Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 December 6

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December 6

Wikipedia pages not displaying properly

This only started a few days ago. I had no column down the side, no pictures, no text boxes, no wiki logo and any results came up in text only. I use Firefox 3.6.12.

I looked up help in Mozilla and by clearing cache and cookies, I got some of the display back (column down the side for example).

I still don't have any pictures or even the Wikipedia logo in top left hand corner. I have added you to all the exceptions possible, but as the pages were working a few days ago and no settings were changed in the meantime, this is very strange.

I did a system restore to see if that would do it, but nothing.

On another PC with the same version of Firefox, there are no problems - everything displays properly. I have cross-checked the settings and they are all the same.

Any thoughts? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.168.244.71 (talk) 00:45, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Click Tools, then Options, then Content, "Load images automatically" should be checked. Dream Focus 00:52, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

It was ticked, so I unticked and ticked again, rebooted and that did it! Very strange - thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.168.244.71 (talk) 01:01, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Language problem

why i keep receiving mails from wikiadmin written in Norwegian? can i change the language or if not can an admin do something? EXORKISTIS (talk) 03:09, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Your account was automatically created in the Norwegian Wikipedia 4 December.[1] I guess you clicked a link leading there while you were logged in at another wiki. Account creation can cause welcome messages in many Wikipedia languages. Just ignore them if you don't edit there and don't know the language. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:23, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Problem with "new external links" message

Just in case anyone cares, there is an occasional bug in the software that checks whether edits include new external links. I've noticed this a few times, the latest in this edit, which popped up the "your edit contains new external links" window and asked me to type the Captcha words, even though the edit did not add any new external links. It's no big deal, but I thought I'd mention it anyway... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.184.235.197 (talk) 03:43, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

The paragraph you edited contains external links generated by a template. You didn't edit the template calls but it may be related to this. If you edit with an autoconfirmed account then you can avoid Captcha's for external links and get other benefits. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:19, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

What is archive url and what is url?????????????????

On the page WP:CITET, there are mentions about archiveurl and url. I inserted an archived press release from Vietnam Airlines, using archivedate and archiveurl. But it tells me that I must add a url as well. What does it mean by this Error: If you specify |archiveurl=, you must first specify |url=.?????????? If the article has been archived, how I am supposed to know what the original url was?

Can somebody fix the formatting at Vietnam Airlines up, to show me what should be done? Sp33dyphil ^{(Talk) (Contributions)(Feed back needed @ Talk page)} 06:05, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

You always include |url=. If the original URL goes dead and you can find an archived version at Archive.org or some other site, then you add |archiveurl= and |archivedate=. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 06:10, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Please click on this link and see for yourself what I've put in.<ref>{{Cite press release|title=Using a new airport in Russia |publisher=Vietnam Airlines|archivedate=29/12/2003|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20031130143452/http://www.vietnamairlines.com/}}</ref> Sp33dyphil ^{(Talk) (Contributions)(Feed back needed @ Talk page)}

What is the original URL? How did you find the archived URL? ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 06:50, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

I was just browsing through the Wayback Machine. Sp33dyphil ^{(Talk) (Contributions)(Feed back needed @ Talk page)} 07:05, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

This is how I normally link to the internet archives. The archiveurl parameter in the "cite" series of templates is meant for providing a url to an archive when you also have a live url to the original page, in case the original page goes offline or changes. The {{wayback}} template is meant specifically for linking to archives in the Wayback Machine when the original url is already dead. I filled in the date parameter by copy-pasting from the archive url. Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 08:17, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you Adrian J. Hunter, that's the kind of formatting that I needed. Best regards :) Sp33dyphil ^{(Talk) (Contributions)(Feed back needed @ Talk page)} 00:46, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia's sister projects

Why wikitravels is not mentioned in wikipedias sister project?? What are other sister projects of wikipedia not mentioned in the page122.162.18.150 (talk) 07:00, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Hello there; WikiTravel is not a Wikipedia sister project. The site is owned by Internet brands a company not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation. Sister projects are only those from the Wikimedia Foundation. Maybe you are confused with the prefix, wiki? Cheers - [CharlieEchoTango] 07:02, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

thanks a lot —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.162.18.150 (talk) 07:26, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Promostyl should be in Wikipedia

I think the French fashion editor company Promostyl http://www.promostyl.com should be in Wikipedia because it is a kind of paradigm in Fashion industry, pointing out the future routes of fashion. Their own description might do very well "Promostyl a French fashion trend company to anticipate the currents in design, fashion, and, marketing to give a strategic edge in the market place. Located in Paris France." Thing is that everyone in fashion business knows about them and very few outside. If someone out side hears about it it should be a quick info at Wikipedia, at least the English edition. You can get a quick note by the French page for fashion http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_(habillement). I can't find out anymore how to create a page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.185.78.66 (talk) 07:04, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia. Have you tried Wikipedia:Your first article? This page provides great resources on how to start your first article, including the "rules" by which we create articles. Make sure that your subject in question meets the guidelines of notability. Once again, welcome! —Duncan^{What I Do} / _{What I Say} 08:19, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Is There An Automated User Box for Edits / Contributions?

Is there an automated userbox that will automatically reference the number of my user edits or contributions, so I don't have to keep editing my user page. For example, on my user page I have to keep filling in the number in this user box 'User contrib|6200|Sbmeirow'. Thanks in advance. Sbmeirow (talk) 08:54, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

I've had a look round and can't find a way to do this. It would be quite a performance hit, because your user page would have to be purged every time you made an edit to any page. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:14, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Hmmm, too bad wikimedia server software doesn't provide some magic variable name that returns a number that is rounded down to the nearest 100. Thanks anyway. Sbmeirow (talk) 19:21, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Help needed with page move

I was trying to italicize the previously unitalicized page name for the book [2] and really messed it up. In fact, it now seems impossible to create a blue wikilink to the article here. I have no clue what to do, and I am sure that I will only create more redirects if I continue to try to fix this. Can someone please help by correcting the page name, and perhaps deleting or cleaning up some of the redirects ? Thanks! KeptSouth (talk) 09:02, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Article-titles cannot have markup/formatting...they are literal text. There are ways to cause them to render with special formatting, for example, {{Italic title}}, but there is no consensus that book titles should be rendered italicized as their article title (unlike WP:MOS standard formatting for book-titles when written as part of article content). Also, wikipedia standard seems to be that a subtitle is considered part of the title (it's what the book is titled by the publisher, even if it's just a parenthetical or subordinate part of the phrase), so the whole thing would be formatted the same. I've moved it back to America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag. Feel free to get consensus for alternate display-formatting on the article's talk-page. DMacks (talk) 10:17, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

The template infobox book automatically italicises the title of an article in which it is used, unless the article title is longer than 50 characters ("America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag" is 56 characters), in which case the parameter "italic title = force" is required. I have added that parameter to the infobox in the article, so its title is now italicised. Gandalf61 (talk) 13:26, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

www.softpedia.com keeps deleting my (and others) contribution to the wikipedia articol about them, because that truth is not good for their image

This IP # 193.226.140.133, which it seems that belongs to www.softpedia.com keeps deleting my contribution to the wiki page related to them. It was an item/chapter done by somebody else called Criticism, to which I added a few more info the show the site being untrusthy and not a honest website. This IPD # 193.226.140.133, deleted the whole chapter from both www.softpedia.com and www.softpedia.ro, accusing of vandalism and personal vendetta. What was in that item is verifiable. Please lock the pages after reinstating the deleted info.

Thank you.

Here is the content that they abusively keep deleting it:

Criticism Softpedia has been accused of using a technique referred to as "Disguised Ads"[5] to drive advertisement clicks from site visitors by making the most prominent features on the download page advertisements and not the application/file the site visitor was attempting to locate. Also there are reports on WOT and McAfee SiteAdvisor, of Softpedia website distributing in some instances, ad-ware, spy-ware, phishing, viruses, verifiable at www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/softpedia.com and at www.siteadvisor.com/sites/softpedia.com/msgpage. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.91.217.238 (talk) 13:28, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Um... This is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which anyone can edit. Wikipedia has no association with Softpedia. MikeNicho231 (talk) 13:59, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

The IP appears to be referring to edits to Softpedia. GiftigerWunsch [BODY DOUBLE] 14:09, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The edits were undone because you inserted contentious and unreferenced information into the article, as well as inserted coloured text and plain links which should not be used in articles per our manual of style. Please do not insert unreferenced contentious material into articles about companies as it could be seen as potentially libellous. The paragraph also indicated that a "name and shame" website made allegations, but the website does not seem notable enough to warrant mention, and their views are far from mainstream coverage, making the mention WP:UNDUE. GiftigerWunsch [BODY DOUBLE] 14:02, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

It is evident that User:193.226.140.133 (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) is in fact D.softpedia.com so, clearly that editor is editing in violation of the wp:COI policy. I've so warned at the userpage. However, WG is also correct about the nature of the edits requiring references to reliable sources.LeadSongDog come howl! 14:22, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Well spotted regarding d.softpedia.com. GiftigerWunsch [BODY DOUBLE] 15:23, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Collapsing sections via options

Hi all! I have a question about formatting options. On pages with extremely long notes sections, such as Barack Obama, is there any way of collapsing the notes section? I understand that notes sections are not eligible for in-article collapse, so my question is whether there is a monobook code or preference or something that can hide sections of an article for a user. Thanks. Krashlandon ^(talk) 14:24, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

There's the script User:TheDJ/Folded references which will hide references lists on pages. --Mysdaao ^talk 15:27, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

When using that script, links into the collapsed section will not work and in articles that have more than one reference section, such as a notes section, only the first will collapse. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:35, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! The script works well. Yes, it only closes the first section if a page has both notes and references, but it seems that if an article has both sections, the notes are usually much longer and listed first, so that is not really a problem. Krashlandon ^(talk) 16:38, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Dear Mr. Wales

WP:DNFT
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Dear Mr. Wales I am Sheik Hassan Bin Mohammad Al-Quattani from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. I am very fascinated of your web site, and I would like to purchase it. I have big spending power and I am looking forward to negotiating with you. If you would like to contact me, please contact me in the UAE. I am looking forward to hearing from you.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.167.101.81 (talk) 14:42, 6 December 2010 (UTC) If this is genuine (doubtful) you could do with reading Wikipedia:FAQ/Overview#Who owns Wikipedia?. -- Q Chris (talk) 15:26, 6 December 2010 (UTC) And why not donate some money to get the process started? BencherliteTalk 15:34, 6 December 2010 (UTC) FYI: The provided (fake) IP belongs to the Emirati telecom regulation authority. [3] MikeNicho231 (talk) 15:37, 6 December 2010 (UTC) I'm inclined to suspect trolling here, but either way I don't think there's much the help desk can do to help them anyway. GiftigerWunsch [BODY DOUBLE] 15:40, 6 December 2010 (UTC) I'm willing to help them if they are willing to make the check out to me. (; 15:46, 6 December 2010 (UTC) IP geolocates to Norway. – ukexpat (talk) 15:50, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Deletion Log

How can I tell if an article has been deleted in the past, and why? I know that if I start a new article that has been previously deleted then I get a red/pink banner telling me that such-and-such deleted the article on a certain day, and for a certain reason. But what about when the article's already been rewritten? Someone created an article a few minutes ago, but they have a CSD tag on their user talk page, about the same article, from last month. I'm assuming the article was CSD'd last month; but how can I check? — Fly by Night (talk) 17:21, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Special:Log. Algebraist 17:23, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Goto Special:Log Change the dropdown to Deletion log and put the name of the article you want to know about in the title field and it will tell you when it was deleted. ~~ GB fan ~~ 17:25, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Perfect. Thanks to you both. — Fly by Night (talk) 18:04, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Mescalero Apache

Michael Whitehorse is NOT an Enrolled Member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe. Please Remove his Photo and Information. Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by Apacheboi84 (talk • contribs) 17:34, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Presumably you are referring to Mescalero (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) and Michael Horse (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)? – ukexpat (talk) 17:46, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Heidolph Image Deletion/ Page HELP

Hello I emailed permissions-commons@wikimedia.org; photosubmission@wikimedia.org on 10/20/10 and have heard nothing back. I was told to wait a month and still have heard nothing. I currently have a page that I have not gone live with yet. I recieved copyright approval from the owner of the images and emailed that to the above emails. The images have not been undeleted. What am I supposed to do? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Evaporation_Expert/Heidolph• File:Bullseye.jpg (talk) • File:Hei-VAP Precision ML G3B.tif (talk) • File:MR Hei Standard.tif (talk) • File:PD 5001 SPQuick 2005.tif (talk) • File:Polymax 2040.tif (talk) • File:RZR 2052 control.tif (talk) • File:SilentCrusher S.tif (talk) • File:Synthesis 1 Multi Evaporator.tif (talk) Evaporation Expert (talk) 18:09, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

The correct procedure would have been to follow the instructions in Commons:COM:OTRS. However, going the OTRS route dumps extra work on some other volunteer user, of whom there are never enough. The fastest solution is one in which you can do all the work yourself. One such method is to persuade the copyright owner of the photos to upload them (himself or herself) to Flickr, and choose one of the licenses compatible with Wikimedia Commons (namely, {{cc-by-3.0}} or {{cc-by-sa-3.0}}). Then you can upload the photos from Flickr to Commons using one of the several tools, which will automatically reference the licensing on Flickr. Here are some examples of files I have uploaded that way. --Teratornis (talk) 18:56, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

To be perfectly frank User:Evaporation Expert/Heidolph is a blatant advertisement and would be speedily deleted as such if moved to mainspace in its current form. Suggest that you spend some time reading WP:CORP, WP:BFAQ, WP:RS and WP:SPAM. – ukexpat (talk) 19:48, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Those articles were read prior to the creation of the article. This article was actually written exactly like a current Wiki article already present in Wiki. Im not sure I follow how it is an advertisment when it links to various other articles and has no promotional informaiton. Evaporation Expert (talk) 20:40, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Two examples: As an innovative and globally active company, Heidolph is a leading manufacturer of laboratory equipment with a local footprint in more than 100 countries.; the "About us" heading - both of which look like they came from a marketing brochure. Furthermore, neither of the two reliable sources (Engadget and the NYT) support notability - the NYT article doesn't even mention the company. – ukexpat (talk) 21:46, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

I suggest you read WP:PEACOCK. --ColinFine (talk) 00:48, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for your suggestions, I will make some changes. Evaporation Expert (talk) 13:54, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

I cleaned up the lead and fixed the layout. Needs more work though. – ukexpat (talk) 17:01, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

How I do I use code to insert blank spaces in an article? Want to space infobox and other sections properly.

To make an article with an infobox line up properly, I want to add in some blank spaces. I'm told that just doing that with the enter key won't make it line up properly for all browser. Is there a way to use HTML code or whatever, at the end of the infobox, and make the rest of the article appear after that spot? The introduction and table of contents should be the only things ever at the left side of an infobox. Is this the proper place to ask this question, or is there somewhere that specifically deals with this sort of thing, such as a Wikipedia code page? Dream Focus 18:15, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

{{-}}? DMacks (talk) 18:17, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I put that after the summary and before the first section, and the summary now looks fine, but then there is a large blank spot from the table of context being out of place. Is there a way to control where the table of contents appears at? I'd like to have the summary followed by the table of contents directly beneath that, with the infobox to the right, and then blank spaces before the next section begins. Dream Focus 18:53, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

See WP:TOC. DMacks (talk) 18:57, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Are we talking about Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri? The problem with {{-}} is that it may fix the problem for some screen resolutions, but looks ugly on others. Your edit has been undone by another user, so I suggest that you discuss on their or the article's talk page. – ukexpat (talk) 19:09, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

My edit has not been undone. Not the one where I added that. I just now made two edits, first time I did it with this alignment. Works great now, all problems solved. And why would screen resolutions matter? All it does is put blank spaces, so the next section begins after the end of the infobox. Look at it now. Dream Focus 19:11, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Sorry but it looks awful - way too much white space -- hardcoding white spaces should be a last resort. If you check the edit history you will see that it was undone by User:Hahnchen and I just undid it again. There is discussion on the talk page - suggest that you continue this there. – ukexpat (talk) 19:25, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps {{clear}}? Ks0stm ^(T•C•G) 15:28, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

A comment on NotabilityGuidelines.

Hi,

I always use Wikipedia because it usually catalogs the history of companies and websites. The latter being super important in my day to day life.

Recently I tried to access: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IconBuffet

But found that an editor deleted it (Jclemens, Expired PROD, concern was: Does not meet the general notability guidelines).

I'm a little upset by this. It was a major website that produced icons for a lot of other sites and software. It's recently gone offline, tho we don't know when exactly.

That's why I hit wikipedia. I knew it would know when the site went offline. But instead i was met with a deletion notice -- worse it was deleted about a month ago exactly.

Had we had this discussion last month, I might (or might not) have gotten the answer that "IconBuffet went offline at .... on ..... because of...."

Now I will never know. I also worry about the notability clause, because what it's really no one's big interest about some icon website, some of us in the graphics industry might like to know who contributed to it, worked there, hosted it, etc... cause once a site goes belly up as they have, well, that's it.

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.98.68.73 (talk) 19:26, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

It was deleted when one editor proposed deletion on the grounds that it was not a notable website, and not a soul disagreed with them; it certainly had no evidence or even assertion of notability whatsoever. As to why it's down: to quote from the deleted article, "Recently this project was dropped so the team could work full time on other project, called PackRat. With this, the Firewheel Design team founded a new company called Alamofire Inc."

Leaks

I think the leaks you guys have released today have gone too far. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.105.57.240 (talk) 19:42, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Hi! This is actually Wikipedia, a completely independent organization from Wikileaks. We are an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. TNXMan 19:44, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

—Half Price 19:48, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Please direct your complaint to these guys. – ukexpat (talk) 19:50, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Welcome, referenced information on harm caused by Wikileaks is welcome on that article.Naraht (talk) 20:14, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

HELP blues clues

I am looking for a blues clues dog that when you press its paw it sings " we just figured out blues clue " I ahve searched the net and found one on Ebay but I don't want to take a chance that it may be ruined / soiled etc etc. can you help ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.128.24.192 (talk) 20:29, 6 December 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 20:48, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Pro coder

Who is/are the most pro wikicode-coders here?(i don't need someone who is pro at css/js or something, just wikicode)Joeytje50 (talk) 21:05, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

If you have a tricky wiki-code problem, try asking at Village pump (technical) -- John of Reading (talk) 21:09, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) User:Brion VIBBER is the former Chief Techincal Officer of Wikimedia, and thus probably as "pro" in anything technical you are going to get. User:Tim Starling was, for a long time, Brion's right-hand man and also a major developer. Since Brion has left the post as CTO, I am not sure what his, or Tim's, current relationship is with Wikimedia. See also This list of Mediawiki Developers. --Jayron32 21:13, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Did you have a specific question? If we know more details, we may be able to point you in the right direction. TNXMan 21:56, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Specific question is here. Nobody answers it, so i am trying it here.Joeytje50 (talk) 17:48, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Merging 2 articles - Beauchamps School and Beauchamps High School

I am acting on behalf of the School Leadership of Beauchamps High School in Wickford, Essex. There are 2 acticles on the school called Beauchamps School and Beauchamps High School. Someone has already raised a discussion about merging the 2 articles. The official name of the school is Beauchmaps High School and we would like the articles merged under that name and the Beauchamps School article deleted. Can you please let me know if this can be done. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Beauupdate (talk • contribs) 21:48, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

It can certainly be done. But please be careful when editing the school's article, as you have a blatant conflict of interest. Thanks. —Half Price 21:57, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

And your user name is possibly in violation of the user name policy. – ukexpat (talk) 22:13, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

I have now created a merge discussion at Talk:Beauchamps High School for any users to comment. If there is no issue with the merge, it will probably happen soon. Thanks. —Half Price 22:14, 6 December 2010 (UTC)