Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 November 12

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November 12

Publishing

I have created an article under jgbarrett/anne evans. I do not know how to make this so that it is available to the entire environment. I want to publish for public review and use. What am I missing ???Jgbarrett 01:49, 12 November 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jgbarrett (talk • contribs)

See Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:44, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

I reviewed the draft. At the moment the tone is not appropriate for an encyclopedia - it is a little too "gushing" and non-neutral (She was a vital, exuberant person who was fun to work with, and she used her connections to maximum advantage. - one example). – ukexpat (talk) 16:28, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

OK, so how to create a user page?

I've been pouring over FAQs and articles about how to do this or that on one's user page, but haven't seen a darn thing about how to create it in the first place! When I go to the URL it just says that the page does not exist yet. This is a real "sink or swim" system here. P.S. I just donated $$ to pay for usage. — Preceding unsigned comment added by CousinJohn (talk • contribs) 02:51, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

All you need to do is put something in here and press save, Wikipedia:User pages and Wikipedia:User page design center may be of use to you. And thank you for your donation, although you don't need to worry about paying your way, wikipedia would be a lot richer if everyone made a donation to create their userpage :)--Jac16888 ^Talk 02:57, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

You must be logged in to create User:CousinJohn and the page must be non-empty when you click Save page. That's it. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:07, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you both. And Jac, I meant that I donated anyway for using Wikipedia (not for using the user page).  :^) Will continue reading FAQs. CousinJohn (talk) 03:15, 12 November 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by CousinJohn (talk • contribs) 03:14, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Error on page "Bittu Sahgal"

On the page on Bittu Sahgal, "Tara Sahgal" is listed as "spouse" when she is in fact his daughter. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.183.164.8 (talk) 02:55, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the correction. I have fixed the article and added a reference.[1] PrimeHunter (talk) 03:24, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Flow of Consciousness

I am using this method of contacting you, because it is only way I know. Sorry!

You have probably thought of this already, but I just thought I would run it past you anyway.

Phonetic Language

"English" is a conglomeration of words from all over the place. For this, and probably a lot of other reasons, spelling of English words is very difficult, especially for people that have English as a second language.

Thought ? thot

Why not "invent" a language that is based on sound, using English as the base language? And then have it taught as a second language to all kids everywhere. Kind of like the way kids text each other. Kind of like Esperanto.

English is already the working language of a number of countries. By using phonetics, someone at least gets a running start when trying to spell words that are not faintly related to what they sound like.

At first I thought it would be too difficult - English has a lot of words.

But if you can create an encyclopedia, surely you can create a phonetic dictionary. If you "outsource" the task to a number of people, I think it is a very doable project.

After a while, anybody will be able to talk to, and write to, anybody else.

Think of all the keystrokes that would be saved. Think of all the time that would be saved.

Anyway, I would like to know what you think. It seems obvious to me. lol

Tom Peterson [Phone number and email address removed]

Thanks.

Tom — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.151.232.53 (talk) 05:06, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the input, but as you noted, this is an encyclopedia, not a phonetic dictionary or a project to create a new language. If you would like to propose that the Wikimedia Foundation start a new project for that purpose, you can do so at m:Proposals for new projects. --Philosopher ^{Let us reason together.} 07:10, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Tom, you might be interested in reading English language spelling reform for the history of this idea (and the problems inherent in it), and Initial Teaching Alphabet for a real-world attempt to do what you suggest. International Phonetic Alphabet is a real system currently in use by thousands of linguists and other interested people, but many people are not willing to put in the initial effort to understand it. (See for example this discussion). --ColinFine (talk) 09:31, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Images

I mistakenly clicked a link that blocks all images on Wikipedia. How do I revert this back so I can see all images?

N8sta (talk) 06:46, 12 November 2011 (UTC)Nate.

Images here are downloaded from URLs beginning "upload.wikimedia.org", so that is the domain you need to unblock. In Firefox, you do with via Tools > Options > Content > Load images automatically > Exceptions. If you can't see how to fix it in your browser, post the browser name and version here and someone will give you step-by-step instructions. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:25, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

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

Hello Team,

There is one more temple to be added, Sri Sathyanarayana Swamy Temple, Parigi Road Shadnagar. It is approximately 1 KM from shadnagar X road towards Parigi. Built and inaugurated in 2003 by H.H Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Chinna Srimannarayana Jeeyar Swamiji. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.14.103.50 (talk) 07:09, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

If you can cite a reliable published reference to the temple, you are welcome to add it. In fact, if you can add citations to published references for any of the other temples already there you would improve the article hugely. --ColinFine (talk) 09:45, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

A good edit has been removed and wrongly cited as "did not appear to be constructive".

I added a direct quote to the following article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_%28Or_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_British_Empire%29 It was from one of the writers of the work in question, and not available anywhere else. As such, it seems to me to be a highly constructive contribution. I am concerned that the bulk of the citations in this article come from only two sources, and while published works, they are not particularly scholarly and worse, these authors may have personal reasons for keeping themselves as the sole sources cited. cheers, Kenji Fuse — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.92.221.21 (talk) 08:14, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

You cited email correspondence as the source of your addition. Unless the email has actually been published by a WP:reliable source you cannot use it. Roger (talk) 08:24, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Indeed. See WP:V for why this is important. It doesn't matter whether or not the sources are scholarly, only whether they are available and reliable. You also seem to be implying that the authors of those sources have been instrumental in the shaping of the article, and are motivated by "personal reasons". While this is certainly possible, I see no evidence for either part of this suggestion in the page history. Please assume good faith and don't make scurrilous imputations unless you can back them up by published reliable sources. --ColinFine (talk) 09:53, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

I want to translate poetry &literature works

I have just made an account on Wikipedia, and i am especially interested in translation Poetry from my native language /Serbian/into English. What is best way and page to do it? Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by SlavicaGlory (talk • contribs) 09:49, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

The English Wikipedia is not a place for the text of poems or other literature, and I guess that the same is true of other language Wikipedias. If you want to translate articles about literature from the Serbian Wikipedia into English, that is very welcome: please see WP:Translation.

If the poems are in the public domain Wikisource would welcome translations of them; but if they are copyright, I don't think any Wikimedia project will be willing to hold translations. --ColinFine (talk) 09:58, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Deciphering this citation

I'm writing an essay on mythopeoia and found this citation on wiki/Mythopoeia_(genre)

"Dundes, quoted by Adcox, 2003." How do I find the actual resource? (Or at least the name of the publication?) 220.255.1.33 (talk) 11:15, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.255.1.72 (talk) 11:14, 12 November 2011 (UTC) 

The "Footnotes" section appears to refer to the "References" section in Mythopoeia (genre). In this case, Adcox refered to "Adcox, John. Can Fantasy be Myth? Mythopoeia and The Lord of the Rings. Published by The Newsletter of the Mythic Imagination Institute, September/October, 2003." I don't know who Dundes is, though. --Philosopher ^{Let us reason together.} 11:20, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

If one goes to the first time that reference is used in the article (by clicking on the superscript "a" at the beginning of the note), one will see that it refers to "the noted folklorist Alan Dundes". Deor (talk) 11:27, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

regarding GOUTRA OF ANY BUNT

HELLO AS WE ALL INDIANS KNOW THAT WHILE ANY POOJA THE BATRU ASKS ABOUT THE GOUTRA OF THE PERSON SITTING ON POOJA I STILL CANNOT FIND MY GOUTRA AND STAY MUM WHILE ASKED FOR EG. FEW GOUTRA IS AS FOLLOWS 1. BHARGAV 2. KASHYAP 3. SHANDILYA 4. VASISTA FROM WHERE COULD I FIN DINFO ABOUT GOUTRA ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dineshetty (talk • contribs) 11:30, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps.--♫GoP♫_T^C_N 11:39, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

And stop SCREAMING. Thanks.--♫GoP♫_T^C_N 11:39, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Deleted contributions

Is there a way to have a look at your own deleted contributions? Just asking, because my deleted edits-counter went from 900 to 902 recently, and now I'm wondering where those two new deletions come from. So, I'm not necessarily interested in the content that has been deleted, but rather when the deletions were performed and which articles were affected. (Lord Gøn (talk) 11:48, 12 November 2011 (UTC))

I do not believe there is any way for you to see even the list of deleted contributions. I looked through your deleted contributions and found the last 2 deletions.

(del/undel) 18:40, 9 April 2009 (diff | deletion log | view) . . Westside Middle School massacre (Undid revision 282661934 by Marksdaman (talk) No cut and paste moves, please)

(del/undel) 20:31, 1 April 2009 (diff | deletion log | view) . . Westside Middle School massacre (Reverted cut and paste renaming)

Graham87 was doing some history merge on 5 Nov 11 and these two edits got dropped. It doesn't look like it really effected anything. GB fan 12:05, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

I've already suspected that said article might be the culprit, but obviously there was no way I could be sure. Anyway, I'm glad that this has been clarified, so, thanks a lot for helping out. (Lord Gøn (talk) 15:44, 12 November 2011 (UTC))

sayfada örnek hatası

http://translate.google.com.tr/translate?hl=tr&langpair=en%7Ctr&u=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_(abstract_data_type) adresindeki (((8+1)-(7-4))/(11-9)) örneginin çözümünün kesinlikle yanlış olduğunu düşünüyorum ilgilenirseniz sevinirim saygılarımla Ahmet GENC <email redacted> — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.131.52.250 (talk) 13:16, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

I don't know Turkish but according to Google Translate, you appear to be saying "I think the solution is definitely wrong" about Stack (abstract data type)#Conversion of an Infix expression that is fully parenthesized into a Postfix expression. I don't see a problem there. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:01, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

A little help please

Hi there. I am currently trying to do my first page on Wikipedia and for the topic I chose a gentleman I used to work for who is pseudo famous. Lived an amazing life, made a bunch of money, national attention, now working on a book etc ans so forth.

John Todora

The page is created but I am not sure what else wikipedia wants. I have listed most of the sources I used. I have one more, but its a print article for a local magazine and its not online yet. In the references I have listed the name of the website/newspaper, the writer and the Month and Year it was posted. Is there something I am missing?? I really want to make this page for him. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. JP — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jp vasaio (talk • contribs) 14:20, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Ok, so there are a couple major problems that need to be addressed right away. First, your citations should be placed in text so you know what citation is the source of what. Second, the article reads like an advertisement. This is the biggest problem and must be changed or your article will be deleted. It seems like John Todora has done enough things to make him notable, but writing in a promotional manner actually makes the person seem less notable than they really are. Another thing to check out is Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biographies. This will help you reformat the article. In addition the layout should be changed. I have attempted to find an outline of a biographical article for you but I haven't found a good one so the best thing to do would be to take some examples from other pages. Finally, you should use Wikipedia's hyperlink process to link pages. For example you would link Miami Heat by putting two brackets around it like this [[Miami Heat]]. Then it would look like Miami Heat. I hope this advice helps and you are able to reformat your article well. Ryan Vesey Review me! 15:05, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

References do not have to be online, as long as they are available to the public. --ColinFine (talk) 16:36, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

American River College

The link to "The Current" is out-dated. It should be www.arcurrent.com. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.178.169.154 (talk) 15:35, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

I changed it Ryan Vesey Review me! 15:48, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

filter bag to be used in coal pulverising

dear sir we need filters for coal pulverising machine. we are using cotton filter bags. which on stopping 2-3 days work during holidays catches fire. so suggest right kind of material as to be used . how many microns and what material .thanking you vijinder kumar e-mail i.d. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.225.99.82 (talk) 15:35, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

(I have removed your email address to protect your privacy) You are at Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, and this Help desk is intended for questions about using or editing the encyclopedia. You could try asking at the Science reference desk, since some of the volunteers there tackle engineering questions, but I think your best course is to talk to the company that made the machine. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:26, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Special characters

When editing, I can not get my "special characters" to appear when I click on the link. Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this? Everything else about my PC seems to work just fine, on Wikipedia and elsewhere. Joefromrandb (talk) 16:44, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

WP:VPT would be a better place to ask that. CTJF83 22:26, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. Joefromrandb (talk) 03:48, 13 November 2011 (UTC)

Graciela Rivera opera singer

Hello,

Graciela was my mother. She passed away July 17 2011 at the age of 90. I was reviewing this Wikipedia article and noticed an error. My mother retired from teaching at Hostos Community College in 1987. So, the reference that says she was "appointed as Assistant Professor in 1992" is inaccurate. Although I don't have handy the exact documentation, I know that mom was employed 15 years at the college which would likely make the year she was appointed 1972 and not 1992. It was likely a typographical error.

I would kindly appreciate the correction. Thank you.

If you need to contact me, below is the e-mail where I can be reached.

Ginny Soto — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.39.25.117 (talk) 16:49, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

I made the change and found a source to confirm it. You might be interested in the book. Ryan Vesey Review me! 17:41, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

I have removed your email address to protect your privacy. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:50, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

"African American" diffusing or non-diffusing subcat of "American"?

I've come across quite a few articles that categorize the subject as both an "American x" and an "African American x", while others only use the latter category. Which is correct? I'm unsure myself because "American" is a nationality while "African American" is technically an ethnic group, so both would seem warranted. However, "African American" also indicates nationality so using both would seem redundant.  Mbinebri  ^{talk ←} 18:54, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

I personally am slightly confused by your question. Obama for instance is categorized by both, and in reality, all blacks Americans should be because they are both African Americans and Americans. CTJF83 19:07, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

If you're not an American, you're not an African-American, simply by definition. Because all black Americans are both African Americans and Americans, they should only be in the more specific African-American category. Nyttend backup (talk) 15:02, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Is there or do we need a portal on the world power struggle?

I have searched for a portal or article entry which would lead to an organized approach for revealing the structure and modes of the world power struggle. I say world, although it may be deconstructed into the struggles on all levels downwards.

Perhaps this is outside Wikipedia's scope. But have not found a forum here where questions of scope are handled.

This is an area full of opinions masquerading as facts. However, a NPOV should be possible to achieve, and a relevant balanced review of opposing positions made which admits revision over time in accord with maintenance principles.

Please help me with this question.

Idealist707 (talk) 20:37, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

It sounds like this would definitely be outside Wikipedia's scope, as it would require an accumulation of original research and synthesis, which has no place here. --Orange Mike | Talk 01:52, 13 November 2011 (UTC)

Category:Feminist television series

Dear Wikipedia

I've created the page Category:Feminist television series. If possible, please help and encourages other users to identify other Wiki articles about TV shows that have a feminism theme. Thanks.--NeoBatfreak (talk) 21:18, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Do you have a question on how to use Wikipedia? CTJF83 22:07, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Dead links

Hi. I would like to know if there is any way to recover/replace a reference which became a dead link, like this one. Regards; Felipe Menegaz 22:39, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Link rot. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:44, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much! It helped a lot! Cheers; Felipe Menegaz 23:11, 12 November 2011 (UTC)