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Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 July 26

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July 26

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Gooseberries

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hello, My Name is Jasmine and I would like to know if anyone knows where i can get fresh gooseberries. I have seen that it's a seasonal fruit and a farm in CT have them and you can go pick it yourself but every time I call them they never get back to me. PLEASE HELP, Ooh and I did find some in a store but its in a jar and its pickled..yuck..I need it fresh. thanks, Jasmine (: — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.92.224.24 (talk) 01:45, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Jasmine. This is not a general help desk, this is for help editing or using Wikipedia. You're looking for the reference desk and I think its miscellaneous section would work best. When you ask your question there, however, I suggest you state where you are located so people can tailor their answers to your locality. The clue of CT is good but more specifics would help.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:05, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I provided an online citation which can no longer be accessed for free. What do I do?

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Last January, when editing the article John Hardon, I provided an online citation of an article which appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review on August 18, 2011. I provided a link to this article on the newspaper's website. Later, I discovered that the link I provided no longer lead to the article, and the article was no longer on the newspaper's website. I did determine that the opening sentences of the article could be accessed at highbeam.com. The article in its entirety can only be accessed by subscribing to their service (with a 7 day free trial). Is it better for me to provide a link to highbeam.com in the citation, or to simply cite the newspaper as an offline source?JDefauw (talk) 02:39, 26 July 2012 (UTC)JDefauw[reply]

There are enough people who have Highbeam access that I think for purposes of verification, providing the convenience link is warranted, but you should add to the citation format=subscription required.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:04, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much. I did as you recommended.JDefauw (talk) 22:49, 26 July 2012 (UTC)JDefauw[reply]

How do I Rename a Wikimedia Commons File?

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  Resolved

I made a typo in this file name and I want to rename it-- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aliyahnumbersby_country.svg

I do not want there to be a space between "by" and "country". And for the record, I made this map all by myself. Thank you. Futurist110 (talk) 03:02, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

To rename a Commons image you would go to it, click edit at the top add {{rename|Better proposed name.svg|numeric reason|Reason for rename}} replacing numeric reason with the number from here (I assume it would be "1"). However, I don't think you should ask for this rename. I think instead you should ask that it be renamed File:Aliyah numbers by country.svg. As with all names of images, they should follow standard spelling, spacing, punctuation and usage. Please note that the Commons has its own help desk here.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:15, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much. Futurist110 (talk) 03:59, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You're most welcome.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:37, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It is good that you have it resolved. I usually do it the normal commons way though. I re-upload the file under a new name. Then we spend months on which exact copy to delete in DR, dispute boards, email to WMF, Bill Gates, Obama, the Pope, etc, etc. This is far more fun than the quick methods.--Canoe1967 (talk) 07:32, 29 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How do I Apply for a Wikipedia Award?

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My major contributions so far:

Do any of these contributions qualify me for some kind of Wikipedia award, and if not, what contributions do I need to further do in order to increase my chances of getting a Wikipedia award? Futurist110 (talk) 03:02, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What kind of an award are you expecting? Are you referring to barn stars? Dismas|(talk) 04:22, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm referring to barnstars and other awards like these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Israel/Awards
Futurist110 (talk) 04:29, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That WikiProject may have their own guidelines but in general, Wikipedians don't do things looking to get rewarded. They do it out of a sense of making the encyclopedia better and helping their fellow man and woman. That's kind of the point of volunteering. For instance, people volunteer at soup kitchens, animal shelters, nursing homes, etc. But they don't generally do it for fame and glory. Dismas|(talk) 04:33, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I actually agree with you about that part. The main reason why I work on Wikipedia is to improve it and its quality and contents. However, it would be nice to get a barnstar award eventually, just to be able to see that my work around here is getting recognized. Futurist110 (talk) 06:29, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I've only ever gotten one barnstar. Getting a barnstar depends on whether someone sees your edits and goes, "Wow, that stuff should be recognized!" Just edit; if someone feels you deserve a barnstar, you'll get one. - Purplewowies (talk) 16:51, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You seem to be under the impression that these things are awarded in some kind of centralised way, and provide "official" recognition. Wikipedia is quite possibly the last place in the world you should expect such a degree of organisation. If another editor likes what you're doing, and they are a barnstar-awarding type of person, they may drop by and leave you a barnstar (or a smile, or a cookie, or something). Whatever it is, it's not from "Wikipedia" but from the person who looked at what you're doing and liked it. Some Wikiprojects excepted, there are no criteria for receiving awards. I've even seen people award themselves barnstars, although that does seem too much like sending yourself Christmas cards. Just enjoy it when and if it happens. Karenjc 17:07, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You can easily place barnstars on your own talk page, but I wouldn't recommend it if you don't want to appear self-centered and perhaps endure a bit of teasing. Best to just do the best job you can, and then if someone likes your work and decides to praise you with a barnstar, enjoy. But as others have said, improvement of Wikipedia generally is considered an intrinsically rewarding endeavor. Cresix (talk) 17:13, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You can add a Service award to your own page. Rmhermen (talk) 18:36, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Still, a bit of recognition is a nice way to enhance morale. We're all human, we all have egos, many of the regular editors have spent many, many hours working on Wikipedia, and yes, we do it because it's a worthwhile thing to do, but darn it, a pat on the back once in a while would be nice. Editor retention is a problem as it is - a little ego stroking couldn't hurt. Rwessel (talk) 14:56, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

human life-complexity,life relations, phiosophy, religion, importance of money in human life,modern age humanlife, humanity, service, child hood old age

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i wantarticles on human life, life relations,philosophy,religion, service, humanity.importance of money, youth, friend ship and human values,.these articals are useful to understand human nature and contributions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.204.55.181 (talk)

Human life, philosophy, religion, service, humanity, Money, youth, friendship. Value (personal and cultural)... what exactly is it that you're looking for that we don't have articles on?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:22, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Is There a Place Where I Can Find All the Various Wikipedia User Templates?

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Such as "This user is Jewish" or "This user is an American"? Thank you very much. Futurist110 (talk) 07:26, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, start at Wikipedia:Userboxes#Gallery and follow any links that interest you. You could also make your own using the {{Userbox}} template. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:36, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Installed Mac OS X 10.8.0 - Lost Wiki masking-frame

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How do I get the main reference frame around Wikipedia again which contains the articles like I did before installing the new Mac OS? It seems to work with Safari OK - No Da, but not Wiki chris — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.13.116.155 (talk) 08:44, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The best places to ask would be WP:VPT and Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:42, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The word 'muggle'

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I have been trying to add a new meaning to the word that has been verife3d by reference to Alistair Moffat's History of the Borders from Early Times. Why has it not appeared as an update? rgds David Blackburn — Preceding unsigned comment added by D.i.blackburn (talk • contribs) 11:16, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a link to a page with your contributions to Wikipedia. The first edit got reverted because you deleted part of the page, probably by accident. Please read Help:Page history and WP:DIFF. Arcandam (talk) 12:55, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The article which you edited is about the sense of "muggle" used in the works of J K Rowling. Your addition was deleted because it was irrelevant to that sense. Maproom (talk)
Then you should probably move that info from Muggle#Later_usages to Muggle (disambiguation). The first HP novel was released on 30 June 1997, that 13th century word is a bit older. Arcandam (talk) 13:10, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

New Content

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We would like to put our organization and info on Wiki but when I go through the various pages, if I'm understanding correctly, we (our org) cannot put info or an article out ourselves about ourselves? We're a not-for-profit org and want to get our message about what we do and how we help people out to the public. Thank you for any help you can give me. 65.23.2.234 (talk) 13:18, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What is the name of the organization? I am sorry, we probably can't help you if it is a small organization, and if its a big organization we probably don't need to because someone will write an article about it anyway. The problem is the fact that we are an encyclopaedia, we don't promote stuff, we only report what is written in reliable sources. We are not a means of promoting something. WP:COI, our guideline on editing with a conflict of interest allows it in some cases, but in general it is strongly discouraged. Arcandam (talk) 13:26, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, but if your purpose is that you "want to get [your] message ... out to the public", then you may not do it in Wikipedia, however worthy your message. --ColinFine (talk) 18:29, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What if you just want to have the organization's info on there? Tell about the organization ... same answer? All we can really do is write an article about ourselves? 65.23.2.234 (talk) 13:23, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is not about "just having the organization's info on there". And no, do not write an article about it yourself. Please read the links that you have been referred to above, as well as WP:COI.--ukexpat (talk) 13:34, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is not here to promote your cause, however noble. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:39, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Disinformation on our product.

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Good day,

We are the manufacturer of a natural health product listed on your website by an external and unknown source. Although some information seems right, there is a lot of disinformation about the product and its creator.

Since Wikipedia is a worldwide reliable ressource, we, as the manufacturer, are very concerned about the public being deliberately misinformed on our product witch is totaly legal and accessible in our country and troughout the world.

This beeing said, we understand that, as a professional incorporated business, Wikipedia will return to us shortly in order to remedy this problem.

Best regards,

Anne Simard Canada — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.37.22.58 (talk) 14:39, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It would help us if you told us the name of your product. Floating Boat A boat that can float! 14:49, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is run by volunteers, so you should not rely on any of us "to return to you shortly". Indeed, as you have not mentioned the name of your company nor of your product, we wouldn't even know how. The recommended procedure is for you to describe your concerns on the talk page of the article about your product. Maproom (talk) 15:28, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The best and likely fastest way to get this resolved would be to contact our OTRS team at info-en wikimedia.org. They'll be able to work with you to address the concerns you have about the article on your product, and they've received very high customer service ratings over the past several years. Hersfold non-admin(t/a/c) 16:37, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Find a meaning

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How do I use this site to just find a meaning of a word like you would use a regular dictionary?§ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.228.217.152 (talk) 15:23, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is not a dictionary (regular or otherwise), it is an encyclopedia. If you want to find the meaning of a word, you should use a dictionary, such as Wiktionary. Maproom (talk) 15:27, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Broken link to another wikipedia page

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I tried to create a link within one of my wikipedia entries to another wikipedia page, and it's telling me that the page does not exist. However, the page comes up when I search for it so it appears to be live and functioning. The specific page in question is called Specimen Provenance Complications. I can't figure out what is going wrong. Any ideas? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Knowerror (talk • contribs) 18:35, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The page in question is Specimen provenance complications, not Specimen Provenance Complications (our software is case-sensitive). --Orange Mike | Talk 18:41, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I believe it is not case-sensitive. You can link to the article titled "Banana" with this link: banana. Maproom (talk) 09:38, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That only works for the first letter, it's the only exception to case sensitivity. The OP was incorrectly using upper case for the second and third words in the link. Roger (talk) 09:43, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Your edit [1] made the link "Specimen Provenance Complications (SPCs)". That is not the title of any article or redirect. The article is called "Specimen provenance complications" and there is a redirect at "Specimen Provenance Complications". You could have written "(SPCs)" after the link as in [[Specimen Provenance Complications]] (SPCs). PrimeHunter (talk) 23:38, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Researcher

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I am a researcher and want that flag..Please..Jinxpolit (talk) 18:50, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Please see WP:RESEARCHER. – ukexpat (talk) 18:55, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The link does that. Dismas|(talk) 19:26, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How Many References??

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Hello Sir,

Hope you'll be fine.. Sir, I created an article but it was rejected by you because you think you need more references. So, sir from your point of view how many references will be needed to complete my article..??

Regards, Aizaz Ur Rahman — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aizaz Ur Rahman (talk • contribs) 20:57, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry, but any "article" filled with lines like, "He is a rising star in the Painting World. He has got a bunch of appreciation by his fans for making extraordinary paintings. ... always propels him to achieve greater heights of excellence in art in which he is succeed by creating New techniques in previous school of thoughts in art. Therefore his worldwide fans declares his work at Mak's Art." is going to get rejected out of hand, as a shameless and unsalvagable advertisement. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:29, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Informal mediation

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Hello, can someone please let me know how to request Informal mediation for a content related dispute, there is no way to submit one on the dispute board? Thanks! (Ximhua (talk) 21:11, 26 July 2012 (UTC))[reply]

Look at WP:DR. I think there is some info there. RudolfRed (talk) 21:30, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Canvassing concern

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If I were to mass message 1000 editors with User:EdwardsBot (to which I have access), asking those editors the following, would it be canvassing or otherwise problematic?

"I'm contacting you because you have participated in the WP:HighBeam, WP:Credo, or WP:JSTOR partnerships where those research databases donated free accounts. I think you should know about a current Community Fellowship proposal to create a Wikipedia Library--a single point of access for approved Wikipedia editors to gain free entry to all participating resource providers. Your feedback on the proposal would be appreciated. I should note that the feedback is for the proposal, not the proposer, and even if the Fellowship goes forward it might be undertaken by presently not-mentioned editors."
Proposal: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Fellowships/Project_Ideas/The_Wikipedia_Library

Thanks for your guidance! Ocaasi t | c 23:41, 26 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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