Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 June 5

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June 5

Code can't be hidden in infobox

The image in the infobox at Barbara Hershey was just deleted, so I removed the image code from the infobox. However, this leaves some code visible in the display of the page; how do I get rid of it without adding a new image? Nyttend (talk) 00:17, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

It had one of those little red blobby things that are visible sometimes using WikEd (I think it's a hard space) - I deleted it. – ukexpat (talk) 00:28, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Complexity

I'm finding it very hard to see through the trees here.

I wanted to try to update an entry as an expert on a subject, yet it's taken me 15 minutes to figure out how to make any response at all?

I'm bookmarking this page in the hope of some help.

Thank you. :)

93.96.98.124 (talk) 02:59, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

You may find the editing tutorial helpful, or try making test edits in the Wikipedia:Sandbox. It is possible that you were trying to edit a "protected article", an article locked to prevent vandalism. Most protected pages are "semi-protected" and can be edited by users with an autoconfirmed account. If you can provide more information about your problem, we can give you more specific instructions.

Please be aware that although Wikipedia welcomes editors who are experts in their fields, all information should be verifiable and cite references---even information added by experts. Thanks, liquidluck✽talk 03:10, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

A simpler options is often to suggest changes on the talk page of an article. Then other editors with more experience at editing on Wikipedia may consider your suggestions and apply them to the article. The rules and procedures for editing on Wikipedia can be surprisingly complex, depending on what you want to do. --Teratornis (talk) 06:36, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Mobil wiki not working

A few days ago some of my searches would not redirect to the mobil site. Now none of them go to the mobil site. I thought I accidentaly hit the permanently disable the mobil site button. So I followed the instructions to reactivate it but nothing has changed. Can anyone help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.171.168.204 (talk) 06:51, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

The mobile site has been overloaded recently. Hopefully it will be fixed soon. PleaseStand ^(talk) 07:51, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

You could try http://en.m.wikipedia.org/ which is a direct link. PleaseStand ^(talk) 19:36, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Blocking?

Having read an article & found blatant vandalism- how does one notify admins in order to have an unregistered user blocked? The user is 110.34.4.242 - if you look through the edits he's made I believe them to all be BS... Aurelius2007 (talk) 08:35, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

WP:AIV. If you like, you may activate Twinkle (My preferences -> Gadgets) so that you can warn and report certain users, as well as requesting page protection. E Wing (talk) 08:41, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Hi Aurelius2007, you may find it beneficial to read Wikipedia's policy on vandalism: Wikipedia:Vandalism, in case you haven't done so already. Cheers, Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 10:07, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Need help to revert the changes and add new subcategory on the config examples page.

Hi Team, Was trying to add config example, but looks like I added it to the wrong page. http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Category:Configuration_Examples I expect first I need to revert changes. And re-add the example to the tech category. But there is no "Video" Category yet. Could some one explain how to achieve that, as a bit unclear what exactly to do, too much info. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.103.25.233 (talk)

This is the help desk for Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. You are asking about an unrelated Cisco wiki called DocWiki. It uses the same MediaWiki software as Wikipedia but we have no control over it and cannot edit there. That being said, I can see you did indeed edit the wrong page. Click the "history" tab at http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Category:Configuration_Examples, then click "last" next to your edit, and then you may see an "undo" link when you are logged in (I cannnot edit there so I don't see it). Click the undo link and save to revert your edit. After reverting, try to follow the instructions carefully, starting by writing your configuration example title in the box and clicking "Create page". PrimeHunter (talk) 12:21, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, I managed to restore the previous page, but I still can not add the Example or the new sub category. When I click on the button Create Page, it does not show me the page template but another set instuctions. I can not guess how to create sub-category first. Under "V" there is "Category:VoIP Configuration Examples", I need to create another under "V" "Video Configuration Examples", Could you please clarify how that should be done.

You can create either your example page or the subcategory first. I guess the other set of instructions you mention is (the source of) the page template, as seen by clicking "edit" (or possibly "view source") at http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Template:Configuration_Example. After clicking the "Create page" button you should be able to edit the box showing the instructions, to add your example. Place the code [[Category:Video Configuration Examples]] at the bottom of the edit box and save. After saving, the category name at the bottom of the page should be a red link to indicate that the category doesn't exist yet. Click the red link, add the code [[Category:Configuration Examples]] in the empty box, and save. You never have to edit http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Category:Configuration_Examples. A page or a subcategory is placed in a category by adding the code [[Category:Name]] on the page or subcategory. Then the category called Name will automatically list the page containing the code.

Note that this page is really for questions about how to use Wikipedia, as said at the top. It's difficult to help you on a wiki I know nothing about in advance and cannot edit. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:52, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

If you are new to editing on wikis that run the MediaWiki software, categories can be confusing at first. You should read Help:Category at least once. --Teratornis (talk) 06:31, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Quick question

Are there circumstances where {{db-author}} would not apply when the creator blanks the page? -Regancy42 (talk) 13:09, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, for example when others have contributed substantial content. Special considerations may be taken in other cases, for example for a template or category already in use on articles. Do you have a specific case in mind? PrimeHunter (talk) 13:24, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, Baburaj.T.V. -Regancy42 (talk) 13:26, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Looks like the only non-author edits (apart from IP edit that may be the author, it certainly performed an identical edit) are notability concerns and deletion requests. I'd not argue with applying {{db-author}} here. TFOWR^{idle vapourings} 13:31, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

STiki

When using the tool STiki,if you pressed innocent but realise that is is vandalism but its too late,is there anyway you can go back to the last slide again? Gobbleswoggler (talk) 13:28, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

No, I don't think you can. ~QwerpQwertus ·_Talk_·_Contribs_· The Wiki Puzzle Piece Award

Mobile Wiki

Is Mobile Wiki havin issues? My Wiki app page automatically redirects to regular Wikipedia and so does a direct attempt. I saw that there was a general issue with Mobile Wiki in the last few days...Ref: [edit]Mobil wiki not working

A few days ago some of my searches would not redirect to the mobil site. Now none of them go to the mobil site. I thought I accidentaly hit the permanently disable the mobil site button. So I followed the instructions to reactivate it but nothing has changed. Can anyone help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.171.168.204 (talk) 06:51, 5 June 2010 (UTC) The mobile site has been overloaded recently. Hopefully it will be fixed soon. PleaseStand (talk) 07:51, 5 June 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.205.14.140 (talk)

The mobile site is currently disabled, until new servers are setup to better support the mobile site. Gary King (talk) 05:56, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

iPhone devise browser format of Wikipedia articles has stopped working

Wikipedia article were appearing on the iPhone web browser formatted for the device until a few days ago. Now articles are no longer formatted for the iPhone Safari web browser. What occurred? The only thing new that might have changed is a new Java release. Will the issue be resolved? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.248.154.174 (talk) 14:53, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/ still appears to work. Try that link on your iPhone. The mobile website has had problems with load lately. Xenon54 (talk) 14:58, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Abusive comment

On my talk page i have yet again had an abusive message.If you look on the last entry there is a comment from a different user. Gobbleswoggler (talk) 15:25, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

It doesn't look abusive, just a question. Please assume good faith. Eagles 24/7 (C) 15:26, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

I have to say it definitely looks abusive, at the very least unprovoked. I normally remove abusive comments and ignore the user. Xenon54 (talk) 15:31, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Gobbleswoggler, you may remove any comments you would like from your talk page, so if you think it's abusive, you can remove it. Eagles 24/7 (C) 15:33, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Making a page: will it be deleted if?

Hi I want to make a page on myself as a musician. I don't really have many reliable sources I can list but it's about myself so does that still have a chance of being deleted if it's not vulgar or inappropriate?

Cody Degaust —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cyde7 (talk • contribs) 16:30, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Unfortunately, without reliable sources to determine notability, the article would be deleted. Please see a guide to creating your first article and WP:AUTO for why you shouldn't create an article about yourself. Eagles 24/7 (C) 16:37, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

(e/c) I am fairly confident the article would quickly be deleted for four reasons:

• You are discouraged from creating autobiographies. It's nearly impossible for you to write neutrally about yourself; many new users quickly find out that writing neutrally about any topic takes practice.

• All articles, but especially biographies of living people (BLPs), must be verified by reliable sources. A BLP without any sources or that cites self-published, questionable, or otherwise poor sources will be deleted.

• You do not have any hits on Google News, and the only pages that come up with a regular Google search are your MySpace and Facebook pages. These are not reliable sources, so chances are you do not have any reliable sources at all. I suggest you review our definition on what is considered "reliable".

• If you are a musician, and you do not already have an article here, it is highly unlikely that you pass the notability guidelines for musicians at the present time. Notability cannot exist without reliable sources. Xenon54 (talk) 16:39, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

General of Division Aristide Razu

Hi,

I have deleted the content of the article which became simply Aristide Razu(!?) and i have created a new one which is more to the point General of Division Aristide Razu.But now I cannot find it.

Also I have uploaded some photos from my family album with 32nd Mirce Voda Regiment ,which were made especially by this regiment as a gift to my ggrandfather General of Division Aristide Razu,but they cannot be seen.Christ!Also I have uploaded photos with him and wife ,my grandfather etc.

Aristiderazu. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aristiderazu (talk • contribs) 18:05, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

I can find two articles...

• General of Division Aristide Razu
• Aristide Razu

Since you put only a title, JNW redirected it to the old one. Would you like me to undo his deleting it for a redirect and delete the old one (I'll leave you a copy) so that you can do the new one instead?

Yes please!So I have to make it all over again? Aristiderazu~QwerpQwertus ·_Talk_·_Contribs_· The Wiki Puzzle Piece Award

Per Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people), the appropriate title is Aristide Razu, not General of Division Aristide Razu, although the latter may be acceptable for a redirect (as it is being used.)--SPhilbrickT 18:26, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

I moved your new version to Aristride Razu and left the long named one a redirect to it. Aristride Razu is now your new one and, if you need it, here is a copy of the old one below.

Well my gggrandfather was Doctor Aristide Razu,father of General of Division Aristide Razu,so.... But thanks. Aristiderazu

Copy Of Old One

Aristide Razu (1868-1950) was a Romanian General and Commander of the 22nd Romanian Infantry Division in 1916 and of the 5th Romanian Infantry Division during the Great War against the Central Powers. After his retirement in 1928, the Romanian Government started with nationalization of the underground of the lands (underground resources such as petrol etc. having been declared as belonging to the State in 1932) and in 1946, his land and family properties in general such as Muzeul Nicolae Balcescu (Land Balcesti-Giltofani) belonging to Radu Mandrea, brother of Margareta Razu, born from Zoe Balcescu and Nicolae Mandrea, wife of General Aristide Razu, in Birsanesti, Bacau County, Romania, 99 Ha and Cobadin, Constanta County, Romania, including his house on Vasovia Street, Bucharest have been nationalized and still are today in 2010. References http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=116307

~QwerpQwertus ·_Talk_·_Contribs_· The Wiki Puzzle Piece Award

Mystery template

In an article, I found the template {{clear}}. I tested in the sandbox to find out what it does, but I couldn't see anything at all. What is the point of this template? Lova Falk talk 19:58, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

It is documented at Template:Clear. SmokingNewton _{(MESSAGE ME)} 20:02, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Thank you! Finally I learned how to find a template... I was looking at WP:template and getting really frustrated. Lova Falk talk 20:10, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

No problem at all. Write on my talk page if you need anything else at all :) SmokingNewton _{(MESSAGE ME)} 20:15, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Resolved

Jointing references?

If someone is adding a reference, they source the same website in two seperate text, is there a way to direct them to the same reference line? Thanks in advance,SwisterTwister (talk) 21:05, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, using refnames. Instead of typing <ref>http://www.example.com</ref>, type <ref name="examplename">http://www.example.com</ref>. When you next want to reference example.com, type <ref name="examplename" />. It'll produce a link to the same reference. liquidluck✽talk 21:10, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Ancestry.com & Wikipedia

I have another question, I have been adding Ancestry.com surname meaning pages to surnames here on Wikipedia. Because I have add WikiProblems before where people would disagree with the source and such. I just want to know if it's a green light to post Ancestry.com surname meaning to their Wiki pages. Thanks in advance for your advice, SwisterTwister (talk) 21:39, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

If your question is whether ancestry.com is reliable, I would say yes, it gets it's info from public documents and census, ect. - though I'm not sure whether it would officially be considered a reliable source. Try this.

I, Keraunoscopia, removed a bunch of colons here~QwerpQwertus ·_Talk_·_Contribs_· The Wiki Puzzle Piece Award

The best place to ask questions about the reliability of sources is the Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard. I believe Ancestry also takes user submitted information, which would make it a bad source to use, but I'm not sure. liquidluck✽talk 16:10, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

It might be better to quote the source Ancestry.com use for this: "Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4" in many cases.

My understanding is Ancestry.com is not reliable because it is user-submitted. I suppose it would be on a case-by-case review, but someone tried to pass off Miley Cyrus's pedigree, for example, which linked to princes, kings and queens back to AD 87 (or around then). – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 23:37, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

How to protest decision

What's the process for protesting or asking for reveiew of an admin decision? Specifically there was an article nominated for deletion. Although the consensus was strongly to delete or merge with another exisiting article on the same subject, an admin designated it as "Keep." This doesn't seem in keeping with Wiki policy of discussion and consensus. JoKing (talk) 23:48, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

This is handled at Wikipedia:Deletion review. Good luck! SmokingNewton _{(MESSAGE ME)} 23:57, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I presume you are referring to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Puggle. There is no formal process for reviewing administrators' decisions, as Wikipedia is not a bureaucracy. You can discuss it on the closing admin's talk page, or renominate the article for deletion after a considerable amount of time has passed. From looking at the discussion in question, however, it seems that the arguments in favour of deletion were weaker than those in favour of preservation. In this case, the argument that the article is substantiated by secondary sources (offered by those in favour of keeping) was deemed to be stronger than the assorted and generally weak arguments offered by the 'delete' !voters. AfD discussions are closed according to consensus, rather than a vote-count. In response to SmokingNewton above, DRV does not handle AfDs which were closed "keep", as far as I know. Intelligentsium 00:00, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

I've never been involved in Deletion Review, so I'm not sure, but the page says: "includes appeals to restore deleted pages and appeals to delete pages kept after a prior discussion." SmokingNewton _{(MESSAGE ME)} 00:02, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

It seems DRV can be used to contest discussions in which the result was not "delete" (though this is less common), thank you for pointing that out. However I would not recommend going to DRV before discussing it with the closing admin. Intelligentsium 00:04, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

I have reviewed the deletion discussion and this was pretty clearly a keep so while taking this to deletion review is your prerogative, I think it will be a waste of your time. Many of the deletion arguments were not based in policy, and some were very poor ("if we keep this it will set a precedent and every designer breed will get an article"). Some of the keep arguments were poor as well, but the fact that it was shown that there were multiple reliable sources (existing, not necessarily in the article) cuts through most of the arguments for deletion. That is the linchpin of the general notability guideline of verifiability and of original research; our inclusion guidelines and policies. More importantly for the review, even if it was found that it was not a clear "keep", but there was simply lack of consensus, that defaults to keep so you would have to show not just that finding this was a keep was poor, but that this went past no consensus, to delete, and I think that is a very unlikely to be found here.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:26, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Challenges to a closure of a deletion discussion, whatever the closure is, is within the jurisdiction of DRV. As to this particular AfD, most of the delete comments are not well-argued at all; no one actually rebutted the claim that GNG is satisfied, as Fuhghettaboutit pointed out. Moreover, most delete !votes are by new users or IPs with very few edits, and these comments are accorded substantially less weight. Tim Song (talk) 03:46, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Speaking as a non-admin, it looks like a good close to me. – ukexpat (talk) 17:05, 7 June 2010 (UTC)