Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 June 28

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June 28

Help with editing an article

Hello. I am not very computer savvy, and I am trying to post an article. The article is about an artist, Vladimir Kush, and most of the publications used as reference (books, etc) are published by the artist himself. Is this ok to use? Also, there are a few quotes used by Salvador Dali, for example, that I can't find a reference for. What do you suggest I do? Thank you for any help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sydneysue480 (talk • contribs) 05:18, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Sure, use those books as references - just don't let your article become a biased one just because the only sources are from the author. The quotes cannot be added if they don't have a reference. Kayau Voting IS evil 06:00, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

You will need to find and include independent sources, not published by the artist, to demonstrate that this person is a "notable artist". See the general notability guidelines and the specific guidelines for artists. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:13, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Sources

As I was going through some articles, I found that some of the website sources found in the references section are not valid any more. What does Wikipedia do in such cases? Thanks in advance. -Osa osa 5 (talk) 05:30, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Use the wayback machine. Kayau Voting IS evil 05:58, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Linkrot has some suggestions for this. Someguy1221 (talk) 06:03, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks guys, very useful information. -Osa osa 5 (talk) 00:52, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Problem with nonfactual comment tarnishing enterprise (Symmecon Marketing).

I would like to point at an abusive and false comment on my entry at the discussion page for: Wikipedia > Grand Unified Theory > Discussion > 10. Proper intro and understanding. My entry is for user DBRitter, citing a U.S. District (NM) Court ruling, and the false and misleading comment is posted by user ArgleBargleIV suggesting that the U.S. Court is not the arbiter of science. The U.S. Court should be recognized as the arbiter of science issues such as the grand unified theory, the example being 'U.S. vs. OSHA, Benzene Limits, 1980'. Dale B. Ritter, B.A., <e-mail redacted>. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dale Ritter (talk • contribs) 07:37, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

For clarity, the issue being complained of is at Talk:Grand Unified Theory#Proper intro and understanding. On the face of it, Dale Ritter is attempting to use Wikipedia to promote a book he has written. This has been challenged, and may be in breach of WP:COI, WP:BOOKSPAM WP:CITESPAM and various other guidelines and policies, including WP:NOT. Mjroots (talk) 07:54, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Clearly so. I've commented at the talk page about these court cases, and this is not the appropriate venue for this dispute. Dougweller (talk) 08:45, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Would have been nice if he had notified me as well, but since this is the wrong place for the whole kerfuffle, I guess it doesn't matter. -- ArglebargleIV (talk) 21:20, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

On a UK-PBF and the UK aspect of Wikipedia

What would be the reaction to a proposal for a dedicated UK-Wikipedia?

Secondly, on the new-ish alphabetical HELP system would it be possible to insert a PBF [ = PlasticBagFree]groups section on a country by contry basis? We have 200+ in the UK Countries with active PBF groups include England / Scotland / Wales / USA / Canada / New Zealand / Australia / EU & non-EU countries. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Grandaddy1946 (talk • contribs) 11:13, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

As to the first question - they'd be a massive reaction. It's probably been considered before. Personally I think it wouldn't improve things, it would just make more work. Chevymontecarlo - alt 12:14, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Proposing a completely British English Wikipedia would be way too much work for a tiny amount of spelling and vocabulary differences; likely, community reaction would be hostile or at the very least apathetic. We already have a guideline relating to which variety of English should be used in certain situations. That guideline works fine, so why fix a problem that doesn't exist? Xenon54 (talk) 14:47, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

As a UK editor, I would strongly oppose it. --ColinFine (talk) 20:08, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

On the second question, I have no idea what the "new-ish alphabetical HELP system" means, but the disambiguation page PBF does not even list this meaning for the initialism. If you have multiple non-trivial independent reliable sources for it, you could consider creating an article about PBF groups, and then there could conceivably be a list or category of groups. But if you cannot establish that degree of WP:Notability, then it would not be appropriate to have such a list. Remember that Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, not a medium for promulgating an idea or movement, no matter how virtuous. --ColinFine (talk) 20:08, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

for edit more

i seen the list of 1973 s but someone no name of directors and someone no name of co staars can i feed it i know surely plz tell me via e mail how can i edit this or send to my email id is <blanked>.i hope need ful help —Preceding unsigned comment added by DECENTPARVEEN (talk • contribs) 13:31, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you're asking. TNXMan 13:33, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

If you're asking whether you can add information to our Bollywood films of 1973 article (which has missing data for some entries in the "director" and "cast" columns), then yes - you can edit it as you would any other (unprotected) Wikipedia article. The Wikipedia:Tutorial gives you a step-by-step guide, but you start just by clicking the "edit" tab at the top of the article. Gonzonoir (talk) 13:46, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Question about deleted article

about a year or so ago I entered information about a group called STORMER relating to when we were signed to Ringo Starrs record label and I had a link taking it to a site Ive made about the group and the music we made at Ringo records , now the entry for this has changed the word STORMER red in colour and the link dosent work can you tell me why. When I used to search for this link I put in the search engine Stormer a group from yorkshire.SteveEBell (talk) 13:45, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

If you're referring to a link on the page Stormer (as in this revision), the link was removed because disambiguation pages are not supposed to include links to external sites, only to Wikipedia articles. It looks as though there was once a page at Talk:Stormer (band), but this was deleted on March 7 of this year with the rationale "Page dependent on a deleted or nonexistent page)". There was never a corresponding article page (at Stormer (band), as far as I can see. Gonzonoir (talk) 13:52, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

There have been efforts to insert information about two bands onto the disambiguation page Stormer. One was a smarmy description of a band from Dundalk, which was vandalized and then removed. The other was a link to the website of a Yorkshire band. Neither one was an actual article; and a link to a band's own website is not acceptable on a page like that. If the band was ever notable, then somebody else (not you, Steve, it's your band) may create an article about them some day. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:54, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

On 7 March 2010 the IP address 86.170.8.63 created Talk:Stormer (band) and a few minutes later edited Stormer to add a link to the non-existing STORMER.[1] None of Stormer (band), STORMER (band) or STORMER have ever existed. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:42, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Unable to make edits to Patch (website) wiki page, or other town pages that have patch.com websites

I've been trying to make edits to the Patch (website) wikipedia page, Patch (website) but the edits are not taking to the page. They seem to be getting deleted almost as soon as I update it. Considering Patch is a community-based website and makes websites for local communities, I've been trying to update the media section, or create a media section, in the towns that Patch is located. These edits are also not taking to their respective wikipedia pages. Is it due to the number of edits being made at one time? Am I suspect of being a spammer due to the number of edits I'm making? Is there a maximum number of edits one can make without having all previous edits deleted? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Claudiah22 (talk • contribs) 14:29, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

The spammer allegations have nothing to do with the number of edits. The edits that have been removed make the article sound like an advertisement for the website. With a sentence like "Patch is a way to find out about, and participate in, what’s going on near you." it appears you are trying to advertise he website and increase the number of people who visit it. Wikipedia is not an advertising medium it is an encyclopedia. Wikipedia summarizes what reliable sources say about the subject of the articles in a neutral point of view. You might benefit from looking at the information in the welcome message I left you on your talk page. Also you might want to look at WP:FIRST, it is really about creating your first article, but it does a good job of explaining about articles. Alot of the information on the page is pertinent to major expansions also. If you have any questions after looking through this information come back here and ask more specific questions. ~~ GB fan ~~ ^talk 14:51, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) These links have been removed as external linkspam. There appears to have been a concerted effort to insert links to patch.com in several articles about towns in the northeast United States. If you look at my contributions on June 15, around 19:15, you'll see where I cleaned up several pages. Please review our policies on external links and advertising. TNXMan 14:52, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

All your base are belong to us

On the above page,is the most recent edit vandalism?,Gobbleswoggler (talk) 16:48, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

I would see it as a good faith edit of a new user. Lova Falk talk 16:56, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

PS I removed it as such. You were quicker! Lova Falk talk 16:58, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Strange message from T L Mles

Hi, I received the following. I do not have a wiki account and do not know how to contact T L Miles. He is very much mistaken. I have never knowingly altered an article -I would not know how! I also cannot imagine why I would have accessed the said article.

PASTING MESSAGE -

User talk:90.203.62.70 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Please refrain from making unconstructive edits to Wikipedia, as you did to African Liberation Day. Your edits appeared to constitute vandalism and have been reverted. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. Thank you. T L Miles (talk) 03:26, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

This is the discussion page for an IP user, identified by the user's numerical IP address. Some IP addresses change periodically, and may be shared by several users. If you are an IP user, you may create an account or log in to avoid future confusion with other IP users. Registering also hides your IP address. [WHOIS · RBLs · Traceroute · Geolocate · Rangeblock finder · Global Blocks · Global contributions] · [RIRs: America · Europe · Africa · Asia-Pacific · Latin America/Caribbean]

MESSAGE ENDS 90.203.62.70 (talk) 17:05, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Don't worry about it. Someone editing from that IP address made this edit back in 2008. IP addresses can change, so if it wasn't you, just ignore it. – ukexpat (talk) 17:31, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Please help me.

Can you help me post 2 articles? I tried but I am not sure I did it correctly. I thought I submitted them to your editors to format and post them per Wikipedia's format but I am not sure. One article is about the one woman play MARILYN: FOREVER BLONDE and the second article is about the actress who stars in the play, Sunny Thompson. Thanks you soooo much for your help. Kiwiseattle 173.49.141.242 (talk) 17:52, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Please see the comments at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Marilyn: Forever Blonde: The Marilyn Monroe Story In Her Own Words And Music and Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Sunny Thompson. – ukexpat (talk) 18:24, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

WP:GAN changes

Can someone give me a link to the discussion of where it was decided that GANs will now be held in article subpages. Thanks, Feedback (talk) 18:56, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Subpages are not enabled for articlespace, so that is not possible. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 22:09, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

It's article talk subpages. See Wikipedia talk:Good article nominations/Archive 9 and Wikipedia talk:Good article nominations/Archive 10 from 2008. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:29, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Whoa... if this is true, this means I haven't reviewed a GA in 2 years. Feedback ^☎ 22:36, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Forgot to login before editing

Hello, I forgot to login before editing a page and now it is showing my IP address. IS there a way to change it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rameez-NJITWILL (talk • contribs) 19:07, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

The edit will always be showed as done by the IP. However, you can revert the edit, then log in, and then make the edit again. Feedback (talk) 19:11, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

User:Sonia posted this tip here a few days ago:

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.

-- John of Reading (talk) 19:20, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Occasionally a registered editor will edit while logged out. While not usually an egregious issue, there can be some concerns about attribution and privacy.

• If you made an edit without logging in, you cannot go back and directly tie that edit to your account. If your desire to account for the edit overrides your desire for anonymity, you can log in, make a dummy edit, and add a note in the edit summary about the previous edit.

• If you make a comment on a talk page without logging in, then your signature will include your IP address. You can log in and edit the comment by replacing the signature. Be aware that the WikiScanner tool will retrieve these actions from the database and record them at the Poor Man's Checkuser, thus connecting your username and IP address.

• If you feel that the connection between the IP address and your username is an issue, then you can request that the edit be removed; see Wikipedia:Oversight#Policy and Wikipedia:Requests for oversight.

• Wikipedia has no built in safeguards to warn editors that they are logged out.

As a visual reminder, you can make the Save page button green when logged in, by adding this rule to Special:MyPage/skin.css:

/* Turn the "Save page" button green when logged in */
INPUT#wpSave {
    background-color:#88ff88;
}

If you use FireFox, you can disable the Save page button while logged out by installing Greasemonkey and the MediaWiki: Prevent anon editing script. This must be applied to each computer you use and will not be available on public computers.

"berkeley food and housing project" >> Berkeley Food and Housing Project

Thanks for some help. This is my first new entry, I've edited others before. I clicked "add this entry" after a search. And now I want to remove the "s and use initial caps. I can find no way to edit the actual entry. thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Geofru (talk • contribs) 20:18, 28 June 2010 (UTC)<! Geofru (talk) 20:21, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Sorry; that was speedily deleted already, under speedy deletion category A7: Article about a company, corporation, organization, or group, which does not indicate the importance or significance of the subject. Please read WP:NOBLECAUSE. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:30, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, thanks --Orange Mike. It would have been polite for the deleter to read the contents, respect intent, and move it to a drafts page. I can't get to his talk page; could you please convey my feelings on this. Thanks. "Some Wikipedians have noticed that many new and short articles are nominated for deletion before editors have had a chance to develop them into articles that comply with our policies on sourcing and notability. If an article is nominated for deletion — via speedy deletion, proposed deletion or articles for deletion — then those who would improve the article to bring it up to standard find themselves simultaneously defending the article's right to exist to a tight deadline and often with firm opposition. Additionally, when a new user has their first article instantly nominated for deletion, they may feel unwelcome and never return, even if the article isn't actually deleted." Geofru (talk) 22:54, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

But if the article hadn't been deleted, the answer to your question would be to use the Move command (which may be in a pull-down menu). --ColinFine (talk) 23:30, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

skye prison article

Hello I'm trying to find someone to ask about the Skye Prison article. I've personally talk to the band and they had no idea how they got on this site. They don't know the user skyeprison1. The band Skye Prison has asked that you remove the user and their article completely from your site at this time. Thank You, Skye Prison Representative. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.219.182.46 (talk) 21:02, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Skye Prison was deleted on June 19, but a draft exists at User:Skyeprison1/Skye Prison. The user name User:Skyeprison1 has been blocked for spamming. – ukexpat (talk) 21:08, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

User:Skyeprison1/Skye Prison has also been deleted now. An article called Skye Prison was created at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skye_Prison on June 19. Google cached it the same day. The article was deleted June 20 but still appears in Google searches. It will automatically be removed by Google next time Googlebot visits the page. This is not controlled by Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:28, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

How to change font for one character?

For writing about phonology, I want to use the uppercase vowel "I", but in Wikipedia's Arial font, uppercase "I" and lowercase "L" look the same. How can I switch to the Courier font for one letter? Kotabatubara (talk) 22:33, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

You can use the code

{{font|courier|I}}

giving

{{font}}

with the courier font. Hope this helps. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 356° 36' 0" NET 23:46, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Well, I've "solved" my problem for now with a character from Wiki's Greek font: /Ὶ/. But I still would like to get rid of that squiggle on the upper-left corner, to make it look like a simple uppercase "I" with serifs. Kotabatubara (talk) 14:24, 1 July 2010 (UTC)