Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 June 12

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June 12

How do you create a countdown timer?

I tried creating a countdown timer in Section 5, Table 4, Row 66, Column 4 (2011 San Francisco Giants season, Game log, June (6-3), 66/Score), at this site, but the cell reads “this event is already finished.” Please help...thanks... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.146.31.102 (talk) 22:48, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

See the documentation at Template:Countdown. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:59, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

add this information {{countdown |year = 9999 |month = 1 |day = 1 |hour = 0 |minute = 0 |second = 0 |event = unknown starts }}

Add in the correct numbers for the fields for example hear is a coundown clock for Christmas {{countdown |year = 2011 |month = 12 |day = 25 |hour = 0 |minute = 0 |second = 0 |event = Christmas Starts }} Christmas Starts has started. (refresh)

Umm... it still says the event has already finished.....please help....thanks..........

Also, did i mention this is being inserted into a TABLE? does it not work in a cell?

I haven't looked at all your edits but your problem may be time zones. Template:Countdown says: "the time on this countdown clock is GMT (UTC+0)". See Greenwich Mean Time. I guess you are trying to use some American time zone instead. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:57, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

Got it. Thanks, A comment by a person who has been editing Wikipedia since October 28, 2010. (talk) 03:12, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Unanswered question in the WP:WQA

I earlier got advice on this forum here about what to do with a dispute, and got advice to use WP:WQA. After posting the problem there I haven't got an answer since June 7. Some other user, also involved in the dispute, suggested I moved it to the admin notices or incidents section here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents . What should I do? Davidelah (talk) 00:13, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

COI editing guide

We've been getting some use out of this on the IRC help channel. Feel free to pass it around, if you find it useful. WP:Plain and simple conflict of interest guide (WP:PSCOI). Cheers, Ocaasi ^{t | c} 00:52, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

sound template help

I am new to displaying sounds. Trying to use a template to show a sound file in Myrrha. I found one in the John Phillip Sousa article and cut and pasted it and edited the values. however, it is showing both the file name (ugly) and a wikilinkied title of the song (pretty). In the Sousa article, use of the template only showed the wikilinked title. How can I make this work how I want it? TCO (talk) 01:04, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

See Template talk:Listen#MIDI issue. Template:Listen#Style parameters says:

• play#: some media files cannot be displayed inline; if this is the case set |play=no to prevent the broken inline link from displaying.

PrimeHunter (talk) 01:30, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

For an .ogg file (as on the Sousa page) a play button is displayed. Since there is no player for .mid files, it displays the file link. —teb728 t c 01:58, 12 June 2011 (UTC) In other words .ogg files can be played by clicking on the button, but .mid files can be played only by visiting the file page and playing the file from there. —teb728 t c 02:16, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

computer will not start up

I have tried to restart my computer and it will not. It says I have to contact the manufacterer for help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.204.229.152 (talk) 03:45, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, but this help desk is only for Wikipedia. We can't help you there, sorry - please look somewhere else.Jasper Deng (talk) 03:47, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

It sounds like you need to take it into a repair shop, but you might try asking at the computing section of the reference desk.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:13, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Umm...this is Wikipedia, not the CPU place. You need to Google or Bing a computer place, and...um...why would you come here first for that type of info??? And...have you ever though about... “...contact[ing] the manufacterer for help”??? And read what it says on the top of this page. WIKIPEDIA ONLY. I don't mean to be critical, but WHY would you come to WIKIPEDIA for your computer? Unless it was caused BY WIKIPEDIA, I really don't see why you would do such a thing...anyway, you should bring it to maybe a best buy for inspection. and also how old is the computer? maybe it just died...— Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.146.31.102 (talk) 22:53, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Quoting a Source

I'm writing an article on a new, canon Sherlock Holmes novel and I would like to quote part of a post on the author's website. To attribute, do I simply add a source and quotation marks? Or are other further procedures entailed? Tatoranaki (talk) 04:03, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Here's the Wikipedia page in question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_Silk — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tatoranaki (talk • contribs) 04:15, 12 June 2011 (UTC)Tatoranaki (talk) 04:16, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

First, if it is a direct quote you must use quotation marks. You can reference a source one of two ways. First you can type in <ref>[www.example.com example title]</ref> Otherwise you can click the cite tab above your editing window from the templates list choose "Cite Web". Ryan Vesey (talk) 05:10, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Great, thanks! Tatoranaki (talk) 05:12, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Signatures

So I'm new and haven't quite gotten into the habit of consistently signing my edits yet, so I get the auto-signature from the bot pretty often. Up until now, when this happened, I would normally go back to the edit in question and add a signature, since it really annoys me that I forget to sign posts. However, just now, when I did this on a WP:AfD edit, I realized that when I did this, I was also changing the timestamp of my edits, which seems like it could be seen as gaming the system or something equally undesirable. Am I correct in assuming that I should refrain from doing this from now on? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bstbll (talk • contribs) 07:29, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

• Damnit. Bstbll (talk) 07:34, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

It's fairly obvious what someone is doing when they replace the bot's signature with their own; no reasonable person would assume nefarious intent, so I just wouldn't worry about it. However, when you do this from now on, if the bot has left a time stamp, just erase all the other text in the unsigned message, then place three tildes (which places just your username) before the existing time stamp. If a time stamp was not left (which it often isn't when users add the {{unsigned}} template) you can go to the page history, copy the time code when you made the edit, and then place three tildes before it.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 07:46, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Alright, wonderful, thank you very much. Bstbll (talk) 08:02, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

You can change the name portion of the tag with three tildes, leaving the time portion alone. The Mark of the Beast (talk) 19:51, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

adding pictures

Ronnie Reed

I would like to add a photo to the article about Ronnie Reed. There is a photo of Eddie Chapman (spy) in his Wiki article, but not of his Case Officer, Ronnie Reed, in t he Reed article. There is an icon called Picture Gallery, but nothing happens when I click on it. Nicholas J Reed (talk) 09:47, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

See Help:Files for how to upload and use files. It would be particularly good if you have a photo you took yourself or one that has been released under a free license. —teb728 t c 11:30, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Purpose of a parameter in welcome template

I want to use Template:Welcomespam. However, I do not fully understand the documentation. What is the purpose of the 'Username' parameter? Since I intend to sign my message, this seems quite unnecessary. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 11:20, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

If you include this parameter, the words "my talk page" near the end of the text will turn into an extra wikilink to your talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:34, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Actually, using {{subst:Welcomespam|Börse Stuttgart|Toshio Yamaguchi}} has produced what I intended to have. Maybe the documentation should be updated to show, what the markup actually produces when used. It would be better to know what this looks like after being placed on someones talk page. I think I am going to do this. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 11:45, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

 Done I updated the template documentation to include a usage example. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:03, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Photo policy

I need help about Wikipedia policy regarding using a photo/illustration from this site:

http://www.archive.org/details/bulletinstateno00dulgoog

Some of the pictures can be viewed here:

http://books.google.com/books/about/Bulletin_of_the_State_Normal_School_Dulu.html?id=ihMTAAAAIAAJ

Would it be possible to place any of these pictures in the Wikipedia Commons images section?

Thanks Gandydancer (talk) 12:35, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

The site you linked to says "Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT", so I believe you can upload any images in it to Commons. --ColinFine (talk) 14:05, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Wrong complaint

i didnt edit any of the pages in wikipedia and i had recieved a wrong complaint about myself — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.255.1.25 (talk) 13:59, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Actually, there have been 37 edits from your IP, not many recently. Are you using a shared computer? Ryan Vesey (talk) 14:08, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

(after edit conflict:) The warning on your talk page dates from January: if you did not make the edit, it was another user using the IP address which you are now using, and you can ignore it. (As it says at the bottom of your talk page: "This is the discussion page for an IP user, identified by the user's numerical IP address. Some IP addresses change periodically, and may be shared by several users. If you are an IP user, you may create an account or log in to avoid future confusion with other IP users. Registering also hides your IP address.") --ColinFine (talk) 14:09, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict × 2) See also Wikipedia:Why create an account? to read about the benefits of creating an account. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 14:15, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

It happens all the time due to ip adresses just ignore it unless you get blocked then you should contact an administrator...thanks.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.146.31.102 (talk) 23:01, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

French Canadian

The article on French Canada needs a map. It stumbles with words to describe this area of Canada. I'm new at this, and don't know how to go forward. Do I insert a map of my choosing under the edit tab, or what? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pb8bije6a7b6a3w (talk • contribs) 15:12, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

If you have an image you would like to add to the article , you would have to upload it first. However, you are not yet autonfirmed (see WP:AUTOCONFIRM). That means, your account must be more than four days old and have made more than 10 edits. Once you are autoconfirmed, you can upload images to Wikipedia. If you have a free image, you should consider uploading it to Wikimedia Commons, which is a repository for free media and can be found here. If you do not have an image, you can request one either at Wikipedia:Requested pictures or at Commons:Picture requests. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 18:00, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Nickelodeon Shows are a Problem

It seems that for all of the Nickelodeon shows, the pages, in my honest opinion, look like trash because there are IPs that are editing them and not using proper grammar or language. It gets really annoying, especially on the iCarly episode pages. I think we need to either semi-protect all of these pages permanently or have people go in there any fix all of the problems. This doesn't happen with any of the Disney Channel shows. --DisneyFriends (talk) 15:41, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Trust me, it's not just anonymous IP's. ----DanTD (talk) 16:19, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Wildbot Updates

I just found out that the original creator of User:WildBot may have left Wikipedia. Could somebody who is in charge of it now update the dab tag at Talk:History of the Long Island Rail Road? The only dab link at this point seems to be scrub oak. ----DanTD (talk) 16:06, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

I removed the two other ones because they have been fixed as you noticed. You can see what I did in the history and you can fix this yourself next time. GB fan (talk) 16:11, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. Wow, I didn't realize it could be that easy. If I had any knowledge and interest in botany, I'd fix the scrub oak one too, but I'm afraid I have to save that for some other editor. ----DanTD (talk) 16:18, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Large space after col template

hello,

please remove the large space between the header "Personnel" and the bulleted list in At Carnegie Hall (Miles Davis album). Thank you.--♫Greatorangepumpkin♫_{Share–a–Power}^{[citation needed]} 16:15, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

I think the problem is the column in the personnel section. If you make the section one column the white space disappears. GB fan (talk) 16:49, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

 Done. Thank you for reporting this. Thanks again :)

GB why didn't you fix it instead of telling other people to...? Also, please look at this and see if you could answer this.

Lamont Dozier Wikipedia Updates

Lamont Dozier (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Hello

You have prevented our edits on Lamont Dozier's Wikipedia pages several times.

We are trying to UPDATE the page to accuracy and to resemble is Biography on his web page.

Could you please help us out with the udates. Whoever wrote it added some incorrect information, it is written like a 5th grader, and he deserves something better.

Also, we HATE the photo being used and would like to substitute another one, it is a BAD representation of Lamont Dozier.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely,

Barbara Dozier & Lamont Dozier — Preceding unsigned comment added by Napoleongrl (talk • contribs) 16:21, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Please go the the article's talk page and describe what is inaccurate. The best thing you could do is provide there reliable sources that back up your claims of inaccuracies. The edits you wished to add will not be accepted as they are blatantly promotional, are unsourced, and bowdlerize the article's content. The article will not ever resemble the content from the website as the article is not a commercial but an encyclopedia article. We really do want to to know what is inaccurate. Currently, a large portion of the existing content does not have sources, which is a problem, but we are not going to replace it with an ad. Please note that as an editor with a conflict of interest, you should not be editing the article directly but telling us what the problems are. Also, be advised that only one person can have an account. Your post here makes it clear that you are speaking for two people. Please also read Wikipedia:Autobiography. Regarding the photograph, please visit Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials#Donating your photographs. Thank you.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 17:37, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

As people in the music industry, you should be aware of the dangers of copying someone else's work without attribution. Please do not copy and paste content from another website. Astronaut (talk) 19:50, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Stuff not showing up for users who are not logged in.

I'm still experiencing this issue.

Someone else asked about it - but it's still affecting me on a regular basis (on various different machines). So presumably affects others. I spotted it yesterday when I went to an article I've been editing (before logging in), and it looked for a moment as if it had been reverted to several days before. Then when I logged in the page refreshed and contained the expected updates. I then logged out - without closing my browser and looked at the page - it all seemed fine. Today (having cleared my cache) I did the same (visited the page before logging in) and once again the article appeared to be the old version (older than the version I had last seen after I logged out) - logging in again updated the content.

It's clearly a tech issue - but it may mean that non registered users (perhaps only mozilla + IE8? with win xp?) get versions of the website that don't contain the most recent edits. I'm not sure who to tell - is there a techie dept for wikipedia that might like to look at this sort of thing ? EdwardLane (talk) 18:22, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

I've never seen this problem myself so I can only tell you what I would try if I did see it.

• When you are looking at the article and not seeing your changes, what does the article history show? Does the record of your missing edits appear in the history?
• Did you try everything applicable from WP:PURGE, WP:NULL, and WP:REFRESH?
• WP:VPT is sometimes a better place for discussing technical problems with Wikipedia. Also see bugzilla: where you can report the bug if no one else has reported it already. See WP:BUGS.
• Check WP:BROWSER to see if it sheds any light. See Wikipedia talk:Browser notes for some discussion about browser problems.

--Teratornis (talk) 19:11, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks I'll check those links out - I saw it again just 30 mins ago with an image not showing until I logged in. I'll leave a note here reporting any further updates. EdwardLane (talk) 22:31, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

You did not mention the names of the article(s) you refer to in this question. The behavior you report sounds something like what might happen with Wikipedia:Flagged revisions, although I'm not suggesting that is what you are seeing. The idea with flagged revisions is that visitors do not see the latest revision(s) of an article until they are "sighted" i.e. approved by someone with the reviewer privilege. --Teratornis (talk) 19:04, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

How do you add a table?

How do you add a table to a Wikipedia article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.62.17.50 (talk) 18:28, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

See Help:Table, or click edit to see how it is done on a page with a table similar to the one you want to add. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:47, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

If you need more specific help, describe the table you want to add, and tell us the name of the article. Note that Wikipedia has thousands of templates, some of which insert pre-formatted tables. --Teratornis (talk) 18:56, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Umm...use this (click edit to view table text):

[insert table title here] [insert column 1 title here] [insert column 2 title here] [insert column 3 title here] [insert column 4 title here] [insert column 5 title here] [insert column 6 title here] [insert column 7 title here] [insert column 8 title here] [and so forth] [row 1 column 1 text] [row 1 column 2 text] [row 1 column 3 text]] [row 1 column 4 text] [row 1 column 5 text] [row 1 column 6 text] [row 1 column 7 text] [row 1 column 8 text] [and so forth] [row 1 column 1 text] [row 1 column 2 text] [row 1 column 3 text]] [row 1 column 4 text] [row 1 column 5 text] [row 1 column 6 text] [row 1 column 7 text] [row 1 column 8 text] [and so forth] [and so forth]

OR use this:

[insert table title here]
[insert column 1 title here]	[insert column 2 title here]	[insert column 3 title here]	[insert column 4 title here]	[insert column 5 title here]	[and so forth]
[row 1 column 1 text]	[row 1 column 2 text]	[row 1 column 3 text]	[row 1 column 4 text]	[row 1 column 5 text]	[and so forth]
[and so forth]

YOU'RE WELCOME.

Recently created articles from redirects

Is there a page that lists pages which were formerly redirects, but which were recently made into articles? Thanks in advance. Neutrality^talk 20:51, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Not as far as I know. You might want to ask at the Village Pump where someone might know of something that would do that -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\^{[alternative account of Phantomsteve]} 12:45, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

William Willard "Bill" Sanders (nationally known political cartoonist

I am a writer and have a bio draft (semilar to others in Wikileaks. I would like to copy and past onto my users (draft) page section for futher editing and rewrite---but find no space to do that. Would appareciate help. Joyce Mary Wallace (talk) 21:25, 12 June 2011 (UTC) Joyce Mary Wallace

Click me CTJF83 21:32, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

I have moved the draft to User:Joyce Mary Wallace/William Willard Sanders in accordance with the usual practice for draft articles. – ukexpat (talk) 16:29, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

By the way ... we're not Wikileaks! --ColinFine (talk) 18:42, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Carbon fixation

Carbon fixation (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

There seems to be a problem with the definition of "Carbon Fixation" and I want to edit it but for some reason I am not allowed. The current definition: "Carbon fixation refers to any process through which gaseous carbon dioxide is converted into a solid compound." I would like to change it to: "Carbon fixation refers to any biological process through which atmospheric carbon dioxide is converted into a more complex organic compounds such as glucose." I can't seem to get to the header portion of the page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kwatts59 (talk • contribs) 22:10, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

The article, Carbon fixation is not protected at all. You should be able to edit it. When you go to the article there should be an edit tab at the top near the right side. If you click on it and it doesn't open up with an edit box, come back here and tell us what it says. Please also remember to add reliable sources to the information you add or change. GB fan (talk) 23:10, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

On Wikipedia, we call the header portion of a page the lead section (or lede section). It's often the most-viewed part of an article, and thus the part that gets a lot of edits, so naturally we make it difficult to edit. See WP:LEAD#Editing the lead section. This link opens the lead section of Carbon fixation in an edit window. --Teratornis (talk) 18:48, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Picture on Thomas Bridges (Anglican missionary)

Can someone please help me format the picture on this page? I would like it to appear on top of the protestant missionaries template. If I place it directly above the two appear side by side, so I added spaces between the image and the template; however, when I did that the text got pushed down. I believe there is a workaround to this. Currently, I have it placed below the template on the screen, I think this is less visually appealing. Ryan Vesey (talk) 23:00, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

I've tried two times myself as well, but I can't get it either because the templates and Protestant box are in the way. SwisterTwister (talk) 23:29, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

How about this layout (copied from Allen Gardiner)? —teb728 t c 02:53, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I tried for an hour. I never thought to move the Protestant missions template. Ryan Vesey (talk) 02:59, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

I didn't think of it either: I just figured that one of the other missionary articles would have solved the problem, and sure enough, one did. —teb728 t c 06:50, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Dario Suro Images

I have a few images that I would like to add to the article on my father, artist, critic and diplomat. Please advise me on what I should do. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.203.86.227 (talk) 23:48, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

See Help:Files for how to upload and use images. —teb728 t c 02:56, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Wagner SOlar INc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagner_Solar_Inc

http://blog.wagner-solar.com/international/german-solar-pioneer-wagner-solar-inc-targets-north-america-with-award-winning-products/

Hi,

There are some editors who keep redirecting this page to Wagner and Co. This is incorrect since Wagner solar Inc is a subsidiary, and therefore is a different company all together. I would like to stop this from happening because it is erroneous. The other link above is to a Wagner and Co blog announcing that they have launched Wagner Solar Inc as a subsidiary, which proves my claim.

Thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rossjsabasteanski (talk • contribs) 23:51, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Hi, I am "some editors", and when I evaluated a speedy deletion request for Wagner Solar, I determined that while that would be actionable, a more useful thing for the encyclopedia was to redirect and refocus the article on Wagner & Co., which did have evidence of notability. It's all in the article history. LadyofShalott 23:58, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

To explain that differently, Wikipedia does not have articles for all companies--only those that have significant coverage in independent reliable sources. The Wagner Solar article did not indicate why the subject was important or significant. —teb728 t c 02:17, 13 June 2011 (UTC)