Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 November 17

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November 17

pancreatic cancer

Why is it now impossible to edit the pancreatic cancer site? Burton M. Berkson MD MS PhD

<email removed>—Preceding unsigned comment added by Drbbmdphd (talk • contribs) 02:05, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Pancreatic cancer is currently semi-protected. You need to be autoconfirmed to edit semi-protected pages.--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail Review} 02:09, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Why was my edit deleted

I have been told many times to be "bold" and edit articles myself. So I did and my edit was deleted. Sally Struthers was featured (mocked) in the South Park episode Starvin' Marvin in Space. The article currently directs straight to Starvin Marvin the charactor, which is useless. I changed it to the correct episode and my edit was deleted.

Link to deleted edit [1] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Epicnoob (talk • contribs) 09:41, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

It looks to me like your edit was appropriate: perhaps the reverting editor misunderstood what you'd done. Why don't you take this up with the user who reverted your edit, on his/her talk page? If you just ask politely why s/he reverted your edit I'm sure you can sort it out between you. Gonzonoir (talk) 11:20, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm not the editor in question but I might have an explanation. The episode that you used for the link is in season three. Her first appearance in an episode is in season one. The editor changed it to the first episode to mention Struthers. Personally, I think the sentence could use some qualifying statement like "...has been satirized on the television show South Park, the first example of this was..." But that's just me. Dismas|^(talk) 11:34, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Looks like Struthers was actually in two episodes, "Starvin' Marvin" and "Starvin' Marvin in Space." Epicnoob, this could have been why your edit was reverted. However, I have updated the article to include both episodes. GlassCobra 22:17, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Not Enough Context

Kindly elaborate on the deletion of a page for not having Enough Context. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Styner101 (talk • contribs) 10:20, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

"No context" means it is impossible to identify the subject of the article with the given text. See CSD A1 and Why was my page deleted? for more information. Xenon54 / talk / 11:12, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Sock Puppetry

A user has publicly accused me of sock puppetry on the grounds that I have made the same critisism as an IP user. I'm sure that you're not supposed to go around making ungrounded accusations like that. In the language of old: I demand satisfaction. What can I do, who can I go to? ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 12:11, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Because no investigation has been opened in Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations, there's nothing else you should do. You appropriately denied the accusations on your talk page and on Wikipedia:Reference desk/Mathematics#tessalation. Doing anything further won't help, and it might end up making things worse. Until an investigation is opened or an administrator takes action, the accusation changes nothing and has no effect. If an investigation is ever opened, follow the directions at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/SPI/Guidance#Defending yourself against claims, and you won't be blocked if you haven't done anything wrong.

If the user harasses you further, you may wish to seek an administrator's assistance to resolve it at that time. But since that isn't happening now, just continue to be civil and don't worry about it. Another user has already commented at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Mathematics#tessalation to say that PST has done this before and that the accusation is baseless. --Mysdaao ^talk 13:23, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Okay, thanks. I'll keep all of this in mind. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 14:22, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

(after ec) I assume you mean User talk:Dr Dec#WP:SOCK. My advice is to ignore the accusation. No one else seems to be taking it seriously, so why should you ? You could ask the user concerned for an apology, but I suspect that might be a waste of time. Gandalf61 (talk) 13:25, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I guess you're right. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 14:21, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

AC/DC

Where Was the AC/DC live Album out of 1992 concert? On wich concert did they record the Album?

I'm from Germany, so I don't speak English very well.^^ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.61.236.204 (talk) 12:53, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Have you read our article on AC/DC? You will probably find what you're looking for there. Or you can see the article on the German Wikipedia - http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC/DC. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 12:58, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Or, using an interlanguage link: AC/DC. – ukexpat (talk) 14:50, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Edit has removed line from infobox

This edit to the article Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty seems to have had a strange effect. The line in the infobox which was edited has now disappeared from the infobox completely. Why has this happened, and how can the line be reinstated with the new first word? Many thanks. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 13:21, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

The change happened because Template:Infobox treaty looks for a field named "parties", not "ratifiers" as it was changed to. I have changed it back to use "parties", and the line is now displayed again. --Mysdaao ^talk 13:27, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

OK, thanks for that but the problem is that the word "parties" is not appropriate in the case of this particular treaty. We want to use the word "Ratifiers" instead. How can we change "parties" to "ratifiers" while still using the Infobox Treaty template? --Richardrj ^{talk email} 13:38, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Try now. Bencherlite^Talk 13:44, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Excellent, thanks very much. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 13:59, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Marked as patrolled (or, Feeling silly)

I feel a bit silly using the helpdesk, but why not? Special:newpages has a link to patrole from the end of the unpatroled log. After marking a page as patroled, The "Marked as patroled" action displays a page that lets you return to Special:newpages, but not to the end of the log. I would love for that to be added, but I don't have a clue where to discuss such a change. Any of you have any ideas? Martijn Hoekstra (talk) 14:11, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I think the place to propose a change like that is Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals). --Mysdaao ^talk 14:29, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

What to do with a self-contradicting guideline

Section WP:CRIT#Titling evaluations contains this text: Because it is inherently biased and perceived as a generally negative term[2], section and article titles should not use the term "criticism" yet when you follow the link it lists these synonyms for "criticism": appraisal, appreciation, assessment, comment, commentary, critique, elucidation, essay, estimate, evaluation, examination, exposition, judgment, notice, observation, opinion, pan, rating, rave, review, reviewal, scorcher, sideswipe, sleighride, study, write-up. In other words, the list includes terms that are positive, negative and neutral. As the supporting link does not in fact support the policy, what is the best way to correct this? Jan1naD ^{(talk • contrib)} 16:24, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Probably by opening a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Criticism. FWIW I disagree that the words criticism is inherently biased and perceived as a generally negative term. Criticism can be either positive or negative - for example, theater and restaurant critics are not invariably negative, nor is textual criticism. – ukexpat (talk) 16:32, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Keep in mind that Wikipedia:Criticism is an essay, not a guideline. It is only the opinions of some Wikipedians and does not have to be followed. You can still bring up the issue as Jan1nad advised, however the policy on how to handle criticisms in article that must be followed is at Wikipedia:Neutral point of view. --Mysdaao ^talk 17:09, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Copied to Wikipedia talk:Criticism. Jan1naD ^{(talk • contrib)} 17:17, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Birthdays

While doing some research on "birthdays", I noticed that by typing in the date it does NOT bring up ALL the birthdays. For example, when June 15 is entered, it lists events, births, deaths, etc., however, there are many individuals/events for that date that are not listed. > > Is there a way to search the entire datebase that would include ALL references to a particular date? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.51.148.46 (talk) 17:18, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

you can do a search in the search box on the left. Just type something like "17 November" (or "November 17", "17 Nov", "Nov 17") and click on "Search" instead of "Go".

On the date pages, not everyone with the birthday is listed - as a rule, they go on the list if they have articles on several Wikipedias, not just the English one. This shows 'global' notability. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 17:37, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

new article -- did I correctly request for page move?

I made a draft article a week ago and put in a request to have it moved to the article space. Nothing's happened, now I'm wondering if I put in the request correctly?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jenlw/Eve_Drewelowe

Thanks!

Jenlw (talk) 17:24, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Move performed. --Bfigura ^(talk) 17:44, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

lost subpage

Hi, I just started a new account and made my first subpage to practice. I've logged-in, but can't find the page I started. How do I continue adding to it, and how to I make it into a formal page once I'm done? SP (Stacey) (talk) 17:37, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I see nothing in your contributions nor in your userspace. Perhaps it was deleted?--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail Review} 17:39, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

There's nothing under deleted user contributions. Is it possible that you did not save the subpage? For some general tips on working with userspace drafts, see Help:Userspace draft and Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 17:43, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) There are no deleted contributions for user:SP (Stacey). My guess therefore is that one of the following has happened:

• The page wasn't saved (perhaps you just previewed it). If this is the case then your work has gone I'm afraid.
• You were not logged in, in which case it will be saved under the contributions of your IP address. If your IP address has not changed (if you have a static IP it definitely wont have, if you are using AOL it almost certainly will have done, otherwise it might or might not have done) then log out and go to Special:Mycontributions where it should show up. When you know where it is, you can then log back in and continue. Thryduulf (talk) 17:47, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Did you click on the Show Preview button instead of the Publish changes button?

Edit summary (Briefly describe your changes)

 

This is a minor edit Watch this page

By publishing changes, you agree to the Terms of Use, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the CC BY-SA 4.0 License and the GFDL. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.

Publish changes Show preview Show changes Cancel

If you didn't click on Publish changes, the edit wasn't saved. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 17:54, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Physical theory

Can I publish a physical theory that is not known nor is it easy to validate, along side with the current theories, which are also not able to be validated? e.g. quantum mechanics or string theory.86.130.230.64 (talk) 18:01, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

If you mean can you add your theory to wikipedia, the simple answer is no. All content on wikipedia must be attributed to at least one reliable source, the threshold for inclusion in wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. See WP:V for more on this. We also advise against users publishing their own theories or ideas on wikipedia, for more on this see WP:OR. I hope this helps you, kind regards, Spitfire^Tally-ho! 18:13, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

(e/c)Short answer: maybe. Long answer: Is it original research? If so, then it is not appropriate for Wikipedia. If it has been discussed in reliable sources it may be notable for Wikipedia purposes. The key is not whether it can be validated, but whether the theory has received significant coverage in reliable sources.  – ukexpat (talk) 18:15, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) If it has not been published in peer-reviewed articles or books, then no. Which theory is it, by whom? With those bits of information, we can give a more reasoned response -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 18:17, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

New version of image issue

I uploaded a new version of File:Skylab1-Patch.png to correct its orientation. The change shows up just fine on the image page, but has not carried through to articles that use the image, such as Skylab_2. Any help would be appreciated. RadioBroadcast (talk) 20:34, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

It may be a server update delay. If it is, it should fix itself in due course. – ukexpat (talk) 20:48, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you; that does seem to be the most likely explanation. RadioBroadcast (talk) 20:52, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

If the Article page has not changed, then your browser might well assume that nothing has changed and show the page (and images) from the browser cache. Try clearing the browser cache.  Ronhjones  ^(Talk) 22:38, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Tabs

Hi,

I'm working on formatting an in-house Wiki for the company I work for, and would like to use tabs of the sort found in the body of the Wikipedia:Introduction page, but can't figure out how to code that. Does anyone know?

Thanks!

Ben —Preceding unsigned comment added by Talaananthes (talk • contribs) 21:06, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

It uses the template Template:Introduction_to_Wikipedia as well as Template:Introduction_to_Wikipedia/Header and several others. You will have to copy the contents of all those templates on all pages that you want the tabs to be on. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 21:19, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Assuming the in-house wiki uses MediaWiki, the wiki software Wikipedia uses. If not, we can't help you with that. --Mysdaao ^talk 21:22, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

figure eight symbol

What's that figure eight symbol that appears on almost every globe. I read a wikipedia article on it but can't remember how I found it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cb77305 (talk • contribs) 21:10, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

The symbol is a Analemma. In the future, you should post general knowledge questions at Wikipedia:Reference desk. The Help Desk is for questions about using Wikipedia. Thank you! --Mysdaao ^talk 21:18, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) It's an Analemma. It describes the apparent path the sun takes in the sky at a specific point on the earth's surface at the same time every day of the year. In the future, the correct place to ask factual knowledge questions is the reference desks, the help desk if for asking technical questions about using or editing Wikipedia itself, while the ref desks are really designed for questions like this. --Jayron32 21:20, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Medium Term Note

Hi I would like to edit the introductory paragraph of this article and there is no edit button. thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Myrtlemh (talk • contribs) 21:24, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Click the edit tab at the top of the page. Question: Shouldn't this article be moved to Medium term note? – ukexpat (talk) 21:28, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Move completed. GlassCobra 22:08, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

im here to help.

if anybody needs to ask any questions about games for xbox 360 or ps3 could they please ask me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arattiganwiki (talk • contribs) 21:25, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

You would be better off monitoring the Reference Desk. This page is for questions about Wikipedia. – ukexpat (talk) 21:30, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Music question

First female Brit to have US number 1 single —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.136.231.253 (talk) 21:36, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Entertainment 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. --Bfigura ^(talk) 21:41, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

And you will probably stand a better chance of getting a reply if you say "please". – ukexpat (talk) 21:47, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

86, don't hang around and let your troubles surround you, there are movie shows... AlexiusHoratius 22:32, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Validity

how do icheck the validity of an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.30.46.154 (talk) 22:21, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

What do you mean by validity? Do you mean the information provided by the article? If so, I would suggest checking the references provided for the article. If you see a suspect claim that should be referenced, look up additional information in a search engine or library and provide a reference, or tag it with a {{fact}} tag so another editor is aware that the claim requires verification. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 22:23, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

HELP PLEASE

How do i check to see the "grade" an article got? or check the validity —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.30.46.154 (talk) 22:25, 17 November 2009 (UTC) :

See my reply above for the latter question. To the former: Grades, if any, are usually given on the article talk page, but they aren't assigned to every article, only those that fall under the scope of a wiki project. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 22:27, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

To see the rating of an article, you can go on the talk page of the article, wherein there should be a WikiProject header template with a rating. Bear in mind standards differ across projects, and these ratings are usually determined by one editor (excluding GA and FA ratings) at one point in time; an article's rating may not reflect its true quality, so you would do well to use your discretion when looking at these ratings. Did you know that the availability of a gadget to show an article's rating on the actual article is only one of many benefits associated with creating an account? Intelligentsium 23:00, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Categories

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 02:30, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I am attempting to add a categories section to an article that I wrote, but cannot get the template to work, so I just did whatever to get it to show up. How do I create a proper categories section? Thank you for the help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lechevalieraulion (talk • contribs) 22:48, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

It is not a template. At the bottom of your article, add the text [[Category:Category name]], replacing Category name with the name of the category. You can find a list of category at Special:Categories. Intelligentsium 22:53, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

 Done, I left out a couple that were too general for the article. – ukexpat (talk) 23:04, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, Ukexpat!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lechevalieraulion (talk • contribs) 01:26, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

obscenity in this article

Resolved

 – Vandalism removed from article -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 23:12, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.46.252.90 (talk) 23:08, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

• I have removed the vandalism. Thank you for letting us know. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 23:12, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

AFD of AFD

Has an inclusionist ever attempted to nominate WP:AFD for deletion, based on the principle that all malicious/unnecessary content is speedily deleted? --William S. Saturn (talk) 23:39, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

It would have to be an MFD of AFD. --Floquenbeam (talk) 23:39, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

(ec)Doubtful. MfD would be more appropriate. Grsz¹¹ 23:40, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

AFDs can sometimes be "courtesy blanked" if there is information contained therein which may be problematic (for example, WP:BLP concerns in the AFD discussion itself) however, there is no compelling reason to delete an AFD merely because the article was deleted under WP:CSD, or indeed, for any reason, unless the AFD itself was created for disruptive purposes. --Jayron32 23:43, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Found it. For your reading pleasure: Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Votes for deletion (what it used to be called. Indeed, this has been moved, it was originally Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Votes for deletion, which is slightly more satisfyingly recursive. --Floquenbeam (talk) 23:46, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Good work! Grsz¹¹ 23:48, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

There is also Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2005-08-08/Deletion deletion. Tim Song (talk) 23:49, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Looks like consensus was to delete. Imagine. Grsz¹¹ 23:51, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict)And, on a more recursive and less serious note, Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:Jimbo Wales. Tim Song (talk) 23:51, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Actually, an AFD on AFD was done in 2006 as an April Fool's joke: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. There have been AfD debates up at AfD, but not the actual AfD page.--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail Review} 00:12, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

That reminds me of the wonderful page name Disambiguation (disambiguation) which was deleted at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Disambiguation (disambiguation) but later kept at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Disambiguation (disambiguation) (2nd nomination). PrimeHunter (talk) 01:28, 18 November 2009 (UTC)