Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 June 24

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June 24

I HAVE A FUNK &WAGNALLS NEW STANDARD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNIVERSAL KMOWLEDFGE COPYRIGHT1931

NEED TO KNOW THE VALUE OF BOOK GOOD CONDITION COPYRIGHT UNDER THE ARICLESOF THE COPYRIGHT CONVENTION OF THE PAN-AMERICAN REPUBLIES AND THE UNITED STATES, AUGUST 11, 1910. ANY INFORMATION YOU COULD GIVE ME WOULD BE VERY HELPFULL. I MAY LOAN OR GIVE TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM IN GREENSBORO NORTH CAROLINA. NEED TO KNOW THE VALUE . —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.155.225.67 (talk) 00:04, 24 June 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. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:44, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Tags & searching through my contributions

How do I find which articles I've created? I assume there's a tag for it, but I can't find it. Faceless Enemy (talk) 01:04, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Click the "Articles created" link at the bottom of Special:Contributions/Faceless Enemy. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:42, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Excellent, thanks much. Faceless Enemy (talk) 03:52, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

How to make revisions requested by a wikipedia editor

Dear editors:

I recently made a change to a Wikipedia entry citing a book that I wrote. An editor responded on my talk page, asking me to cite primary sources instead. So OK, I'll do that - but going to the article that I modified, I don't see the my changes. Are my modifications in limbo somewhere that I can access and make the requested revisions, or do I need to start over? thanks, USA Aussie —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mwgf79 (talk • contribs) 01:32, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Click the "view history" tab at top to see the page history. See more at Help:Page history. Your edits [1] to Sterling Price were reverted by User:A Sniper. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:41, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Please read your talk page User_talk:Mwgf79, to see the explanations.--SPhilbrickT 11:33, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Don't forget, these are the people who rely ONLY on "MASS MEDIA" articles -- or articles & websites that are on their "ok list"!! Even if you HAVE written this book & all is that as you say "is a part of the book" -- only ONE problem --- nobody @ wiki READS BOOKS! They take only reference from websites which "WRITE" about these books! So, don't expect TOO much from the "editorial staff" @ wiki. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.100.167.152 (talk) 23:31, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

subject editing

i was recently viewing an article about particle phyisics and an idea arose as to the people editing wikipedia, not brilliant but i beleive wikipedia is a respected service. if wikipedia could advertise present your own qualifications (post to be reviewed) then perform html editing to make the post irrasable wikipedia may become a better trusted form of knowlege base. if anyone that reads this and understands my point of view , please feel free to email me at <email redacted>

christopher gilsenan —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.147.124.160 (talk) 01:48, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure I even understand what you're talking about (Wikipedia is available in many languages - you may have an easier time communicating in your native language), but I've removed your email address to reduce the chance of it getting picked up and used for spam delivery. Matt Deres (talk) 01:57, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

The IP geolocates to Leeds, so the OP probably speaks English fairly well, but admittedly was not being especially clear. I gathered either he or she is proposing that editors declare their academic credentials or that the Foundation hire editors with these qualifications to "become a better trusted ... knowle[d]ge base." If so, these subjects have been covered in some detail at WP:Expert editors and Paid editing. Intelligentsium 02:30, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

RIR readout and dynamic ip's?

When I use the RIR tool on an ip address for Wikipedia, if the status is set to "allocated portable" or "assigned portable", does this mean it is a dynamic address?  A p3rson ‽ 02:02, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Not necessarily, I think it's more complicated than that. I'm fairly certain the decision to dynamically assign IPs is done at the ISP level; the ISP would have in turn been assigned a block of addresses by the RIR, and the word "portable" therefore would likely have a different meaning when using the RIR tool. If you can make sense of this page, it looks like it would answer your question. Xenon54 (talk) 02:10, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Correct. WMF uses static IPs, I am sure, as changing IPs (as would happen with dynamic IPs) would cause issues. Changing IPs requires the information to be sent out to DNS servers to be re-propagated, which can take days sometimes. Ref: Avicennasis

"Allocated portable" simply means that the address block was allocated directly by the national registry service, [...] and is, thus, provider-independent. This means that the "owner" of the IP address can transfer it from one provider to another, as opposed to the typical model where IP addresses are "borrowed" from service providers and may only be used with that provider. The primary reason for acquiring portable IP addresses is to maintain the established reputation of an IP address when changing providers, and to ensure the flexibility to change providers without having to give up former addresses. Ref: VPT Archive

Hope that helps. :) ^Avicenna_sis @ 05:40, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Editing reference list in entry?

A reference to a story I wrote in this entry...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_of_Israel

...links to the wrong "Forward" publication.

The correct publication is http://www.forward.com.

I couldn't edit the list of references.

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mkaminer (talk • contribs) 02:18, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for reporting this. I have fixed it [2] by linking to the Wikipedia article about The Forward. Inline references are edited in the section where they are used, and not in the references section where they are displayed. See more at Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:43, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

comment to talk page

I am trying to add a comment to the talk page and when I clicked on the signature icon it did not appear. I tried reading the directions and did not understand what I need to do to submit the comment--Bizbuzzeman (talk) 03:14, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

First, go to the spot you wish to add the comment, and add it. Second, "sign" your post by typing 4 tildes (~), like this: ~~~~. After that, in the edit summary, add a summary (a simple "re" will do), and click save.  A p3rson ‽ 03:17, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I've noticed that the signature icon doesn't work when I use IE7. When I use that browser I have to manually sign.--SPhilbrickT 11:27, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

In both vector and monobook? Kayau Voting IS evil 11:35, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Vector--SPhilbrickT 12:58, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

OK, color me puzzled. I just tried and it worked. I know it has failed, as I normally only have to use IE when in my office in NY - I am not there at the moment. I can't believe physical location, or even internet access would make a difference. That said, I "learned" I had to sign manually at the office, maybe the situation was fixed and I never checked.--SPhilbrickT 13:02, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Intra-article link

Hi, are intra-article links common? That is, links that get a reader from one section of the article to another. In my article work, I'm intending to prompt reader to view another section as the piece of material can be included under two sections. I still can't remember if this is a common practice myself, can someone enlighten me please? Thanks. AngChenrui (talk) 08:43, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes. To link to your previous question, for example, we go #How to use image found in Chinese Wikipedia?. Kayau Voting IS evil 09:04, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

John Lehman Hyman Rickover

The bio of John Lehamn under Military last sentance says he was involved in the forced retirement of Admiral Hyman Rickover in 1987 and a seperate artical on Rickover says Rickover died in 1986- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.82.220.219 (talk) 10:14, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Actually, the article says that Lehman retired in 1987. You are correct that Rickover died in 1986. TNXMan 11:46, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Actually, Lehman resigned according to the article not retired. :) Kayau Voting IS evil 11:54, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Primary Source and Locations of Headquarters

Resolved

 – Naraht (talk) 17:18, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

For a list of locations (and the dates when they moved between them) which an organization has had its Headquarters, would a primary source from the organization's own website be OK? It seems sufficiently "dry" that it should be OK. I've read WP:Primary and it seems to fit into "A primary source may only be used to make descriptive statements that can be verified by any educated person without specialist knowledge." I'm not sure if there is a better place to ask, the Original Research board doesn't seem to fit either.Naraht (talk) 14:30, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

That tends to be fine, however not ideal. Third party sources should be used to verify if possible. However when it comes to company milestones, company websites are often used. See WP:SELFPUB Gtstricky^{Talk or C} 14:59, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Thank you, that policy area really matches well. In this case, I believe that all five conditions are met.Naraht (talk) 17:18, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists (television)

{{rfctag}}

What should our policy be on articles that contain lists related to television? You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:Stand-alone lists (television). Taric25 (talk) 13:56, 24 June 2010 (UTC) (Using {{Please see}})

Do you really mean policy rather than guideline? --Teratornis (talk) 20:36, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

flagged revisions turned on yet?

Resolved

I thought it was supposed to be turned on for selected articles, like World War II, on 15 June. Is there a delay? Suomi Finland 2009 (talk) 14:55, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Nope, it's active! (Well, the pending changes trial is running). Try yesterday's featured article - check it's history (you should see "revision accepted by ..." comments). You've got the "reviewer" right, so you should be good - let me know if you're not and I'll see what I can do. Maybe have a read of WT:Reviewing, too - there's a lot of discussion there about pending changes. TFOWR 15:00, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Articles are being added slowly at first to make sure the bugs are worked out. See Wikipedia:Pending changes/Queue Gtstricky^{Talk or C} 15:01, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Resolved. I found the list of articles covered. World War II was supposed to be included but wasn't. That's why I didn't see the flagged revisions. Suomi Finland 2009 (talk) 15:03, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Suggestion and log in issues

Hello

I just thought it might be helpful to have a 'find' function for wiki pages to find specific words or phrases in an article - similar to the find function in Ms Word.

62.173.51.27 (talk) 15:39, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

But you can still use Ctrl + f, which brings up the find function... Orphan Wiki 15:53, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I believe that all modern browsers have 'find on this page' facilities, which is what Orphan Wiki is referring to. --ColinFine (talk) 23:04, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Technical problem

There is a minor factual error in this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Alva) I am trying to correct, but when I click edit, the article does not appear. I get code that looks like this:

==References== {{reflist|2}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Alva, Walter}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Peruvian archaeologists]] [[Category:1951 births]] [[es:Walter Alva Alva]] [[fr:Walter Alva]] THE CORRECTION: It currently reads: "He worked on the dig with father Bruno, who is also an archaeologist.[7]" Bruno is his son, not his father, so it should say, "He worked on the dig with his son Bruno, who is also an archaeologist.[7]"

I've corrected the page for you. It sounds like you clicked the "edit" link in the middle of the page, which took you to the lower section of the page. To edit the upper part of the page, you would need to click "edit this page" at the very top of the article. TNXMan 19:19, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

You are clicking on the link to edit just the References section. Click the Edit link on the top of the page to edit the entire article. --Mysdaao ^talk 19:15, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

help with making my page go live

I created a new page called: SeaDream Yacht Club I am the "user" for this page. Now I am ready to make the page live, but when I tried to "move" the page, I got message below. This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work in progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. The current/final version of this article may be located at SeaDream Yacht Club now or in the future. For guidance on developing this draft, see Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft or Wikipedia:Requests for feedback. How can post this page live now? Adrienned (talk) 19:10, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

User:Adrienned/SeaDream Yacht Club is a redirect to SeaDream Yacht Club which has already been deleted. You may have better luck on WikiCompany. --Teratornis (talk) 20:25, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Link to wrong individual

Hi,

My name is Joe Carman. I recently started an internship at a mastering studio and thought it would be fun to see what kind of information was on Wiki regarding this studio. I was happy to find that there was a page for the studio (Masterdisk) however, there is a pretty major error. The owner and operator of this studio is Scott Hull. In the article the name links to another Scott Hull whose full name is Joseph Scott Hull which is not how the article is named. Is there a way to rename the article to Joseph Scott Hull so that we can make a page for Scott Hull the mastering engineer?

I would like to update the Masterdisk page and start new ones for the senior engineers to link to the Masterdisk article. I am just a little concerned about COI regulations. In speaking with the studio manager she suggested using our bio's for wiki, but again I don't want to have the page removed because of apparent copy and paste from the Masterdisk Website.

The intention is not an advertisement, but to properly inform the public of the history of the studio and the senior engineers.

Thank you,

Joe Carman

JCCarman (talk) 19:31, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

COI is a concern. A larger concern is notability. Being a senior engineer is not notable. To create articles for the engineers, you must demonstrate notability through reliable resources, such as reliable newspapers and magazines. In general, engineers are rarely notable until they invent something wildly popular. -- kainaw™ 19:36, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, Joe, but Welcome to Wikipedia. If you are affiliated with some of the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, you may have a conflict of interest. In keeping with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, edits where there is a conflict of interest, or where such a conflict might reasonably be inferred, are strongly discouraged. If you have a conflict of interest, you should avoid or exercise great caution when:

1. editing or creating articles related to you, your organization, or its competitors, as well as projects and products they are involved with;
2. participating in deletion discussions about articles related to your organization or its competitors; and
3. linking to the Wikipedia article or website of your organization in other articles (see Wikipedia:Spam).

Please familiarize yourself with relevant policies and guidelines, especially those pertaining to neutral point of view, verifiability of information, and autobiographies.

For information on how to contribute to Wikipedia when you have a conflict of interest, please see our frequently asked questions for organizations. Thank you. It's also unlikely (but not impossible) that the owner or engineers would meet our standards of notability. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:37, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

By the way, this site is called Wikipedia, not wiki. A wiki is any website using wiki software; there are thousands of them.--173.68.44.69 (talk) 19:43, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I see User:SuperHamster has already de-linked 'Scott Hull', which was your original concern.

How to share a e-mail source of informations?

I am contributing to the entry Georges Giraud. Recently I have received an e-mail by Ms. Florence Greffe, chief archivist at the French Academy of Sciences which gives some important informations about him: how can I share this surce with all Wikipedia users? Shuold I upload the e-mail content? And how I can reference it in the pertinent paper? Thank you for your attention. Best regards, Daniele.tampieri (talk) 19:42, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, you cannot use the information here unless the information you received has been, or is in the future, actually published somewhere. Please see our policies on no original research and on verifiability of information.--173.68.44.69 (talk) 19:46, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

The e-mail is a primary source. The best approach would be to find this information in a published secondary source, or to introduce it into such a source (for example by having Ms. Greffe sit for an interview with a journalist, or submit a paper to a journal or conference proceedings). --Teratornis (talk) 19:50, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks: but the informations I got from her, although important, are few lines clarifying his relationship with Jacques Hadamard and the role that he played in the election of Georges Giraud to member of the French Academy. I don't think it is a sufficient material to write some kind of paper. I'll try to find another source stating the same informations.Daniele.tampieri (talk) 20:06, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

A publication may contain many assertions of fact; this could be one of them. Granted, getting this particular fact in print might require more cooperation from Ms. Greffe than you can obtain, since she would also have to contribute more information to justify a publication. But if this detail is important, it may be published somewhere already, and since you know what to look for, you have an advantage when searching. Perhaps it is the kind of detail which belongs in a history of the Academy. If no one has written such a history yet, maybe you can find a historian who will. Bonne chance. --Teratornis (talk) 20:23, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Wierd overlap different by browsers Iodine pentoxide

The page Iodine pentoxide when viewed in Google Chrome has an overlap between the two templates (the chembox and the iodides (the periodic table like one near the bottom)). I don't get that overlap in IE6, but that may be a factor of the possible levels for the font size. Does anyone else get that overlap?Naraht (talk) 20:32, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

You might upload a screen shot somewhere to illustrate the problem. See for example Commons:Category:Wikipedia screenshots. --Teratornis (talk) 20:41, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

OK - It is at File:Iodine pentoxide overlap.png. I thought putting the image on the Help Desk was a bit much.Naraht (talk) 21:15, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Was I automatically logged in?

My IP changes every time I connect to the internet. I just connected, visited the front page, and found myself logged in already. (And the last time I logged in was maybe a couple of days ago.) I was doing something else at the same time, and Firefox does remember my password, so I suppose it could have been an absent-minded click, but that seems a bit unlikely. I hope it's not possible that if I forget to log out, subsequent users who are randomly assigned my old IP will find themselves logged in as me? That would be a bad thing. Card Zero (talk) 21:14, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

No, this is normal and nothing to worry about. If you ticked "Remember me on this computer" on the log-in page, you will stay logged in as User:Card Zero even if your IP changes. And if your ISP re-uses your IP for someone else, they will not be logged in as you. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:43, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I don't have that ticked. Also, that would work via cookies, yes? I have Firefox set to clear cookies every time I quit. Card Zero (talk) 22:17, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Accident

Resolved

 – Revdel'd. Bencherlite^Talk 22:49, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I didn't notice my login expired and I have a static IP. Any chance I could get it sent to the corn field?? Thanks—Machine Elf 1735 (talk) 22:21, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Someone's already done another edit. I'd prefer to have it replaced w/my name but if that's not possible I'd like my IP removed. Please advise.—Machine Elf 1735 (talk) 22:32, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Don't worry, everyone edits while logged out at some point and it's easy to have the edit oversighted. You can get the ball rolling by following the directions at Requests for oversight. Xenon54 (talk) 22:38, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Now that admins have the revdel function, oversight isn't always necessary (we can make the IP address invisible to all non-admins, which for many purposes will be good enough). I've asked Machine Elf to email me the details. Bencherlite^Talk 22:41, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks Bencherlite, Xenon54. I just don't want it showing up on all the google–spammer websites who mirror WP content.—Machine Elf 1735 (talk) 23:09, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

If I can tack a question onto this ... how long does it take before a login expires? Card Zero (talk) 22:52, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Of course you may. Short answer: up to 30 days, or less if there's a glitch at your end or WP's end. Longer answer: Wikipedia:LOGGEDOUT#Login_issues_and_problems may help / explain potential problems. If you've clicked the "Remember me (up to 30 days)" box when logging in (not on a public computer of course), it should remember you for 30 days. However, we will all find times when there's a glitch and the system fails to remember who we are. In fact, that's one of the reasons I don't use the new "skin" for WP, as if the display changes to the new version then I know that I'm not logged in. Bencherlite^Talk 22:59, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict... ditto) 24 hours, (and there's a 30 day option). When the 'new feature'/'vector style' (?) was still in beta, it was obvious once the login expired (the page turned a different color). I guess I'll have to start doing the 30 day version.—Machine Elf 1735 (talk) 23:09, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Here's one way to tell if you're logged in: I modified my save page button, so that it's pink when I'm logged in. If I see the usual grey, I know I'm logged out. You can find the code in my vector.css. Regards, {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 07:51, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Cool! I'll try that! Kayau Voting IS evil 11:27, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

new autobiography by NZ author

How and where do I add my newly published autobiography/family history Whatever Happened to Ishtar?? I am a permanent resident in Melbourne and a New Zealand citizen. Frandi2010 (talk) 22:44, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

If you can find sufficient independent published reliable sources to establish that it meets Wikipedia's notability criteria, then you can request that somebody unconnected with it create an article at WP:REQ. Otherwise, the answer is that you don't. Sorry. --ColinFine (talk) 23:14, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

You could put that on Wikia: www.wikia.com/Wikia.—Machine Elf 1735 (talk) 23:21, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

For guidelines on the notability of books, see WP:NBOOK. – ukexpat (talk) 14:44, 25 June 2010 (UTC)