Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 November 8

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November 8

How do I back up all Wikipedia to my hard drive?

You see, Wikipedia could go under. (For example, in the 2012 apocalypse.) However the site collapses, that's why we need to be able to back up the whole encyclopedia to our hard drives.

Also, it might give me something to read if I go on a mission with the Peace Corps for over 2 years, and I might not have Wireless Internet the whole time.

So how do we download the whole encyclopedia to our hard drives? How large is the size of the download? Thanks, --98.190.13.3 (talk) 01:53, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

See WP:Download. DMacks (talk) 01:56, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict)See WP:DUMP Dismas|^(talk) 01:57, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

However, there is little point to downloading the entire encyclopaedia. Even excluding non-content pages such as those in the Wikipedia:, Talk:, User:, etc. spaces, the database dump is an estimated 27 gigabytes uncompressed (as of ca 2 months ago). Wikipedia probably will not go under anytime soon, and even if it does there are hundreds of mirrors and forks which hold complete copies of the database. You should also consider the bandwidth that you would consume to download the entire file - bandwidth that might be put to better use serving pages to online users. If you would like to read Wikipedia without Internet access, you might consider taking advantage of our recently-added Book: feature. (See also: Help:Books) Intelligentsium 02:09, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

How to change "government type" in the sidebar for a city?

I don't see an "edit" button for this. I changed an incorrect government type for a city in the "local government" text section, but can't find out how to do it in the quick facts-type sidebar. Thoughts? Thanks!

02:32, 8 November 2010 (UTC)~~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Letsplayfair (talk • contribs)

Click the "Edit" tab at top of the page. See also Help:Section#Editing before the first section. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:50, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Letsplayfair (talk • contribs) 03:47, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Delete Wikipedia Search Engine...

I am using FireFox. After someone other than myself had used my computer, I noticed up in the right hand corner a box for the Wikipedia search engine. How do I delete that? Thanks!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.102.24.21 (talk) 02:47, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

The firefox logo there is probably a pulldown menu where you can select among various sites for the search function there. DMacks (talk) 02:53, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

I think you mean the Wikipedia logo, DMacks. --ColinFine (talk) 00:03, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Ah yeah. I'm using some wacky custom search on my machine that is defaulting to a ffox logo right now. DMacks (talk) 03:00, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

problem with redirect, I think

I am D. Kimbrough Oller, that is, Kimoller as a user name. I have written a wikipedia article about a living scholar, very eminent, John L. Locke. It can be found under that name, well-documented I believe, by searching Wikipedia. But if I search Google under the same name and add Wikipedia to the search item, I find the site, but it is titled User:Kimoller/John L. Locke and when the page is opened it shows (Redirected from User:Kimoller/John L. Locke). HOW DO I GET GOOGLE or any other search engine to find the site without the REDIRECT FROM User:Kimoller? Please help YOu can also use my email account, <email removed> Kimoller (talk) 07:21, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

I've nominated this redirect User:Kimoller/John L. Locke for deletion and hopefully, an administrator would be able to remove it for you. Minimac (talk) 07:25, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Also, as it says at the top of the page, we don't use email addresses here and you're advised not to post them here. Dismas|^(talk) 07:27, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Google will sort itself out when it gets round to re-indexing these pages. It may take a few days; until then, the redirect is doing a useful job, sending searchers from the old page address to the new one. (I have removed your email address to protect your privacy; this page is highly visible, and email addresses here are likely to become targets for spam) -- John of Reading (talk) 09:22, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

The article is well-written, but the only sources given are the scholar's own works. Have other people written about this person? Please see reliable sourcing and independent sourcing for advice. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:36, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Adding Community / Information Website about area

I have added a community website to a page on wikipedia (there are two already) and it keeps getting deleted. Unlike the other two there are no ads on this site nor is a profit making site like one of the others yet it keeps getting removed. Why? It contains useful information about the area —Preceding unsigned comment added by Camposolweb (talk • contribs) 11:58, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

The reason for the deletion can be seen in the history sheet for the page in question. (Just click on the "history" tab at the top of the page). You need to read WP:COI and also WP:U. David Biddulph (talk) 12:07, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Vandalism?

I was adding some information (episode names from he BBC website) to Apprentice UK Series 6, and was notified that I was vandalizing the page. The notice said that I had to cite references, but it seems silly to site references for episode names. Also the referencing is a bit confusing (just me I guess). All I'd like to do is get the episode names on the page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.36.136.201 (talk) 17:48, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

One of the principles of Wikipedia is verifiability. The reference you need is probably this, which is just one click away from the External Link that's already on the page, so I've reverted TT's edit. David Biddulph (talk) 18:07, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

New school slang words,what does this mean?

I have a 12 year old daughter who is having probs.in school,i told her if she needs 2 know anything 2 ask me,have looked on this site & in dictioary-no solutions,can someone answer my question,she got called either wren or rem or wrem & wants 2 know what it means,can anyone out there help me?She can't ask in school as it would cause more probs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.209.222.77 (talk) 18:08, 8 November 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. TNXMan 18:14, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

entry creation

how do a make an entirely new entry/article? also can i put in pictures of the subject that i find on, for example, google images. if so, how do i do so? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Futballer13 (talk • contribs) 21:21, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

For creating a new article see Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:Article development; and you may wish to try the Article Wizard. For creating a new page in your userspace see How do I create a user subpage?; or use the Article Wizard, which has an option for that. As to pictures: images found through search engines are almost always going to be violations of copyright, and thus cannot be used here except under extremely limited circumstances. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:28, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

How can I undo or roll back?

I tried to translate Kamidia Radisti to Swedish, but did it on this English wp instead of the Swedih one. Now I managed to fix the Swedish one, but how I undo or roll back on the English wp? --Mats33 (talk) 22:47, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Hi Mats33. Undoing is limited to reverting a single revision, and can be unavailable because of intervening edits. What you needed to do here was revert to the last good version, which I have done. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:31, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Article text doesn't appear on edit text!

Hi, is someone able to fix the very beginning of Ender's Game (comics)? The "category: 2008 comic debuts" part doesn't appear in the actual edit text, and undoing to previous versions doesn't remove it. Sorry if this isn't the proper place for this. Kreachure (talk) 22:54, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Fixed. This just about had to be something going wrong with a template on the page so I checked the infobox and it is apparently supposed to place the page into [[category:YEAR comic debut]] when you add the year of debut to the |startyr= parameter. Obviously {{Infobox comic book title}} is not working quite right on that front.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:26, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

I think the problem was that there was a restricted character in the page name (specifically, the single quote, ' ), which I have replaced. Intelligentsium 23:36, 8 November 2010 (UTC)