Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 October 2

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October 2

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Hello my name is Vernise and I'm a student at Essex County College in New Jersey. We have this project to do, and i hope i'm in the right place. I need to know if your company offers demonstration copies or student versions of your products?76.117.162.147 (talk) 01:38, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

This is the help desk for the free encyclopedia Wikipedia. We are not a company and our product (the encyclopedia) is already free for everybody. I don't know where you think you are so I don't know whether you are in the right place. We have articles about thousands of companies but we are not associated with those companies. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:45, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Luddenham, Kent, England - Luddenham, New South Wales, Australia - Wrong Links

I was trying to edit information for my home town Luddenham, New South Wales, Australia when I found the Facebook link took me to a butchered "Luddenham" page on Wikipedia where half of it says Australia and then half of it said Kent, England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddenham

I tried to fix this by copying and pasting the correct wikipage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddenham,_New_South_Wales into the Luddenham page by editing and saving it.

I think I have stuffed it all up. I really would like the incorrect Luddenham page which does not have the ",New South Wales, Australia" after it removed as it is incorrectly linked from Facebook hometowns.

How do I fix these problems? — Preceding unsigned comment added by AlexErik82 (talk • contribs) 01:51, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Hello. This is the incorrect way of 'fixing' it. A lot of places share the same names, the correct way is to create disambiguation pages instead. In fact Luddenham, New South Wales is named after Luddenham, Kent in England.

I have moved them to separate pages and turned the Luddenham page into a disambiguation page to guide users. However, changing the link in Facebook to point to the correct article is another matter and we can't help with that as Facebook is another website.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 04:34, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Per WP:TWODABS, hatnotes are the best way to deal with situations like this, with, IMHO, the Kent article being the primary page. – ukexpat (talk) 15:58, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure, as I can't ascertain which of the two is more notable. But feel free to change it to hatnotes if you think it's better.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 12:57, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

I don't find WP:TWODABS helpful, it makes it harder to check and correct misdirected links IMO. DuncanHill (talk) 13:57, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Pages incorrectly shown as read only

Hi, recently I am getting more and more pages coming up as uneditable (i.e. "View source" tab shown rather than "Edit"), even though they are not protected. The only way to clear this is to use that stupid "action=purge" thing. I do so wish that someone would fix this, and the wider stupidity of the whole "cache purging" nonsense. It's embarrassing that this bug / design flaw has not been fixed in eight years, or however long it is. 86.181.203.96 (talk) 01:56, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

If this happens then you can edit the whole page by clicking "View source". See Wikipedia:Purge for easier ways to cause a purge. See also Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Is this *ever* going to be fixed? I have had limited Wikipedia time this week but may still make my "next week" deadline with a bugzilla report today Sunday. Whether a report will help cause a fix is another issue. I don't know whether the "View source" problem has really existed for years. The purge function has other uses and is likely to stay when Wikipedia has limited resources. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:25, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I found the old bugzilla:27978 from March 2011 where the problem may have started. The bug was quickly closed as "Resolved" because the problem could not be reproduced on the reported pages. I have reopened the bug with links to many reports since then. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:00, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Issues with alignment at WP:MEDCAB

Heh, never thought I'd come here for help...but I'm a bit stuck :). On Firefox, WP:MEDCAB renders as I expect it. It's the alignment in the Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/lede page that needs to be worked on, but in safari, the alignment is all wrong. I think it has something to do with the coding, but have had troubles making it work on both browsers properly. Help would be appreciated :) Steven Zhang ^{The clock is ticking....} 05:43, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Also having an issue with Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Pagelist. At the main page, Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal the template has all the text bolded, but on Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Cases, it looks normal. Help with this also appreciated. Steven Zhang ^{The clock is ticking....} 05:47, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I also use Safari (on a Windows 7 system) and I can confirm that Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/lede looks really strange. I don't see any issues with Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Cases or Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Pagelist though. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 08:14, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

All sorted out now :) Steven Zhang ^{The clock is ticking....} 03:47, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Patriot Missile

In your article you mention it is stationed in Morag Poland since May 2010.

I can fully assure you that we have not been to Morag in quite some time. We operate near the baltic sea now in more operational enviroments. The Morag staging was more of a publicity stunt.

I am not saying we were never there, but we are not stationed there.

Only one battery per quarter makes a month long rotation.

I appreciate your understanding.

Soldier 357 Air Defense Artillery. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.76.149.168 (talk) 07:09, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I have updated it per the news article here: http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=6012464

In my understanding, the training rotation has been moved from Morąg to Toruń. If this is still inaccurate, it will help if you can point us to a recent news article with the correct up-to-date information. Thanks.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 12:36, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Error in my Wikipedia Entry

How do I edit errors about me in an article, I can't seem to be able to do it?

Tim Staffell — Preceding unsigned comment added by Timbosta (talk • contribs) 07:59, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Please read the guidelines in WP:AUTO#IFEXIST. An important thing to remember is that even if you are the subject of the article you still need to provide a reliable source to back up any changes you may make in the article. This ensures that the facts can be verified independently. Tutorials on how to add a source can be found here: WP:Referencing for beginners.

You can also simply post suggestions for changes in the talk page of your article here: Talk:Tim Staffell. Include a reliable source for the proposed change (a link to an article, etc.), and other editors can then insert it for you.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 08:31, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)It looks as if in each of your edits you had copied the visible page content, then in the edit you had pasted that at the foot of the page and in doing so over-written some of the existing content. (See your 1st and 2nd edits). You shouldn't need to copy and paste; just click the edit button, and make the appropriate changes in the wiki source window, as I did here. This is why you ended up with part of the material 3 times, but without the wikilinkis and working references in the 2nd and 3rd instances. Your edits have been reverted by other editors, and I have deleted the word Graham as there didn't seem to be a WP:RS to support it. Note also that if you are editing an article about yourself you should read WP:COI. - David Biddulph (talk) 08:35, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Financial help

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write a litter and asking help and question how and were I can get help me, to help me for my fiancee in which she's been in a country in Africa for two years now that i've been supporting her ever since for her needs, but somehow i never told her how hard for me now to do financialy need daily, but what happened a year before that she got sick and she'd been hospitalized for almost a year now, but not because i can get to much money to support her for her daily need plus her hospital bill, untill i try to look everything for her because i love her, but right after i find out that the hospital bill and the hotel bill where she stay before, the total bill to her, is for more about almost 100000 thousand USD.

So please who ever got this massage please reply me on my e-mail add **, this is life and death situation neither me or her to get away the situation is to endid up our life, i know is a wared situation, because what i did to her is that what i feel because we love it's other, we have a big plan but not because she cannot be with me, the plan and the love it goes only in a dream, that somehow you have a dream niether a good or bad but we know it's a dream, but if the dream is thrue from the heart and with feeling, you can conquere the word.So for me for what i'm doing now i try to be strong to her and pretend i can do it, so pleased help us, so in return as i promise what ever i can get help, i return that help to organazation as long as i can be with my fiancee.

I thank you very much, what ever i can get help I appreciate for you kind, and for any reason and question please write me a litter or e-mail me back or call me in regards to this matter.

For you to me to get in touch this is my contact add:

Danny — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.103.95.80 (talk) 11:31, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

This help desk is for questions related to using or editing Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. I'm very sorry, but no one here can give you financial help. I have removed your contact details to protect your privacy. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:05, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I would suggest that it wouldn't hurt to try contacting your (or your fancée's) embassy, if she doesn't have citizenship in that country (you said she's only been their for two years). They might be able to give you both suggestions on how to proceed. Falconus^{p t c} 16:34, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I Cant see my page when i google search

Hello,

Once uploaded picture i added and saved my information , i logged out. then i did a google search for the wikipedia page but i couldnt see it. what am i doing wrong please help — Preceding unsigned comment added by Filmwrite (talk • contribs) 14:13, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

You have made 2 edits other than the one you made here. Both edits, one to List of academic disciplines and the other to Biography, were reverted because you replaced the contents of the article with some information about a Penny Koutourinis. Both edits were reverted properly. If you are trying to start a new article on Penny Koutourinis you should read WP:FIRST. It will help you understand how to start a new article and what is needed for an article to survive. GB fan 14:21, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Identify last entry

How can I identify my last edit? (of an entry) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bradvines (talk • contribs) 15:05, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

In the signature that is attached to your last post you will see, contribs, click on contribs and it will show all of your contributions. GB fan 15:10, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

How can I find an edit (to an entry) of mine on 20 september 2011? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bradvines (talk • contribs) 15:11, 2 October 2011

Since you only have 3 edits, just look at your contributions. You made two edits today and one on 21 September 2011 that has since been reverted. GB fan 15:20, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Click on the "diff" link to see your edit: [1]. Wikipedia uses UTC time in many contexts. The edit was 21 September UTC but 20 September in American time zones. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:23, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

U.S. NPS photos

Are images from the National Park Service okay to use? (I'm terribly unfamiliar with the imaging licensing rules, having tried and failed to understand them). Specifically, I am interested in this picture. Quinn ^{❀ BEAUTIFUL DAY} 16:10, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Well, crap, that link didn't work. It's here in a link at the top left of the page. The Rocky Springs map. Quinn ^{❀ BEAUTIFUL DAY} 16:13, 2 October 2011 (UTC) Sigh. Nevermind, that didn't work either. Unless someone can piece together from the URL's what I'm trying to ask...I'll do without it. Quinn ^{❀ BEAUTIFUL DAY} 16:15, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Yes. NPS maps are public domain as they are a US federal agency (see http://www.nps.gov/carto/ ). You may actually find better maps in their actual site here.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 16:18, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

P.S. to produce an external link with a different text, do it like this: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ TEXT] will produce TEXT

Notice that unlike internal links, it does not use vertical bars. Merely a space in between the full link and the text to display.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 16:23, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Awesome! Thank you. Excellent advice. I'll add the formatting tip to my list of things to remember. Quinn ^{❀ BEAUTIFUL DAY} 16:31, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Oops. Apologies, previous linking does not actually work without the http:// I've fixed it. Anyway, you're welcome. :) -- Obsidi♠n Soul 17:09, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Periodic table

Is there a periodic table anywhere on Wikipedia that provides the full names of the elements written out? When I teach students I find it much better to use a table with full names and the symbol written just below. It helps get it into their stubborn hormone-crazed minds by a bit of knowledge osmosis. It's hard enough explaining why tungsten is W, etc. if they don't see it first. Would it be useful if a created one if there is not? I obviously do not wish to duplicate efforts. Also, I was looking at the article on chirality and it is, if you'll excuse some criticism, just a sorry little article with not just little information but some poor information. Hard to imagine an article on chirality that does not even mention Louis Pasteur or tartaric acid and so on. It's like talking about relativity and forgetting to mention Einstein. Would it be okay if I basically completely rewrote it?--71.183.163.78 (talk) 16:48, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

There is Periodic table (large version), though the element names are not particularly prominent, they are there. Monty₈₄₅ 16:54, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Thank you for your suggestion regarding Chirality. When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the edit this page link at the top. The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to).

Regarding the size of the periodic table, at the bottom of the the article there are links to other layouts in Wikipedia, including this large one. Singularity42 (talk) 16:58, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Thank you both for the link. That's exactly what I was looking for. Also I have just found Chirality (chemistry). I am learning how to navigate. That article needs work too though.--71.183.163.78 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 16:59, 2 October 2011 (UTC).

Regarding the chirality article, are you referring to the current version? It seems to have been (re?)written from scratch about 6 weeks ago. If you can improve it further, this would be most welcome - though if you wish to make extensive changes, it might be worth proposing them on the article talk page first. AndyTheGrump (talk) 17:00, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Red print

Why are some words printed in red, while most are printed in black on white? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.76.228.149 (talk) 18:17, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Words written in red are links to articles that do not exist yet. For example, Made up article by me shows up in red, and if you click on it, will take you to a page if you want to create that article. Don't create that article - it will get deleted.... For more information, see WP:Red link. Singularity42 (talk) 18:24, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Infobox all screwed up

Can someone fix the infobox image at Brent Hobba? Thanks!! Calliopejen1 (talk) 21:01, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I tired but I still bet some command clutter around the pic. I am not very well versed in dealing with these but it looks like the commands for this infobox need to be updated to match the more recent infoboxes where all you need to do is add the image name. Sorry I couldn't do more, hopefully someone else will be able to help you. MarnetteD | Talk 21:16, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Forgot to mention. There is another request for a fix on the talk page for the NBL player infobox template. the only way that editor got his pic to work was to place it above the infobox which you can see here David Stiff (basketball). MarnetteD | Talk 21:18, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

The edits to {{Infobox NBL player}} over the last few minutes have broken the infobox at Shane Heal. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:20, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I made some changes to the infobox template and this requires some subsequent changes to the articles where the template is present (see this diff and this diff). There was some unnecessary markup in the infobox template code and the image parameter in the infobox on the article page had the wrong format. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 21:23, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I made a request at WP:BOTREQ#Fix infobox to fix all other articles using this infobox. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 21:30, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I've made {{Infobox NBL player}} behave like {{Infobox person}} and have been through all the articles using it. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:44, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

London City Airport article

The London City Airport article talks about the DLR link to Stratford as being in the future but this opened about a month ago. I cannot fix this myself as your mobile site does not seem to allow editing? The link to the regular site just redirects to the mobile version including for the talk page. The explicit link to ask a question here is the only way I've found to interact. Trying a url with &action=edit was taking me to the non-existant article London City Airport&action=edit.

I'm using the version of Internet Explorer that comes with Windows Mobile 5 (I can't find the IE version number). 82.132.248.197 (talk) 21:49, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I've updated the article. I don't know the mobile version so I don't know why it wasn't working for you. - David Biddulph (talk) 04:26, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

If you run into more problems like this you could try adding "?action=edit" to the URL. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:42, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

America's Next Top Model....

This is Wrong!!!! The opening theme is performed by Tyra Banks and is produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins.

This is Right!!! The opening theme is performed by Sonny-Rey and is written and produced by Les Pierce and Dave Thomas.

Please Make this Change

Do you have a reliable source which proves your statement?--♫Greatorangepumpkin♫_Hey^{it's me} 10:58, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Table of contents disappeared from my user talkpage

For some reason, my talk page now longer has a table of contents (it used to have one in the past). It seems to have disappeared with this edit by MiszaBot III. How can I bring back the table again? I guess it requires just some simple fix but I don't seem to figure it out at the moment. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 22:21, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I brought the table back using __FORCETOC__ and everything seems to be fine again. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 22:36, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

See WP:TOC. The TOC is only displayed by default if there is more than 3 section headings. MiszaBot III reduced the page to 3 headings. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:53, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. :) Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:36, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

An event that happened during WWII that I can find no reference to.

I was a crewmember on the R-6. (SS-83) In '43 or '44 we were operating off Block Island in Long Island Sound (I think). While suberging early one morning for an antisubmarine cat and mouse games with a Destroyer Escort. As we submerged, four marine planes appeared out of a cloudbank (un-beknown to us) and no doubt, anxious to radio in the report, "Sighted Sub Sank Same" three of the four planes dropped depthcharges scaring us half to death, fortunately not doing tremendous damage to R-6.

Immediately a recognition flare was fired from our signal gun and we surfaced as soon as possible and The signalman hurried to the bridge waving the US flag as the planes reappered and passed over this time without further ado.

As it turned out, Our Commanding Officer. CDR J. B. Grady and the Squadron Leader of the planes were in the same class at Annapolis.

We were rewarded by the marines supplying us with a case of rum for a ships party that was held just prior to our departure from the New London Submarine Base to the Carribean.

I have never found any reference to this event. It certainly must have been recorded somewhere. Can you provide any information on this matter.

Sincerely, Billy T. Gamble, CWO-3; USNRET (Redacted) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.83.31.191 (talk) 23:02, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I have removed your contact info to help protect your privacy

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. GB fan 23:07, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Name a Star Memorial

Header added by me to separate this entry from the previous one Tonywalton ^Talk 00:19, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Hello I am really hoping you can help me, I would assume if there is any to a subject, person or place that it is fine to edit the subject, person or place within accordance with Wiki rules and guidelines.

I Have add a paragragph to the Canes Venatici under the Stars area as my Brother passed away in April this year and i had a Star named after him and the Name a Star Organization has gave me all the details to the star and system it is in.

This is the area i have added; In accordance with Name a Star Program the following star is named. Star number 044 103 with celestial address of 12 hours, 16 minutes. 43.06 sec and Declination of +44° 35' 15.3" Epoch 2000, in the constellation Canes Venatici is named DMM-67 in memory of London Born and Proud Englishman Student of Criminology Dean Michael Merner. Officiated by T.S Vaughan - Registrar of Records.

This person keeps deleting the paragraph and claiming it is spam, however i have proof and really i am not a person who would like about my brother passing and have this done. Again i have proof of this being done and can supply the proof. The reason i want to keep this on here is because it is a change to the orginal knowledge of the Caines Venatici system.

This is the person who keeps pulling it off! 21:20, 30 September 2011 Skeptic2 (talk | contribs) (10,326 bytes) (Re-removed starname spam. A third strike and you're out.) (undo)

Thank you Daman Malone — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dayactor (talk • contribs) 23:28, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

While I, and I'm sure Skeptic2, are sorry to hear about your brother, you need to read this. Unless your brother was the subject of his own Wikipedia article, a memorial entry on Wikipedia is inappropriate. A "Name a Star" entry does not meet Wikipedia notability criteria as it's open to anyone at all who can pay the requisite £19.99. Your memories of your brother will suffice - he doesn't need a WP mention for you to remember him. Tonywalton ^Talk 00:19, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Apologies if I seemed harsh on you or the memory of your brother, but this kind of content is not encyclopedic and hence not appropriate to Wikipedia. If you want to know the harsh truth about these star naming schemes, take a look at this page from the International Astronomical Union: http://www.iau.org/public/buying_star_names/ Skeptic2 (talk) 16:24, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

What an absolute disgrace to be so Insulting to someone who Is doing something like someone that helps them. Like someone who has a faith helps them. To disregard this and be so flippent and rude saying sorry then Insulting again well disgusting. I have been looking at this as was trying to find something and was absolutely shocked when I see someone being so rude after they lost someone so close. Maybe your views should be taken off.

Edit Not Working

Hi,

My name is Louis and I've been a follower of the X-Files wiki and on several occasions I even managed to edit some details without any problems but now I am trying to make valid changes and they are not staying. I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong so... what am I doing wrong? My user name is Mfluder1013 if you need that info and the changes that I am trying to do is adding two asterisks to the episodes Pilot, Deep Throat, Fallen Angel, E.B.E. and The Erlenmeyer Flask. Theres have been proven right as per Chris Carter and the Alien Mythology X-Files DVD Collection. Hope that helps and hope you guys help me out.

Thanks,

Louis — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mfluder1013 (talk • contribs) 23:57, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Your edits are working, but if you look at the history of the article you will see that Grapple X is reverting your edits. You should talk to them about the edits on the article talk page. GB fan 00:05, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

(ec):It seems according to this edit summary that your edit is being undone "according to consensus". Rather than redoing the edit you need to ask Grapple X, who undid the edit, what the problem is, either on User talk:Grapple X or on the talkpage of the article. Please remember the three revert rule - in most circumstances you shouldn't blindly repeat an edit more than three times in any 24 hour period. Tonywalton ^Talk 00:08, 3 October 2011 (UTC)