Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 April 3

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April 3

Proxy Error

I received the following error trying to track changes by comparing versions on the history page of the article Nuclear program of Iran:

Proxy Error

The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.

The proxy server could not handle the request GET /wikipedia/en/w/index.php.

Reason: Error reading from remote server

Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) mod_fastcgi/2.4.6 PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu5.7wm1 with Suhosin-Patch mod_ssl/2.2.8 OpenSSL/0.9.8g Server at secure.wikimedia.org Port 443

Is this a problem compatibility problem with my browser (Safari for Mac version 4.0.5)? Is there an error on the page? Or is the article just too big? NPguy (talk) 02:33, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

It seems to just be an issue with your internet; in my experience, such errors are one-time. So two questions: why are you using the secure server, and does the error persist or has it gone away? Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 02:46, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

I routinely use the secure server because it seemed to be recommended to protect my Wikipedia user account from unauthorized access. I started having this problem in the last week or two, and have encountered it several times since then. Today, I tried several different version comparisons on the same page and encountered the same error each time. NPguy (talk) 02:57, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Image as svg

Could someone take out the background of File:Sky New Zealand logo.PNG making it an svg as I can't do this. WWE Socks 04:09, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

You could try posting a request on the illustration workshop, but as the logo is copyrighted and only available under fair use it's unlikely that the request will be granted. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 09:35, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Will not allow me to save my page, keeps asking for security code over and over again

Hi:

I am a new user and trying to upload a page on a book. I have created an account, started a page and have been hitting "show preview" before saving. When I finally got my page to where it looked like it was supposed to, and tried to hit save, it gives me some warning saying that the page might be an autobiography and that it may be deleted but if I want to save it anyway, to scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit save again.

When I hit save again, it asks me to fill out the captcha security code. I enter the word, hit save again and it gives me the error about autobiographies again. But it still says I can continue but not matter how many times I hit save and re-enter a new captcha, it won't let me save.

The page is NOT an autobiography, it is a page for a psychology book. At the bottom, I included an about the author section but the page itself is about the book.

How the heck am I supposed to get past this??

Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Autismconversations (talk • contribs) 04:29, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

The autobiography warning checks your user name against the title of the page you are attempting to create. That your user name is (I would imagine) very similar to the title of the book in question suggests that you have a conflict of interest in the matter. However, if you want to start an article on the subject anyway, try creating one under your user name by putting user:Autismconversations/ in front of the name of the article: once you've created the page, post a link to it here and it can be moved to a normal article title if appropriate. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 09:31, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Ive heard of this bug before, and am not sure what causes it to happen sometimes (people create pages with their username in the title every day and are not stopped), or how it could be fixed. Hopefully someone here will be able to help. —Soap— 14:37, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

The attempted edits can be seen in the edit filter log. I don't know what causes them to never be saved. Could it have something to do with triggering more than one filter? PrimeHunter (talk) 17:07, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the help so far everyone. I did as suggested and posted the article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Autismconversations/

Was OK posting and did not get a warning but I guess I need to still move this to a normal article title. Can someone help me with that? Also, it appears the .jpg of the book isn't showing appropriately. Can someone help correct my wiki markup language?

Thanks everyone.

Shelly —Preceding unsigned comment added by Autismconversations (talk • contribs) 01:10, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Before we worry about that, please read the notability guidelines for books at WP:NBOOK - I am not convinced from the draft that the book meets Wikipedia's notability threshold. I also moved it to a proper user subpage at User:Autismconversations/Draft article. Your user name also appears to be in breach of the user name policy. – ukexpat (talk) 01:44, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

HELLO

MY CAPS LOCKS BUTTON IS STUCK, YET I WANT TO EDIT. WHAT IS MY BEST COURSE OF ACTION? THANK YOU VERY MUCH. --EDWARDLIKESTOEDIT (talk) 13:05, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Buy a new keyboard? – ukexpat (talk) 14:28, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

You could try the external links in Caps lock (I haven't tried it). PrimeHunter (talk) 14:37, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

THERE'S AN ALTERNATIVE EDWARDLIKESTOEDIT, THOUGH A LITTLE HACKNEYED AND TIRING. YOU COULD KEEP YOUR SHIFT KEY PRESSED WHILE ENTERING THE SENTENCE. YOUR SENTENCE WOULD > then look like this, closer to normal < THAN LIKE THIS. (Although I have to say that your caps lock being stuck would in no way make your signature come out in capitals... strange... strange...) WARM REGARDS. ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 18:15, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

The account User:EDWARDLIKESTOEDIT was created with that capitalization 12 minutes before the post here. If the user is serious then presumably Caps Lock was also stuck when the username was chosen. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:47, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Press Shift five times to activate sticky keys on your keyboard. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 18:21, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

I agree with thumperward if you do this, your problem should be resolved in most cases, if you are still having problems with this, i advise you to purchase a new keyboard. Dwayne was here! ^talk 00:45, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Bans

Resolved

Is there any way to ban vandalisers without being an administrator? Gobbleswoggler (talk) 14:38, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

You can report vandals to WP:AIV, but you can't block them yourself. But please make sure that they have been adequately warned and given a chance to stop before reporting them. ≈ Chamal ^talk ¤ 14:42, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

In short, no. You can report them, as Chamal_N says. Banning is a bit different and is generally done by the Arbitration Committee or by community consensus.--BelovedFreak 14:46, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Errors on convert template page

There are several errors, highlighted in bold red, on the Template:Convert page, in particular the {{convert|60|by|120|m|ft}} example in the Range of values section. Could someone who has the rights to edit this protected page please try to fix this. Thanks. Truthanado (talk) 14:46, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

The best way to request this is to post on the Template talk:Convert page using the {{Editprotected}} template. Then an admin will come along and take a look at it. – ukexpat (talk) 14:58, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

• I have added the request to its talk page and other editors are helping. Thanks for the help. Truthanado (talk) 22:52, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Those errors are on the documentation subpage, which can be edited by anyone. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:28, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Barnstars

Resolved

How do you award someone a barnstar and what exactly is one? Gobbleswoggler (talk) 14:52, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

See WP:BARNSTAR. – ukexpat (talk) 14:55, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Template Link GA

Resolved

Hello. How can I add File:Symbol support vote.svg to interwiki of some article, like using this template on de.wiki? Kubek15^{T CS} 14:56, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

We apparently don't have a template to mark good articles in other languages' Wikipedias, just {{Link FA}} for featured articles. The image you linked is used for a completely different purpose. Deor (talk) 16:01, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Default Cursor Position

Please default the cursor in the search Text Box like they do in Google. Thanks, Mark Heppler —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.93.170.97 (talk) 15:22, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Please see Wikipedia:FAQ/Main Page#Why doesn't the cursor appear in the search box, like with Google?. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:25, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Popup TORTURE

Dear Wikipedia,

One day I opened up Wikipedia, expecting to browse happily, as I usually do. Suddenly, these annoying popups started to appear. I ignored them for a while. What was particularly annoying were popups that would appear that were *for the same page*!!!

Today, I decided to remedy the problem. Went to help, found the answer, logged in and set special preferences -> Gadgets to not show popups. However the box wasn't marked already. However, I turned it on and off again, and saved it. Of course, popups still occurr. It would have been really nice if this hadn't been automatically installed, but instead advertised as an option, or installed for a period of time, and people told how to 'sign up.'

Can you please tell me how to get rid of these things? And does this mean I have to log in every time to ensure that they do not appear?

Thank you,

Peacedance (talk) 15:51, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia's navigation popups are probably not the kind of popups you are experiencing. Navigation popups give you a preview of Wikipedia pages, whereas by your enquiry one could reasonably assume that you are experiencing traditional advertising popups. As Wikipedia has no advertising, the popups are most likely caused by adware or some other unwanted program on your computer. You may wish to install an anti-virus or anti-adware program; unfortunately dealing with adware is not within the scope of the Wikipedia Help Desk, so I'm afraid I cannot help you beyond this. You may wish to ask at the Computing reference desk. Intelligentsium 16:01, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Navigation popups can only work when you are logged in and Navigation popups is enabled for the account, either as a gadget or on a user subpage (your account does not have user subpages). Are you sure you see the popups at en.wikipedia.org? Many sites copy Wikipedia articles and some of them probably add their own popups. Are you sure your browser was not logged into another account when you saw them? What exactly do the popups look like? See Navigation popups for a screen shot showing what that looks like. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:00, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

unsigned comments...

I was refactoring a talk page and found some minor comments that are unsigned. I suspect they were made years ago. I would like to tag them as unsigned, but I think all the templates prompt me to check the history for usernames and date of comment. Is there a way a I put an unsigned note on a comment that indicates that I did not look up original posting details? Otherwise, what should I do with ancient unsigned comments? Thanks, Blue Rasberry 17:07, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

The date is optional. The user name or IP address is supposed to be given. If you don't want to spend time checking the page history to see who added it then perhaps you should leave it as it is, or add indentation or blank lines if it looks like the comment is part of something else. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:23, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm pretty OCD about these, so if you link the page I might go and fix them. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 21:23, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Video

Resolved

 – Discussion continues at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Video – ukexpat (talk) 20:48, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

The following discussion 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 don't know if this is the right place to ask my question: I've uploaded a video and added it to Steinway & Sons in the section "Expansion". The picture shown when the video is not played is odd. Do somebody know what is wrong? Rerumirf (talk) 17:38, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

What do you mean by "odd"? I'm not getting a picture at all right now, but I believe the reason for this is that thumbnails are generated in batches by the MediaWiki backend and it hasn't gotten around to creating one yet. You could try asking on the technical village pump if that's what you're seeing as well. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 18:27, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

By "odd" I mean that there is no picture just a red cross and the text "Steinway piano - Duo-Art.ogg". Rerumirf (talk) 20:25, 3 April 2010 (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.