Help desk
< June 3	<< May \| June \| Jul >>	June 5 >

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.

June 4

Ethnic group naming

Hello, a page on my watchlist, Eyak people, just got renamed from, "Eyak". The Eyak are an ethnic group in Alaska. My question is whether this rename was warranted and if there are any naming conventions on ethnic groups. --Vedrfolnir (talk) 01:38, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The move makes sense to me: “Eyak” by itself might mean Eyak people or Eyak language. Similarly English might mean English people, English language, English studies, and probably other things. —teb728 t c 06:35, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Where a common name exists in English for both a people and their language, a title based on that term, with explicit disambiguation, is preferred for both articles, as with Chinese people and Chinese language. Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people)#Articles on peoples (ethnicities and tribes) Chzz ► 10:45, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Image upload not working - MIME error?

Resolved

What does it mean when i'm trying to upload an image file and it doesn't go through, instead saying in red, "File extension does not match MIME type."? What do I have to do to fix this? I was trying to upload the cover image for Lone Star Dinosaurs. Silver seren^C 02:45, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

MIME error can be odd and confusing, so forgive me for not actually working out what the issue was; instead, I simply uploaded it myself - File:Cover of book Lone Star Dinosaurs by Louis L. Jacobs.jpg - and added it to the page [1]. Chzz ► 05:44, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That's what I was hoping someone would do, which is why I included a link to the article. Yay, thanks for the help. ^_^ Silver seren^C 05:50, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

confirming biography data re: another person

I have come across some information about a person I know where there is a "citation needed" posted by his name. I have personal knowledge of the issue and can confirm the information cited in the article. How do I do that?Emerysf (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 02:58, 4 June 2011 (UTC).[reply]

References should be from verifiable sources and not original research. Can you find a book or periodical where this information is confirmed? That would be best. Dismas|^(talk) 04:28, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Syntax help. I screwed up

Resolved

– – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 05:39, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm doing the L/R: Licensed by Royalty article and I screwed up the syntax where I'm doing the notes subsection. Ominae (talk)

It was because the phrase "Japan Episodes" was still being used like so: {{Reflist|group="Japan Episodes"}} in both Notes sections. So I changed it to Note and Remark and it works fine. I also switched {{R}} parameters around in accordance with the examples shown on the {{R}} template documentation. I don't know if this helped also. – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 05:16, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the help. Ominae (talk) 05:37, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No problemo. – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 05:39, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment process question

Hi, I want assess article for improving wikiproject. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.70.150.18 (talk) 07:28, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please clarify what you are asking for. CTJF83 07:46, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Osama bin Laden

hey i nwas just wondering, how come there is a "Osama Bin Laden's compound in ...." and that even his death is given a article to itself, can't there just be one article for bin Laden? and i don't really see the point of listing the conspiracies of that attack... isn't that just rumours, or even fancruft. It seems that wikipedia is trying to get rid of the needless articles in some of the entertainment stuff.Archivist12 (talk) 08:03, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad and Death of Osama bin Laden are too long to be part of the article Osama bin Laden. When articles get long, they are split into separate articles. See Wikipedia:Article size. CTJF83 08:10, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Promotional Help

I have been in the processes of removing, what I think are promotional sections from a number of Law firm articles, some of (but not all) have been edited by members of the firm.

The sections in particular are :

Lists of offices, with colourful flags, that mimic sections of a corporate brochure and in my eyes do not have a place in an encyclopaedia
Lists of non-notable "awards" that the firm has "won", again which do not have a place in an encyclopaedia.

However someone (User:Rangoon11) disagrees with me on the following :

Is there a noticeboard or like I can ask for someone who is more knowledgeable in this field to give advice on what is promotional and what is content worthy of an encyclopaedia.

Thanks

Mtking (talk) 09:34, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think Wikipedia:Neutral point of view/Noticeboard would be the best place for it. Chzz ► 10:21, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Can i create my own personal Wiki project ?

On my User:Penbat page i have a manually edited highly truncated version of Wikipedia:WikiProject Psychology/Popular pages just listing those articles which specifically interest me. Is it possible to tag articles required to be included with a special non-visible category called "Penbat" ? That would allow a bot to generate my list automatically, see: http://toolserver.org/~alexz/pop/ It requires a specified project name.--Penbat (talk) 09:59, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think that's a bad idea; that's not the intended purpose of cats, and I think it'd be deleted; Do not create categories based on incidental or subjective features (Wikipedia:Categorization)

Most of us bot-operators would just keep a list of the pages on a userspace subpage, such as User:Chzz/Pict0611. Chzz ► 10:10, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes a simple file just listing the article names is an obvious alternative, although the way http://toolserver.org/~alexz/pop/ is set up it expects a recognised project name to operate on. --Penbat (talk) 10:20, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I do see what you mean, and I notice you've asked User talk:Mr.Z-man#Project Penbat - I think that's the best chance for an answer. Chzz ► 13:48, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

how to get the W icon on the browser

how can I get the wikipedia icon on my browser to be able to look up words? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alegioste (talk • contribs) 13:38, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Depends which browser you are using. If you're using Internet Explorer, try searching for "explorer toolbar wikipedia" - there's several free ones. On "FireFox" (version 4) I think it's one of the built-in options in the 'search' box; see picture.

But mostly...I think if you just search "<name of your browser> Wikipedia search toolbar" or something like that, you should find help. Otherwise...please tell us which browser and version you're using, and perhaps someone can give more specific help. Chzz ► 13:46, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

OPANA ER

WHAT WILL OPANA ER SHOW UP AS ON A DRUG TEST? I KNOW IT'S OXYMORPHONE BUT IT'S HIGHLY MISUNDERSTOOD, SO DOES IT SHOW UP AS MORPHINE OR JUST AS SOMETHING LIKE OXYCODONE? I THINK THE OXYMORPHONE WILL SHOW UP AS MORPHINE. THANKS SO MUCH... S — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.217.124.2 (talk) 14:55, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

WIKIPEDIA DOES NOT GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE. See Wikipedia:Medical disclaimer. Chzz ► 14:57, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Don't do drugs, mmmkay? Sven Manguard Wha? 19:49, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Legality of photo use

Hi,

I recently created my first article, Anna Fedorova, a biography of a classical pianist. I'd like to add a photo (such as one of the ones on her website), but I don't understand the legality here. Would it be okay to just use one of those photos from her site? I notice that she also has a 'Press' section containing photos

—Tommyjb Talk! (15:23, 4 June 2011)

I'm afraid it isn't quite that simple. We can only use photos that explicitly allow use (ie, clearly labelled as 'public domain', or 'creative commons' - and not the 'no commercial' stuff either). The website you mention doesn't seem to have such a statement. The 'press kit' has some great pics, but no copyright statement there, either. See Wikipedia:Finding images tutorial.

So - you'd have to write to them, seeking permission. There are standard emails you could send; Wikipedia:Example requests for permission; basically, you have to ask them to agree to send an explicit declaration giving permission - I usually ask 'em to fill in User:Chzz/help/myboilerplate.

It's worth asking, I think. Chzz ► 15:30, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the info! I'll write to them. —Tommyjb Talk! (15:33, 4 June 2011)

Infobox usage

Could I get a list of the most used Infoboxes. Regards, SunCreator ^(talk) 15:27, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Try looking for the word "infobox" in Wikipedia:Database reports/Templates transcluded on the most pages. That should catch most of them. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:33, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks!! Regards, SunCreator ^(talk) 21:28, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Moving only part of a page's history

Is is possible to move only part of a page's history? I began working in my sandbox about 6 months ago, and at the time, I didn't think I would have hundreds of edits to that page before I moved it into mainspace, so I thought a copy/paste move would be ok. Turns out, I was completely wrong; I have made 285 (I think) edits to the page since then, starting from here. Is it possible to just move those edits (and not the ones before then) to List of Michigan State Historic Sites? A user has already created that article, but a quick look at the talk page will show that the article can and should be deleted to make way for this move. I'm assuming this would take administrator action, but I didn't know where to ask. Thanks for the help!--Dudemanfellabra (talk) 17:42, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If it was only you editing in your sandbox, then you can C&P your text into mainspace. Mjroots (talk) 17:55, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Two other editors, User:Andrew Jameson, and (less so) User:Doncram have edited the page since then as well :\.--Dudemanfellabra (talk) 17:56, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) The procedure you are alluding to is called a History merge and may be performed by a skilled administrator (the actual process I've been told is somewhat complex, and the consequence of failure is a nasty mess). You can request a histmerge by adding {{Histmerge|name of your sandbox}} to the article page. However, it is my opinion (to be taken with caution, copyright is not my speciality) that if it was you that made all 285 edits, attribution should not be a problem if it is also you who copies and pastes those edits onto the new article. Nonetheless, if there is any possible future need to see which revision added what, I would advise the histmerge route. Intelligentsium 18:01, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't try to do this -- just copy it over from the sandbox, noting the current revisionId in the edit summary in case someone wants to track it back. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 18:30, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Dudemanfellabra is welcome to copy-paste his sandbox version to the current article, leaving the previous version of history of the mainspace article intact (which has numerous editors), and giving credit to Dudemanfellabra for the large edit of his sandbox version. It is pretty much understood, I think, that an editor contributing to a different editor's generic sandbox is not going to get credit when the material is copypasted over to the mainspace article. I am perfectly willing to lose credit for any edits I made to Dudemanfellabra's sandbox. I would object to the mainspace article being deleted, however. It is valid, though unpleasant, history of development of the article. --do ncr am 18:06, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Feh, i'll comment at Talk:List of Michigan State Historic Sites if there is a Requested Move or deletion discussion there, and will try to accomodate some compromise. Dudemanfellabra, it is a consequence of your choice to work in userspace and also to economize on sandboxes, that your edit history is not generally going to get into mainspace, and you will also lose credit of being starter when others beat you to it. Again, your just copy-pasting your work in, is fine. --do ncr am 18:22, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Note on edit pages when the article is too long

I noticed that it's gone. Can a user do something do bring it back (like customize coding)? –HTD (ITN: Where no updates but is stickied happens.) 19:33, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It was deprecated with bugzilla:21911, and Vitaliy Filippov (near the bottom) recommends that MediaWiki:Longpage-hint be used instead. Unfortunately we have not implemented Longpage-hint here on enwiki. Intelligentsium 20:11, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

moving an article created in a user page

I did not know how to correctly start a new article and mistakenly started one in my user page. I need help in knowing how to move this article I created in a user page because so that it can be reviewed and then made into a Wikipedia article. 65.13.176.109 (talk) 21:13, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Could you link us to the article? Your post here appears to be your only edit from this IP. doomgaze (talk) 21:24, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Paul Lukather

Please note that Mr. Lukather was an original cast member of the NBC soap opera "Bright Promise." His character was that of an English professor,Bill Ferguson, who was involved with a co-ed, Sandy Jones.

He left the show when his character's affair was discovered by his wife.

He was on the show from Autumn, 1969, when the show began, into the next year; the show itself concluded in Spring, 1972. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.86.208.77 (talk) 21:22, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Could you please make your question more specific? If it involves the content of the respective articles, you can actually edit them yourself and add the info you think is missing. Just be sure to provide references. See WP:Referencing for beginners.-- Obsidi♠n^Soul 21:34, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Most referenced articles

Can someone write some code or something to update Wikipedia:Most referenced articles. It is a 5.5 year old data dump.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 22:33, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That would be a good bot task and maybe you get there more attention since there are the people you know how to do this. mabdul 11:44, 7 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 June 4

Contents