Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 September 25

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September 25

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need help explaining wikipedia rules to another user

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i reverted a user who is trying to insert a rather biased line into the article Lock (device). he is now conversing with me on my talk page, providing a link to a white supremacist organization as a source to support his addition. would appreciate another voice in the conversation. cheers WookieInHeat (talk) 03:09, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Responded at talk page.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 06:22, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Renaming an article

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I created a new article today, based off of a previous link. That link was based on a misspelling of the subject's name. Apparently the common way to spell the name is with two M's, but the misnamed article has one. Further complicating the issue is that this subject bears the identical name to a character from Narnia that already has an article. Therefore I would like to rename Polly Plumer as "Polly Plummer (athlete)" I will then place the additional name link in the Narnia character and try to find the old misspelled links (unless there is a way to automate that). Or better, since the misspelling is frequent, if the single M version can still redirect to the correct article, that would be preferable. Trackinfo (talk) 07:19, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

  Done I've moved (ie, renamed) Polly Plumer to Polly Plummer (athlete), which automatically creates a redirect from the former to the latter. You can use the template {{for}} to add the link to Polly Plummer. There's only one mis-spelled link to "Polly Plumer", which you can find using Special:WhatLinksHere/Polly Plumer.
Cheers, Adrian J. Hunter(talkcontribs) 07:53, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Special:WhatLinksHere/Polly_Plumer shows you where the misspelled link is. ~~ GB fan ~~ 11:20, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It looks to me like Polly Plumer was the right spelling and her sister is PattiSue Plumer. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:18, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It would appear so -- I moved the page back to Polly Plumer. – ukexpat (talk) 15:53, 27 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

loggin out when closing browser

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i have the problem that everytime i log in and close my firefox and start it again, im logged out. why is it so, even if i make a tick in Remember me (Up to 30 days)? -- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 11:07, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is the browser set up to delete all your cookies when your quit? -- John of Reading (talk) 11:15, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
no-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 11:18, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Have you tried intentionally deleting your cookies in order for a new one to be generated? Dismas|(talk) 11:25, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

k done-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 11:34, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And...? Did it work? Dismas|(talk) 11:37, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And have you read Help:Logging in? PrimeHunter (talk) 12:09, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

yes its k now-- ♫Greatorangepumpkin♫ T 13:52, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Functionality of thumbnails?

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I can't believe there isn't any easy way to do this, but I have tired and experimented a bit, and if there is a way to do this, it's not easy to find (or maybe I'm just being dense). I want to display a graphic:

  • Forced to the left, and
  • With a caption, and
  • In a small size, but different than the default size afforded by the thumbnail function.

Piping parameters either to the simple File: function or the {{thumb}} template lets me do any two of these, but not all three (again, unless I'm missing something). I ended up using the "ThumbTid" template at User:Trev_M/ThumbTid, which works, but I suppose its not recommended to use templates taken from a userpage. Herostratus (talk) 11:59, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]


 
Example caption

Does [[File:Bad Title Example.png|thumb|left|50px|alt=Example alt text|Example caption]] not do what you want? PrimeHunter (talk) 12:07, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Huh. Damn. I must have had a brain freeze. Sorry. Herostratus (talk) 02:41, 27 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Collapsing div

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is it possiblie to create a div that uses the arrows and collapsing animation like the sidebar in vector does? i know about collapsing tables but i'd rather use what the sidebar has than those show/hide buttons 71.17.196.122 (talk) 14:56, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:NAVFRAME has a more general collapse feature. Not animated, and still uses [show]/[hide] instead of standard treeview arrows, but at least works on arbitrary div's. DMacks (talk) 15:08, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

play chess online

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what is passing pawn while playing chess on line —Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.152.13.4 (talk) 15:08, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This is not the proper place to ask that. See the reference desk. Us441(talk)(contribs) 15:12, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
...or you could have a look at the Passed pawn article. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:34, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Move

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Should I discuss before moving a page title out of all caps? Us441(talk)(contribs) 15:11, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you think it might be controversial, it should be discussed. If it is a non-controversial move, be bold and move it. ~~ GB fan ~~ 15:12, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
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I should like to create a link from my name (in the Richard Stilgo article) to my website. May I do this? If so, how?Paulwigmore--Paulwigmore (talk) 15:36, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Richard Stilgoe (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
The Wikipedia policy on website links - "external links" in Wikipedia-speak - is much stricter than most contributors realise, and I must advise you not to add this link, as it would be removed. The policy is here. But thank you for taking the trouble to ask first. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:44, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Kykeon And Kikayon Are Probably The Same!! What Do You Want To Bet?

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September 25, 2010

To whom this may concern at Wikipedia.org:

I’ve stumbled onto these two very similar entities in Wikipedia.org, that I have a very strong hunch are actually the same ... Kykeon and Kikayon. Connecting these dots is a furthering towards the grand solution. Would someone please edit and fine tune the links of these two terms at Wikipedia.org together, if you agree with me and think that it will help? Please also read the crucial message at: http:// <redacted> .org (no hidden agenda).

God bless, Dwayne L Foster

<copies of two articles removed>

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.248.151.144 (talk) 17:20, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Kykeon (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
Kikayon (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
I have taken the liberty of replacing the copied article text with links to keep this page tidy; I have also removed the URL of your "crucial message" which seems very promotional and only marginally relevant.
Your idea is interesting, but it cannot be incorporated into Wikipedia until it has been published in reliable sources. Wikipedia is not a forum for original research. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:43, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

help me with citations

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I have tried to follow your guidelines but am at breaking point! I have meticulously given sources but it still says I am referencing it wrongly- Please help- I do not want to lose so many hours of work on this page. horizon 20:01, 25 September 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Susannatree (talkcontribs)

Hi Susanna. Great job in working with the referencing format. It can be confusing at first but it becomes second nature. The problem you have is that either citation text for the reference named "obituary" was never provided, or was erased at some point. The first time a named citation like this is used it takes the form <ref name="obituary">reference text</ref> The next time it is used the first part, with a closing slash, is all you need: <ref name="obituary" /> But here, the first use does not provide the citation text. I hope this helps.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:35, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Aha! Fixed. It was erased in a subsequent edit.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:42, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]