Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 August 20

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August 20

Change didn't save

I was on the complete list of animated movies page and noticed that one movie ("Open Season 3") was not listed under 2011 releases, so I edited the list and added the movie to the list (I was logged in) and then clicked on "show changes." It showed the change that I made, but when I left the editing page and went back to the list page, my edit was not there! Why is that? Bigbird13041 (talk) 00:32, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Because you didn't save your change, you just looked at what you were changing. Next time, his save changes. Dismas|^(talk) 00:49, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

I see you got it figured out on your own. Also, film titles should be in italics and not "double quotes". You can make something italic by wrapping it in two single quotes as opposed to using double quotes. (just don't hold down the shift key to get a single quote) Films, novels, television shows, and music albums go in italics whereas shorter works such as songs, TV episodes, and short stories go in "double quotes". Dismas|^(talk) 00:59, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Dismas, your instructions about holding down the shift depend on which national keyboard layout the user has. For example, here in the UK, double quote is shift-2 --ColinFine (talk) 22:13, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

This month's queue

How can I web browser bookmark 'This month's queue' found on the Portal:Featured_content page? I want the bookmark to visit this month's queue, not the queue at the month I created the bookmark. -- 03:42, 20 August 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by CraigKeogh (talk • contribs)

As far as I can see, Portal:Featured content does not have any "this month's queue"—might you be talking about what is currently Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 2010, which is piped to "this month's queue" at Wikipedia:Today's featured article? If so, I don't know how to make your browser bookmark it, but I can tell you how to make a link you can place on your talk or user page that will always access the current page: [[Wikipedia:Today's featured article/{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}]]. --Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:08, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Making time tables

I'm trying to create a timeline for Monarchs of Hawaii. Can someone help me? I'm seem to make a lot of error.--KAVEBEAR (talk) 04:46, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Hi KAVEBEAR. I reverted the article to just before the first corrupt timeline. I'm not very familiar with the the process, but I looked over the reference for EasyTimeline syntax, and it looks like, from the errors generated as shown on the last article version with the attempted timeline:

1. the 'from' attribute for Period cannot start earlier than 01/01/1800, and you were trying to start it on 01/01/1795. This seems to render the entire Period command invalid, which in turn leads to the two following errors
2. the 'start' attribute for ScaleMajor is invalid because of the invalid Period command
3. PlotData is invalid because of the invalid period command

Basically, it looks like you can't use EasyTimeline to create a timeline that starts before 01/01/1800. What I don't have an answer for, sadly, is how proceed. Perhaps a more experienced editor can recommend a workaround. Sorry and good luck! Northumbrian (talk) 01:57, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

Ligatures

This edit summary says ligatures aren't used. I can't find the guideline stating that, can someone else enlighten me on current practice or guidelines? Thanks. Dougweller (talk) 05:43, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

The closest I can find is: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English)#Modified letters, which deals more with the naming of articles, but is germaine to this issue; it says "One recurrent issue has been the treatment of ae and oe and their variants. By and large, Wikipedia uses œ and æ to represent the Anglo-Saxon ligature. For Latin or Greek-derived words, use e or ae/oe, depending on modern usage and the national variety of English used in the article." (emphasis mine). Thus, Caesar is more appropriate than Cæsar. --Jayron32 06:09, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Dougweller (talk) 20:34, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

anonymous contributions

If I made a contribution anonymously - linked to my static IP address - how can I edit, delete it or change it to be linked to my username —Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidseed (talk • contribs) 08:42, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

If you email me I can delete your IP address from the edit (let me know which edit it was). I don't believe the edit can be changed to point to your logged-in username. TFOWR 08:45, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Edits cannot be reattributed from IPs to usernames. This used to be possible, but is no longer. TFOWR is correct that an admin can remove your IP from the edit history, however. TNXMan 13:45, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Can I use HTML on my user page?

Okay, I want to use a Twitter widget on my user page that works using HTML. Can I use it, and if so, how do I use it? Thanks. I can provide a link to the widget if required, but it's basically just a small box with some of my recent Tweets with a link to my Twitter account. Chevymontecarlo 09:27, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

I don't know if it's allowed, but you can put it in a sandbox to see if it's technically possible, by clicking 'show preview'. Kayau Voting IS evil 09:43, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Okay, I'll give it a try. Other opinions are welcome....what I meant by 'allowed' is that is it encouraged or not. Chevymontecarlo 09:47, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Uhm... I don't think it is- unless the widget is not copyrighted, which I doubt. But as I don't know what exactly you're talking about, I can't confirm. sonia♫ 09:50, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

It doesn't have to be 'not copyrighted', it just has to be a WP-compatible, like CC-BY-SA or something like that. Kayau Voting IS evil 10:32, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Well, Kayau's right there. An official Twitter widget is unlikely to be so, especially if it contains their logo etc. sonia♫ 10:54, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

This is the 'widget' I'm on about, if that helps... Chevymontecarlo 11:52, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Seems not. --Extra 999 (Contact ^me + _contribs) 11:54, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

You can use HTML and CSS to customize your userpage, but you cannot place a Twitter widget on your page. Please see WP:UP#NOT for more info. --Sweet xx^Talk 15:54, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

How to I start a new Post/topic

How do I start a new post/topic----------something that I want the world to share and know —Preceding unsigned comment added by Asim2000 (talk • contribs) 13:40, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Do you mean an article? If so, you need to make sure the topic is notable enough to warrant inclusion. You may also want to read our guide to writing your first article. TNXMan 13:42, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

(ec)If it is a truly new idea, this isn't the forum. If the subject is notable, and you have reliable sources, then we have some useful advice:

Writing an article for Wikipedia is harder than many people realize. Even professional writers find that the format and style needed for a good encyclopedia article are different than what might be appropriate for other venues. You could:

• Get someone else to do it—If your only goal is to make sure that an article is added to Wikipedia, you can request that someone write an article on the subject.
• Start by editing other articles—If you are interested in becoming an editor at Wikipedia, our experience demonstrates that it is better to start by improving existing articles, which will help you get a sense of how this place works, and then you will be ready to write your first article from scratch. A good place to visit is the Wikipedia backlog, where there are literally hundreds of thousands of articles needing help from editors. Find an article in a subject area you know, and add a source, or a reference, or simply help write it better.
• Go ahead and try—If you do decide to write an article immediately, please read our policy on conflicts of interest, then read our guide to writing your first article, which will repeat some of the good advice above. Then please use the Article wizard, which will help you through the steps. I urge you to accept the option to save your first draft in your user subpage, which will reduce the chance your work will be deleted before it is ready.

--SPhilbrickT 13:46, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Changing the title of a page.

So I was reading about Gordon Murray and came across this page which was completely wrong and full of details about Trumpton and not the Goblin/Gublin legends. So I did a bit of research and rewrote the page and added a couple of links.... then realised I couldn't change the title of the page. It should read 'The Gublin Legends' and NOT 'Legends of the Goblins'. How can I change it or do I have to create a new page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Popcorn II (talk • contribs) 18:17, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Pages are renamed by moving them to new target names. This procedure preserves the page's edit history. Please do not rename a page by copying/pasting its content to a new page name. If you have an account that is at least four days old and have made more than 10 edits (autoconfirmed), you can move a page yourself, but please first review Wikipedia:Naming conventions. If you still wish to rename the page, go to it, click the drop-down menu at the top (near the History button and Watchlist star), and choose Move. You can then specify a new name for the article. The old page name will automatically become a redirect to the new page. However, if the desired target page name already exists and is other than a redirect with only one edit, you will need an administrator to move the page for you, which can be requested at Wikipedia:Requested moves. Hope this helps. --Mysdaao ^talk 18:41, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

You're right; the article seems to have been a confused and messy cut-and-paste of Trumpton and the title of the show was indeed The Gublin Legends. I have moved it for you. Thanks for spotting the problem and fixing it. Karenjc 19:59, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

External links

I posted an external link from the Sermon on the Mount page to a page with text on an image of these passages. These images are free to anyone. The link has been removed citing spam. I checked out the other links and don"t understand why my link is different. I sent a inqiury to The Ringess, but received no answer except to erase the link again citing "we are no farm link". A free encylopedia links to free text and images. No. I will go to the other Wikis and see if they are any different. Yogarama (talk) 18:25, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

As per the reply posted by User:TheRingess on their talk page, please read WP:EL for guidance about appropriate external links. – ukexpat (talk) 18:53, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Box requesting citations at top of page

We have provided citations for everything relevant for our page, but can't see how to remove the box at the top.

I saw the archived answer "just remove it" but if I go into "edit the page" the box isn't there.

Violasusie (talk) 18:28, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

I assume you are referring to Dale Pollock? The box was generated by the {{No footnotes}} template which I have now removed. Couple of points: be careful when you use terms like "we" and "our page" - the former implies that it may be a shared or "corporate" account which is not permitted and the latter may be taken by some to imply ownership of articles. Once you have created an article, it can and will be edited by others. – ukexpat (talk) 18:42, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Highlighting spelling errors

I like to correct the spellings of several different words and always before I could highlight them in each article so I didn't have to search word by word.

I just started using Windows 7 and can't seem to find that function now.

EoGuy (talk) 19:46, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps you can try hitting Ctrl+F? If this doesn't help, please go see WP:RD/C. —La Pianista ^{♫ ♪} 22:51, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

You could use WP:AWB for this. Dismas|^(talk) 02:12, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

Mark Lowenthal

I created a Mark Lowenthal redirect, Orlady created a one-line stub out of it, and I added on to it. Who gets the credit for creating the article? Us441(talk) (contribs) 19:56, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

No credit for origination or authorship here, I'm afraid - it's a collaboration like all the other articles on Wikipedia. It can be quite interesting to keep a note of any article you start, but there aren't any brownie points available for getting there first. Karenjc 20:08, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict)On the article's history, it's you - but credit along those lines aren't given on Wikipedia. Philosophically, I suppose it could be Orlady (as the editor who actually put in some actual content), but from a historical/statistical point of view, it's the person who originally created the page (i.e. you), not the person who first created 'content'. -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 20:14, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

The "Articles created" link at the bottom of your contributions page shows the page. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:41, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

getting p.hd in water resources management

ISMAIL MUSTAFA LAZAM a consulting civil engineer got b.sc in water resources from BAGHDAD-IRAQ 1978 besides, high intensive post graduated courses in federal yugoslavia, and 1st year courses in BAGHDAD 1996 consulting engineer , being a director general for establishment of dams in iIRAQ perfect experience totally is 32years, , and i did many researches with structure , water resources, general construction , and dams constructions, so , thus you are kindly requested to accept me as a student or member to get P,HD in water resources management accordingly. how to get that , and which way i have to go on? all my documents , certificates and researches are officially and approved. willin that i will have the answer for my request , pls,,,, thnkyou. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.142.51.243 (talk) 20:34, 20 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. – ukexpat (talk) 20:38, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

What can I do about anonymous users making improper changes?

re: The Frat Pack article http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frat_Pack&action=history

As you can see, an anonymous user keeps adding The Hangover (and other films) to the list of associated movies, even though this film does not meet the definition of the list (since none of the "Frat Pack" stars appear in the movie).

Can this page be restricted to logged in users? It is getting very tiresome to keep undoing this guy's edits.Kevin Crossman (talk) 23:11, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

User-warnings can be effective. I use Twinkle; it's a handy tool. (Insert: I see no user warnings have been given yet). Haploidavey (talk) 23:17, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

I've checked the edit history and given a first friendly warning. I don't particularly want the page on my watchlist; if you upload Twinkle or Huggle, you can deal with unhelpful edits very quickly. Haploidavey (talk) 23:36, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

You have to warn the other user to not vandalize articles. An easy way to do this is by placing a user warning template to their page. Click on the link for templates >>>WP:WARN. Here's what you have to do: copy the template, add your signature, and click "save". --Sweet xx^Talk 16:02, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

I've warned the user. Though I guess I wonder about the fact that he's not logged in would matter in this case. Is he going to see the warning if he is not logged in???Kevin Crossman (talk) 00:29, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

• The user cannot see the message if he's not logged in. --Sweet xx^Talk 02:30, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

Okay, then what would you suggest we do? I already recommended the page be limited to logged in users, but you rejected that idea because I didn't send the user (an anonymous IP address) a warning note. So, again, what would you recommend?Kevin Crossman (talk) 16:38, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

Phantoms in my watched list

I can't get rid of a red item in my watched list. Checking it off to remove doesn't work. Williamb (talk) 23:30, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)/Archive 78#Persistent page on watchlist. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:37, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

re: Linda Christas College

Hi,

My name is Dr. Lara DeSoleil. I am chair of the Physics Department with Linda Christas College.

My primary field of research involves the relationship between Planck's Constant, light frequency and electron charge.

For several years, Wikipedia seems to have missed the point that all of our 5200 faculty and students at Linda Christas College run information through the same IP. The schools use a central IP as the only way we can identify ourselves as an coordinated institution.

I don't know how many times Wikipedia editors have "discovered" that submissions from LC come from the same IP and have misinterpreted that information.

My understanding is that on several occasions, faculty or students have attempted to list LC with Wikipedia, only to be met with a certain level of contempt.

Awards for excellence that the College has won in China have been deleted by Wikipedia editors as well, again, saying things like, "What do they think, we (referring to themselves) are stupid?" WEEEELLLLL!

Even today, in checking, the only reference I can find to the College is a negative one by one editor.

In other words, the performance of Wikipedia with reference to both Linda Christas College and LC Academy has been less than stellar.

Perhaps a student or someone else at one time or another has placed material on Wikipedia that was in error. I don't know the history.

But, whatever it is, the attempts to get even a sentence about the schools on Wikipedia have been frustrated by more editors than we can count.

This is all to say, if at any time in the next millenium or so Wikipedia is ready to list Linda Christas as the online educational force it is, please let me know.

I thought about writing such an article, but I was assured by our Dean that, no sooner would I put the information up on Wikipedia, that some editor would delete it. Seems like there are hundreds of folks working with Wikipedia with fingers on delete keys just waiting to exercise power.

If that is NOT correct, please let me know.

However, I really don't want to do the work just to be beaten up by editors who are uninformed regarding online education or who use Wikipedia as a source of personal self worth.

Dr. Lara DeSoleil Physics Department Linda Christas College Laradesoleil (talk) 23:48, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

• If the college is notable according to third party sources (thus not simply according to its own prospectus or other self-published material), there is no reason it should not have an article. Wikipedia articles aim for objective balance; articles about organisations are not usually written by members or affiliates of the same. Haploidavey (talk) 00:04, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

You should encourage your students to create their own accounts, there are many benefits. They should also read WP:RS for guidance on reliable sources and WP:COI for guidance on editing with a conflict of interest. – ukexpat (talk) 01:20, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

I suggest you read the debates at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Linda christas and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Linda Christas International School as well, to understand better why we have no Linda Christas article here. --Orange Mike | Talk 01:32, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia's notability guidelines for an organisation like Linda Christas College are at WP:ORG. Company articles are deleted from Wikipedia all the time because they don't meet the inclusion criteria. This usually happens to articles about companies that (a) fail to satisfy WP:ORG, and/or (b) are promotional, not descriptive, in nature. As yet, nobody has supplied an article about the Linda Christas organisation which has not fallen foul of either (a), or (b), or both. As Orange Mike's links show, the usual response to this is an orchestrated deluge of complaints from people connected with the organisation, praising it and accusing Wikipedia of joining a conspiracy to suppress coverage of it. This misses the point and (fairly or unfairly) arouses suspicion about the motives of the writers and the organisation. Personal anecdotes aren't acceptable source material on Wikipedia, which does not exist to enhance the credibility or public profile of any company or organisation. If LCC is an "online educational force" and has won meaningful accolades for its operations, this will doubtless have been picked up and reported by credible independent media sources and may be the subject of academic study. All you need to do is find such citations, use them to support a neutral, factual article about LCC that satisfies the inclusion criteria, submit it and it will stick. Do bear this point in mind, though. Once an article is on Wikipedia, every part of it can and will be edited by other users. Neither the original contributor nor LCC will have any special control over it, or any right to have it deleted if it evolves into a very different article from the original version. Karenjc 10:45, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

I see the user in question is now soap-boxing in article space, moreover when I google this organisation, the first thing I find on their site is a story about how they have hired someone who is going to attempt to get them more highly placed on the web. As far as I can determine, we have no reliable sources to build an article on, the organisation is not notable in any way and thus no article can exist. --Cameron Scott (talk) 11:00, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

With regard to the Linda Christas saga, one should probably read Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Student-First Accreditation and follow the links therein to get a good picture. I particularly liked this message from one of their (former) "board members". Deor (talk) 12:20, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

Deleted and salted. Dougweller (talk) 12:30, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

I've been looking into this, and it seems that as well as a Lara desoleil, the organisation also seems to employ a Sarah Desoleil and a Julie Desoleil - what an amazing coincidence. I've tried to get vefication of the existance of these individuals but none seems to be out there, it's like they don't exist! --Cameron Scott (talk) 13:18, 21 August 2010 (UTC)