Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 May 1

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May 1

Help! This page is partly unreadable

Somewhere in this thread Wikipedia:Help desk#Signature someone has set the font colour to black, and not bothered to switch it back to normal. This leaves all unwikilinked text after it set to black, which makes it invivible to editors such as me who use the greenscreen gadget. Please could someone fix it? DuncanHill (talk) 00:55, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Did this fix it? Xenon54 / talk / 01:01, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

It did, many thanks. How much simpler life would be if people didn't worry so much about having super-shiny signatures. DuncanHill (talk) 01:03, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Procedure during RfCs

Is there a general policy about how to handle disputed edits after an RfC has been posted? For example, editor A adds a new section, and then editor B deletes it. Then editor A restores it, after adding a detailed talk page discussion disputing the deletion. Then editor B again deletes it.

Next, editor A posts an RfC. Should the original edits be restored during the RfC period pending some responses? The assumption is that editors will eventually make comments which may eventually lead to some dispute resolution and/or consensus. It's nice to accept the 3RR and edit warring policy. But is it reasonable to let the one who began the dispute, by deleting material, keep their own deletions intact? Thanks for any feedback. --Wikiwatcher1 (talk) 00:59, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The best option is to stop editing during the dispute by both parties, regardless of the state the article is in (except if the disputed article violates WP:BLP). The best option is to stop editing the article, even if the other party continues to edit it. If you are right, the RFC will support you, and then you will have the weight of consensus to enact your proposed version. There is no deadline for Wikipedia, and if the "the wrong version" remains visible for a few weeks, it is far LESS of a problem than getting blocked for behavioral reasons. I have seen situations where the person who probably had the better version of the article ultimately got themselves indeffed for being obnoxious; its far better in the long run to be the bigger person and let dispute resolution run its course. --Jayron32 01:30, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the response - it makes good sense. --Wikiwatcher1 (talk) 01:34, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

User page design

Resolved

As stated on WP:VPM#User page design, I am trying to make my user page more "professional". However, I have run into a tricky problem with fitting the userboxes into the layout. When viewed in a maximized 1920x1080 window, the first paragraph is a reasonable width, but in a small window (e.g. on a non-widescreen monitor), the first paragraph is too narrow and high, pushing the top of the userboxes down to the middle of the window. That does not look good, so I would like some help in correcting this in a way other than moving the top of the userboxes to the top of the page. PleaseStand ^(talk) 02:11, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Never mind. I found that setting the userboxes at 5em from the top of the page is a reasonable setting for the layout of my user page. I am keeping this post here for future reference. PleaseStand ^(talk) 03:06, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

help,

i work as a cleaner and have sprayed mr muscles bleach onto a solid wood kitchen worksurface and its gone black. it is pourous wood as most of the varnish has come off, you can see all the areas i have sprayed. is there a natral product that will get into the wood and remove these stains... thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.18.92.163 (talk • contribs)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Goodvac (talk) 08:11, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Reverting edits prob

Hi. On the pages List of animal names, List of animal sounds, Castration, and Banger, people seem to revert my edits just randomly. Why is this? 84.13.84.209 (talk) 08:24, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Your edits have been taken as vandalism and reverted. This is probably because of your insistence on making the same edits repeatedly, when they are not contributing to the page - for example, list of animal sounds is restricted to real animals, so adding "dragons" was inappropriate. Also, there is no evidence I can find that "banger" means "castrated aardvark", and if you have some you need to cite you source when you edit the page.

For more information, I suggest you discuss these matters calmly with the editors who reverted your edits, and in future discuss any reverted edits before replacing the information - the three revert rule is a good rule of thumb. strdst_grl (call me Stardust) 11:25, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I agree. If you were to simply cite your sources and add an edit description, your chances of edits being preserved are far higher than before. In addition, childishly talking about dragons does not help your reputation at all. For the past several hundred years, consensus has dictated that dragons do not exist! After considering all of this, if you are still somehow confused as to why ridiculous edits keep getting reverted you may contact those who reverted/blocked you directly. Please be civil; there already seems to be a more than logical explanation as to why repeated edits are not tolerated on Wikipedia. Once again I have absolutely no idea as to why this is such a big problem...

Ojay123 ^{(Talk•E-Mail•Contribs•Sandbox)(Respond on my talk page!} 21:30, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

External links not appearing?

Someone odd here - I want to check the context in which this webpage is being used on articles - now as you can see from my link, the external links page shows that it appears on quite a few pages - yet on the article pages, I can't find it? --Cameron Scott (talk) 09:36, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Does the external linksearch take a while to update or something? I looked at Wildthyme on Top, and it contained the link until 28 December 2009, but not since then.--BelovedFreak 10:43, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

As far as I can determine, when you remove an external link and refresh that page, it should update straight away. --Cameron Scott (talk) 11:12, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The link was in {{Iris Wildthyme}} until today.[1] Compare the linksearch to Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Iris Wildthyme. When a template is edited it can take some time before all affected pages and link tables are updated. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:10, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm perplexed...

To whom it may concern,

We've submitted a new Actor to your list (Craig Vincent) and HAVE sited numerous reliable sources of information (i.e. The Internet Movie Data Base references) as you have requested but have now been notified that the listing is in jeopardy of being "deleted". Can you please tell me why, when other "actors" with less credits have been included?

Thank you,

Sincerely, Angels&Artists—Preceding unsigned comment added by Angels&Artists (talk • contribs) 10:37, 1 May 2010

As mentioned on both the page in question and your talk page, all biographies of living people must have at least one reference, which you can learn how to add at Referencing for beginners. At the moment, Craig Vincent only links to one external website, and it does not do this in a referencing format, which would require <ref> and </ref> to be placed around the link. Therefore, it has been tagged as unreferenced.

You should also review the Criteria for Deletion before proceeding. In particular, consider that all articles must be notable within their field and verifiable - this requires the use of several reliable external sources, and IMDb is not considered reliable. You should also take care to preserve neutrality, and avoid self-promotion or advertising. Failing to meet these criteria will likely result in the article's deletion even if you meet the referencing requirement for biographies of living people. strdst_grl (call me Stardust) 11:12, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I feel I should add that your username appears to violate current username policy, particularly the ban on organisation names and the rule against sharing accounts. If these do not apply, you may wish to change your user page to reflect this, otherwise your account may be deleted. strdst_grl (call me Stardust) 11:39, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Resizing animations

I developed two userboxes around a year ago which use animations: User:Strdst grl/ubx/bouncing and User:Strdst grl/ubx/mandelbrot. Recently, I returned to these userboxes and found that they were broken - the first frame of each was displayed as a still image. This problem seems to be linked to the resizing of the animations to fit the userbox, as allowing the images to remain their normal size lets the animation play, but it makes the userboxes too large to use. I have heard that some animations cannot be resized, but at least one of the images has not been edited in any way since I created the userbox. What is going on, and how can I fix it? strdst_grl (call me Stardust) 10:38, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I think this may be another example of your issue and this discussion may explain in more detail. --SPhilbrickT 12:53, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you, I see now I'm not the only one with this problem. But I'm afraid I don't understand a word of the explanation. Can anyone explain it to me, or just tell me if I can fix the problem? strdst_grl (call me Stardust) 14:37, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I have also asked this question at the Village pump (technical), but if anyone here can explain it please let me know. strdst_grl (call me Stardust) 15:07, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Okay, I found a solution. Thank you for your help! strdst_grl (call me Stardust) 08:49, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Creating a wikipedia page

All I want to do is create a wikipedia page about an amateur voice acting website. How does one go about creating a page?

Firstly, register yourself with an account. See the Log In / Sign up button on the top right of the page. Then read this very carefully. Make sure what you're writing about is notable enough to deserve an article first. Orphan Wiki 14:20, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Reading this will also be of importance. Orphan Wiki 14:22, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Where can I change the appearance of my user signature?

I can remember changing it to blue from the standard ages ago, but I can't remember where I went. Where can I find the tools to change my user signature appearance? Chevymontecarlo. 14:38, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

At Special:Preferences. See Wikipedia:Signatures. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:47, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

link at William McDonough

I made a link to the Smithsonian at William McDonough. It seems right. Could someone check it please? 21:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC) 15:45, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, you did it correctly. For further info, wikilinks are created by typing two brackets on either side of the word; for example, [[apple]]. You can also make piped wikilinks, where the title does not have to be the linked word; for example, [[apple|a red fruit]] creates a red fruit. Make sure to watch overlinking, though.

Out of curiosity, did you mean to make your username 21:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC), or was that an accident? If it was an accident, you can request a namechange at WP:CHU. liquidluck✽talk 15:51, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

OK, that is what I did, with the brackets. I copied the other links I saw, but wasn't sure. On the login the one I wanted was taken, I like this one, hopefully no one else wants it. I found the signature question above mine helped me fix it (it was red?). Thank you. 21:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC) 16:03, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I think a time stamp as a username is confusing, especially when the user name is right before the real time stamp in signatures. See Wikipedia:Username policy#Confusing usernames. And Wikipedia:Signatures#Internal links says: "Signatures must include at least one internal link to your user page, user talk page, or contributions page; this allows other editors easy access to your talk page and contributions log." Will you change the username? PrimeHunter (talk) 16:39, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I fixed it, it took a few tries in "My Preferences", I choose the "User talk page" link. Thanks 21:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC) 17:00, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Confused

I recently saw in the recent changes that a user created anotheer users account. Is this ability limited to administrators, or can anyone create another users account? Immunize (talk) 16:11, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

If a user creates an account while logged in, this will be reflected in the account log. There is a limit -- I think 6 per day -- unless you work at Request an account, in which case you are granted the "accountcreator" right that removes the limit. Xenon54 (talk) 16:29, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Strictly speaking that's not true; the 6/day limit is removed only for a specific subset of those who work at ACC, generally those who are most active and most highly trusted. —Soap— 17:43, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Account creators are an extra userright, somewhat like rollback. I don't know too much about the process myself, but I think that this is done as sometimes good faith users whose usernames would be okay but are kept from being created can be have this overrided by another user. AlexiusHoratius 16:27, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Ordinary users can create accounts but are limited to 6 per day. See Wikipedia:Account creator. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:28, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I have never seen any way to create an account while logged in? Where is the feature that allows you to do this? Immunize (talk) 17:04, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

It's the same url to the same feature as when you are logged out, for example reached via the "Create one" link at Special:UserLogin. The only difference is that the upper right corner of Wikipedia pages don't have a link saying "Log in / create account" when you are already logged in. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:21, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Yeah. Though often when you see this happening it's because someone has just created an account, realized they've misspelled their name, and gone on to create a second account without logging out of the first. No special privileges are required to do that. —Soap— 17:43, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The main reason why am asking these questions is because I would like to become involved in the account creation team. How do I do that? Immunize (talk) 18:07, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Request_an_account/Guide. I used to work there, but I resigned. I suggest that if you want to do it, you might want to consider using the IRC interface, as it's a lot easier to sit in a chat room and wait for a notice than it is to be constantly refreshing the page every few minutes to see if there are new requests. —Soap— 18:27, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I attempted to enter the interface, but it said "user or password incorrect" even though both my username and password were entered correctly. Immunize (talk) 18:41, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Well you have to be approved first. —Soap— 18:53, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

How do you become approved? Immunize (talk) 18:55, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I dont actually remember. I assume that if youve put in your name someone will be contacting you sooner or later either to approve or deny the request, just like if it were a request for rollback permissions. —Soap— 19:22, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Is it at WP:Requests for permissions? Immunize (talk) 19:23, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I dont think so. If youve registered on the register page then your application should be processed soon. —Soap— 23:09, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

It should be noted that for many permissions, (like Account Creator and Filter Editor) you need to demonstrate both need and competance to receive them. If you've never worked at Wikipedia:Account creator, or only sparingly so (like, you've never run up to the 6-a-day limit) then it is unlikely you will be granted the permission. --Jayron32 04:02, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

If I cannot acces the interface, then I will never be able to meet the 6-account a day mark. P.S is an emial address required to register? Immunize (talk) 17:47, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

multiple persons with same name

I created a living person biography page (Stephanie Peay) but it has been altered to include other 2 people with the same name - surely these should have been created as 2 new pages? - how do I flag this up to the other editor and roll back their edits (it's saying it can't but undone except manually)? Paulbryden (talk) 16:14, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I removed info on the other two people from the article. See WP:N and WP:BIO. The other two Stephanie Peay's appear to have been entirely non-notable. The standards for inclusion in Wikipedia are sometimes mistakenly believed to be "its true!" or "it exists". This is not the case. --Jayron32 16:34, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

standard punctuation

As I look through the articles. Some are very well written. Others (maybe less popular) have varying formats for sources and links. I thought I would start off fixing simple punctuation, but need to know what the standard is. I was going to use a couple of the more popular type articles, but I was hoping there was a standard written somewhere. Any help on this would be appreciated. 21:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC) 16:19, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The WP:Manual of style would be a good place to start to look at what is generally used on Wikipedia as far as punctuation. Various sub-pages on more specific topics can be found on that page as well. AlexiusHoratius 16:23, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Outstanding, Thank you. 21:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC) 16:58, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Sign with 4 ~'s, not 5. Aditya Ex Machina 18:33, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

No, the user's username is 21:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC). They have been told it may contravene the username policy, although they don't appear willing to get it changed. Xenon54 (talk) 18:58, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Hmm. Per policy: Disruptive usernames include outright trolling or personal attacks, include profanities or otherwise show a clear intent to disrupt Wikipedia. I'd say this username definitely contravenes policy, especially since said user is unwilling to change the username. I'll look into this in a few hours. Aditya Ex Machina 22:36, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

It's being discussed at Wikipedia:Usernames for administrator attention. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:49, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The discussion resulted in an indef block. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:00, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Time to first fix

I added an animation file to the above, copied from the satellite page. This won't cause any problems being on a second page will it? 21:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC) 19:15, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

No it won't, thanks for your contribution. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 19:21, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

WikiProject Central America template

Help! {{WikiProject Central America}} needs some sorting out, and I can't seem to do it. Some of the child projects have duplicate categories, and I can't seem to get it sorted. So Category:Belize articles and Category:Belize work group articles. The template is only populating the former, so I don't see how the latter is full of most Belize articles... :( Similar problems for all the Central America projects using that template. Rd232 ^talk 20:45, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Category:Belize articles by importance and Category:Belize articles by quality are subcategories of Category:Belize work group articles. Therefore, all pages with |class= or |importance= parameters in {{WikiProject Central America|Belize=yes}} are going into Category:Belize work group articles. Intelligentsium 21:01, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

This is odd, though, because members of subcategories should not be showing up in the main category. Perhaps one of the categories was recently updated, and has not repopulated yet? Intelligentsium 21:17, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

In this edit you changed the categorization but many of the resulting changes to Category:Belize work group articles must still be in the job queue. Just wait and it should be fixed automatically. A dummy edit of the talk pages will remove them from the category right away but there is no need to stress the servers with that. A purge will not remove them. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:45, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Can't log in

i can't log into my account because i forgot my password, but i have the original email that wikipedia sent me when i 1st signed up to confirm that this was my account, is there any way that that can help me get my password back/be able to log in? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.49.21.167 (talk) 21:12, 1 May 2010

At the login screen, type in your username and click "E-mail new password". A new password will be sent to the e-mail address you confirmed on your account. For more help, please see Help:Logging in. --Mysdaao ^talk 21:30, 1 May 2010 (UTC)