Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 January 7

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January 7

Personalised Signatures

I've seen a few editors that have personalised signatures, can normal users get personalised signatures or is it only limited to administrators only? NarSakSasLee (talk) 00:49, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, normal users can have custom signatures.

Click the "my preferences" link at the top of the page and scroll down to the "Signature" section. Note the "Treat the above as wiki markup" checkbox below the text box in that section. If the checkbox is unchecked, then I believe the text you type into the box will simply be used to change the username that displays in your signature. If you check the box, then what you type into the box is used for your entire signature (excluding the timestamp) and can contain wikilinks (namely to your user page, talk pages,and even your contributions page) and formatting.

For example, on my "my preferences" page, I have that checkbox checked and the following signature code in the text box:

—{|[[User:Retro00064|Retro00064]]|[[User talk:Retro00064|☎talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Retro00064|✍contribs]]|}

which produces

—{|Retro00064|☎talk|✍contribs|}

Make sure your signature follows the guidelines at Wikipedia:Signatures.

Hope this helps! :-)

Regards,

—{|Retro00064|☎talk|✍contribs|} 01:14, 7 January 2012 (UTC).

(ec)Any editor can have a personalised signature; administrators are just ordinary editors with a few extra buttons for doing things like deleting articles, blocking vandals and on on (we also get paid six times the amount a non-admin gets paid; six times zero being zero ☺). The section here tells you about it. Basically you need to go to your Preferences page at Special:Preferences and check the box under Signature that says "treat signature as wikitext" then enter your desired wikimarkup in the "New signature" box to create your personalised signature. Please read the guidelines on the "customizing your signature" section; in a nutshell, don't create an annoying, unreadable or confusing signature, don't make a signature that makes you appear to be someone else, and don't use images in your signature (though you can use Unicode). If you're not too familiar with Wikimarkup it's probably a good idea to take a look at Wikipedia:Markup#Format and try out the markup for your proposed signature (maybe in the Sandbox or on your own userpage) before putting it into the "New signature" box and letting it loose on the unsuspecting public! Happy experimenting. Tonywalton ^Talk 01:25, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks very much both of you, I've been on Wikipedia now for about 2 years on and off. Its only recently occured to me that signature formatting does exist although I wasn't sure on the whole issue. I'm actually Japanese, so is my native writing allowed? I'd like to translate my user name using kanji lettering. Although I'm not sure if that's allowed? I actually thought admins were people paid by the Wikimedia Foundation, if its user based how do I become one? NarSakSasLee (talk) 02:13, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

You have to go through a form of what could be called "harassment" or "rigorous selection", called a Request for Adminship, or RFA for short, in which your every edit for all the time you've been a registered user here will be questioned. (And yes, I've seen several custom signatures which incorporate kanji.) --Orange Mike | Talk 02:21, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

And my daughter the otaku just looked over my shoulder and is now fangirl-squeeing over your username, which I didn't catch on to even after watching several cumulative days worth of Naruto vids at her behest! --Orange Mike | Talk 02:26, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm an admin with kanji in my signature, so it's perfectly fine (though I'm probably the only white American Japanese student who has no love for anime; I'm trying to learn it so I can learn Ainu). Mine and my alternate account's don't say anything special, but you can absolutely have fun with it. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 04:25, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Oh no, I forgot to respond to you! Yes, but you sometimes grow out of anime and sometimes are just left looking for ones that are more realistic. I only very much read Gantz nowadays. As for the signature, I'd love to experiment. I was thinking perhaps of having a multi language signature as well. That would quite good. NarSakSasLee (talk) 07:40, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

(ec) Read the page about Administrators. It will explain what Adminisistrators do and how to become one. The User:KageTora has a signature that might be in the format you're looking for. RudolfRed (talk) 02:24, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

That made me laugh Orangemike, very hilarious. I should actually say I'm British Japanese, I came here during my childhood so the whole Naruto thing just reflects my native culture in the West. Still I'm glad to know that I can become an administrator. I'd very much love that. I've grown to love it, I edit articles on little known topics to myself and its a very relaxing break from university life. Does the person who created this website have his own userpage? And also thank you very much RudolfRed. NarSakSasLee (talk) 02:41, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

See Jimmy Wales, User:Jimbo Wales, and Wikimedia Foundation, for the page about the creator, his actual user page, and the page about the foundation created to look after Wikipedia. fredgandt 02:51, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you very much, its greatly appreciated. NarSakSasLee (talk) 13:36, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Page creation

How can I apply for a free Page here in wikipedia. I want my Organization to be listed here in Wikipedia. Information about our Organization will be posted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.93.21.100 (talk) 03:47, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Here's the page on Requesting an article. There's a link at the top that will explain what the criteria are for an article to be created. RudolfRed (talk) 04:08, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Before doing that, you would be wise to read Wikipedia's notability guideline for organizations. Most organizations are not notable enough to qualify for an article in Wikipedia. —teb728 t c 05:30, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

You seem to be under the impression that Wikipedia is a business listing service. It is not. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that has articles about notable subjects and it is unlikely that your organization is notable enough to be included. You can check if your organization will qualify by following the links provided in the answers above. Astronaut (talk) 14:44, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Lost my password and confirmation email.

Sorry to be a bother, but i wish to get started again here but i've lost my password AND the email account the resets get sent to. My username is MayFlowerNorth and i think the email account is personal details removed but i'm not sure. Is there another way for me to confirm my account? I did a bunch of editing on the Spryfield and Kidston Lakes articles, and tried to contribute in my fields of expertise where i could... but that's all easily available info.

Cheers and thanks in advance, Ross Mayhew. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.11.125.219 (talk) 08:18, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Please don't post your personal details on this page. Quite literally millions of people could see them. If you cannot access the email attached to the account, and you cannot access the account because you've forgotten your password, you may have to create a new account. I recommend waiting for perhaps more qualified advice than mine. fredgandt 08:29, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Whether you manage to get back control of your old account, or if you are forced to create another; you might find something like template {{User committed identity}} useful in the future. Best of luck. fredgandt 09:45, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Fred's advice agrees with the standard advice from Help:Logging in#What if I forget the password?, and I'm not aware of any other ways to recover a lost password. You were editing only three months ago, so there's still a chance that you will remember the password. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:09, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

how to translate an English article into Bengali.

how to translate an English article into Bengali.--lrtaher (talk) 08:50, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

If your aim is purely to be able to read an English article in Bengali, you could use a service like Google Translate to get a fair rendering. However, the result of that sort of automatic translation would probably not be good enough to use the result on a Wikimedia project (i.e. the Bengali Wikipedia (if there is one)). If your aim is to produce articles for another Wikipedia (in Bengali), you'd simply have to manually translate and provide fair attribution at the destination page. fredgandt 09:52, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Talk page categories

Is there any categories that talk page archives can have? Ever since I started archiving, a lot of spaces in between words were removed, and the two words stick together. For that reason, I wish to add a category, and use AWB to fix the spaces. I know it seems complicated, but if anyone has a simpler alternative to this (oh, not manually separating the words), the suggestion would be appreciated. Thanks. X.One ^SOS 11:22, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

If you want AWB to process the archives of your talk page, you can select "Special page" in the "Make list" drop-down, and then select "All pages with prefix" in the dialog that pops up. Or you can write the names of the pages in an ordinary text file and then copy and paste them into the AWB list of articles. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:29, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Is the process of fixing spaces an automatic one or is there a specific option for doing so? X.One ^SOS 12:41, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Hmm. I don't see how this can be done automatically. Looking at this deletion from the talk page and this addition to the archive, it's hard to see any pattern to the lost spaces. Did you copy and paste the text directly from one edit window to the other, or did you paste into a text editor in between? -- John of Reading (talk) 13:48, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

I copy pasted it directly and saved it simultaneously. X.One ^SOS 04:55, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Portal Perils

Portal:Kentucky says it is one of the best, but its talk-page says it's not monitored much and advises taking questions here. London, Kentucky isn't there, but is in Portal:Ohio and a military one, the latter perhaps because it hosts DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service) Customer Service. London, pop. 7,993, is strung out along the rim of a white-water canyon, which is suitable for supplying both hydroelectric power and cooling for a giant computer to send out a zillion checks a month. Mine's notable only to me, but that computer must be some hummer. The issue, though, is how to find the write portals. --Pawyilee (talk) 12:46, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

I see you've also posted this at Talk:London, Kentucky. I think that's the best place for it, since there it will be seen by the editors most interested in maintaining the article. Another possibility would be Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Kentucky. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:54, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Suspicious posting/Self publicity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/217.42.143.81
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/86.153.8.177
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/86.186.227.240
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/86.147.252.245
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/82.22.213.129
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Samjordison

And others all editing the same few page in apparent self promotion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Kieran
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Jordison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crap_Towns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idler_%281993%29
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.249.184.65 (talk) 15:57, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

None of those contributors have edited in the last 12 months, and many not since 2008, so I don't think we'll worry too much about them. - David Biddulph (talk) 18:11, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

That they have surived unnoticed for so long makes matters worst. In addition to being blatant self authored sock-puppetry, they are neither notable or encyclopaedic and should be deleted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.249.184.65 (talk) 19:42, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Homework question

Suppose we have an application that creates an overlapped window with a push button on it. We have coded the window procedure of the window in such a way that when the button is pressed a message box appears. A smart user makes a very good observation about our application. He say,” When I click the button, a message box appears. I drag the message box to a side using mouse and try to click the button again only to find that I cannot do it now. Now I click OK button of message box and message box disappears. After it I can again click the push button of the window.” Explain to the user the reason of his/her observation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.177.63.1 (talk) 16:18, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Please use a descriptive title in future questions.

Please do your own homework.
Welcome to the Wikipedia Help desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misevaluation, but it is our policy here not to do others' homework, but merely to aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn how to solve such problems.
Please attempt to solve the problem yourself first. You can search Wikipedia or search the Web.
If you need help with a specific part of your homework, the Reference desk can help you grasp the concept. Do not ask knowledge questions here, just those about using Wikipedia. --ColinFine (talk) 17:35, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Trouble with editing "Bernard's Watch"

Hi,

The Wikipedia article on "Bernard's Watch" has been maliciously edited placing an unknown person in the lead role of creator and director.

I have re-edited the page, and provided published proof, but every time I revisit the article this imposter's details are still appearing.

The creator, producer and director of "Bernard's Watch" was David Cobham.

I have spoken to Mr Cobham and he has never heard of Eileen Casson.

Please make my re-edit permanent or let me know how I can resolve the problem.

Thank you, — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thomgoddard (talk • contribs) 17:17, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Your contribution history shows no record of your ever having edited Bernard's Watch. The reference to "Eleanor Casson" (not Eileen) was added in February 2011, and remained until changed on 4 January this year by 86.166.58.166; perhaps you were editing while logged out? This edit was not subsequently reverted, so perhaps if you were seeing the previous version you may have been seeing a cached version. Try purging the cache. - David Biddulph (talk) 17:51, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

(ec) The article Bernard's Watch is almost entirely unreferenced, and so anybody may remove any of the information in it, and indeed the article may very well be nominated for deletion, since the article does not establish that the show is notable.

In particular, the name of the director is unreferenced and always has been - both before and after User:JRAsh1 made their only contribution to Wikipedia, on 2011-02-23, removing writer Robbie Newton and replacing David Cobham (and mention of ITV) by Eileen Casson.

Searching the web, there appear to be several sites mentioning Eileen Casson as the director, but I think that they are all forks of Wikipedia.

Given that the edit is JAsh1's only edit, and it changes the description from a professional to an amateur film, I think the edit was probably vandalism. But what the article needs (and needs urgently, in order to establish its appropriateness for Wikipedia) is references to independent reliable sources for the information in it, including its director. (IMDB is not always regarded as a reliable source).

The edit restoring David Cobham (by User:86.166.58.166, not User:Thomgoddard, so I guess you made it while not logged in) has indeed worked: if you are not seeing it, then you probably need to WP:Bypass your cache.

Note that "I have spoken to Mr Cobham" is not of any value for Wikipedia: we need published sources for information. Please see WP:VERIFIABILITY. --ColinFine (talk) 18:14, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

On the other hand, he would be the best value for guiding you to an interview of him where the information was discussed, and it subsequently appeared in an article or feature; note, however, that he may not know of or remember all coverage. Dru of Id (talk) 22:58, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Book cover images

I am doing some work in Category:Wikipedia books (books without cover images) by adding images to some covers. (Not a lot, just scattered ones.) But once I do, I can't figure out how to remove the book from the category once I am done. Can someone please explain how? Thank you. — Michael J 17:55, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

This should happen automatically, though there may be a delay while the software catches up. Your edit at Book:Chess Championships has successfully removed it from the category. Note that to link to a category in a post like this, you have to include an extra colon before the word "Category". A bot has edited your post to fix this. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:03, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. I will resume my image hunt now. — Michael J 18:18, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Sandbox

How many sandbox can I create? And if Wikipedia permits multi-sandboxes how can I create the another one?--Renzoy16 (talk) 20:17, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

You may create as many sandboxes in your userspace as you need, such as User:Renzoy16/Sandbox, User:Renzoy16/Sandbox1 or User:Renzoy16/(insert title here) you are only limited by what you can have in them per our Wikipedia:User pages guideline. Яehevkor ✉ 20:36, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the info! :D--Renzoy16 (talk) 20:48, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Would like to put article on the web

I have written a 7 page article that I would like to put on the web to attract comments. How do I do this.? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.254.83.22 (talk) 21:02, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

This is a help desk for the encyclopedia Wikipedia. Many articles would be unsuitable here. If your goal is to attract comments from the general public and not Wikipedia editors then it sounds unsuitable. If you are considering to make a Wikipedia article then what is it about and is it based on published reliable sources? If you don't mean a Wikipedia article then you can ask for suggestions at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing, but they may also like an idea what the article is about and who you want to see it. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:57, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Where is the View Source tab on a subject page? So I can locate the Submit an edit request link to do so.

I've looked all over the Smith & Wesson page and see no VIEW SOURCE TAB. Sorry, I'm too impatient to go through the whole tutorial just to locate a tab. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Waltr34 (talk • contribs) 22:28, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

It isn't protected so you can just click "edit" to modify the page. HurricaneFan25 22:32, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

If a user cannot edit a page, it has a "View source" tab. If you can edit the page it has an "Edit" tab. The two tabs have exactly the same url so there is no point in having both tabs visible. All users can edit the large majority of pages. If you want to make a talk page suggestion anyway then click the "Discussion" tab and edit that page. See more at Help:Using talk pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:48, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Articles for creation

I recently moved an Article for creation to the main space. I hadn't done this before. The move worked, however, the Article for creation page still exists at Wikipedia:Articles for creation/Rapid Redux. I want it to go away. How do I do this? Tigerboy1966 (talk) 22:49, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

You correctly moved Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Rapid Redux to Rapid Redux. The author mistakenly created Wikipedia:Articles for creation/Rapid Redux as well. It only contained WikiProject banners. I have deleted it. Articles for creation works in Wikipedia talk because unregistered users can only create pages in talk namespaces. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:05, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your prompt action and help.Tigerboy1966 (talk) 23:18, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

re your artical on cowboys etc

The Australian tradition of the stockman has had none or at best very minute imput and influence from other stock handling traditions ie;the American west,Spanish or french traditions.Our way of life grew because of our great distances over a very dry continent.The Native imput came later in the story it wasn't there from the begining but came into its own during the heyday of the big overlanding or droving trips.Australia can also claim as it's own record the greatest movement of stock in a single movement.This was achieved by Nat Buchanan and his relatives Hugh and Wattie Gordon.It shifted over 20,000 head in a single movement starting from New South Wales and ending up on the newly opened country of the Kimberly.We have our own traditions which in a number of instances are more dangerous but need because of our conditions such as tailing wild cattle on the run.This is where a stockman will grab the tail of cunning rogue often bulls which may never have seen a yard in there life and pull them to the ground and leg tie them so that they can be picked up up by trucks later or towed by heavy ropes by a 4wd untill they settle down which never takes long.This isnt done so much now.the gear including our saddles bares no resemblance to american,mexican or spanish or even french influences> the only inluences it ever had was British and the need for simple,sturdy utilitarian gear.This is best typified by O our bridles, saddles,the breeding of the Kelpie,Smithfield and Queensland Heeler working dogs and even our use of the stock whip.Guns were never an essential part of our outfit but a good wide brimed cabbage tree hat was.This was made from the leaves of the cabbage tree palm.Even today it is still used but now american style plastic hats and felt hats are used but all have one thing in come a very wide brim.This comes in handy in keeping the sun of and the rain of as well and is also used to give dogs and horses a sip of precious water if a long way from a water source.Some times you will see nets over them to keep mosquitoes and flies out during the hot summer months.The stock man is a fully fledged hand on the property.It is from the ranks of the stockmen and women that the overseers and managers are drawn not as you suggest from the ranks of the jackaroos and jillaroos.These people, that is the jackaroos and jillaroos are the barest learners of the game and come from all walks of life.Charles Dickens Son was one of these and many a station had on its books sons of titled englishmen who were surplus to family needs in the old country or had left because of some legal problem.The jackaroos and jillaroos start aat the bottom and usually serveing a 4 yr apprenticeship to which they move on to become stockmen then overseers and foremen and then managers if they are good enough and lucky enough.A ringer is the best of the best stockmen.There is nothing that that individual can't do and wont do.Heis very tough and resourceful in everything he does and in his knowledge of the animals in his care.He will be a vet and will have great memory skills of where particular mobs of cattle can be found on the run and what calves belong to which cattle or lambs to which sheep.A drover is like this too.But he also had to have the skill of know ing how to handle mobs of cattle in good and bad and floods and droughts while on the stock routes.In dry times this was a must as he must know with in a hairs breath of when the cattle have reached their limit in dry stageing and just let them amble along so that they put on weight in the good stages etc; — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.73.124.210 (talk) 22:59, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Can you please rephrase your question in the form of a question? If you have concerns about an article, you can post comments on the talk (discussion) page for that article. RudolfRed (talk) 23:54, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Also, see: Drover (Australian), Nathaniel Buchanan, and Stockman (Australia) fredgandt 23:59, 7 January 2012 (UTC)