Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 August 17

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August 17

Sound file on userpage

Resolved

Is there any rule against having sound files which can be played on a userpage/talkpage? the file in question is already on wikipedia and used in an article. Thanks BritishWatcher (talk) 01:02, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I don't see any reason why not. The content must be completely free - like images, non-free content cannot be used in the userspace. TNXMan 01:04, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

(e/c) It depends on whether is it is a copyrighted and not-freely licenses, such as all sound files being used under a claim of fair use. These can only be used under the specific use that is claimed as fair which would not be for any user page or talk page purposes. Otherwise, I can't see why not.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:09, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Thank you both for the quick replies. The file says its been released by its author into the public domain for any purpose and its been on wiki since 2004. The song itself certainly has no copyright issues. So ill add it, thanks your help. BritishWatcher (talk) 01:31, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Edit link not appearing

There is no "edit" link appearing on the main body section of the page I need to edit. I am only able to edit the "see also" section and below. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tara Mulholland (talk • contribs) 01:56, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

If you mean the very top section of the article (that is, the section before the headline), simply click on the "edit" tab at the very top of the page. This will allow you to edit the entire article. TNXMan 02:14, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

What's the name of the article? We may be able to fix the bug, if there is one. —La Pianista ^{♫ ♪} 02:48, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

A person was accusing me of vandalism when I don't

I was doing some editing on Howie Mandel that really happened and the next thing you know Falcon8765 deleted my post and accused me of vandalism when I didn't. What do I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wung97 (talk • contribs) 02:36, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Just go to his talk page, User talk:Falcon8765 and discuss the issue with him. If you explain everything, I'm more than certain he'll cooperate with you. Just remember to be WP:CIVIL and he should do the same. —La Pianista ^{♫ ♪} 02:45, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Edits like this are not constructive. Especially when repeated, they can be considered vandalism. Why you try helping out a little bit instead? TNXMan 02:46, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Windows 7

I recently switched to Windows 7, and now I'm having two big problems editing Wikipedia. First, comparing revisions, and all other operations on the article history page are running very, very slowly. I mean VERY slowly. Second, when I make an edit, the cursor and screen jump around so that I cannot see the edit that I just made and have to scroll around to find it again every time. I have tried to use both IE and Firefox with Windows 7, and both have these problems. If you have advice, kindly let me know on my talk page. Thanks! -- Ssilvers (talk) 03:00, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

It seems nobody here has a clue about this problem. It may be so rare that none of the Help desk volunteers have experienced it themselves. These types of problems can be difficult to diagnose from afar. You could try asking on Wikipedia:Village pump/Technical and/or Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing. Read Wikipedia:Browser notes and its talk page archives. Try searching the Web and Google Groups for keywords relating to your problem. Sometimes you can find various online discussion groups where people have reported a problem and the fix. --Teratornis (talk) 17:11, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Creating Wikipedia Username: Name already registered, but with no contributions

Hello, I'm thinking about creating a Wikipedia account under the name Xcalizor. Unfortunately, the name is already taken, yet, I checked the user's edits and realized the person had not a single contribution to the encyclopedia. Is it possible for me to somehow use that account name anyway? If not, I'll be more than happy to find myself a different name to use to contribute under, no problem.

I'll check back here some time soon. 70.180.210.182 (talk) 03:09, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

See WP:USURP. Dismas|^(talk) 03:13, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. 70.180.210.182 (talk) 03:28, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Ehow[.]com

Why is ehow[.]com blocked? It seems like a good reference site. --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 03:40, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Well, I used WikiBlame to find its addition: it was added to the spam blacklist by this diff. Going to see if I can determine the reason. Meanwhile, if there is a specific link you want to use, you can post a request at MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:16, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Okay, it took some digging, mostly because I didn't know how to look efficiently but I do now—you search the MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist/log. The relevant discussion is here.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:31, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Picture thumbs

I don't see picture thumbnails in Opera (just white background and the text capture below). What is to be done? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.154.4.133 (talk) 04:14, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Did the pictures work previously, and stopped? Did something change?

Does it only affect Wikipedia, or all websites?

And...most importantly...have you tried turning it off and back on again?  Chzz  ►  04:30, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it worked previously, but ceased. It's on WP, but only on one page, the rest is ok. I even restarted the comp, but still nothing. I think it's because of cache, but not sure. 213.154.4.133 (talk) 04:43, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Ah, that narrows things down considerably. Which page is causing the trouble?

Try putting ?action=purge on the end of the URL; for example, if it was the article on sausages, the normal URL is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausage — if you type that the code on the end, you get http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausage?action=purge — this forces a refresh of the page.

Please let us know if that solves it, or if not, which specific page and which image(s). Thanks.  Chzz  ►  04:56, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Editorial comments in articles

An editor placed a non-hidden comment in the body of the Notable Residents section of the article on Santo Domingo, asking editors to add people other than baseball players. The sentiment is fine, but it seems to me like that is better done as a hidden comment or put in the discussion page. The editor asked me to show him policy and I couldn't find any, and in a sense it is similar to a template highlighting a problem. Is there policy on this? --Beirne (talk) 04:28, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I have swapped the note out with a Template:Expand-section, final wording could be improved. Unomi (talk) 04:40, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I don't know that there is a tailored section of policy but see WP:BADIDEA and WP:SENSE. In short, this is obviously not a good idea and I would bet 99 out of 100 users would back you up in removing such edits. We do have a tailored warning message on this {{Uw-talkinarticle}}. (slightly on point is Wikipedia:Manual of Style (self-references to avoid)).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:48, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you. The manual of style reference helps a lot, and I don't have a problem with the Expand-section template. --Beirne (talk) 04:53, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

You're welcome.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:18, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Football kit colours

How to edit the kit colours of national teams in the infobox? What does "|rightarm1=13DD64" or "|shorts1=FFFFFF" mean? Ash wki (talk) 04:50, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

The numbers are web colors. That article has quite a few; this link has lots more.

This text is written in colour code 13DD64, from your example. FFFFFF is white.

See also the documentation on Template:Football kit.  Chzz  ►  05:00, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Vlado Popovic politician exists in serbocroat language Wiki -

Would like to make an article on same subject BUT in English with some changes How to proceed ?? Thank you

HopeNada —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hopenada (talk • contribs) 08:18, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Translation gives you several options on how to approach this. Read it. You can request for someone else to translate, or do it yourself (assuming you know the language). Xcalizorz (talk) 08:28, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Title/Heading

 Done

I am currently editing a wikipedia page. Can you please amend the caps of the title/heading.

Thanks, Geoff. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Geoffharrop (talk • contribs) 09:30, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

See WP:MOVE. DMacks (talk) 09:44, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I am having great difficulty doing the above - I do not have a drop down link next to the 'watchlist star'. Is there anyway someone within the wikipedia team could do this for me? It would be much appreciated. Thanks guys. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Geoffharrop (talk • contribs) 10:28, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I moved the article for you. ~~ GB fan ~~ ^talk 11:06, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks very much - much appreciated. Geoff However is there anyway I can deleted the original?????

It is deleted. ~~ GB fan ~~ ^talk 13:09, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for all your help. However, the new page isn't coming up under the google search ben ferguson footballer is there a reason for this???

It will probably take a few days for it to reindex and show up, that is something completely on Google. ~~ GB fan ~~ ^talk 17:09, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I have proposed the article for deletion (Ben Ferguson (footballer)) as an unreferenced BLP. – ukexpat (talk) 17:47, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

New pages stuck in user box

I started editing Wikipedia entries on writers in June, and want to start creating pages for eminent writers not currently covered. I did my first one on 8 August but it's still stuck in my user box. I thought that once I had an account and had been active as an editor of other Wikipedia pages I could start creating new entries. I read in the helpdesk that something appears on the top right of the user box which enables me to release new pages into Wikipedia once I'm happy with them, but this facility doesn't appear to have been activated yet. What else do I need to do to start activating new pages? Thanks - HarryHarry Novak (talk) 10:07, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

You account should be autoconfirmed, as it is more than 4 days old with more than 10 edits. You should have an option to move the page - see here for more information about how to do it! -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 11:13, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Just one bit of advice... Before you move Edna Longley out into the main article space, please provide some references for the article. Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 12:43, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks to both for advice, have added references and made page live. HarryHarry Novak (talk) 13:57, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Policy for commercial Links?

I notice many pages with medical topics with links to companies making products for that topic.

Example: "Negative pressure wound therapy"

This Wikipedia article has pics and links to a manufacturer named KCI?

When I try to do something similar for my company under another topic, I am edited out.

Please advise? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Simpsonesque (talk • contribs) 14:05, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I've cleaned up the Kinetic Concepts article. The only mention I saw in the article Negative pressure wound therapy was a caption of a picture. Thank you for bringing that up, as advertising is not allowed. TNXMan 14:19, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Dan Pawson

My article, Dan Pawson, is serving its last couple of days on new pages. Several people have reviewed it, but every one of them forgot to patrol it. What should I do? Us441 (talk) 14:15, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

The patrolling is only an in-Wikipedia feature to help editors who patrol new pages cover everything. It doesn't affect how the page appears to non-logged-in users or affect the article in any other way. In short, there's no need for you to do anything. --Danger (talk) 15:39, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

History of the CB&Q Railroad in Galesburg, IL.

Do you have some history of theCB&Q Railroad in Galesburg, IL? In the 1940s I watched the trains on this Line go by my father's farm. this Line went from St. Louis, MO. to Beardstown,IL daily and as I recall went on to Galesburg, IL too. I enjoy Railroad History, especially about this Line.

Sincerely, Harold W. Piggott e-mail: <blanked> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.91.237.61 (talk) 14:18, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

You might find what you are looking for in the article about CB&Q. 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. TNXMan 14:20, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

There's a bit of information in Galesburg, Illinois#History as well. Deor (talk) 15:39, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

MOS: Best known for?

I read a hidden comment in an article that stated by saying an actor is best known for something (e.g. Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor, best known for playing Harry Potter in the feature film series based on the popular book series) is contrary to Wikipedia's MOS. Despite this, I've noticed that lots of articles of famous people (especially actors) include the "best known for.." phrase. I've been trying to look for the place where this is but I can't seem to find this policy and I was wondering if someone could link me to it (if such exists)? Jennie--x (talk) 14:20, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I guess the argument is that such a statement is subjective therefore it is not a neutral point of view. – ukexpat (talk) 17:29, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

In which article did you see it? Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies) contains as a valid example of something else:

• Boris Karloff (November 23, 1887 – February 2, 1969), born William Henry Pratt, was an actor best known for his roles in horror films.

In many of the clear cases like Radcliffe and Karloff, a reliable source could probably be found and people wouldn't argue against it being best known. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:10, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

The main discussion happened several years ago and I would not know where to look for it but NPOV was one of the main reasons that using the word "best" is discouraged. With living people it also has time sensitive problems - in the example given Radcliffe is best know for HP now but 20 years from now - who knows? Yes it is still in numerous articles - I usually just remove the word best and leave the rest - so please feel free to alter it when you see it - if you want to that is. MarnetteD | Talk 19:15, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

A problem with the phrase "best known" is that it does not specify by whom, and therefore begs to have a {{By whom}} slapped on it. Is that best known by the general public? By film critics? By industry types? By scholars? By a particular reviewer and his or her friends? By people who watch theater plays rather than movies? By people in another country? By young people? By old people? It is ambiguous to speak of anything being "known" without specifying who does the knowing - no two humans know exactly all the same things. This type of ambiguity is of course a general problem with verbs in the passive voice with missing actor. --Teratornis (talk) 23:22, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

replace image with png

I'd like to replace the logo on the UVA Law School page with a png file, but it doesn't seem to work. I can't see how to delete the original logo someone else loaded, which is actually UVA's logo, not the Law School logo.

thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmw3v (talk • contribs) 14:40, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

You will have to upload the law school logo separately and change the link in the article to that file name. See WP:UPLOAD, WP:LOGO and WP:IMAGES for assistance. As the logo is almost certainly copyrighted, it can only be used under an appropriate non-free use rationale and for that you will have to use the {{logo fur}} template. – ukexpat (talk) 17:27, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I have reverted File:UvaSeal.gif to the University seal. I will upload the Law School logo as a separate file. – ukexpat (talk) 19:13, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

 Done - changed with this edit to add this file. – ukexpat (talk) 19:22, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Additional comment: in your recent edits you have added a lot of external links within the article text, in the [http://mylink.com] format. This gives rise to inconsistent referencing. At the very least, ref tags and a link title should be added to those links, such as <ref>[http://mylink.com Title of link]</ref>, or even better, use the {{cite web}} template. To avoid repeating references, please consider using named references. – ukexpat (talk) 19:34, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Why does the Google spell check not work on Wikipedia?

I've been trying to find out for months now why the google spell check feature, which used to work just fine, has stopped working on Wikipedia. Since this happens both at home and at my office, and since spell check works fine on all other web pages, I assume the problem is with Wikipedia. The problem is that after a spell check the lines appear superimposed and unreadable. Rick Norwood (talk) 15:03, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Cal State University Fullerton Alumni ( Forrest Whitaker not on your listing? )

Here is the source

http://www.tv.com/forest-whitaker/person/61686/summary.html

Hope this helps...

He is on CSUF campus a lot with Marc Cherry (desparate housewives creator) and Kevin Costner (actor). I just want him to get credit that is due to him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.83.217.1 (talk) 16:18, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

A source like that is acceptable for confirming some basic information, but in order to have an article he must be referred to in multiple independent reliable sources. Please read WP:YFA and WP:BLP. --ColinFine (talk) 18:30, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I've realised that you are probably talking about either a list or a category: in either case, people are included only if they have, or could have, an article of their own. --ColinFine (talk) 18:41, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

That's Forest Whitaker, right? Do you have reliable sources for him as an alumn? According to our sources, he attended Cal Poly Pomona, not CSUF. --Orange Mike | Talk 18:50, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

How to remove citation box

I added a citation for every single fact on the page, Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award. How do I get the two boxes at the top removed that say the page needs third party sources and citations? —Preceding unsigned comment added by L8ralig8rs (talk • contribs) 16:36, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

The top box can just be removed. The bottom one, however, is looking for third-party sources. I don't believe that the site for the awards counts as a third-party source. Bk314159 (talk) 17:02, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

There is no special process for removing warning templates: any editor (including you) can remove them, if they think that the warning no longer applies. --ColinFine (talk) 18:42, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Change Username Question

Heading added by Xcalizorz (talk) 17:14, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Hi, I had just registered as "John butcher". Actually I wanted to register as "john butcher". As WP policy demands the first letter to be capital, and I got to know that only registered, now I want to change my user name to "John Butcher". How can I ask the "baurocrats" to do that?, since I tried to do another account but it wasnt allowed?, thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by John butcher (talk • contribs) 16:56, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Try going to WP:RENAME. Bk314159 (talk) 17:02, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I read all in it and there are no effectively "how to change the user-name" direction on it. I am going/passing by pages and pages and the issue isnt really being solved. Please, give me better directions, tks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by John butcher (talk • contribs) 17:49, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Changing username/Simple. – ukexpat (talk) 17:52, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Logo Change

I represent the City of Farmers Branch and the logo displayed is out of date and incorrect. How do I change the logo image?

thank you

Rachael Loftus Marketing Specialist City of Farmers Branch <blanked> 18:11, 17 August 2010 (UTC)18:11, 17 August 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rloftus (talk • contribs)

You are not autconfirmed yet so will not be able to upload. Give me a few minutes and I will do it for you. – ukexpat (talk) 18:32, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

 Done I think I uploaded the right one, take a look at Farmers Branch, Texas. You may need to do a server purge and/or bypass your browser cache to see the new image in the article. – ukexpat (talk) 18:49, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Cavalier

My Chevrolet Cavalier is approaching 500,000 KM & it's still running, is there any way GM can buy for their advertisement purpose, or anything you would like to suggest. Thanks, Cyrus. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.50.232.2 (talk) 19:01, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over three million articles, and thought that we were directly 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 a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on 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. TNXMan 19:03, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

How do I publish an article to the website when it has been edited, it has been more than 4 days, and it is cited? I do not see a "publish to web" button?

Resolved

 – Speedily deleted as spam. – ukexpat (talk) 14:25, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Factwriter101 (talk • contribs) 20:20, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

There is no such button. What you would do is called a "move". In this case, it was moved to the subject's name, properly capitalized. See Vincent Giampapa. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:25, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

taylor swift spell check

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 20:31, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

acting career - For this role she won the Teen Chocie Award for Movie Female Breakout

--it's 'choice' not chocie'

thanks wikistaff —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.78.231.17 (talk) 20:26, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Fixed. – ukexpat (talk) 20:31, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

pastor Robert Morris

What specific information do you need to make his name come up on wikapedia on a higher level??? Please look at his data and let me know. i have all available information, just need more specifics. Thank you. keith Buchert —Preceding unsigned comment added by Keithbuchert (talk • contribs) 21:43, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I am not sure what you mean by "make his name come up on wikapedia on a higher level" - the article at Robert Morris (pastor) comes as the first entry on the list when you search for Pastor Robert Morris. If you mean where his name comes on the disambiguation page Robert Morris, the entries may need a shuffle so that they are correctly ordered in birth order (I believe that's the usual order), but even so he would still be near the bottom of that list. Looking at the article, the main problem is that he may not meet the criteria for inclusion as shown at Wikipedia's general notability guidelines or the guidelines for the notability of people. Being the founder of a "megachurch" or the author of 9 books would not (in and of themselves) make him notable. There needs to be coverage of Morris at reliable independent sources which verify the information in the article -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 21:52, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Hyphen

Is it appropriate to use &ndash; or &mdash; in articles? :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 23:02, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

MOS:DASH. --Teratornis (talk) 23:09, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I guess the strike through is unintentional and you just mean &ndash; or &mdash;. It is preferred to use the characters – or — directly. Originally writing the HTML entities &ndash; or &mdash; is acceptable but it may be changed to characters later and shouldn't be changed the other way. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:17, 17 August 2010 (UTC)