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Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 May 31

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May 31

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Image help

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Please delete this image: File:TheTrainEnthusiast.jpg. Somebody (probably one of my grandkids) tampered with it on my computer, and since I've fixed it I need to reupload it. TheTrainEnthusiast (talk) 00:50, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Are you aware you can upload a new version over the old one, much as you can edit an article? Intelligentsium 01:07, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I tried it, but it didn't work. TheTrainEnthusiast (talk) 01:58, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I changed my mind, I don't want a photo of me on Wikipedia. Can someone delete it? TheTrainEnthusiast (talk) 03:05, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
You can tag the file page with {{db-author}} -- John of Reading (talk) 07:02, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How do I copy images from Wikipedia in other languages or alphabets into English Wikipedia?

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I am trying to add more images to the Palestine Railways article. The Hebrew counterpart of the article has several photographs that I would like to use. I found the image file names, copied and pasted them into the English article but all I got was a redlink. I searched Wikimedia for the file names but they didn't appear. I've downloaded the images and I could upload them to Wikimedia, but I don't read Hebrew so I can't read which copyright they are under. How can I add these images to the article? The photographs are:

I've had similar problems when finding photos. For example, Ukranian Wikipedia has a photo of the front of Ramses railway station in Cairo but my attempt to copy it into Wikipedia's English Egyptian National Railways and Ramses Station articles achieved only a redlink:

Thanks. Motacilla (talk) 02:32, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

 
This is File:Biandintz eta zaldiak - modified2.jpg, which is on Commons.
Hi.
File:PalestineRailwaysNG1946ca1.jpg (for example) is stored on hewiki; so here, on enwiki, it's a red link. If I put [[:he:File:PalestineRailwaysNG1946ca1.jpg]] it works - he:File:PalestineRailwaysNG1946ca1.jpg. Therefore, it can only be used on hewiki.
(Incidentally, it doesn't matter if I put "File:" (in English) or "קובץ:" (the Hebrew for 'file') - [[:he:קובץ:PalestineRailwaysNG1946ca1.jpg]] works just the same, he:קובץ:PalestineRailwaysNG1946ca1.jpg)
To use it on enwiki, it would have to be uploaded to either Commons (probably best), or enwiki.
If a file is on Commons, it can be used on any of the Wikimedia sister projects - that is, it could be used on English Wikipedia, German Wikipedia, Hebrew Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikinews, etc. etc.
If a file is uploaded to a 'local wiki' (such as enwiki or hewiki) it can only be used on that one.
The syntax, in either case, is identical. For example, here, I've put a picture of a horsie. That file is actually stored on Commons. If you go to it from 'here' on English Wikipedia - ie File:Biandintz eta zaldiak - modified2.jpg - you'll notice it says, "This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below. " - and if you follow the link, you get to the real page, Commons:File:Biandintz eta zaldiak - modified2.jpg.
So - to cut to the chase - if you want to use those pics, you probably should download them (to your own computer), and then upload them to Commons, yourself. As long as the licences are OK, and you say where it comes from, that'll be fine.
I hope that makes sense.
And of course, always - if you need more help, just ask.  Chzz  ►  03:06, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
There are also tools that will pull it from any given language's Wikipedia to Commons and I think there was one where you can pull from one language's project to another. I need to double check what those are and if they are still functioning. Anyone else know these off the top of their head?Cptnono (talk) 03:14, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
http://toolserver.org/~magnus/commonshelper.php - see Wikipedia:Moving files to the Commons.  Chzz  ►  03:20, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Does Google Translate give you enough clues to work out the license? If not, you could post at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Israel for help. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:00, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Compact TOC for glossary etc.

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Hi. I seem to remember seeing somewhere a compact TOC for articles like glossaries whose sections are "A", "B", "C" etc. I think it may have been arranged horizontally, perhaps something like this:

A — B — C — D — etc.

Does anyone recognise this and know how to create it? 86.179.112.237 (talk) 02:39, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Compact TOC  Chzz  ►  02:49, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! I see there is a whole family of "compact TOC" tenmplates, so I will experiment! 86.179.112.237 (talk) 02:53, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Who's watching me?

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I just found out that my user page is on 75 editors watchlists. Is there any way of finding out who is watching me? Dismas|(talk) 05:46, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No. Prodego talk 05:50, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. Dismas|(talk) 06:59, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Introduction about the Article on " India Gate" is wrong.

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Hi,

the introduction of the Article on "India Gate" seems to be wrong. Please rectify it .

Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.99.200.14 (talk) 06:18, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It was the victim of vandalism, which I reverted. Thanks for pointing this out. —teb728 t c 06:51, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikilinking to a specific citation needed tag in an article

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I whave begun drafting a new cleanup template in my userspace at User:Toshio Yamaguchi/Template:Refnumimprove. Is it possible in the place where it says 1, 2, 3, 4 have a sequence of numbers up to the number of citation needed tags in the article? Furthermore is it possible to link each number to the corresponding citation needed tag?

In order to better explain what I mean, lets consider the following example:

Suppose we have an article containing four citation needed tags. I want to make the template, such that the list of numbers (like 1, 2, 3, 4) is automatically generated corresponding to the total number of citation needed tags in the article. Then, when I would for example click on 3, it would automatically take me to the third citation needed tag in the article (in the same way that one is taken to the third reference, when one clicks on the footnote numbered 3).

Is this possible? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 09:22, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I will try to create a second template that creates a list of the citation needed tags in the article and transcludes them into the first template. I am not yet even sure if this is possible at all. I think I will have to do some research. :) Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 14:28, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I want to create a second template at User:Toshio Yamaguchi/Template:Cnlist that would be transcluded into User:Toshio Yamaguchi/Template:Refnumimprove and display links to the citation needed tags numbered from 1 to n in a vertical row (maybe with a parameter to break the row after ? entries). Is that possible? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 14:47, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm. I don't think this is possible. The {{Citation needed}} template doesn't currently put out an anchor that your template could jump to; and I don't see how it could be modified to put out different anchors each time it is used on a page, which is what you'd need. As you point out, the <ref>/<references> system does manage this trick, but that's because it is built in to the MediaWiki software itself. You could perhaps post at Village pump (technical) in case I'm wrong. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:59, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I believe Wikipedia's footnote machinery is in mw:Extension:Cite. Where do you want "the list of numbers" to appear? In the article that contains the {{Citation needed}} templates? Or on some other page? I don't understand the advantage of what you propose. {{Citation needed}} already categorizes its transcluding articles into Category:Articles with unsourced statements. It's easy enough to browse to such an article, then press Ctrl+F or ⌘+F to search the articles for instances of "citation needed". It seems to me that we really need better tools for finding reliable sources and then formatting them into footnote citations. Preferably with an automatic method to archive each source with WebCite or a similar tool. Having new ways to rearrange the existing backlog of citations needed wouldn't seem to address the limiting step, which is to find sources and format citations of them. --Teratornis (talk) 19:44, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
A mere list of numbers does not convey useful information about the actual statements that need citations. It could be more useful to arrange all unsourced statements on Wikipedia into a taxonomy by subject, which might allow people who have specialized knowledge of the relevant literature to more readily home in on the subset of unsourced statements for which they are able to find sources. For example, someone who knows about aircraft carriers might find a list of all our unsourced statements about aircraft carriers to be a target rich environment. Of course building and maintaining such a taxonomy would be about as difficult and complex as maintaining our categories for articles. --Teratornis (talk) 19:53, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Someone who wants to find the [Citation needed] markers in an article can use their browser's "Find" function easily enough. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:38, 1 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Opening sentences

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Sample opening sentences:

OK so far. However, until today:

Funnily enough, I'd always thought that anyone capable of reading a sentence in English would realize that Armenian-Japanese relations were relations, presumably foreign rather than (say) conjugal, between Armenia and Japan (even if they confused Armenia with Albania or Japan with Saipan).

So I cut it.

But then the cynic in me thought that any prose as stupefyingly superfluous as this must have been prompted by WP's beloved Manual of Style. And so I took a quick look at the MoS's top page, and neither found it nor found any promising link.

Did I do something very naughty? Are there thought to be a non-negligible number of eager if underinformed readers who might suppose that Armenian-Japanese relations were a Japanese yōkai (whether or not most common in the Kōshinetsu region), or perhaps a kind of cheese?

(I was going to post this at the talk page of WP:MOS, but it told me to post a question such as this here instead.) -- Hoary (talk) 09:42, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No, not naughty. See WP:BEGINNING; point #2 seems to cover it, if the article title is merely descriptive [..] the title does not need to appear verbatim . It's fine. And even if MOS said 'no', it's just a guideline. If anyone objects, they can change it, and then you could discuss it on Talk:Armenia–Japan relations. But unless/until anyone shouts, go for it. Chzz  ►  10:07, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, right, there it was all along, and it said the reverse of what I'd guessed. My opinion of MOS has jumped up several notches. And thank you, Chzz.
Etc etc. Somebody seems to like adding this stuff. -- Hoary (talk) 11:56, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Mmm, there was Wikipedia:WikiProject International relations/Bilateral relations task force; see e.g. AN Proposed standstill agreement on Bilateral Relations articles and "X-Y" relations stubs (and follow your nose to more discussions).  Chzz  ►  17:23, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The boilerplate introduction could provide some value if it had a link on foreign relations, which has a more specific meaning than the generic "relations". Also it can be useful to state the country names explicitly and link them, for example when the adjectival form of a country name in the title might be unfamiliar to the reader. I don't think the boilerplate introduction is necessarily obvious to everyone. Not everyone who reads Wikipedia is an expert in all the topics they read about. And even if the definition seems obvious and redundant, it has the benefit of ruling out less obvious possibilities. Wikipedia readers are incredibly diverse - as you can see by reading the Help desk questions over a few weeks, people come to Wikipedia with all sorts of peculiar ideas. For example, we get some questions from readers who seem to mistake Wikipedia as being affiliated with the subjects of our articles. This suggests we can never spell things out too plainly. --Teratornis (talk) 19:24, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I think you have a point, but although people do indeed have strange ideas about Wikipedia they are generally able to link adjectives with names. Let's imagine that there were an article on "Dutch–Irish relations" (even though such an article would I think be titled differently); this could start "Foreign relations between the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland started shortly after the formation of the Republic and have blah blah". But perhaps we should move this potentially useful discussion elsewhere, as none of us is now asking for help. Though I don't know where would be best. -- Hoary (talk) 00:54, 1 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Seeking an editor mentor

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Hi - I'm a newbie to wikipedia editing. I have an article to contribute but the topic title already exists albeit as an alternative to my intended usage of the subject heading. Would appreciate an experienced wikipedia editor taking me through the steps to add an alternative definition/article. Thanks Emazoff (talk) 09:42, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, what's the existing article, and what's your intended usage? If you specify both, an answer will probably be simple and concise. -- Hoary (talk) 09:55, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
If you create it via WP:WIZARD and, in the final step, choose "Submit for review" - we can sort it out.  Chzz  ►  10:02, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
If you desire a mentor, I do that and have several current mentees, two of whom have achieved adminship. Check out my user page and judge my experience for yourself, and my talk page and judge my helpfulness, and if you want to join on, let me know how I can help you.--Wehwalt (talk) 10:03, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds like you want to learn about WP:Disambiguation. The system is admittedly complex but our coverage of subjects is extremely broad. Rmhermen (talk) 12:51, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks all for responses. My proposed topic is Software Lifecycle Management - different from the current entry in wikipedia. My proposed article explains why SLM is necessary as an evolution of Application Lifeycle Management. However, having started the suggested WP:wizard my proposal does appear to fall into neologism category - not too sure. Emazoff (talk) 14:04, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:NEOLOGISM, WP:RS, WP:V, and WP:NOR. Wikipedia articles are not supposed to contain any original ideas. They should only contain material that has already been published elsewhere in reliable sources. Therefore the most important ingredient for a new article is a list of published sources from which you can draw material, and then cite with footnotes. Articles with few or no sources may fail to demonstrate the notability of their subjects, and may be deleted - this is a very common mistake by new Wikipedia editors, since the (delayed) enforcement is by the user community rather than embedded in Wikipedia's software. (I.e., there is nothing to stop people from editing away for hours on end with no idea that everything depends on sources.) If you have original ideas you want to write about, see the alternative outlets. --Teratornis (talk) 19:06, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

List of dubstep musicians - columns

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  Resolved

I need a hand with List of dubstep musicians. I'm trying to break the list into two columns, but modifying the formatting used in List of post-rock bands causes some rather ugly horizontal lines to appear too. Any hints? Cheers, doomgaze (talk) 12:50, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Is this due to the kind of CompactTOC used? Those articles are using different ones: CompactTOC2 and CompactTOC8. Rmhermen (talk) 12:55, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The horizontal lines come free with level two headings such as ==B==. Note that List of post-rock bands uses level three headings ===B=== all under a level two heading "List". Any good? -- John of Reading (talk) 15:50, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
You are a genius, thanks! doomgaze (talk) 17:13, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

can i print an wikipedia book using another print media than pedia press.

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i would like to get a wikipedia book printed using another printer locally. can i do that or will it be against copyrights. i wish to download a pdf file from wikipedia and send the same to another printer instead of pediapress. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.164.69.16 (talk) 16:00, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A brief (non-authoritative) answer: Yes, as long as you say where it comes from. And be careful about any non-free material (pictures, such as screen-shots and logos, etc, used under terms of Fair use). Fundamentally, Wikipedia is designed to be free, for anyone to use in any way (as long as credit is given). For more info, see Wikipedia:FAQ/Copyright#Can I reuse Wikipedia's content somewhere else? and WP:REUSE. Chzz  ►  17:19, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Page

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How to create a page for me in wikipedia? I'm not a celebrity. But i'm very much interested to have a page for me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.231.50.106 (talk) 17:06, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please don't create an article about yourself - see WP:AUTO. However, if you create an account, you can say a bit about yourself on your user page.  Chzz  ►  17:07, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
If you are notable, eventually someone will create a page about you.SPhilbrickT 18:58, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Otherwise, take a look at Wikibios. – ukexpat (talk) 19:16, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Admin

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What are the requirements for becoming an admin?--Mike28968 (talk) 21:47, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. Past requests indicate that only candidates with thousands of edits have a chance. Otherwise they will get too many oppose votes basically just saying "Not enough experience". PrimeHunter (talk) 21:52, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
You might also want to look at Wikipedia:RfA reform 2011/Candidates. The page has a lot of information about previous candidates and editor's criteria for adminship. There is no set criteria that everyone agrees upon. GB fan (talk) 22:05, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Linking to a documentary website to provide more information?

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Hi, would it be okay in the "External Links" section to include the URL for a website about a documentary? The documentary is also for sale, so that may be why I am receiving an error. Before I click "Upate Page" again, I just wanted to get permission.

I would think that like a reference to a book as a source, that it would be alright to show the URL to get more information on this documentary.

Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by UVaFootballHistory (talk • contribs) 22:32, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. Your external link addition was blocked because your username is the same as the web address that you were trying to link to (see the filter log here). However, the link that you are trying to add also does not comply with our guidelines on external links, in particular Wikipedia strongly discourages links to individual web pages that primarily exist to sell products or services, links to sites that require payment or registration to view the relevant content, and links mainly intended to promote a website. Please also read our username policy as having a username that is the same as the name of a website could lead to your account being blocked. —Jeremy (talk) 22:49, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Jeremy, thanks for clarifying! I'm new to this so my apologies. I'm wondering if there is another way to cite the documentary on this subject without linking to a website that sells it? Would it be acceptable to link to the University of Virginia Library which houses the DVD?

Or would it be okay to just use the documentary as a footnoted reference to some of the new edits I would like to make? But just not have the footnote linked to anything?

If that is not permissible there is also a book on the same subject. Perhaps I could use that as the footnote? Here is a link to that book in the UVa library: http://virgo.lib.virginia.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/H7mIdFXBJo/UVA-LIB/55110211/9

Thanks for your guidance on this. I just want to improve this page and it's missing so much. UVaFootballHistory (talk) 15:13, 2 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Provided they meet Wikipedia's criteria for reliable sources, either the documentary or the book might be used as references for the article (you might find the {{Cite video}} and {{Cite book}} templates useful in this context). However, it looks to me that the documentary might be considered a self published source, which would mean that Wikipedia would not consider it a reliable source. The link that you provided to the UVa library doesn't work, but in my opinion a book is more useful to cite as a source because you can give page numbers for each citation and people wishing to follow up on the citation can easily find the book in a library or through inter-library loans. The book template that I linked allows you to enter the ISBN of the book, which will automatically link to a page that directs the reader to a variety of possible sources for the book (for example, here is an ISBN linked from today's featured article).—Jeremy (talk) 17:05, 2 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Jeremy! I'll check these out. By the way, here's the correct URL. The library had a "Classic" version of their site I was accidentally using which didn't allow for links to remain active. http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/u4812190

I'll still follow your advice though with regards to ISBN's, etc. Thanks! UVaFootballHistory (talk) 18:22, 2 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

IHOP Founders

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Hi, my name is Bruce Marsoobian and last year I made an attempt to include my father, Peter as one of the founders of IHOP. I was asked to provide proof of my claim. Please tell me how to submit testamony and articles stating my father as one of the founders. Also, if you could kindly let me know where to go to communicate in the future with you.

Thank you

Marsoobian4695 (talk) 22:40, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Any replies to your post will appear right here and you should respond back right here. In order to provide proof, you need to cite at least one reliable source that verifies the information. The way to cite a source is to place in the text a footnote stating where the published information comes from (it must be a published source). There's lost of information on how to do this at the cite link I just provided, but a simple example would be:
NAME was one of five founders....<ref>"Title of newspaper article." ''The New York Times'': p. 8. January 5, 1986.</ref> which will format like this:
NAME was one of five founders...[1] The footnote will appear at the bottom of the article and will look like this:
^"Title of newspaper article". The New York Times. January 5, 1986. p. 8.
The Los Angeles Times articles here look promising, though they are unfortunately behind a pay wall.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:05, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
According to this Peter Marsoobian developed IHOP’s proprietary pancake batter. I’m not sure that’s the same as being a founder. —teb728 t c 00:50, 1 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

When is a DAB not a DAB? Russian Republic

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I have edited WP for a while but had quite a wikibreak and can't remember where to ask. A page I found at random, Russian Republic, seems to me little more than what should be a DAB (Disambiguation Page). Is there a page where I should submit for a request for DAB? Or should I just mark it DAB anyway? Since it seems to me that anyone likely to search for Russian Republic does not want to know about the short-lived etc. but about one of the topics under it, i.e. it is in essence a DAB.

Thanks for being in the wrong place, I am just getting on my feet again. Si Trew (talk) 23:03, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, we probably should have an article about this government, no matter how short-lived it was. Were there other things that might have gone under that name? If so, then you might consider WP:DABCONCEPT, that is, writing an article that summarizes the various republics of Russia. WhatamIdoing (talk) 17:27, 2 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]
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