Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 April 17

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April 17

Wiktionary

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 17:58, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Is there any way I can view all the Serbo-croat entries in Wiktionary which have English translations included with them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.74.11.25 (talk) 00:57, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Please ask at Wiktionary Info Desk. – ukexpat (talk) 02:31, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Animations not showing up

Why isn't two out of three animation not showing up here. --Extra999 (Contact ^me + _contribs) 03:43, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Static GIF images not being resized by MediaWiki for years now. When will MediaWiki resizing return? I haven't read all of it, so I'm not sure of the fix. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 03:56, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

After reading a good bit of the aforementioned article, it seems that it's simply a matter of waiting for the thumbnailer to finish sloshing through its (very long) queue. And FYI, only the top animation on that page isn't working, for me at least. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 04:17, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Correct. The top animation is too large for scaling btw. So it will not generate an animation. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 15:27, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Adding sections to IFSB article

Resolved

Hi, I was looking through the backlog of articles requiring sections and I need some help putting the content in this article into sections. I was going to try the IRC but cannot access it due to the restrictions put in place on the computer I am using. Should I have just posted something on the article's discussion page? I am not having any problems trying to edit, it's just that I am unsure how to separate the article. Chevymontecarlo. 09:26, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Never mind, I understand that the help desk is for asking questions to do with using Wikipedia, not about how it's content is supposed to be structured. I will ask elsewhere. Chevymontecarlo. 09:45, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Actually your question is IMHO a perfectly valid Help Desk question and my answer would have been to ask for help at the Chess Wikiproject. – ukexpat (talk) 17:58, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

inquiry

a source in the university of ghana told me that the school only offers masters in agric engineering as the only option in engineering.i want to know if that is the only option in engineering —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chibueze44 (talk • contribs) 12:20, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Have you tried the Miscellaneous section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:29, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Disambiguation pages editnotice

Can someone link me to:

• Easy mode: the editnotice for disambiguation pages
• Moderate: the discussion that lead to its implementation
• Hard mode: the best discussion on article-space editnotices

Kisses, 86.41.91.196 (talk) 14:48, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Disambiguation pages don't have an editnotice, they have an editintro, which works a bit differently. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:11, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

And about your 'easy mode', it's at Template:Disambig editintro. Kayau Voting IS evil 15:12, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Moderate: Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)/Archive_40#Template_for_edit-mode-only_in_dab_pages Kayau Voting IS evil 15:14, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Third Opinion

I have submitted an issue for Third Opinion but have no idea of the reasonable time frame in which it will be dealt with. Could you give me an idea? Also, I'm not sure how I will know when the issue has been dealt with and what the result is. I'm assuming it will be on my talk page, but am not absolutely sure. Could you please answer these questions? Thank you.

Diranakir (talk) 15:20, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Well, WP:3O is patrolled by volunteers, so it really depends on when someone is available, but usually you can expect someone to respond within a couple days. You will know when the 3rd opinion has been given once they edit the page on where it was requested, so you will want to put that page on your watchlist. -- œ^™ 03:15, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

The Backward "R"

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 17:51, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Is it OK to use a backward "R" taken from Wikipedia on things like word processing? MR.PreZ 15:23, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Do you mean copying and pasting the Cyrillic letter Я (last letter of the Russian alphabet) into some other program, like Microsoft Word? If this is what you mean it's fine. If you're asking about something else, please explain. -- Rick Block (talk) 15:42, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

That's exactly what I meant, thanks. MR.PreZ 22:20, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Privacy concerns about IPs versus usernames

I have been editing from an IP address for some time, and I am now considering creating an account. If I do create an account, I intend to put some identifying information in there -- my school affiliations, my first name, etc.

Question 1: It doesn't seem too hard for someone to associate my account with my IP address (given that I am going to continue editing all the same pages). Does that create privacy risks?

Question 2: One of the main reasons I'm getting an account, is because I think it will cause people to revert my edits less often. So, if I should accidentally make an edit from my IP address, I would be tempted to log-in and indicate in the edit history that, "hey, that last edit was from me!". Does that behavior create privacy risks?

Thanks. 207.237.228.236 (talk) 16:12, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure I understand.. you say you intend to intentionally put identifying information yet you worry about someone discovering your IP address? Sorry if I misunderstood maybe you could rephrase what you mean here? Regarding question 2, there happens to be a tool called the "Poor Man's Checkuser" and basically what it does is attempts to link usernames to IP#s using a method that takes advantage of exactly the situation you described. I'd say there's many privacy risks when using Wikipedia, there always is, the question is how much do you value your privacy and what risks are you willing to take? -- œ^™ 18:37, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

• Yes, you're right, I'm not being totally consistent :) Let me rephrase my questions: What does an IP address reveal about a person? What does an IP address, plus first name and university affiliation, reveal about a person? I guess I want to learn more about how IP addresses are assigned. A referral to a WP article could do the trick. JD Caselaw (talk) 18:47, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

• Ok well you can see yourself exactly what information can be gained from an IP address, simply click on the WHOIS link at the bottom of your IP contributions page: http://toolserver.org/~chm/whois.php?ip=207.237.228.236 .. Usually the most that can be learned is the city you're in. Reading the article on IP addresses may help you learn about how they're assigned, but the best place to get a quick and direct answer would be the Computing Reference Desk.

Here are some links relating to Privacy on Wikipedia that may help: meta:Privacy policy, foundation:Privacy policy, WP:PRIVACY, meta:CheckUser policy, CheckUser and privacy policy. -- œ^™ 19:01, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Policy on editing other people's user pages

What's the whole policy about editing another person's user page? Do you need permission from the owner? What if it's just to fix a typo that obviously wasn't intentional? 'FLaRN'(talk) 16:39, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:User pages#Ownership and editing of user pages. I wouldn't fix a typo except possibly if it caused an incorrect link. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:43, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Another option is to leave a note on the user's talk page about the error. Then the user can decide if it's worth fixing. You never know how strangers might react to having someone else edit "their" user pages. There is enough conflict on Wikipedia already; user pages are not important enough to fight over. Although I'd have to say, if someone gets upset over having a typo fixed on their user page, that user may not have a suitable temperament to edit on Wikipedia. --Teratornis (talk) 18:24, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Biography of Living Persons question

In doing some minor typo corrections, I noticed a paragraph in the article for Włodzimierz Stanny (added by an anonymous editor) that I think could be considered contentious. But I'm very new to Wikipedia and a little nervous about just reverting, as my opinion on the contentiousness of the material may not be accurate. Can I get your opinion? On the history page, the paragraph was added in the edit of 15:26, 7 April 2010. Thanks Celique (talk) 18:15, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

If a section can be considered possibly contentious or negative and is unreferenced, delete it on sight and cite WP:BLP in your edit summary. If the information is true and notable, the editor can add it back with references to reliable sources. Deleting contentious, unreferenced BLP issues is an exception to the WP:3RR rule, so don't worry about that.

You're also correct about the Stanny article; the section was definitely contentious and I've deleted it. Thanks! liquidluck✽talk 18:22, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for the clarification, and for handling this particular example. May I ask one more question? In the article for Raul Rabadan, there is an entry in the External Links section (added by an anonymous editor) that is regarding another individual named Raul Rabadan, who does not have his own Wikipedia entry. Nothing contentious at all, but since the two Rabadans have no connection with each other, it seems that the External Link entry does not belong in this article. Would it be appropriate to remove? On the history page, the entry was added in the edits of 2:38 and 2:42, 28 August 2009. Thanks again. Celique (talk) 19:07, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that would be subject to removal; it appears it is spam for a non-notable musician. Thanks for catching it! liquidluck✽talk 20:51, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Re article: List of persons who have walked across the United States

I have no idea how to contact the author of this article ("List of persons who have walked across the United States") to ask them to check out Eb Eberhart aka "Nimblewill Nomad" as a possible addition to this list. I'm pretty sure he's done this walk. I can give the author email and phone contact information for Eb if they need that. 98.230.60.29 (talk) 20:36, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

You're welcome to add the information to the article yourself, just by hitting "edit" and adding. However, please be sure to cite a reliable source—such as a newspaper article—when adding information or the information may be deleted. Because information needs to be verifiable and not original research, phone calls and emails are not allowed as references. See Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners for help. liquidluck✽talk 20:49, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

asking for fair use permission

hi, so I have an article that I needed to make a good article for a school project. It's the article on Leyendas de Guatemala. And in the main title box thing I used a photo of the author Miguel Asturias. It's not a free use photo, but the article about him (miguel asturias), AND another article about one of his books (El señor presidente) have been able to use it by claiming fair use, or whatever. I know that because if you click on the image then under it there is a "Non-free media use rationale" box for both these articles. How do I go about being able to legitimately have that? How did the El señor presidente article do it? Thanks so much for any help, I really really appreciate it. --Rekarrr (talk) 21:47, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

The Wikipedia:Media copyright questions help desk has editors that specialize in these kinds of questions. You may get a faster response by asking there. -- œ^™ 03:22, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

I reposted it there, thanks man!--Rekarrr (talk) 04:24, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

User page

I've forgotten the codes to make words with colored backgrounds and borders. Would anyone be so kind as to refresh my memory on this subject? Also, is it possible to make a background more than one color? MR.PreZ 22:27, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Help:Using colours may help. See also Wikipedia:User page design center. -- œ^™ 03:02, 18 April 2010 (UTC)