Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 April 28

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April 28

Creating new page 2

I added the "Request move" syntax to my talk page: User:Rohitbal21/Call of the Dead

and received this message: It has been proposed in this section that User:Rohitbal21/Call of the Dead be renamed and moved. A bot will list this discussion on Wikipedia:Requested moves within 15 minutes of this tag being placed. The discussion may be closed after 7 days of being opened, if consensus has been reached. More information about closing discussions is available at Wikipedia:Requested moves/Closing instructions. Remember to base arguments on article title policy, and to keep discussion succinct and civil.

User:Rohitbal21/Call of the Dead → Call of the Dead — Call of the Dead is the newest zombie map in Activision's Call of Duty: Back Ops - Escalation. Rohitbal21 (talk)

This was about 3 hours ago, but I have not seen my post on the Current Discussion. Does anyone know why this may be? Thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rohitbal21 (talk • contribs) 01:39, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

See the replies to your previous posts at Wikipedia:Help desk#Creating new page, including the warning that if your draft were moved to article space, it would be deleted. —teb728 t c 01:57, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Although the move is ill-advised, the bot should have recognized your request. I left a message for the bot owner at User talk:harej#RM Bot does not recognize move request. —teb728 t c 06:32, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you teb728. I took the comments and made revisions to the copy to state that Call of the Dead is title of a fictional movie within the newest Call of Duty installment. This comes directly from the sources provided, including the game's official site. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.17.229.250 (talk) 16:37, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

That solves only one of the page’s problems. It would still be deleted for failing to demonstrate the notability of the subject with significant coverage in independent reliable sources. Inasmuch as Escalation has not yet been released, I suspect such coverage does not exist. Even after the release “Call of the Dead” may not be notable enough for a separate article. But it is already mentioned at Call of Duty: Black Ops#Downloadable content. —teb728 t c 21:13, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Changing my Page's Name

User:H.fischle/Esperanza Entertainment Unit

Currently, the name I have for the page i recently summited is User:h.Fischle/esperanza entertainment unit. I would like to have it just as Esperanza entertainment unit. How do I change this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by H.fischle (talk • contribs) 03:41, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Add {{subst:AFC submission/submit}} to the top of the article. I see you have already done that. —teb728 t c 06:41, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

And I have completed the process by moving it to Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Esperanza Entertainment Unit, the correct location for an AFC submission. – ukexpat (talk) 13:56, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

The OP is not autoconfirmed. Is a bot supposed to do moves in such a case? —teb728 t c 20:37, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Half space

Is there a code for rendering a half-space between characters? Newwhist (talk) 03:45, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

See Space (punctuation). There are several that would do what you are looking for, but IE6 and IE7 will show a square for most of them. What are you trying to do? ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 04:53, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I edit Contract bridge articles of all kinds and I find that the card and deal presentations look squished together when there are no spaces between them and too large when a spsce is inserted. Example: ♠ AK5 ♥ 56 ♦ J1086 ♣ Q753 versus ♠  A K 5 ♥  5 6 ♦  J 10 8 6 ♣  Q 7 5 3. If the template could be edited so that the half-spacing is automatic, that would be great. The biggest problem is caused by the "10".

This seems especially exaggerated when comparingthe the following templates

		♠	AK43
		♥	862
		♦	Q10
		♣	J965
♠	106	N W               E S		♠	Q95
♥	AQ953			♥	K4
♦	AJ982			♦	K754
♣	—			♣	Q1073
		♠	J872
		♥	J104
		♦	3
		♣	AK842

		♠	A K 4 3
		♥	8 6 2
		♦	Q 10
		♣	J 9 6 5
♠	10 6	N W               E S		♠	Q 9 5
♥	A Q 9 5 3			♥	K 4
♦	A J 9 8 2			♦	K 7 5 4
♣	—			♣	Q 10 7 3
		♠	J 8 7 2
		♥	J 10 4
		♦	3
		♣	A K 8 4 2

Newwhist

(talk) 20:16, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

Resolved

 – "Thin space" syntax found

See {{BridgeHandNWES}}

Newwhist (talk) 02:43, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

Saving pages to book(s) not working!

hello, i love using the new "add page to book" feature, but everytime i log off and return later, all my pages and books are gone:like they never existed!

i've spent countless hours adding literally hundreds of wikipedia pages from my browsers bookmarks to my wikipedia book. once the pages appeared to be saved in my book, i deleted bookmarks in an effort to clean up my bookmarks menu. there is no way i'll ever remember every obscuure page out of hundreds: both bookmarks and wiki books have vanished.

please help!!! i am using Firefox 4 for Mac OSX 10.6.7 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Moscarda (talk • contribs) 06:26, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

According to the sidebar at Help:Books, "To save your book, you must have a registered account on Wikipedia for at least four days ... and have made at least ten contributions to the encyclopedia." I'm not sure why this is, but the good news is that by posting your question at three different help desks you have now made 10 edits. You should be able to save any books you create in the future. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:03, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I count only 9 edits in Special:Contributions/Moscarda--unless there was a deleted edit. So you may need one more edit before you can save books. —teb728 t c 10:34, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

The navigation popup said 10. The tool says there is one deleted edit. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:37, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Is this help guide any good to you regarding reinstalling bookmark backups? http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Backing%20up%20and%20restoring%20bookmarks

Also, why tidy up your bookmarks by deleting them? It goes against the whole point of having this facility in the first place. Why not create a folder named 'Wikipedia' and sub folders by 'subject' and place all your Wikipedia bookmarks in them. Get into the habit of giving bookmarks 'tags' so that you can easily find the ones you want from hundreds and thousands of previously saved bookmarks.

Also, create other folders for such things as Home, Personal, Work, etc. Place the Wikipedia folder in 'Personal' or 'Work.' It will keep everything neat and tidy for ever and ever. http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Bookmark%20folders#w_putting-bookmarks-into-folders --Aspro (talk) 10:56, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

adding to wiki entries

Hello, i added some information to the "catch us if you can" about a charity re-release of the record and within minutes this info was gone. Why is this? it was pertinant information, a lot more so than that of the original writers copy. I think it is pretty poor form to delete this info as i have seen may other song entries with references to cover versions, especially as this one is for charity. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.144.127.107 (talk) 09:21, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Catch Us If You Can (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Your additions were removed by an automated software program that checks the external links that are added by new and unregistered editors. It normally leaves a message explaining its actions; I'm not sure why it didn't in this case, and I'm sorry that you were left guessing. You are welcome to restore the text you added, if you can provide a reliable source so that readers can check where the information has come from. Links to YouTube are often inappropriate in Wikipedia articles; please read the guideline before putting it back. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:45, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

(ec) An automated "bot" deleted your edits because of the addition of a youtube video. Youtube videos are so rarely appropriate links that this particular "bot" does so for edits that aren't done by an account. The entire article needs to be improved with references, see Glad All Over for another song by the Dave Clark 5 which is somewhat better and Alpha Phi Alpha for an example that is much better.Naraht (talk) 09:48, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

No notification? Is this bot acting up? The removal was actually good (surprising since the success rate is much lower than advertised by the operator) but I am not surprised it is still a bot making more trouble than good in regards to YouTube videos and clarity.Cptnono (talk) 01:49, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

I've queried this at User_talk:XLinkBot#Failure_to_notify_at_user_talk_pages; no reply yet. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:32, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

Find a word in an article

I used to have an edit button. Then I would click find to find a word in a Wikipedia article. With Explorer 9 I have lost these buttons. How does one find a word in an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.249.131.145 (talk) 09:49, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Try pressing Ctrl+f - that works on most browsers.  Chzz  ►  09:53, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Also, on Internet Explorer 9, right-click on the title bar at the top and the sub-menu will allow you to show the menu bar again. CaptRik (talk) 11:40, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

financial accounting

what is financial accounting ? how it can be practised in life . what are ledgers —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sikender2011 (talk • contribs) 10:04, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Please do your own homework.

Welcome to Wikipedia. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misinterpretation, but it is our aim here not to do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn nearly as much as doing it yourself. Please attempt to solve the problem or answer the question yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know. You may find some information at financial accounting. —teb728 t c 11:13, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Also, see ledger. You should ask any follow up questions at our reference desks. Gandalf61 (talk) 11:15, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Looking for an explanation of "back-end deal" and didn't find an explanation

Hi,

I'm looking for some native-speaker (I'm not) who could explain the term "back-end deal" to me.

I stumbled on it in the cartoon http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=7998b97dc535797eeb743ba3d61ab9af&w=900.0

I'm think that I got the joke out of it, but I do not know the normal meaning of "back-end deal" so I am curious to learn what it usually means.

Thanks for any help.

Arno —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.156.43.154 (talk) 10:37, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Well, I am not a native english speaker, my mother tongue (despite my japanese username) is actually German. I found the article Front and back ends. Although I am not absolutely sure, the last point in section 'Business' might be the usage of the term the cartoon is referring to. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:46, 28 April 2011 (UTC) It seems I actually got tricked into answering a WP:RD question here. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:52, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

In the proper sense, it means getting a bonus in the form of an agreed percentage of the profits in situations where the nature of the venture means it is very difficult to know how much the enterprise will earn. Great if its a percentage of the gross profits but shady business people use the term to mean your share of the net profits after their accountants a whittled the net profits down to a nice round figure resembling a zero. Or in other words a bum deal – as in this case. Musicians only get what left of their royalties after their music publisher has spent as much of it as they can on other more important things – like themselves.--Aspro (talk) 13:18, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Next time, please ask such questions at the Language Reference Desk. They specialize in language related questions and you might have better chances of receiving an answer there, as this help desk is only for questions about how to use or edit Wikipedia. Cheers. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 13:27, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much. Your explanation was very helpful. And next time I'll ask the Language Reference Desk. I simply didn't know that it exists. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.156.43.153 (talk) 15:02, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Title of Wikipedia Article

I have recently created a Wikipedia page for our organization, Armenian Volunteer Corps. In order to make the page, I could not use our actual organization name because Armenian Volunteer 'units' would always appear since armenian volunteer corps is another name in their article. I created it by adding our abbreviations (AVC) in the title as well, however, that is now causing problems with searching our organization on Wikipedia. Is there any way to fix this problem in order to make it more effective for our followers to find our WIKI site rather than the other one which does not have anything to do with our organization.

Thank you Armenian Volunteer Corps —Preceding unsigned comment added by G0h4r (talk • contribs) 10:39, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

For reference Armenian volunteer corps is a redirect to Armenian volunteer units. —teb728 t c 11:03, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I've added hatnotes to the 2 articles, moved the previous Armenian Volunteer Corps page to Armenian volunteer corps (with lower case v and c), and changed the redirect for Armenian Volunteer Corps to what seems the more likely target. - David Biddulph (talk) 11:06, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Before you do any more work on an article about your organization, please read WP:Conflict of interest. --ColinFine (talk) 23:38, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Image server delays ?

I uploaded a new image for article More Work for the Undertaker two days ago :File:More Work for the Undertaker.jpg but the old image is still persisting in the article; this has been raised on my talk so I'm not the only one affected but I beleive I've done everything right. Do we have problems at present, I know there were some delays a few weeks ago but other images do not appear to be affected; just this one. Any ideas ? GrahamHardy (talk) 11:33, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I made a trivial change in image size in the article. As I have seen happen in the past, that updated the displayed image. —teb728 t c 11:42, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes; I'm seeing the newer ('yellow') image on More Work for the Undertaker as of now; there have been problems with thumbnails, but it should now be OK. If you're still seeing the old one, please purge with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_Work_for_the_Undertaker?action=purge and try rebooting if necessary, too. If it still doesn't show the new image, please let us know here.  Chzz  ►  11:44, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

All happy now !  Done GrahamHardy (talk) 11:46, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Project Skepticism

Participants section says:

Please list your interests and specialities. If a member becomes inactive, either on the project for an extended period of time, or on Wikipedia, move them to the "Inactive members" subsection.

I would like to join but there is no place for me to "please list" anything. Thanks

JNNearenough (talk) 14:10, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Add your name to the bottom of this list using the same format as everyone else. BurtAlert (talk) 14:16, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)

Someone had supressed the list of names from displaying - I have just changed that, with this edit.

I'm guessing it'd happened in error, but they may have done it deliberately, because the list of members is rather long. However, if the list is deemed too long for that page, it ought to be collapsed, or else the instructions need changing.

Anyway - you can now see the list on Wikipedia:WikiProject Skepticism, so hopefully this is resolved.  Chzz  ►  14:41, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Searching for orphan templates

Is there any way that I can search for orphan templates in a certain category? (I'm assuming if this existed it would be an external tool of some sort.) Thanks! Calliopejen1 (talk) 15:16, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I don't know how to break it down by category, but there is Special:UnusedTemplates. --Jayron32 15:40, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

something in Tabs template has run amok (vandalism in template)

I was not sure where to post this, so I'm starting here first at Help Desk (although, I'm guessing that Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) is more appropriate). I use the Tabs template in my sandbox, and today, I noticed this:

Whenever the active tab is selected, the text of that active tab automatically changed to "WWW.EUROFOOTCH.TK".

I saw that none of my tab pages and TabsHeader page had not been vandalized themselves, so I knew it was the template itself. Though, I was not sure where to find this template so I could help in reverting something in that template. Can someone point me (or do it for me), but at least I want to know how to revert any template vandalisms. Thanks in advance, CalvinTy 17:02, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I should have at least given anyone a link to my Sandbox's tabs for a visual reference.  :-) Here is the link. CalvinTy 17:06, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

The vandalism occurred at Wikipedia:Tutorial/Tab1, which I've reverted it. Goodvac (talk) 17:09, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks very much, Goodvac! Cheers, CalvinTy 17:17, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Additional word meaning

I was reading in Wikipedia: "Scilly naval disaster of 1707", under "Discovery of the wrecks" sub-title, starting with "The wreck of Firebrand...." an artifact recovered that is "a wooden NOCTURNE" (for the right time at night). This definition of nocturne does not appear under the search list in Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.156.36.12 (talk) 19:04, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Try Nocturnal (instrument). - David Biddulph (talk) 19:08, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I added a wikilink [1]  Chzz  ►  20:06, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Is it possible to link to an article whose name looks like an interwiki link?

A recent edit to List of Commodore 64 games (A–M) caught my attention. The page had tried to wikilink to an article about a computer game called ACE: Air Combat Emulator but the syntax of the name made Wikipedia think it's an interwiki link to the Acèh Wikipedia, to an article called Air Combat Emulator, which doesn't even exist. Is it possible to link to an actual article called ACE: Air Combat Emulator? JIP | Talk 19:42, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that this edit was just a typo, or an attempt to link to an article entitled "ACE: Air Combat Emulator" on English Wikipedia - which is misguided, because titles should not have a colon in them (see Wikipedia:Technical restrictions). So I think your fix was fine; I don't think they intended to link to the ace wiki.

But, yes, it is possible.

Interwiki links normally create a link to another language article in the left-hand pane of an article - you just put the 2-letter language code of the wiki, and the article name. Those normally go at the very end of the article (after external links). For example, if you look in the last bit of the article on sausages here, you'll see all this stuff;

[[ar:سجق]]
[[bg:Наденица]]
[[cs:Párek]]
[[da:Pølse]]
[[de:Wurst]]
...etc...

• Now - what that means is, if - right here - I put e.g. [[de:Wurst]] - it would not make a link within my text; instead, it would make a link in the left-hand pane under 'languages'. To make a link, you put a colon before it - e.g. [[:de:Wurst]] - and then it works, like so: de:Wurst

• Of course, you can 'pipe' those too; for example, [[:de:Wurst|German sausages]] makes: German sausages

• So - you can use that in an article, but they should not be over-used, because readers shouldn't be expected to be able to read another language. So even if we don't have an article, but another language wiki does does, consider formatting it like e.g.

The [[Parque Zoológico de São Paulo]] is a zoo in Brazil (see [[:pt:Parque Zoológico de São Paulo|Portuguese Wikipedia article]]).

...which looks like...

The Parque Zoológico de São Paulo is a zoo in Brazil (see Portuguese Wikipedia article).

...ie, red links can be useful to demonstrate a needed article. Cheers,  Chzz  ►  19:50, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

You've slightly misquoted Wikipedia:Technical restrictions. Colons as such are OK, but not with an interwiki prefix such as ace:. - David Biddulph (talk) 19:57, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the answer, but it didn't answer my question. I was asking if it was possible to link to an article on the English Wikipedia whose name was, literally, ACE: Air Combat Emulator, with the "ACE:" part being part of the name. JIP | Talk 19:59, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

The answer is that it is not possible to have an article on English Wikipedia starting with ACE:. See Wikipedia:Technical restrictions as referred to above. - David Biddulph (talk) 20:04, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes, it's possible to link to an article with that name (w:ACE: Air Combat Emulator), however it will never take you there. :P Anyway, colons are fine in page titles, this one just happens to be an interwiki link naming collision. — Bility (talk) 20:11, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

OK, thanks for your help! JIP | Talk 20:22, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Polo originated in India, not in Persia

Polo originated in INDIA not Persia. Kindly see wikipedia on sport of India. Listed are other sports such as chess, badminton, snakes and ladders, etc. In fact, a version of Ludo was played during the Mahabharata era between the warring cousins, Pandavas and Kauravas. Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.25.86.181 (talk) 20:27, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

What is your question? CTJF83 20:36, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I have done a quick bit of research using Google Books. The majority of sources place the origin as Persia, but claims are made for Turkey, Central Asia, Turkestan, India (especially Manipur), Tibet, and even England (in very old sources). The article on Polo has multiple reliable seeming sources and details the spread of the sport to India in ancient times, from Persia playing it in even more ancient times. Possibly the article should have some discussion of the origin itself itself being at times disputed, and that most sources agree or some such but it is a well developed section that appears to have been written by subject matter experts with knowledge of the dialetic in sources. Given this, saying here, definitively, and only by assertion, that it is India and not Persia is not going to get you anywhere. The place to raise this, best by referring to specific reliable sources, is the article talk page: Talk:Polo.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:24, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

Confidence and security-building measures

I would like to get some feedback on adding a section to the "confidence and security-building measures" discussion. The new section would focus specifically on the "confidence building process" which is a conceptually more encompassing way of dealing with confidence building. As someone new to active participation here, I am uncertain whether I should do this. The reason for my uncertainty is this: I am the main analyst who has worked on this subject for several decades. I have published a good deal on it, including several monographs that have seen relatively wide circulation. I have the sense from reading various help topics here that it is not normally accepted form to simply source yourself, but I am the principal source for this material. Is it OK to go ahead and write a short description of this approach?

In addition, if using myself as a main source is OK, would it make more sense to create an entirely new category called "confidence building process"? I am fine with leaving it under "confidence and security building measures" until others decide a separate category is appropriate. Any help would be appreciated. My name is Jim Macintosh and the most comprehensive example of my work is "Confidence Building in the Arms Control Process: A Transformation View," (prepared for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, 1996 (ISBN 0-662-25029-X; JX1974.M32 1996)). I left a copy of this question in the discussion page associated with the topic. Sorry if this is not the correct place to ask.

Jimmacintosh100 (talk) 20:42, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

You should read WP:EXPERT and maybe use {{request edit}} on the talk page discussion to catch the eye of people who monitor the Requested edits category when you want to add a source to yourself. That way someone uninvolved can evaluate the source for relevance and verifiability. — Bility (talk) 21:18, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

email

someone hacked into my email account, and I cannot access, had to create a new e-mail address. How can I get back into my old e-mail account? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.172.101.214 (talk) 22:07, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

This is for Wikipedia questions. CTJF83 22:11, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

I would try contacting your e-mail provider. — Bility (talk) 22:45, 28 April 2011 (UTC)