has been created from the svg by Wikipedia software. This png is apparently 558 x 600 pixels. So, Wikipedia seems to have ignored the specified size in the svg file (presumably set large precisely so that it is legible) and inappropriately chosen a smaller size. However, it's possible I may be totally misunderstanding what's going on. 86.150.102.78 (talk) 12:02, 14 November 2009 (UTC).

That is merely the preview image, which is smaller than the full size (this is true also of raster images, which are displayed smaller than their native resolutions). To see the full size image you click the link below, which will load the actual file. In most browsers this works fine, but Internet Explorer, to my knowledge, still lacks SVG support, which is why it tries to download the file to disk rather than display it in browser. As mentioned above if you go to the same file description page on Commons you get additional options to view "SVG rendered as PNG images in different resolutions" – 200px, 500px, 1000px and 2000px. For example, the 2000px version can be viewed here. Regards, AJCham 12:14, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Right, I see what you mean. It would be helpful if IE had native support for svg files, but, pending that, it might also be helpful if Wikipedia honoured the recommended size in its preview rendering. 86.150.102.78 (talk) 14:30, 14 November 2009 (UTC).

Messages

How do you find out who has been editing a page and send messages to them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Anakiniman (talk • contribs) 23:37, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

The history tab at the top of the page, and then go to the user's talk page and post an new section, signing your message with ~~~~. Ks0stm ^(T•C•G) 23:40, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

See more at Help:Page history and Help:Talk page. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:11, 14 November 2009 (UTC)