Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 October 24

Help desk
< October 23 << Sep | October | Nov >> October 25 >
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.


October 24

edit

Subjects of a Photo I took.

edit

My wife took a photo some years ago of my sister & her husband, and posted it on Flickr, then added it to a Wikipedia article on the RCMP (They are RCMP officers and were posing for family photos). When they discovered their photos were being used in the Wikipedia, they asked me to take it down, stating that they had allowed us to take photos only for personal use.

The Photo in question is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RCMP_with_serge.jpg

How do I request it for deletion? I have already reverted it's rights on Flickr. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kylar (talkcontribs) 00:46, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

We now have a deletion request open at commons:Commons:Deletion requests/File:RCMP with serge.jpg, as this isn't the sort of case that calls for a single administrator to summarily delete the image, which is used in multiple Wikipedia articles. Note that if the photograph was taken in a public place, the request is unlikely to succeed (as Creative Commons licenses are not actually revocable and people generally have no expectation of privacy in public places), so please comment on the request if the photo was taken on private property. For future reference, if you want to nominate an image hosted on Wikimedia Commons for deletion, go to the Commons description page and click on the "Nominate for deletion" link in the Toolbox section of the left sidebar. Thanks for asking your question here. PleaseStand (talk) 02:27, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Chapter URL appears in long, open form while using cite book template

edit

solved

When I try to use the Template:Cite book with chapter and chapter URL parameters, I get a result which both contains the chapter name as a link (which is what expected, just as the title of the book if it has a URL as well) and the URL in its long, openly written (I don't know rhe proper term) form. This is not what I expect. We already have that link via the title of the chapter. No need to give it again. And obviously, no need for that URL to appear in its long, open form (even if its a link as well.)

Here is my example:

Twain, Mark (1872). "Appendix". [[Roughing It]]. Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company. Retrieved 24.10.2011. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)

The result is similar when I use it between ref tags which is what I want to do.

Any idea? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Neophyrigian (talkcontribs)

Template:Cite book#Description says: "url: URL of an online location where text of the book can be found. Cannot be used if you wikilinked title."
The formatting is made worse by additionally having a chapter and chapterurl. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:33, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
@PrimeHunter Thank you very much. Seems that its my bad. I shouldn't wikilink the title. Editing as such, everything is fine:

Twain, Mark (1872). "Appendix". Roughing It. Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company. Retrieved 24.10.2011. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help) Neophyrigian (talk) 01:40, 25 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Replace and Update an Image

edit

I found the following question at Help talk:Files, but don't know the answer. It was asked over a year ago, yet still has not been answered.

How does one delete their own image? or, how does replace to update an image on the same file. I created a image a while ago, and it needs to be updated. --Dmm1169 (talk) 03:45, 22 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, pluma Ø 02:36, 24 October 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Autoconfonfirmed users have a link saying "Upload a new version of this file" on file pages. The user uploaded several new file versions at the time of the question in January 2009 [1] so it appears to have been resolved. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:47, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Theory of relativity

edit

Why theory of relativity is build — Preceding unsigned comment added by Prabhjot singh bhatia (talkcontribs) 07:03, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Is the article Theory of relativity of help? If you have further questions the article doesn't answer, you can ask at the Science reference desk by clicking here and reinstating your question there. The people there are happy to answer knowledge questions. Note however that if your questions is a homework question you should be prepared show them what steps you have already undertaken to solve the problem yourself. Also they will not simply provide with an answer you can copy. Instead they will help you to understand the concept you wish to receive help in understanding. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 10:47, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
edit

You show a bad link on the following page:

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

Under the reference section - "City of South San Francisco official website"

It should redirect to: http://www.ssf.net/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1827

Our site gets 3-5 broken links daily because you have the wrong url. Please fix. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.234.100.130 (talk) 09:01, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed. Thanks for pointing it out. - David Biddulph (talk) 09:13, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

text label for external link?

edit

Hi, I am wondering how can I add a text label for an external link? I want to link to an article on the French wikipedia, and the Help document suggests that you use single square brackets and put a space between the link itself and the text label, e.g. [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irlande_%28pays%29 Irlande (pays)].

However, this does not seem to work for me: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Ireland_Collaboration&diff=457125894&oldid=457124282 What am I missing? Is it to do with the closing bracket afterwards, and if so is there a way around this?

Thanks for any assistance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ComhairleContaeThirnanOg (talkcontribs) 10:50, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Irlande (pays). Works for me. You need the http bit at the beginning. Dismas|(talk) 10:55, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
... or alternatively you can use an inter-wiki link fr:Irlande (pays) or Irlande (pays). - David Biddulph (talk) 11:00, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks both. I'm going to blame the current Firefox which strips off the http:// in the browser address bar - something I hadn't particularly noticed until now. Handy to know about the inter-wiki link option too. ComhairleContaeThirnanOg (talk) 11:28, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

whom template giving wrong output

edit

Template:Whom? doesn't show the expected inline text. According to the table at Wikipedia:Template_messages/Sources_of_articles#Requesting_sources and the template page itself it should display the phrase "according to whom". Instead it is showing the phrase "by whom" which the table says should be the result of a different template.

I'd fix this myself if I knew how. Cloveapple (talk) 11:10, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing's broken. {{whom?}} produces [according to whom?] but {{whom}} (NB without a question mark) produces [according to whom?], because it redirects to {{by whom}}. Whether it is a good idea to have a template and a redirect to another template with virtually identical names but different outcomes - one links to WP:NPOV, the other to WP:WEASEL - I will leave to others to discuss! BencherliteTalk 11:25, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Looks like I messed up. Thanks for the polite explanation. Cloveapple (talk) 15:30, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Policy re Table of Contents of periodicals; use of database

edit

Two part question. Part (1): Please direct me to any Wiki policy concerning creating a summary of the Table of Contents for all articles appearing in a particular periodical. I refer to the article titles only - no content - and basic information such as author, date, and maybe some keywords to assist searching. I do not believe there are any copyright issues with such lists but I am not sure. Part (2): Is it possible to a use a database on Wikipedia (however structured) to store and present information in response to a search query by the reader? This relates to my first question. While a sortable table format may allow a listing of the Table of Contents, a table is not very searchable. Any examples in Wikipedia that you could point me to that use more sophisticated means of organizing and presenting information typically stored in a database? Thanks much. Newwhist (talk) 12:57, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a database (nor a webhost). Entire databases of the sort you describe are not encyclopedic content, and have no place here. If you want to build a database for a given periodical, use a domain provider, get your own website and build your own pages (although you can arrange to use the Mediawiki software if you choose). --Orange Mike | Talk 18:19, 25 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hearing Loops

edit

I read an article in the NYT about "hearing loops" and wanted to learn more, however, there was not an article by that name in WP. I tried to find a place to suggest the title and decided on "Medical Devices", however, could not find a place where the title belonged and could not find a free-form space in which to enter the suggested title. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 113.146.95.200 (talk) 13:07, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Audio induction loop - unfortunately not a very good article but it has links and references that may lead to more useful information. Roger (talk) 13:19, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict × 2) When you now enter hearing loop into the search box and press enter or click the magnifying glass, you should be brought to the article Audio induction loop, as I created a redirect for the term which leads you to the article Audio induction loop. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 13:31, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Photo/logo thumbnail

edit

I uploaded a new logo for our college page. It shows properly when you view the Wikipedia page. If you click on the logo on that page it goes to the old logo. Also the Wiki info that translates into a Facebook page shows the old logo as well. Did I do something wrong when I uploaded the new file? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mshockey (talkcontribs) 13:29, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The logo you uploaded is File:Acm seal.png, which is also the image I see at the top of Allegany College of Maryland. Perhaps you have to bypass your browser cache to see the logo. Does that fix the problem for you? Also, which logo are you taken to when you click on the image? Can you provide a link to that file like this: [[:File:<Insert name of file here>]]? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 13:41, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Lycoming County incorrect seal

edit

The article regarding Lycoming County, located here: Lycoming County is not accurate in that it uses an incorrect seal. I have attempted to change the seal to the correct one, with no luck. The correct seal can be found on the official county website at www.lyco.org.

I appreciate any suggestions you can help me with to get this inaccuracy corrected.

Thank you,

Marci Hessert Interim Deputy Chief Clerk County of Lycoming — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.55.41.6 (talk) 14:20, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It is hard to get even a few people who are knowlegeable about the subject to edit these articles correctly. I will try to put it on the list of articles needing expert attition.
Please reply on my message boards! Larsona 14:30, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

international beneficiary funds

edit

Dear Sir or Madam,

Early in 2011 I submitted a question to Wikipedia about international beneficiary funds for art projects. I eventually received a reply mentioning a certain organisation in the USA which gives out free financial loans or grants that do not need to be repaid. I have very recently been looking through the archives for the question and the reply but I cannot find it: there are so many in the archives. It must have been either january,february or march 2011 that I submitted the question and got the reply. Could you please find it for me.212.219.142.118 (talk) 16:30, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The easiest way to find your question is to look in your contribution record. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:37, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The questions posted by your IP address are archived at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 February 14#International beneficiary funding schemes and Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 March 1#international beneficiary funding schemes. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:48, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How can I re-instate a deleted page after userifying it?

edit

A page I created was deleted despite it being approved by a Wikipedia reviewer after I requested the text to be reviewed for neutrality. The deleter made some claims which I felt were un-called for - claiming reference sites not being worthy -- however these were legitimate news sources and used by other Wikipedia editors. In any case, I've simplified the text and would like to know how the page can now be reinstated. It is currently on my userpage. Thank you for your help. Ct28ofs (talk) 18:20, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Can this I.P. address be blocked, as they seem to continue to be disruptive in spite of being warned several times. Thanks.--Doug Coldwell talk 19:33, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Report it to WP:AIAV. -- kainaw 19:40, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

So frustrated with password recovery.

edit

I have multiple email addresses, and I do not remember which one I used when I created my wikipedia account. I remember my user name, but not my password. I've requested the password reset, but I don't know where it's going! I've checked every email address I can think of, and there's nothing there. I can't tell if the password reset just isn't working or what because I can't find anywhere or anyone to ask what email address I should be checking. Help! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.233.92.204 (talk) 19:44, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The password reset uses the email you entered when you registered. If you cannot remember or access that email account, we cannot help you retrieve your password. TNXMan 19:54, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I've actually remembered my password since I requested the reset. There's no way to cancel that process or retrieve my email address? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.233.92.204 (talk) 20:01, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you can log in to your account, you can click on "my preferences" at the top of the page to see which email address we have listed. You can ignore the password email- if the temporary password sent to you is not used, it will expire. TNXMan 20:03, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
edit

At the bottom of the "contributions" page for an IP address there used to be a link to a tool which showed all blocks affecting that IP address, including range blocks. Recently that link disappeared. Can anyone answer either or both of these questions:

  1. Why has it disappeared?
  2. Is the tool still available, and if so what is its URL?

JamesBWatson (talk) 19:53, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Is this the page you want? I'm not sure where it was/is on the contribs page. It can be found in the unblock template though. TNXMan 20:05, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Tnxman has the right link. It used to be called "Rangeblock finder" and was renamed to "Current blocks" on October 14 because of this request. Goodvac (talk) 22:49, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. So it's still there, but under a different name. That makes sense, as I always thought "Rangeblock finder" was not the most appropriate name for it. JamesBWatson (talk) 08:26, 25 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

sylvia

edit

if a us soldier payed for a ticket from baghdad to the uk dose he need to show if hes got money to get out of baghdad airport to get on the plain to the uk please let me know thank you sylvia — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sylviahennessy (talkcontribs) 20:14, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

  Have you tried the Miscellaneous section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. TNXMan 20:16, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

My account has been removed

edit

I requested my user page to be removed and then my user name to be changed. However what has happened is my user page was deleted, my user name was changed but my NEW user name was deleted and called Vanished user 0209349232.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ILM16 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.6.169.46 (talk) 21:00, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

  1. Usernames can't be deleted, both technically and legally.
  2. The rename was based on your right to vanish, so if you requested a name someone would reasonably want odds are they changed it to something generic and randomized instead. —Jeremy v^_^v Components:V S M 21:03, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The changing username request [2] said "Reason: Right to vanish". In our terminology this means you will no longer edit or be associated with the account so there shouldn't be reason to worry about the new username. See also Wikipedia:Courtesy vanishing. Are you saying you wish to continue editing and simply wanted to do it with a new username? If that is the case then you can post a new request at Wikipedia:Changing username/Simple and explain you didn't know the meaning of "Right to vanish" in the former request. You may be able to log in as Vanished user 0209349232 with your old password so the request can be filed from the account. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:29, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Seraching for EugeneOregon Department of Transportation Office

edit

Hello My name is Nancy LeAnne Stewart Round Rock TX My husband and I are moving to Eugene Oregon and we are going to have change our Driver License's Iam seraching for the Department of Public Transportation/Driver License Division Iam not how to find the connection to that Department Thank you Good Day — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.19.16.117 (talk) 21:57, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This is Wikipedia, the encyclopaedia anybody can edit, and you are on the Help Desk, which is for asking questions about using Wikipedia. Does http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/ help you? If not, you might try posting your question at our miscellaneous reference desk. --ColinFine (talk) 22:19, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

How to recover a deleted wiki page?

edit

How do I reactive my existed wiki page instead of making a new one? My page was deleted.


21:57, 24 October 2011 (UTC)21:57, 24 October 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Phillipbloch (talkcontribs)

If you try to open the article you will get to a page mentioning who deleted it and why. Perhaps you can ask the deleting admin to userfy the page. Jarkeld (talk) 22:13, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
The Phillipbloch account has no deleted contributions. If you tell us the name of the deleted article, an admin such as myself or some other admin, could check into why it was deleted. You can also request that the deletion be reviewed at Wikipedia:Deletion review, but this should be a last resort. There may be a simpler way to deal with this issue. --Jayron32 22:21, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Are you here about Phillip Bloch? If so, if you click on the link you will see that it was deleted in 2007 under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion and before that as blatant advertising under section G11 of the criteria for speedy deletion. By the way, did you formerly edit under the name BobbiLou or Hcolbyp?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:45, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Archiving a page

edit

I have been following the instructions for automatically archiving my userpage at [to archive your page], but I can't the format parameter does not make sense. Al it says for the format parameter is, "The format parameter should be set to a valid argument to PHP's date() function. You may also include an %%i value. This is for numbered archives instead of dated archives, and is replaced with the archive number. This is the name of the archive page," but it doesn't make any sense. Could someone explain how that works? Thank you and happy editing! pluma Ø 23:14, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A common choice is format=Y/F to get archive pages with name of form Year/Month, for example as in User talk:A p3rson/Archives/2011/October. If you wish another name format then you can describe it here and we can say what to assign to format. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:39, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
How can you make it be just called archive 1, archive 2, archive 3, et cetera? pluma Ø 01:03, 25 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Upper case and user talk namespace is recommended. archiveprefix= User talk:Fltyingpig/Archive and format= %%i should give User talk:Fltyingpig/Archive 1 and so on. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:56, 25 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Identity theft

edit

re page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Beier This page was accurate until October 18 2011, then revisions by users 65.182.115.220, 108.13.5.76 and DivineAlpha slowly changed the page information to refer to a different person or a scam. I am the person to whom the original page referred, and would like you to restore the original page as it was before October 18. Perhaps, if the editor of the new information wants a page dedicated to a different person of the same name, there is a possibility of him doing so without altering the information that refers to me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Johndanyel (talkcontribs) 23:32, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The content from before October 18 was restored right at the time of your post. If you don't see the restored version then try to bypass your cache. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:49, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]