Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 July 22

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July 22

Contributions' history

Is there any way to keep track of edits you've made to deleted articles? I recently added a speedy deletion tag to an article, yet I cannot remember the title of the article, nor can I find it from my history of contributions. Is there any way I could find out what happened to the article, i.e. was it deleted? Were there any edits after mine, before deletion? Who deleted the article?

Thanks for the help. DubZog (talk) 16:19, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

User script help

Why does the Search links script not work for me? I've added it to User:Jwillbur/vector.js and bypassed my cache, but the links don't show up anywhere. I've tried it with both Firefox and Internet Explorer. — jwillbur 00:47, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

There are two possibilities here. One is that you've simply missed the links. They show up in the "> Toolbox" section of the sidebar. Second is that you're not actually using the Vector skin (the new layout -- did you elect to "take me back"?). In any case, Special:MyPage/skin.js will redirect to the right skin page. Hope this helps. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 01:01, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

When I click on the link, it redirects me to vector.js, so I am using the vector skin. I've looked in the toolbox section for several different articles, but there is nothing there besides the basic links ("What links here", "Recent changes", ...). I thought maybe I had set a user preference which was conflicting with the script so I reset all my preferences to default and it still doesn't work. :( — jwillbur 01:11, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Found it: you have to copy the code on that page into your Special:MyPage/skin.js page -- importing doesn't work. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 01:53, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Aha, it works. Thank you for your help Calvin! I wonder why it can't be imported... — jwillbur 02:11, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

It can't be imported because the code on that page includes <source> tags -- not sure why. I looked in the Javascript console on my browser (happens to be Chrome), and that was causing an error. I would just remove them or something, but the page is full-protected. Calvin 1998 ^(t·c) 02:25, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

The source tags add syntax highlighting, although it seems you can get the same effect by moving the page to have a ".js" extension. I've left a note on the talk page. If no one objects within a day or two, I'll make an edit request. — jwillbur 10:21, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I fixed the script to be 'importable' instead of requiring to be copied. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 22:50, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Thank you! — jwillbur 00:35, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Delete Revisions?

I made a series of edits to the article on Wonder Horses without noticing that I was not logged in. Is there a way to delete the edits that I made so that my IP Address is not listed?

Kaci Lee (talk) 01:02, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I was literally going to ask the same thing. This was on the talk page for The Network. Atomforyou (talk) 03:44, 22 July 2010 (UTC)atomforyou

If there is no link to who's IP the edits are from (and I don't see any except for this section), it is probably unnecessary. That said, I could hide the IP if you wanted, or you could request it be hidden even from administrators. Prodego ^talk 03:55, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

If you could just hide my IP Address, or change it to show that I am the user that made the edits, that would be fantastic. Thanks for your help. Kaci Lee (talk) 23:13, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I have hidden the IP address from non-administrators but the page history still shows there were edits. If you want further suppression then you can make a request at Wikipedia:Oversight. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:29, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Aromatic Ring Structure

Did an Aromatic Ring have a molecular structure? If yes, what is it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.164.65.160 (talk) 05:28, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Aromaticity will answer your questions. --Jayron32 05:40, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

delete this?

There is an article about a neighborhood of a city. There are some nice pictures. There are no references, not a single one. This is not a new article. A new article may have references coming but if an article is more than 5 years old but gets some edits now (this year), it should have references by now.

If an article has no references and I can find none, it is possible that this is an article that should be deleted? How do you delete an article without making someone pissed? RIPGC (talk) 05:53, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

You nominate it for deletion following the procedure at WP:AFD. There will be an open discussion, and after a week, if there is a consensus to delete it, an administrator will do so. --Jayron32 06:00, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Vandalism?

Is the most recent edit on the page Animal Armageddon vandalism so i know if i can revert it or not.Gobbleswoggler (talk) 06:25, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

There is 2 edits on the page: Oscar Troplowitz.I have reverted one of the edits because it is vandalism.Is the other edit made by the ip address 217.232.96.201 vandalism as well?,Gobbleswoggler (talk) 06:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Diffs are a very good idea when coming with a question like that. sonia^♫♪ 08:22, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

For the article Animal Armageddon the last diff (where the trivia section is removed); [1] does not appear as vandalsim to me; though common perception of trivia sections is to remove them entirely, policy (see wp:trivia) there doesnt necisiarly say to blanketly remove them. I suspect this was a good faith edit where the section was merely unsourced and appeared to be one persons view (Original research per say). You can always revert it and welcome discussion on the talk page in your edit summary. The second article Oscar Troplowitz (where it is added that he is jewish) i would also inetrepret as a bit of a good faith edit as well per these edits; [2] and [3] A search on the web shows multiple sources which may indicate that he is jewish, though the editor should be encouraged to supply a source rather than be told directly he is vandalizing. I dont know if I answered your question directly, as Sonia stated you need to be direct about what Diffs your talking about. If i didnt cover your query feel free to post back, but in general i think they are good faith edits for right now that i listed here. This is my opinion of those edits though and as usual, always welcome other opinions as well out there. Ottawa4ever (talk) 09:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

picture on french wiki

Resolved

 – added to the article Bruno Côté by User:Diego Grez

What is the process for moving pictures from other language wikis? This one for instance. Off2riorob (talk) 12:45, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Moving it from where to where? It's already on Commons at commons:File:Bruno Côté en 2006.JPG. – ukexpat (talk) 13:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Thank you, sorry I was a bit vague, I was traveling through multiple wikipedias and got a bit spaced out. Off2riorob (talk) 16:26, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

No problem, easily done! – ukexpat (talk) 01:54, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Band article (The Freewheelers)

hello I want to provide information concerning a band, that has played hundreds of gigs so far: the Freewheelers

Now i see there already is a topic called the Freewheelers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freewheelers)

Can I make a multiple entry page?

What are the reasons to have a band in wiki?

Is wiki only supporting big and rich bands (apocalyptica), or are smaller bands also welcome?

Please help me out as I believe in your product.

regards, Bas —Preceding unsigned comment added by Basvossen (talk • contribs) 13:09, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

A band should meet the notability guidelines for bands in order to have an article. Take a look at the guideline and see if The Freewheelers meet at least one of the the criteria. TFOWR 13:18, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

And no, a "multiple entry page" is not the way to go if you can show, with reliable sources, that the band is notable. You'd create a separate article with a disambiguating expression in the title, like Freewheelers (band). Deor (talk) 15:24, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Share an Article

May I share an article via e-mail? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tobyanne27 (talk • contribs) 14:38, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes that's fine, as long as you comply with the license. See Wikipedia:Reusing Wikipedia content. AJCham 15:22, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't think an e-mail to a buddy constitutes republishing that would be covered by the license. – ukexpat (talk) 15:26, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Whilst we're not lawyers, I expect that redistribution of copyrighted material by email would require compliance with the license terms just as any other form of distribution. I doubt that organisations such as the MPAA, BPI or ESA would accept the suggestion that this is not the case, AJCham 16:09, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Well actually I am a lawyer (though not giving legal advice here), and I very much doubt that sending even the full text of an article by e-mail to a friend is "reuse" covered by WP:REUSE. – ukexpat (talk) 16:25, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Vandalism?

Is the most recent edit on the page Tzahi Ilos vandalism?,Gobbleswoggler (talk) 15:54, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

You mean this edit? (diffs are always useful in such cases). This change to the number of caps/goals doesn't scream vandalism to me. And there is no need to keep asking. Take a look at WP:VANDALISM and if you think something qualifies, revert it. If you are wrong someone will revert it back and you will learn from your mistake. We all make them from time to time. – ukexpat (talk) 16:29, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Hi Gobbleswoggler. You seem to be coming here with a lot of these types of questions. Might I suggest that you take the following approaches:

• If an edit does not belong in an article, but is not clearly vandalism, revert and leave an edit summary describing why it is not appropriate, but do not describe it as vandalism or warn as if it was vandalism;
• If an edit, like the one you inquired about above, requires anyone but a subject matter expert to research whether it is vandalism or not, there is no source cited for the edit, nor an edit summary, and the person doing so is an IP or a brand new user, revert and leave an edit summary such as "revert unsourced change with no [[Help:Edit summary|edit summary]]" (also note of relevance here, WP:BURDEN);
• If an editor makes a change and provides a source and it is not clearly inappropriate, assume it is okay unless there is something that flags a problem, such as that the editor's last few edits are vandalism;
• If an editor makes a change and does not provide a source but does leave an edit summary that makes sense regarding the change, revert if it is negative or apparently contentious in any article on a living person; otherwise, assume it is okay unless there is something that flags a problem, such as that the editor's last few edits are vandalism.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:43, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Tables

Is there any way I can make each section of a table (such as the one on my sandbox) the same size no matter what? MR. PreZ 16:12, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Does Help:Table#Setting your column widths help? – ukexpat (talk) 16:32, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes, but now I need to know how to make the sections of the table bigger, rather than the "blocks". MR. PreZ 20:03, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I guess "blocks" refers to the colored rectangles at User:Mr. Prez/Sandbox and "sections" refers to table columns. Is [4] what you want? It uses code at Help:Table#Setting your column widths. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:11, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you mean exactly, but thanks for showing me (with your edits), how to set the column widths. MR. PreZ 23:55, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

User Page cleanup

I just wondered if someone with the experience could do up my user page not user talk page.For example adding some links or adding templates like the 3 i already have there.Cheers in advance,Gobbleswoggler (talk) 16:38, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

You might find these pages useful; Wikipedia:User_page_design_center/Introduction and Wikipedia:User_Page_Design_Center/Help_and_collaboration/Trading_Spaces for design tips and people who may be willing to design your page for you (if there are no takers that contact you). Hope that helps a bit. Ottawa4ever (talk) 16:46, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Two bands

There is a band called Union but there is also another with the same name. How can i create a page for the 2nd band? Blocpartymad (talk) 17:05, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

You would add a disambiguation see Solstice (UK band) and Solstice (US band). ~~ GB fan ~~ ^talk 17:08, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

But make sure that the second one meets the notability requirements before you start, or all your work could be wasted. --ColinFine (talk) 23:35, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

List of football players with a Fooball League Championship winner's medal

On the above page,can someone change it so it says football instead of fooball?,Gobbleswoggler (talk) 17:15, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

You can! See Help:Moving a page. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:27, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Citing another encyclopedia

Are other encyclopedias okay as sources? The first citation in Second-wave feminism is to Britannica. 213.122.218.215 (talk) 18:45, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

They are better than no source, but we prefer reliable secondary sources. Please see WP:SECONDARY for more on this.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 19:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Vandalism

Is there a page on wikipedia where I can ask if a particular edit is vandalism/ For the last time,is the most recent 5 edits on the page:Visa requirements for Palestinian citizens vandalism?,Gobbleswoggler (talk) 19:58, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

You can ask here if you really have to or you can leave a note on the talkpage for the article in question. In general, though, you should take heed of what Fuhghettaboutit mentioned above and use your best judgment. I have reverted the article in question because of the unexplained removal of content. Matt Deres (talk) 20:49, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Extend an foreign language article by translating the english article

Can I simply extend an excisting german article or write a new one, by translating the english article of the same topic (that is in almost every case more detailed)? Copying text and source links. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Loki126 (talk • contribs) 20:21, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

You can, but when you do it the other way around you have to add a template to the talk page that states the name of the article and the version of Wikipedia. I presume there's a similar tempalte on the German Wikipedia. This is required in order to maintain the attributions and copyright. Dougweller (talk) 20:46, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Languages

How do I translate an article into another language? I am fluent in Irish and would like to translate some articles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gaillimh32 (talk • contribs) 21:36, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Translation for translations into English. It doesn't have an interlanguage link to Irish. I don't know whether the Irish Wikipedia has advice and templates for translations. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:30, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Please visit Wikipedia:Translation. --Monterey Bay (talk) 00:17, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Also see the pages linked under WP:EIW#Translate for additional guidance. --Teratornis (talk) 04:43, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

And blessings upon you, Gaillimh, in the name and memory of all those who've worked to preserve and strengthen the Irish language over the long centuries! --Orange Mike | Talk 13:08, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Product vs. Company pages

I'm running into an issue with the difference between product and company pages, and I'd appreciate a nudge in the right direction if possible. I'm working in the eLearning space and was trying to update a number of lists on Wikipedia to include my company's article when I inadvertently set about an unfortunate chain of events. My company has only one product, so the company page is mostly about the product. That page was added by someone else to a number of lists of products. When the page was removed for being a company page, not a product page, I re-added it, explaining that a number of other links in the list were to company pages, not product pages (with examples). Instead of accepting that, the editor instead re-removed my link and also all the other examples as well! This is unfortunate since some of the other links he removed were to major players in the space, and not including those companies/products makes the list pretty inaccurate.

Is there any sort of policy on dealing with pages that blur the line between company and product? I've looked around but haven't found much. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.23.246.14 (talk) 22:08, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Best approach in these cases, is to have a page for the product, redirect into a section of the company page. Then you can add the product name/link into the list, and keep the content within the company page. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 22:47, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Whether a page is a company or a product page doesn't usually matter, and a page which covers both might be appropriate. What matters is whether the subject matter of the page meets the notability requirements - and there are some specific notes on this for companies. --ColinFine (talk) 23:39, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Perfect, thanks folks. 174.23.246.14 (talk) 23:44, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Please also read our rules on conflict of interest and on spamming. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:06, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I've been very careful to always disclose my interest and avoid making statements that aren't backed by sources, and have tried to suggest additions on Talk pages before doing anything else. I understand that, because of my vested interest, I need to be more careful than the average Wikipedian, and I've tried to do that -- even though it takes a lot more time and has left some pages in a sad state in the mean time. I've read everything I could on Wikipedia policy and have always stated my openness to feedback or input from others. That's why I came here for clarification. Brian.whitmer (talk) 16:56, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Title

I have noticed a spelling error in the title of a page and do not know how to edit it. Could you please tell me how? Also, you did not answer my last question on languages, could you tell me why not? An answer to both questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Gaillimh32. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gaillimh32 (talk • contribs) 23:02, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Pages are renamed by moving them to new target names. This procedure preserves the page's edit history. 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, Note that 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, for a typo, can be requested at Wikipedia:Requested moves#uncontroversial requests. Cheers.-Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) See Help:Moving a page. Have a little patience. Your questions were 90 minutes apart and we are all volunteers. I have added a reply. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:34, 22 July 2010 (UTC)