Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 October 25

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October 25

No one participating in RfC discussion

I have posted a question and asked for an RfC at Talk:Economic rent#How are strong implications to be handled.3F but no one has responded. I have done this because a person reverted my previous edit. What should I do next? Should I go ahead and revert the edit? Should I post my question somewhere else? Thanks! Gabiteodoru (talk) 03:08, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

You may just ask the person who reverted your edit on his or her talk page. If you get no response, just be bold and revert his/hers.--Netheril96 (talk) 10:35, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

The 1975 film "Tommy"

A slight amendment is needed I think, as I just watched the film and during it Ann-Margret works in a factory, and wikipedia says she is filling bombs with ball bearings....ahem, they are pinballs, of course..Thanx Woo —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.67.170.100 (talk) 03:18, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Please be bold and make the change to the plot section yourself. Please state your reason for the change in the edit summary field when you make this edit, which will make it far less likely that you'll be reverted.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:40, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Pinballs and certain ball bearings are identical in appearance; the edit would serve no purpose. --Orange Mike | Talk 12:56, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Huh? Of course it makes a difference.--SPhilbrickT 13:45, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

If we don't explicitly know that they are pinballs rather than ball bearings (and I think it's a major leap to think that pinballs rather than ordinary ball bearings would be used in a military application), then I believe that such an insertion into the article is not only pointless but original research as well. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:00, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Obviously it cannot simply be added without a reliable source, but with a source, it seems quite apropos.--SPhilbrickT 17:27, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

How to delete a page?

If the entity the page provides information about does not wish to hold a wikipedia page is there a method for deleting the article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.166.244.245 (talk) 07:17, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

We have a number of deletion processes, and you can read about them here. However, no single entity - including the subject of an article - owns any piece of Wikipedia content, so it's not simply the case that the subject can necessarily have the article deleted. What we can do is remove material that isn't cited to good-quality third-party sources, and we are particularly sensitive to the need for biographies of living persons to be well-cited, neutral, accurate, and compliant with our notability requirements. If you let us know which page you are talking about we can advise about suitable courses of action. Gonzonoir (talk) 07:35, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

About open proxy

I have to use open proxy, which by the way fails to transfer https traffic, sometimes to read and edit Wikipedia, but Wikipedia bans edits from behind proxies. I read carefully about the policies and have no clue why registered user cannot edit through a proxy. After all, if a registered user is a vandal, you can just suspend the account without knowing the IP address of his or her computer, can't you?--Netheril96 (talk) 10:29, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Wikimedia's policy on open proxies is located here. The "rationale" section is what you need - basically, open proxies make it too difficult to catch vandals. TNXMan 15:06, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

The "rationale" doesn't sound rational to me. I mean you need IP addresses to track anonymous edits, but a registered user cannot hide his/her identity even behind a proxy as long as he/she logs in. Why don't just disallow IP users to edit?--Netheril96 (talk) 16:51, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

If you have a real problem then maybe this section might help you.  Ronhjones  ^(Talk) 19:21, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Images

How do I make my image smaller to put in the wikis? Roo101 (talk) 25 October 2010 (UTC)

• When placing an image on a page, you can use syntax like: [[File:Example.jpg|100px]] to change the width of an image. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 10:42, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

• See also Wikipedia:Picture tutorial-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 15:22, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

bad information on our page "craze productions"

there has been slander and unfounded information on our page which needs to be removed referring as if we posted on you tube nintendo games posted on you tube removed and that craze productions continuos to act like this, making craze look like pirates, this is unfounded and not true.

this is total slander , this is not true, this is not a forum to post such unfounded and slanderous comments please remove them at once thanks

what should be posted is that

craze productions is one of the largest streamers on you tube of movies and video, with as many as 4 million daily viewers a day and on sept 10, craze had over 125.000.000 of video streams streamed on you tube —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.178.162.238 (talk) 10:50, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

It has been removed. ~~ GB fan ~~ 11:13, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

reset password

How do I reset my Wikipedia user account password? I can't remember my current password. I tried all the combinations I can think of. No dice. Just need to send my registered email address a password reset or reminder. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.61.69.211 (talk) 12:51, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Assuming you registered an email address when you signed up, see Wikipedia:Passwords#How_do_I_recover_a_password_I_have_forgotten Rojomoke (talk) 13:18, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

There's a problem in opening

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Zeiss_AG Max Viwe | Wanna chat with me? 13:17, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Works fine for me. Can you provide more info on the problem you're seeing? Rojomoke (talk) 13:19, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps your firewall could be the problem. --Monterey Bay (talk) 03:09, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Problem is solved.It was a virus.Thanks.:-)Max Viwe | Wanna chat with me? 03:48, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

using a spanish/English dictionary

My question is; how do I use a language dictionary in Wikipedia?94.197.132.174 (talk) 15:23, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

We don't have a translation/dictionary component in Wikipedia. --Orange Mike | Talk 15:45, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

We do have GoogleTrans that can be enabled in preferences after creating an account. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:58, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

how do I sign up or where do i install? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Usaena (talk • contribs) 16:06, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Click on the "My preferences" link at the top right of the page (lots of good stuff there, BTW), then click on the "Gadget" tab, then tick the first checkbox, labelled "GoogleTrans", then the "Save" button at the bottom of the page. You must then clear your browser cache - instructions for doing this are here for most common browsers. The instructions for using the gadget are here. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:49, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

new photos

Can i add some of my own photos to a site article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.78.136.240 (talk) 16:08, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

If they are relevant to the article and contribute to the encyclopaedic coverage of the article, yes. You can upload them as your own work and either license them with a compatible license or release them into the public domain. There are instructions for this at WP:UPLOAD. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 16:52, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

To upload a file you'll need an account, however; otherwise you'll need to use the files for upload process. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 16:54, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

The Lost Hero references

For the article on The Lost Hero, there is some kind of problem with the references that is blanking a huge section. Help? 173.49.140.141 (talk) 16:09, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Can you be a little more specific? I don't see a missing section. TNXMan 17:36, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

I mean The Heroes of Olympus, but I've fixed it myself. 173.49.140.141 (talk) 19:42, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

nakijin village okinawa japan

how do i contact someone in nakijin village re info april 1945? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.117.227.199 (talk) 17:30, 25 October 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 17:35, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

someone has changed a help link to post their own resume

see the CREATE LINKS link on this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents/Editing_Wikipedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.179.0.145 (talk) 17:54, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

It's already been fixed. Thank you for noticing it, though! TNXMan 18:00, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

 Done I have fixed it and warned the vandal. Roger (talk) 18:01, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Incorect links

The instances when I click on a link within an article and I’m redirected to an advertising site are become more frequent.

I assume you are aware of this problem.

Please resolve this problem as quickly as possible as currently it almost doubles the time we have to spend researching a subject via your normally very reliable pages. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Watchman2511 (talk • contribs) 18:38, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia links should not lead to advertisements. Please be sure you are viewing the Wikipedia site, not a site that mirrors Wikipedia's content and adds advertisements. You can visit [1], which is our homepage. Your computer may also be infected with malware that pops up advertisements on (normally) ad-free sites. TNXMan 18:45, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

(e/c)I'm quite surprised at this, and hope you will provide some examples. I don't suggest for a second that it cannot happen - it is easy for people to add links to advertising sites, it happens everyday, and there are many editors spending considerable time removing such links, but when you say "it almost doubles the time we have to spend researching" you imply some substantial portion of links within articles are to advertising sites. Do you mean footnotes or wikilinks (words in blue). I would guess the proportion of footnotes that could be viewed as advertising might get to a few per cent, but I would guess that blue-linked words leading to an advertising site are quite rare - a fraction of a per cent at best (I've clicked on thousands of such links, and the next one that is an advertising site will be the first such example for me.) Is there any chance you are using a mirror of Wikipedia that does allow advertising? If you can post examples it would be very helpful.--SPhilbrickT 18:48, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Watchlist:biggest change

Is it possible for my watchlist to display the sum total of bytes (positive and negative) changed for each page? I'm more of a content-watcher than a vandal fighter, and I have a very large watchlist. I worry that some of the less-edited pages on my list dont get seen by me, because they're swamped by the many edits from other pages. BillMasen (talk) 19:07, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

It already does, if I understand your question. The green and red numbers on your watchlist indicate the number of bytes added or subtracted by the previous edit. Is this what you meant? TNXMan 19:08, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

What I meant was, I want to see the sum total of how many bytes have been added or subtracted from the article in question. I don't want to see every individual edit. Can that be done? BillMasen (talk) 21:13, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

cmos switching

can you explain me why pmos give strong 1 and poor 0 when we applied 0 on GATE?∭∭ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pkdashore.rit (talk • contribs) 19:38, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Computing reference desk. They specialize in answering computer questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:43, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Change in Ronald McNair page

Dear Wikipedia,

I just changed the page on Ronald McNair. He received a B.S. in engineering physics from North Carolina A&T State University and not a B.S. in physics.

This information can be verified by the registrar of our university. Can you let me know if you need anything else to make this information valid for publication?

Thank you.

Gay Davis, Ph.D. Dean's Office College of Engineering North Carolina A&T State University —Preceding unsigned comment added by SymPhonic47 (talk • contribs) 19:54, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

The information needs to be verifiable in reliable sources. This means that the sources need to have already been published; unfortunately we can't simply take your word for it. It's also usually preferred that the source is from a third party, unassociated with the subject (and thus with no reason to provide inaccurate information casting the subject in an overly positive or negative light). GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 21:13, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Removed duplicate posting Rojomoke (talk) 23:27, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

My Article

HI. . . This is my first article. I am writing it about a noteworthy musician, instructor, businessman, etc. and all-around good person, who I want the masses to know about. I'd appreciate any guidance that will help me with formatting or whatever else I need to know, so that this article gets published.

Thank you for any help and/or advice given to me.

My thanks,

D.Maurice Marshall. —Preceding unsigned comment added by D.MauriceMarshall (talk • contribs) 22:39, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia requires not just that the subject of an article be noteworthy, but that he be notable, and that reliable independent sources have already written about him. See Reliable sources. Looking at User:D.MauriceMarshall/ROSS CARNEGIE: A LEGEND IN OUR TIME, which I assume is the article you're referring to, it's written in a very enthusiastic, promotional tone, which is not appropriate for an encyclopaedia. Try to tone it down to a neutral point of view, make sure everything you write is referenced, and avoid WP:weasel words. Also see Wikipedia:Your first article. Good luck. Rojomoke (talk) 23:27, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Also see the finest help page ever written, WP:PEACOCK. --Teratornis (talk) 02:12, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

I see Orange Mike has speedy deleted your draft from your userspace using criterion G11 - "unambiguous advertising or promotion". G11 does indeed apply to userspace as well as articlespace, although in practice inappropriate articles are usually given a bit more leeway in a user sandbox space, to allow the creator time to improve them. I can't see the deleted text, but I can only assume it must have been unsalvageably promotional and unencyclopaedic to attract such a summary speedy deletion. If you still want to create an article about this individual, I would advise you to read the advice others have bluelinked in their responses above, and use the article wizard. I would also point out that Wikipedia is absolutely not the right place for letting "the masses know about" someone, no matter how talented, nice or special they are. Wikipedia is for articles about people who have already received substantial coverage in reliable published sources. If Mr. Carnegie has had such coverage, you need to cite it in your article. If he hasn't, he's not a suitable article subject for this encyclopaedia. Karenjc 11:39, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

As you might deduce from the title, it was indeed unsalvageable: a hagiography and an ad for the guy's courses. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:26, 26 October 2010 (UTC)