Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 October 19

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October 19

Monobook.Js That Makes Browser's Address Bar Reflect Original Page of a Redirect?

There used to be a monobook.js script that would follow redirects, so that the URL in your browser reflected the original page. For example, going to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.

actually takes you to the Wikipedia article "R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)". This monobook.js script would actually kick the browser over to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R._(Rossum%27s_Universal_Robots)

I can't seem to find it now, though. Does anyone know where to send me? WCityMike (talk) 00:36, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

And, I have already checked Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts, and don't see it there. WCityMike (talk) 00:39, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

You don't need a script to follow redirects - you will be automatically transferred to the actual page. That is the purpose of making a redirect, after all. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 01:16, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

I think the poster was asking whether there was a script to make the URL title the same as the target article; for example, if avalent redirects to avalency, the URL in the bar would still be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/avalent, not " "/wiki/avalency. Intelligentsium^review 01:29, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes, Wikipedia redirects don't make URL redirection. I don't know whether there is a script but you can manually click the "article" tab at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/avalent to get to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/avalency. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:36, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes, Chamal_N and Intelligentsium have it. Except I actually know there is such a script – I once had it installed on my monobook.js, a long long time ago. But now I can't seem to find any trace of it anywhere on the Internet or on Wikipedia ... thus the help desk query. WCityMike (talk) 04:28, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Aha. My mistake, not a monobook.js script, a Greasemonkey one. WCityMike (talk) 16:07, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Edit count

Is it possilbe to make 32000 edits within 7 months? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.199.152.7 (talk) 02:03, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

I suppose it could be possible if you wanted it too.. South Bay (talk) 06:46, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Assuming that the editor is online every day of those 7 months (213 days), that's 4571 edits per month (151 edits per day). Although my average is a lot less than that, last month I had almost 9000 edits. If the editor is doing a lot of vandalism patrol (using Huggle or Twinkle), there's no reason why it isn't possible - and if they can spend most of the day editing on here (assuming lots of small, quick edits) they could do more. However, if you mean significant edits, then that would be hard, unless they were on 16-18 hours per day! -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 07:55, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

How can I get Wikipedia to accept a link to my YouTube video?

Hello,

A colleague posted a link to my YouTube video on a Wikipedia page, which is fine with me because the video relates well to the Wikipedia page. However, someone deleted the link to my YouTube video.

Questions:

Was it deleted for copyright reasons and does Wikipedia require permission to post YouTube videos?

If permission is required, how can I get this permission to Wikipedia?

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Manyhats (talk • contribs) 02:41, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

First, Wikipedia is not a collection of links about topics. There are many of those on the Internet already. Second, Youtube is not considered a valid reference source. So, using Youtube videos as references is not allowed. All in all, there is little chance that your video will be linked to from Wikipedia. -- kainaw™ 02:49, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Whether nor not a Youtube video is a reliable source depends on the content. For example, many government documentaries are on Youtube, and many companies have official channels. But, we don't link to copyright violations or non-reliable content; the original poster has not given us enough details to determine the value of the link in question. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 10:06, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

We have a {{Cite video}} template, so there is such a thing as a video that is a reliable source. However, just as with printed documents, not everything is a reliable source by Wikipedia's definition. Also note that "posting a link" could mean simply adding the link to the External links section on a page, or adding it as a footnote. The latter method is better. Articles tend to accumulate links posted by inexperienced editors, and experienced editors routinely trim them down. --Teratornis (talk) 20:42, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your helpful replies. The YouTube video consists of a few minutes excerpted from a lecture by some authors (lecture is about the book that has a Wikipedia page). I thought it would be a way for people to see and hear the authors. Copyright permission is not an issue except for completing whatever forms Wikipedia requires. Before completing permission forms, I'd like to know if it sounds to you experienced Wikipedians like this video stands a chance of being considered a reliable source and/or relevant enough for Wikipedia (perhaps there is a policy against this type of YouTube link?). If not, I won't bother completing the forms. . . . Teratornis: I added the YouTube link to the External Links section on the page in question and it was removed. You said that adding a footnote is better; from my description here, do you think I should try adding it in a footnote? Thanks! Manyhats (talk) 19:20, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

The distinction, Manyhats, is between using something as a source as opposed to linking to it because it is cool or interesting. The same rules apply as for any other type of media. For example, it would be inappropriate to link to the Amazon page for a book about the Moon on the Moon article, while it would be excellent to use that book as a reference. AFAICT, the youtube video doesn't add or back-up content, so there's no need to link it. ~ Amory (u • t • c) 19:53, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Looking for a tool, not sure whether it exists

Hello - is there a tool (either a monobook script or something on the toolserver) that will run through an article and generate a report of all the wikilinks in that article, grouped by target? Something that would tell me "This article links to Bill Clinton six times, to Ronald Reagan three times, and to Richard Nixon twice. I've never heard of such a thing, but in my experience most tools that I want to exist turn out to exist. Steve Smith (talk) 03:44, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

AutoWikiBrowser shows links that are repeated in an article along with the number of links (for delinking multiple links to a page). ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 05:09, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Disambiguate a redirecting page?

I keep typing "Lavigne" into the search field to get to Avril Lavigne. Instead, I'm redirected to the West Nipissing, Ontario article. I may be the only one who does this, of course.

I was thinking of putting a hatnote on the top of the Ontario article, but the redirect page does already exist.

I would love to start a discussion on whether "Lavigne" should become a disambiguation page or not... except I fear no one reads the discussion page of any redirect page. What should I do? – Kerαunoςcopia 07:02, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

I restored the dab page at Lavigne. It was converted to a redirect based on Wikipedia:DAB#Partial_title_matches, which I believe was in error. Someguy1221 (talk) 07:12, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

That was ... so fast. Thank you! – Kerαunoςcopia 07:17, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

neighbours

please can u tell me when Dannii Minogue starred in neighbours and what charactor did she play. Thanx —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.197.223.62 (talk) 09:51, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

• You might find what you are looking for in the articles Dannii Minogue or Neighbours. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 10:07, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Signatures

Did they get updated? I now see (length of days since update) UTC timeAccdude92 (talk) (sign) 13:31, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Have you been playing around with your preferences, and in particular your user interface gadgets? There's an option to "Change UTC-based times and dates, such as those used in signatures, to be relative to local time." When you check the box next to that the times will be displayed relative to your local time and they will also say things like "last Saturday (3 days ago) (UTC+1)" after a signature. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 13:54, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

IP address question

This is a bit technical, and I'm not really sure where to go to get it answered. I attempted to make an anonymous edit today and was told that my IP address range, 67.152.x.x, was blocked indefinitely due to proxy problems with XO Communications. The admin who did the blocking doesn't appear to be active anymore; his last edit was months ago and his user page isn't even accessible (it "redirects" to his talk page without actually redirecting, which I've never seen before). This all looks rather "high-end" from a technical standpoint to me, but I'm wondering if anyone can lead me to a place where I can find more specific information about why this range of IPs was blocked and where the decision was made to do so. Chubbles (talk) 13:55, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Making anonymous edits? Are you allowed to do that? See Template:IPsock. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 14:02, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Why would I not be? Chubbles (talk) 14:47, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Read Wikipedia:Sock puppetry: "The general rule is one editor, one account." There are certain special circumstances under which an alternative account may be used. But logging out and editing under an IP address is frowned upon. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 15:22, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

That would only make sense in a Wikipedia where anonymous editing weren't possible. I know of no prohibition or stigma to anonymous editing except my own, which I have been repeatedly been made to understand is not widely shared. In any case, sock puppetry isn't an issue since I am not using more than one account. I think maybe you are misreading the issue here. The block reason given at [1] is the same message I was presented with when I attempted to make the anonymous edit. Is it really acceptable for an admin to indefinitely block such a large range of IPs without any further discussion? I mean, there are school IPs that serially vandalize pages on my watchlist for years and still don't get indefinitely blocked. Chubbles (talk) 15:29, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

If it's not a problem then why does the template {{IPsock|username|confirmed}} exist? Your link to WP:AGF is misplaced. I'm simply suggesting that you ought not do something. I haven't assumed bad faith. I don't for one moment think that you will vandalise under your IP address. But it's still better to be avoided, unless you meet one of the special exemptions listed in the sock puppetry article. The template yields this output ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 15:33, 19 October 2009 (UTC) {{IPsock|username|confirmed}}

I was making an edit as an IP because it was an easy way to figure out what my own IP address is. This is the first time I've ever heard anyone, except myself, discourage anonymous editing; most of the editors I talk to romanticize it as the ideal Wiki way. the IPsock template is for block-evading dynamic IP addresses, isn't it? In any case, if you insist on questioning my motives instead of answering my question, could you please direct me to some place where I am more likely to get real answers? Chubbles (talk) 16:16, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

I haven't questioned your motives. As I said: "I don't for one moment think that you will vandalise under your IP address." It's very easy to find out your IP address. I googled What's my IP address and the first hit was this site. Following that link will give you your IP address. This same page lets you trace an IP address to the city it's from. The IP address given by this site matches the IP address that appears when editing whilst not signed in. Interestingly, going into Network, properties and then Trouble Shooting Options on my laptop gives a different IP address. When I try to trace that IP address using the site I've linked to it says that it can't trace it because it's a private IP address. I don't think that you should edit under your IP address because it's the thin end of the wedge. You're clearly a trustworthy editor with many quality edits to your name. But if you do it then a slightly less trustworthy editor will have a mandate to do the same, and if they do it then another even less trustworthy editor will have a mandate to do the same, ad infinitum. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 16:26, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

The block is logged at [2] User:AmiDaniel contains a normal redirect (see [3]) to User talk:AmiDaniel. The special thing is that User talk:AmiDaniel transcludes code which writes something in the upper left corner, in some skins on top of "Redirected from User:AmiDaniel" so the redirect message becomes invisible - but the html source still shows it. In some skins it is visible. See for example http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:AmiDaniel&useskin=standard. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:16, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

So there is no further information provided about the block? It's not typical to indefinitely block IP ranges, is it? Chubbles (talk) 16:32, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Not usually, no. Wikipedia:Blocking IP addresses#Block lengths has more info. I would say that longer blocks than might usually be given to IPs are normal for proxy concerns. Also, the way blocks on proxies are handled may have changed in the 2 years since it was made. --Onorem♠Dil 16:41, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

If I wanted to open a discussion about this block, would Wikipedia talk:Blocking IP addresses be an appropriate place to do so? Or WP:RFUP? I'm not necessarily interested in having the block removed, but I am interested to know more about why it was instituted, if it is possible to find out, and whether its eternality is sufficiently justified. Chubbles (talk) 16:54, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Indefinitely blocked IP? Hmm... that's not normally done... I think WP:AN would be the place to bring this up.--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail Review} 16:59, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

If Wikipedia talk:WikiProject on open proxies were more active, I'd suggest that as a place to discuss it. I'm not sure how many watch that page though. Unionhawk's suggestion of WP:AN would seem to be a good place to start. --Onorem♠Dil 17:02, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

article move protected, a year ago?

The article Cameron (Terminator) is move protected, but the discussion appears to be over a year old, could someone review it? Sephiroth storm (talk) 13:56, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Is there a need to move the page? You can request unprotection at WP:RFPU if you like. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 14:09, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

No need, but we dont just keep articles protected. :p Sephiroth storm (talk) 14:34, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

We often do if it's move protection. It is unnecessary to lift that unless somebody wants to move the page. The current name was decided in a discussion after a move war so any change should probably also be discussed first. If there is no admin around to perform an agreed move then a request can be made - either for unprotection or for making the move. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:03, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Template help, please?

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out a way to make two different types of templates for a different Wiki:

1. Is there a way to make a template with variable lines like Template:Infobox_Actor, EXCEPT with the responses, parameters, whatever you call them, on the next line? ...And could the lines be varying in color? I figure probably not since every other template similar to this one always has completely white backgrounds.
2. How do you make a references template? The wiki I'm asking for doesn't seem to have one.

--IdLoveOne (talk) 15:22, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Please read How to ask questions the smart way and be aware that you are asking for help from people whose only motivation to help you is that they enjoy answering questions they find interesting.

1. If nobody can answer this question, you may have to pose it better. Using a phrase such as "whatever you call them" suggests you haven't read enough of the manuals (Help:Template, WP:EIW#Template) to know the proper names for things. That isn't the way to make the question interesting to people who have read the manuals. I looked at {{Infobox Actor}} and I can't tell what you mean. For starters, I don't know whether you refer items in lines of input wikitext, or the rendered output of the template.
   • To clarify your question, make a user subpage, and substitute a filled-out infobox template onto the page, to illustrate what the template is doing now. Copy the resulting wikitext to another section on the page, and manually edit it to illustrate what you want the template to do. Then anyone can easily look at your subpage and see what you want.
2. Going off Wikipedia to someone else's wiki often means giving up a huge number of niceties we take for granted here, such as Wikipedia's collection of thousands of templates. If you are editing on another wiki, and you don't find some template that you want to use, the first step would be to ask that wiki's administrator(s) if they want that template on their wiki. If they do, then you could either ask them to port it from Wikipedia, or you could port it yourself. Unfortunately I know of no nice manual or book that discusses all the details of porting templates from one MediaWiki wiki to another. Sometimes it is as simple as copying the wikitext from the Wikipedia template and pasting it into a new template page on the other wiki. Sometimes there is more to it, such as copying more templates that the target template transcludes. You may have to install more MediaWiki extensions, or add CSS classes to MediaWiki:Common.css on the target wiki. Some templates require the latest version of MediaWiki, or other software on the server such as HTML Tidy. To learn all these tricks you will have to read a lot of manuals. See the links under WP:EIW#MediaWiki and WP:EIW#Template.

It's best to pose complex questions separately. If the answers become involved, the thread will get messy with both questions together. Also note that this Help desk is for questions about using Wikipedia, but I'll guess the other wiki doesn't have a Help desk - that's another huge loss when leaving Wikipedia for someone else's bare-bones wiki. You have nothing to lose by asking here, but the odds of getting a good answer might be small. --Teratornis (talk) 20:25, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

As Teratornis says, on Wikipedia we get used to certain templates being available, and of course we don't notice the templates called by the template itself, let alone the ones called by those templates! The easiest way (in theory) is to look up the markup for the template and adapt it - but that'll only show you that it will work on Wikipedia. It may or may not work on other wikis. (I sometimes find this when I'm trying to do little bits on my user pages on other WMF areas - templates not available!). Of course, a better place to ask your question would be (after reading Help:Template) at Help talk:Template -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 20:32, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

You make it sound like I'm trying to force someone to answer my query. If I had the information of proper labels and such I would've done that. I'm not trying to be a template specialist or anything, I love Wikiing but I have too many things to do. I just want to know a couple of tricks. The only templates I've made so far have been userboxes, so of course I do have a little bit of experience working with templates, it's just that this is a bit advanced for me. Secondly, I might think that if you guys were really learned about something you should've been able to figure out what I was referring to, I know that when I'm more advanced in knowledge about something and someone is trying to describe something for me, I can usually figure out what they mean and move along to helping them.

But anyway, I already know about the copy paste trick of making new userboxes, maybe you didn't notice where I mentioned that every infobox that I've seen like my example always has a white or monochromatic backgrounds and the information is always inline horizontal:

Date of birth January 1, 1002

Never columnar:

Date of birth

January 1, 1002

That is what I want to do, and make the two lines differing colors. These templates use variables such as
"Line1={{{desired name/information of line HERE}}}" and if no information is put into the bracket, the template assumes that that information doesn't exist and doesn't show the line at all on the page using it, I don't know what all of these things are called so I hope you understand by now; I want to be able to do this over 2 lines (as I demonstrated above), not just one.

Secondly, yeah, I tried the copypaste trick for the references templates, no good, far too complex, they depend on maybe dozens of other templates just to work; That's why I need to know how to make one, even a simpler one. I'll ask questions like these on 2 different questions next time, it's already getting pretty long. --§◦ ℐ'ɖ ♥ Ɵɲɛ ◦§ (talk) 21:25, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

What you are trying to do can't be done with the standard templates available. You'll have to write a template from scratch I think. As I mentioned above, the best place to ask this question is at Help talk:Template. I've created a simple template that will allow the information to be shown on separate lines - I've not bothered with doing background colouring, but I have coloured the second line of the information. To see it in action, look at User:Phantomsteve/test-bed#section 3, with the template being at User:Phantomsteve/test-bed-template. You'll have to go further on your own, as I don't have time to spend on something that won't help me personally on Wikipedia, but it might give you some ideas... With regard to your 'references' question - references are (behind the scenes) complex, and I don't think there's a simple way of doing it. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 21:45, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Incidently, what you'll really need to do is to make it as a table probably, to get background colouring, but I don't have the time or inclination to do that! -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 21:48, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Aww, so on top of all that I also have to tap into my limited knowledge of Wiki tables? Well, I'll get to it then, I didn't think there was such a template otherwise I guess I would've seen one after the few years I've been on Wikipedia. Thanks, Steve. --I′d※♥※Ɵɲɛ (talk) 22:02, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

That might work, if only because I'm a lttle more comfortable with tables than templates. I can try to make a table with variables (still don't know the term) and make a template of that, I think that's your idea.. --I′d※♥※Ɵɲɛ (talk) 22:28, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

(undent) A note about decoding questions on the Help desk: we cut beginner questions more slack. Someone who just arrived on Wikipedia won't know all the jargon yet, and needs to have their hand held. This isn't so hard, because beginners typically ask the same types of easy questions. However, template programming is not the domain of the beginner. Template programming is the domain of the programmer, and programmers understand the importance of asking questions the smart way. With templates there are vastly many possibilities, so the first problem is to express your goal clearly enough to eliminate every other interpretation. Declaring that you want to write templates while expressing disdain for learning the underlying details is a bit like saying you want to do brain surgery but you don't have time for medical school. That's not how things work. --Teratornis (talk) 17:10, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

This account is three years old and I've made over 1,300 edits so far; I'm not exactly a new user, this is just the first time I've had to ask for help here. Secondly while I understand your points, your lectures haven't really helped, proven anything or shown that you have knowledge in the subject of templates. --I′d※♥※Ɵɲɛ (talk) 22:30, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Question about huggle

Resolved

When I try logging into my huggle tool it gives me an error message which reads Invalid url:Hostname could not be parsed How can I overcome this problem ? --NotedGrant Talk 16:55, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

I took the liberty of splitting your questions into two separate sections - it makes it easier to answer! I'll look at this question in a moment. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 20:35, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Have you used Huggle successfully before, or was this your first time using it? If not, follow the advice at the top of Wikipedia:Huggle/Download before trying again:

Note: If you have not used Huggle before, add the text enable:true to before downloading.

If you used it successfully before this error, let us know here, and we can see if we can help! -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 20:42, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

No this is the first time.Thanks for the help and thanks for dividing that question.I followed the advice at the top of the page but it seems like I cannot use huggle I'll go back to twinkle :D --NotedGrant Talk 12:40, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Question about wp:irc

Resolved

When I click on the links to the channels nothing happens --NotedGrant Talk 16:55, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Have you got software installed for IRC (for example, I use mIRC) - if not, there's nothing to do when you click on a channel! -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 20:35, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Deleting public forum-like discussion

I am currently editing many articles related to Three Days Grace and on the Discussion Page of one of the songs, there is a mess of sarcastic, sexual, and completely pointless chatter unrelated to improving the article. I was wondering if I can just delete this at my own discretion. The article's Talk page can be found here Riot (song) Talk. Daniel Musto (talk) 18:43, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

If no one responds to your query you can be WP:bold and delete that part --NotedGrant Talk 19:17, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Where is it?

where is it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.232.171.162 (talk) 20:32, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Where is what? -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 20:39, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

It. 99.166.95.142 (talk) 16:10, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

just simply adding info

Hi. I want to add information about a person. I'm not sure how to do that, where to look for the answer.....can you tell me how? thanks....cathy —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mister daisey (talk • contribs) 20:42, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Which person? Mootros (talk) 20:45, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Go to their article, click on edit this page and add the information. However, any information you add needs to be verifiable, from reliable sources - otherwise it may be removed. Also note that some pages are protected, so you may not be able to edit them.

I would suggest that you read Wikipedia:Introduction and go through the pages there (at the bottom of the page, there is a link to "Learn More About Editing" and further links from there) -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 20:48, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Template piping?

Hello all,

i am creatinga template for a epsiode list that table header is complex and could cause problem ifa inexperaince user removes something by accident, and it also allows for unifrom the tables on all seasons, however the season each have there own colour, so i was wondering if it is possible to pipe the colour using

{{newtemplate|colour}}

into the

{{newtemplate}}

where the vairable colour is replaced by the one piped? if this does not make sincei will post code to explain what i mean.--Andrewcrawford (talk - contrib) 22:01, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

in fact i need to pipe two variables into it--Andrewcrawford (talk - contrib) 22:03, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

I'd probably have a parameter season, which can be used to set the colour, using code along the lines of if season==1 then colour=a elseif season==2 then colour=b... If the parameter is blank, then no colour is used - obviously you'd use the {{if}} template! -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 22:22, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

cool cheers for that, that will work for the second variable i need as well, will take me a bit of time to work it out but that should od nicely. tahnk you :)--Andrewcrawford (talk - contrib) 22:33, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

only problem i know have is how to i pass the parameter would it be ~

{{newtemplate|parameter}}

?

As I'm going offline soon, I don't have time to look at this more at the moment - if there's not been a definitive reply by tomorrow, I'll look at it again -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 23:31, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

AfD nomination of a full-protected article

This is a procedural question rather than a technical one. If an article is full-protected (as I have done for Allied Artists International), can an individual editor make a simple request that the article be nominated to WP:Articles for deletion, or must that editor gain an initial consensus on the discussion page to use {{editprotected}} to make such a request. I'm thinking that since AfD is only a nomination and not a change, that an individual request is sufficient, but I'd like a second opinion. -- Tom N (tcncv) talk/contrib 23:16, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

My instinct is to say that you don't need consensus to nominate the article for deletion. Complete as much of the process as you can, then ask an admin to put the template on the article (either by using "editprotected", WP:RFPP or going directly to an admin that you can see from his/her contributions is online). Bencherlite^Talk 23:25, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

• My understanding is that as any editor can put an article to AfD - and as admin you can add AfD to the page. If the editor requesting the AfD is not part of the edit war, then I see no reason why consensus is required. If it is one of the parties involved with the edit war which caused the page to be protected, I would say that it would be different, and that some consensus would be required. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 23:30, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

• As long as he's totally uninvolved in the current dispute, I would go ahead and nominate for him.--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail Review} 23:52, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. -- Tom N (tcncv) talk/contrib 02:13, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Template for registered users with shared IP

I have an adoptee who shares an IP with a roommate, though both have registered unique user names. Is there a disclaimer similar to Template:SharedIP that they can display to avert suspicions of sockpuppetry? - Draeco (talk) 23:33, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

That is a messy situation. I think just a manual explanation would be better than a template in this instance (CU does check to see if it's a shared IP too...)--Unionhawk ^{Talk E-mail Review} 23:51, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict)See WP:ROOMMATE. I've written a userbox two seconds ago that might help:

RoomieThis user lives with a fellow Wikipedia editor, foo, and is not a sockpuppet of that user.

Intelligentsium^review 23:54, 19 October 2009 (UTC)