Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 February 28

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

February 28

Problems with Commons

I'm performing problems with Commons: few hours ago it ran strangely slowly and now it is impossible to me to join it. When i try to join Commons the page is automatically "blanked" and substituted by a message that says Impossible to come back to Wikimedia. The site is having problems or similar things. Is it a general problem? --Dэя-Бøяg 01:50, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Commons image details not transcluded to Wikipedia?. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 12:27, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for the link :) . Anyway, now Commons is running normally. Regards. --Dэя-Бøяg 15:00, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

My External Links Always Deleted

I added some links for my website to various wiki pages under the external links section in each case. My site is based on reorganizing biblical verses to find hidden meanings. It is topical and accurate and relevant. Why are my links always deleted? For example, my site is about the identity of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Link would be http://thesufferingservant.com/index.php?p=1_40 I added this link to wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_53 It was deleted every time. Can you please help me understand this? Thanks for your help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.54.211.31 (talk) 01:59, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

In general, we all avoid linking to our own web sites. It doesn't look like yours would meet Wikipedia's guidelines as a reliable source, since it isn't published, has no independent fact-checking. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 02:08, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

(conflict) According to the user who removed the link, your website failed two criteria for addition of external links:

• Your website is a blog, espousing your personal opinion about a particular subject, rather than facts. (Links to avoid #11)
• To avoid misleading readers, Wikipedia cannot give undue weight to fringe theories that are only believed by a small amount of people. Xenon54 (talk) 02:14, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

71.211.76.37

Hi,

I just found the article for the movie Ramona and Beezus was vandalized, and this IP 71.211.76.37 was the last one to make the edit. Thought you want to know.--NeoBatfreak (talk) 04:57, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

You have probably been here long enough to realise you don't have to mention your fixing of vandalism. Astronaut (talk) 07:35, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

For anyone else reading this: Wikipedia:Vandalism#How to respond to vandalism -- John of Reading (talk) 08:11, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Category Questions

Is there an application or something for Wikipedia to suggest categories based on the articles content? Like it makes it easier without --Jack Cox (talk) 05:29, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:HotCat has a suggestions list that will propose existing categories, but I've never used it. When I look for categories for an article, I open up each linked item in the article and look at the categories for the linked page and consider adding them to the article. I then look at the talk page of those same linked items to find WikiProjects to add to the talk page. I recently did this for the article and talk page of the Transmission electron microscopy DNA sequencing article. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 07:45, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I've been using hot cat myself actually, what I was actually talking about was if there was a way to have something scan the article automatically without using human input and do it automatically?--Jack Cox (talk) 00:47, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

I listed a request here. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 14:26, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

Question regarding the notability of an article

Hi, I'm new here and I have a question.

When we assess if an article should be kept, is notability the deciding factor. As in, hypothetically speaking, say if my dog died and got lots of media coverage even though it is obviously not notable, should it be made into an article?

Thank you. Zlqq2144 (talk) 07:35, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure I'm clear on what you're getting at but you seem to be referring to WP:ONEEVENT. Dismas|^(talk) 07:51, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

There's notability and then there's Wikipedia notability. General notability guideline describes Wikipedia notability and that objecively is more grounded in quantity of coverage. Your statement that your dog dying obviously is not notable even though there is lots of media coverage seems to relate more towards subjective things like fame, importance, or popularity. At the top of Wikipedia:Notability, it notes "determining notability does not necessarily depend on things like fame, importance, or popularity—although those may enhance the acceptability of a subject that meets the guidelines explained below." A third approach taken by some is based on the subject of the topic meeting certain thresholds (win so many awards, reach a level of play for their sport (professional vs. non-professional), etc.). There is a difference between deciding whether to create an article and deciding whether an article should be kept during a deletion discussion at WP:AfD. "Notability" usually is what deletion discussions at AfD focus on (occasionally its maintainability of an article or scope of the topic or WP:BLP1E or WP:ONEEVENT or ...). As for deciding to create an article, there are enough people watching Special:NewPages that if you created a page on your dog (assuming there were no media coveage), someone may address it within a few minutes of it being created. Among other avenues, Wikipedia offers Wikipedia:Sandbox and allows users to make subpages (e.g., User:Zlqq2144/My dog with lots of media coverage) to create draft articles and seek opinions from others on how to best proceed. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 08:22, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your comments, it was very helpful. Zlqq2144 (talk) 08:52, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

It appears your question may have been in reference to the Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jasmine Revolution in China. Sometimes, the name of an article by itself riles people into !voting delete (or keep) at AfD, which can move consensus towards one direction irrespective of notability. Generally, you should be able to say everything that you need to say at AfD in one or two posts. 30+ posts is a lot and posts by single-purpose accounts can be disregarded (see Deletion guidelines for administrators - rough consensus). From AfD, the article could be listed at Wikipedia:Deletion review. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 10:37, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I have realised that I may have been saying a bit too much. I will stay quiet unless a question is directed at me from now on. Zlqq2144 (talk) 10:46, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

And also, most of them are dicussion and replies to other people, with about 5-10 comments being discussing with Arilang if I am a sockpuppet. Anyhow, I have removed some of the repeated or outdated or 'i ve changed my idea' comments now. It should be better. Zlqq2144 (talk) 11:01, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

And now it's down to 3 new comments and 28 comments/replies on others' comments, and another few was straying off topic with Arilang. Is this better now? Zlqq2144 (talk) 11:13, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

There are other things beside lack of notability that would get a page deleted, including being original research, non-encyclopedic, blatently promotional, or a copyright violation. These examples, however, would probably result in a speedy deletion rather than an AfD. —teb728 t c 08:51, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Files in Category:Buildings and structures at night

Hi. A few weeks ago I put the following file, plus several others, in the commons Category:Buildings and structures at night. For the last week or two, all these files have not shown up in that category. Is this a glitch or what?

Sardaka (talk) 08:36, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

It is still catagorized on Commons but not on Wikipedia. See Commons:File:(1) Sacred Heart Monastery 5.JPG. —teb728 t c 08:59, 28 February 2011 (UTC) Are you sure the Commons category used to show up on Wikipedia? I think they did update the MediaWiki software a week of two ago. —teb728 t c 10:21, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I see Commons:File:(1) Sacred Heart Monastery 5.JPG in Commons:Category:Buildings and structures at night. -- 98.164.219.153 (talk) 10:43, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Interesting. I can see 103 files in that category, but that isn't one of them. - David Biddulph (talk) 11:01, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I see 114 files in the category, and it is the 4th. —teb728 t c 11:11, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Commons image details not transcluded to Wikipedia?. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 12:23, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Ford trimotor

I wanted to add something to the page about "notable media appearances of the Ford trimotor", and I'm not sufficiently familiar with your setup to do it the way you intended.

A Ford trimotor appears in Chapter 1 of Flash Gordon (Universal, 1936).

Sincerely, David A. Laibow davidlaibow1215[at]yahoo.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidlaibow1215 (talk • contribs) 08:41, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

There is a section Ford trimotor#Notable appearances in media. —teb728 t c 09:03, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

You can add your text and then use a reference tag to say where the source of the information came from - like this

• The plane was used in the [[Flash Gordon]] series.<ref name=AmerCineMag>{{cite journal|journal=American cinematographer|year=1983|volume=64|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?ei=rXNtTbPwG4OxhQexrpGPDA&ct=result&id=4kM9AAAAMAAJ&dq=Ford+trimotor+%22flash+gordon%22+-%22flesh+gordon%22&q=Ford+trimotor#search_anchor|page=57|publisher=ASC Holding Corp|quote=Ford trimotor airliner carrying lash}}</ref>

This will give the result

• The plane was used in the Flash Gordon series.^[1]

It also includes the [[ ]] around Flash Gordon to link to the wikipedia page on him.

Chaosdruid (talk) 22:40, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

I can't read Ol Chiki and Avesta words

In spite of I have got several types of Ol Chiki and Avesta fonts installed in my computer, I cannot read the (anyway rare) words of santhali and avesta languages in wikipedia's articles. What kind of font files are being used in Wikipedia and Wiktionary? Thank you in advance for any indications. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.131.138.111 (talk) 10:30, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

You need to provide examples of where you see these languages. What do you see instead of the proper characters? ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 14:17, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Dear Gadget850: Hear is an example from santhali: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%B1%A8%E1%B1%B3%E1%B1%A0%E1%B1%B3%E1%B1%9B#Santali — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eguzki (talk • contribs) 18:17, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I see it at Ol Chiki script as well. You can add the Code2000 font to support this. -— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 18:28, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

The main download site seems to be down; an alternative is at http://www.alanwood.net/downloads/index.html

It is interesting. I had already added this font (and Code2001 as well,) 'seems to be in vain because there aren't any Ol Chiki symbols in the assortment. I try to add this font again. Thank you very much for the help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eguzki (talk • contribs) 15:51, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Seems to be working for me. What do you see instead of the proper glyph (character)? ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 16:05, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

I deleted my font and added again from your link. It works!! I really don't know what may have been the trouble. Thank you very much, I try to find Unicode compliant Avesta font now. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eguzki (talk • contribs) 15:04, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

Grand Western Canal

The first thing I need help on is where I should be seeking help.

I am trying to make sense of the the route of the Taunton end of the Grand Western Canal. Old Ordnance Survey maps suggest it came into the town across Roughmoor and met the Tone in French Weir. The Wikipedia article on the Grand Western Canal suggests that the Grand Western actually linked direct to the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. The article on the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal suggests that the link with the Grand Western was made by going up the Tone and building a short stretch of canal at French Weir. Both plans however show the link being made with the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal. In addition the Map reference given for the Taunton Boat Lift appears odd. It resolves to 81 St Augustine Street which is on the right bank of the Tone whereas all the other canal works are on the left bank of the Tone.

Is this a question for here, the reference desk or the talk page of the article?

88.108.222.192 (talk) 12:04, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

It's a very good question and i'm having a look at the sources to the articles now - but you are likely to get a better answer either through the reference desk or there appears to be a specific project covering UK Waterways - you might get a better answer there. CaptRik (talk) 12:49, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Replacing a logo of a non-for-profit organisation on Wikipedia

Resolved

 – New logos uploaded. – ukexpat (talk) 20:50, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Hi,

The Mental Health Foundation and the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities have both recently changed their logos. I know how to upload images to use on wikipedia but I'm wondering if there are different rules regarding a logo change? ie whether I'm meant to replace an existing image or not - and whether I need to provide different evidence regarding the new logos as they replace existing images used on the respective pages for each organisation.

Hope someone can help!

Thanks

Paul Bridgewater — Preceding unsigned comment added by Paulbridgewater-mhf (talk • contribs) 12:06, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

No, as long as you take the image from the official website, or any other reliable site, there should be no problem with the new logo. However, do not forget to update the Non free media use rationale for the image in case the image is copyrighted. Regards, TheMike •^{Leave me a message!} 12:30, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Updating images:

• If the image is hosted on Wikipedia, then there will be a File History section with a link for "Upload a new version of this file". You must be autoconfirmed to upload any image on Wikipedia.
• If the image is hosted on Commons, then information will be shown directly below the image; clicking on "description page there" will take you to the Commons page where the File History section will have a link for "Upload a new version of this file".
• The new file must be the same image type as the old.

---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 14:40, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Give me a few minutes and I will update them both. – ukexpat (talk) 16:09, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Both  Done - you may need to bypass your cache and/or purge to see the replacement images. – ukexpat (talk) 16:25, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Why did you delete my page?

I work for the Ann Arbor Public Schools at Roberto Clemente Student Development Center. I recently created a page for our school and it was deleted. Can you please tell me why, it was not an advertisement.

Teresa Madyun — Preceding unsigned comment added by Madyunt (talk • contribs) 13:18, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

The message on your talk page explains why it was deleted. As you have admitted to a connection with the school in question, you ought also to read WP:COI, as well as the other useful links provided at your talk page. - David Biddulph (talk) 13:28, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

You say it was "not an advertisement" but it could not have read more blatantly like a commercial puffery piece "...commit ourselves to nurturing the human spirit by fostering an exceptional educational environment focused on..." In fact, it read like it was taken right off of the home webpage of the school where the school speaks of itself in promotional ways, and indeed, it was. As such, it was also a blatant copyright violation. Note that the fact that you say you work for the school would not be enough to avoid deletion on copyright grounds even if you said you had the school's permission, because we can't simply take an anonymous person's assertion that it is so. If this content was appropriate to use, you would need to show us you have authority over the copyright in a verifiable way, and then it would have to be either released into the public domain, or under a free license; see Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. By the way, the article also did not cite to any reliable sources to verify its information content.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:47, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Copyright notice on images of Scottish banknotes

Why does the copyright section of the images of Scottish banknotes (here for example) incorrectly list them as being under Crown copyright? They are actually the copyright of the issuing bank, not the Crown. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.13.136.149 (talk) 19:22, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

It doesn't, it states 'This work is protected by British Crown copyright, or in the case of banknotes is copyrighted by the issuing bank'. Nanonic (talk) 19:23, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

HELP!

HELP! I've had problems before posting on pages where the text mysteriously deletes (see previous posts from earlier this month), but I just posted to a project page and I can't revert the accidental delete :( . Sorry everyone! Would someone please be able to tell me how to fix this problem? I can't edit anything at the moment, and it's been an ongoing problem for months. Catchthedream (talk) 20:04, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I am not sure why your browser is doing that, but I did fix Wikipedia:WikiProject Women's History/Participants. ~~ GB fan ~~ 20:20, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank you :) Catchthedream (talk) 20:26, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Lakeland Central School District in New York

There is an incorrect link on the page for the Lakeland Central School District in New York. Under elementary schools, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School links to a school in Virginia not to the one it should in NY. I can not find a way to correct it. The correct link is http://www.lakelandschools.org/Jefferson.cfm?subpage=9 — Preceding unsigned comment added by James Van Develde (talk • contribs) 20:16, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

I removed the links to all the elementary schools in the article. They probably won't have standalone articles. ~~ GB fan ~~ 20:27, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia API no longer returning image thumbnail information

Last week, I was able to use the following url to obtain information about a scaled version of Barack Obama's portrait:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&format=xml&titles=File:Official%20portrait%20of%20Barack%20Obama.jpg&iiprop=url%7Cmime&prop=imageinfo&iiurlwidth=140&iiurlheight=140

I expect the <ii> element to contain a thumburl attribute which provides a link to the scaled version of File:Official portrait of Barack Obama.jpg

Today, all such queries fail to include any thumbnail information. I am not getting any sort of error message, and the API query has not changed. I have been unable to find any information regarding any type of change that could explain this change in behavior.

Can anyone explain this to me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.231.34.27 (talk) 20:47, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

WP:VPT is probably the best place to ask this. – ukexpat (talk) 20:49, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Copyright violation

Robert E. Lee High School (Jacksonville, Florida), the Avondale or Riverside? section is a copy-vio of http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/17768#Editor, as stated in http://www.publicschoolreview.com/useragree.php , numbers 12, 20, and possible 21. Albacore (talk) 21:29, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

 Removed Feel free to remove blatant copyright violations like this on your own. CTJF83 21:35, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Billy Hathorn

Hi there, I'm new to the editing pages of Wikipedia and I have a question for Billy Hathorn.

I noticed he posted some very interesting information about my great-uncle, the actor James Burke.

I'm hoping to ask him a few more questions as I'm currently working on our family tree.

How do I contact editors directly?

Thanks,

Tyler

<e-mail redacted> — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tylerclarkburke (talk • contribs) 22:07, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Some editors (like myself) choose to have "Send an e-mail" links on the sides of their talkpages; some do not. You will need to look at the user talkpage for the editor you are trying to contact, and either send them an e-mail or leave them a talkpage message. In either case: never post your e-mail to Wikipedia; it's a sure path to boosting your exposure to spam. --Orange Mike | Talk 22:12, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Oops; "E-mail this user"! --Orange Mike | Talk 22:13, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

More information at Help:Using talk pages and Wikipedia:E-mailing users. --Teratornis (talk) 23:03, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Update a company logo

I would like to replace the logo on our company page with the correct logo - I cannot figure out how to do it...thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rwojciak (talk • contribs) 22:55, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Link to the image? CTJF83 22:57, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Am I right that what you want is to replace the logo in the infobox of Carlson Companies? If the replacement logo is an SVG, the easiest way would be to upload a new version of File:Carlson Logo.svg, changing the source parameter of the non-free use rationale. If the replacement is your deleted File:CARLSON logo.jpg, have someone undelete it, give a {{non-free logo}} tag and {{logo fur}} rationale (following the example of File:Carlson Logo.svg), and point the infobox to it. —teb728 t c 00:15, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Easier just to convert the new logo to svg format and upload it in place of the old version. – ukexpat (talk) 14:46, 1 March 2011 (UTC)