Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 June 6

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June 6

Toca Rivera

I was trying to create a page for Noel "Toca" Rivera, a percussionist (here is the page). Then, a few weeks after my page was declined, I saw that someone else had already had a Toca Rivera article page approved, which had not been created until a while after my page was declined and with, practically, an exact copy of the paragraph that I had in my original draft. What I'm trying to say is, I think I deserve some credit for the page that DID get approved. Joshbob10 (talk) 01:35, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

I understand, but what do you want to ask? What do you want us to help you with? 71.146.10.213 (talk) 05:07, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

You are right you should be credited per Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia. I have credited you in [1] and posted {{Uw-copying}} to the user who copied your text. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:26, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Monitor what is being added to a category?

Does anyone know how to keep track of what article is being classified under a category? A lot of anonymous editors are just adding random people under the Category:Filipino people of Spanish descent without reliable sources. Its becoming a pain to go through each article that was added on this list and remove them from the category using Twinkle. I want to be able to keep track of what's being added here so that I can notify the users who are doing this. Also how can I leave a automatic note about adding random people into categories like this so that this doesn't happen again? Bleubeatle (talk) 02:52, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

You can add this

importScript('User:ais523/catwatch.js');

to your vector.js subpage. It will show you, in your watchlist, when articles are added to the categories that you are watching. Dismas|^(talk) 03:17, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

How do I access this subpage? Bleubeatle (talk) 10:43, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Like you would any of your subpages. Put a slash after your username and add vector.js. So this would be at User:Bleubeatle/vector.js. Dismas|^(talk) 11:00, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

To expand on this a bit because the installation is tricky: As said, go to your personal JS and add the code importScript('User:ais523/catwatch.js');, but then you need to create the separate page User:Bleubeatle/WatchedCategories.js. Place there:

var WatchedCategories=new Array(
 
 // Place categories in this list. There should be a comma in all rows
 // but the last; make sure the names start with a capital letter, have
 // the correct case for all other letters, and don't have Category:
 // before them. This watchlist cannot be kept private (that is, other
 // users will be able to tell which categories you are watching).
 //
 // After editing this list (either for the first time or if you change
 // it later on) you will need to bypass your cache.
 
 "Name of category (do not prefix "category")",
 "Next category name",
 "Last category name has no comma"

 );

Make sure to then bypass your cache. Note that many user who have tried this needed to log out and restart their browsers before it would work, even after bypassing the cache.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:23, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

Cite button missing

The cite button for the reftoolbar is missing from my edit window much of the time. It is actually there right now, but I've been missing it a lot lately. Has anyone else experienced this or know what could cause it? Ryan Vesey Review me! 03:34, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Have you tried asking on WP:VPT?— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:22, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

A similar question was asked a day later. I took the liberty of copying the answer from there.

See WP:REFTOOLS. You can enable the advanced toolbar via my preferences > editing > usability features and checking the box. The cite button - now a dropdown menu - appears at the extreme right of the editing toolbar.

— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:01, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

This is a known problem and is a pain. It comes and goes from the advanced toolbar, at least for some of us, and is being discussed at Wikipedia talk:RefToolbar 2.0. No one seems to have a solution. Dougweller (talk) 06:21, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

image in interlanguange links

How to used image in interlanguange links to en-wiki? should we download the image and upload it to en-wiki? or anything else? *Annas* (talk) 03:42, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

To be clear, are you asking how to add an image found on another language Wikipedia to en-wiki? If the image is local it should be downloaded and re-uploaded assuming it meets our guidelines on non-free content use. If it is a free image and it has not already been uploaded to commons you could consider moving it to commons if you can figure out how (I still can't do it on en.wiki) or just uploading it to commons with attribution. If it is already on commons then you can use it like you would any other image. Ryan Vesey Review me! 03:50, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Editing protected page

Recently, I seen this revision on the main page of English Wikipedia [[2]].I am aware that the main page is fully protected and can be only edited by administrators.but, see this link [[3]] it says that User:Centrx does not belongs to the group of sysops.Then, How he managed to edit a protected page?Max Viwe | Viwe The Max 05:26, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

User:Centrx became an administrator in 2006 (see Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Centrx); after the edit you cited, he was de-sysopped and blocked. Dru of Id (talk) 05:56, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Table

The Midwest Athletic Conference page has a table with its state champions. Why is the school column so wide? How do you fix a problem like this? Also, why is the table disconnected from the rest of that section? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest_Athletic_Conference#State_championships — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.28.46.234 (talk) 06:16, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

I think I've fixed it. Take a look and see if that's the way it's supposed to be now. Basically all I did was close the table correctly. Dismas|^(talk) 06:38, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Deletion of most of the Wikipedia entry for William Glen. Unauthorized. please restore to full entry as published for several years.

William Glen (geologist and historian) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

The history of professional activities, honors, publications, etc for William Glen has been deleted almost entirely. It has served many as a source for bibliographic search and much else. Please that the most complete version is restored. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ersatzgenug (talk • contribs) 07:46, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

The removal of the extended CV information from this article was correct. Wikipedia is not the right place to store a CV, and should certainly not be used or referred to as a primary source for such information. If Dr Glen has published his CV elsewhere on the internet, then the article can include a link to this in an External Links section. Gandalf61 (talk) 08:08, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Meanwhile it is an unreferenced Biography of a Living Person, and may need to be removed if it remains unsourced. From your edit summaries, you need to read Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. Dru of Id (talk) 08:17, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Agreed, I note one edit summary says "I have updated my former and present affiliations". Dr Glen, I presume that this means that you are Ersatzgenug. I'd appreciate it if you'd read WP:COI and for information on what a biography should look like, MOS:BIO. [4] is nice, calls you a distinguished historian of contemporary science." Wikipedia with its reliance on what other people have said about a subject can come as a surprise to new editors who aren't used to the way we work. Dougweller (talk) 11:05, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Note that I have moved the article to William Glen (geologist) on the principle that disambiguated titles should be as simple as possible.--ukexpat (talk) 12:55, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

BTW what exactly does the word "Unauthorized" in the heading mean? Since when does anything on WP need to be "authorized"? Roger (talk) 13:00, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

It usually means that somebody is under the misapprehension that their "authorisation" is in any way relevant to a Wikipedia article about them or their company. --ColinFine (talk) 15:20, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Reference list

Recently an editor changed a reference list I'd made from the format '<references/>' to '{{reflist}}'. Is there a preference or rule to use one or the other? Is there a functional difference? --Wolbo (talk) 09:10, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

There isn't (AFAIK) any rule over which to use. {{Reflist}} is more common, because as well as including the <references/> parameters, it adds additional functions (such as multiple columns, etc.). Generally

is used on new articles, but those older ones with <references/> are left as they are. Yunshui 雲‍水 09:18, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

I believe there was a recent discussion about changing all instances of <references/> to {{reflist}} but I can't find it (and only looked at it perfunctorily so I can't report the trend of comments there). An older discussion touching on the issue is at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 67#Change to template:reflist fontsize wiki-wide? Anyway, I sometimes change this when I want to use columns, like {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}} which is often preferable for long reference lists.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:54, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

ufc

2012 in UFC events (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

i love coming here to find out whose fighting in ufc and when,but some of the pages aren't workng i.e. ufc on fx 3. if you click on that it just says 2012 ufc events,then it list every ufc ever and never gives you information on that event. can someone please fix this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.240.207.72 (talk) 11:07, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

A link or two would really help us to figure out what exactly you are going on about. Roger (talk) 13:01, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

I've linked the main article; I won't do the 35 redirects. This is part of the Ultimate Fighting article wars. Dru of Id (talk) 14:04, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Australian Cricket Society

The article I wrote last year entitled "Australian Cricket Society" has not been published as a page by Wikipedia. What do I have to do to get it published? I am the webmaster of www.australiancricketsociety.com and authorised to write the article. Gamesdownunder (talk) 13:20, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Where did you write it? BTW being "authorised" means nothing on Wikipedia, please see WP:OWN and WP:COI. Roger (talk) 13:27, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

The draft is on you user page at User:Gamesdownunder. See your previous question and answers about this in the archives at Wikipedia:New contributors' help page/Archive/2011/August#Userspace draft.--ukexpat (talk) 13:41, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

renaming a page

Hi, I was wondering if someone might be able to help me please. Zurich Financial Services have recenely changed their name to Zurich Insurance Group. I have been able to alter all the page names other than Spanish as it appears to be locked. Please could someone help me do this? Thank you GraRey (talk) 13:23, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

I looked at the Spanish article and couldn't move it, so I suspect you will need to ask for help at their Help Desk.--ukexpat (talk) 13:34, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Thank you so much for trying. GraRey (talk) 15:17, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Admin

How many edits do I have to need to become an admin on the Wikipedia? Morgan Katarn (talk) 14:38, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

No strict limit, but have you read Wikipedia:Administrators and Wikipedia:Guide to requests for adminship? - David Biddulph (talk) 14:41, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

42 + de.wikipedia admin is the most unusual. Dru of Id (talk) 14:58, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Well, the 42 is edits on en.wikipedia, his count on de.wikipedia and meta were much larger. ( but still fascinating...)Naraht (talk) 15:25, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

new page?

Hi I have been pointed out that there is no article regarding a certain university research institute for which i am currently working. There is quite a good deal of material on wikipedia mentioning us since we are pretty active in new medias, so the lack of an entry looks to me like a minus for the encyclopedia; in fact, other similar institutes have their entry. So after doublechecking, I can confirm, and I can also say that the university webpage generally mentioning our activity actually points to a wrong (technically speaking) page. I am able and willing to fix this, I have been editing entries in my field in the past, although not as a registered user. I have double-checked all the policies of wikipedia, regarding creation of new pages, notability, NPOV, etc and I believe all is fine, but before proceding I would like to receive confirmation, since I want to be sure I am following the policies properly.

Hope this is the right place to ask, thanks in advance.

Tiandem (talk) 15:42, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

You shouldn't try to write the article yourself if you have a conflict of interest. Try Wikipedia:Requested articles. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:14, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Testing

Testing? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.97.171.80 (talk) 16:44, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Try Wikipedia:Sandbox. --Jayron32 16:51, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Adding a Bio

Hello

I was asked to add my boss's Bio to Wikipedia. What are the steps I ned to take in order to complete that task? Thank you

Miranda— Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.62.31.10 (talk • contribs)

Don't do it - Wikipedia is not a repository of resumes. Roger (talk) 16:53, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

To expand Roger's reply: if your boss is notable by Wikipedia's standards - that is, he has been written about by multiple independent reliable sources, then there may be an article about him, but you should not write it as you have a huge conflict of interest. If you can find the necessary references, you could request an article at requested articles - but like everything else on Wikipedia that is serviced by volunteers, so it may take a while. --ColinFine (talk) 17:30, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Individual questions

Hi folks! Is there a special page on the Wikipedia where I can ask multiple questions what do not have to do with the Wikipedia, like the Wikipedia:Auskunft what belongs to the German Wikipedia? Morgan Katarn (talk) 17:45, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

The reference desk at WP:RD can answer general knowledge questions on a variety of topics. RudolfRed (talk) 17:57, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Vandals

Is there also a special page where I can add vandals to the administrators' attention who are vandalizing the Wikipedia? Morgan Katarn (talk) 18:02, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

WP:AIV Roger (talk) 18:13, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Help with semi-protected of a wiki page and a banned user.

Firstly: Im trying to request semi-protected a wiki page: Blockbusters (UK game show) I'm not sure how you correctly do it. The reason for asking is a BANNED USER is name coming back in as Ramdon ISP, to get around this. User was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Darkness2005 but he came back as : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/86.141.207.87 Before switching over to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/86.153.180.149

I hope someone can help.

User:Crazyseiko (talk) 21:03, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Quite simple, really. Just politely ask an admin(on their talk page) (preferably an experienced one) to semi-protect the page. I'm not sure there is a certain page to request protection/ unprotection. --Drla8th! (talk) 23:33, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for page protection. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:49, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

External links question

Is there the potential of an issue occuring if I am adding the same external link to multiple pages? The link is to a university map collection concerning state geography/history of Oklahoma. I have identified certain pages that researchers would benefit from using this external link. I am not adding it to random pages. Please let me know what I need to do so that any problems are limited. Can I avoid the issue of these links being considered spam? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Athiker99 (talk • contribs) 20:39, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Well, only adding links to one site falls under Wikipedia:Single-purpose accounts (note that that's not necessarily a bad thing). The 5th one threw up a warning tag, and they were all reverted. The link to an educational institution, for historical maps, should probably have been given more consideration, and discussion, but I don't see whether you answered the questions asked at your post here in November: are you affiliated with the university, specifically with the maps? and what value do you think they add to those articles? User:Orangemike's questions to you near the bottom of the page. Dru of Id (talk) 22:12, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes,I am connected to the university library and the McCasland Digital Collection of Early Oklahoma and Indian Territory Maps project. I am a graduate student/intern. To answer the second question. Would this link contribute? I would say "yes". This collection is housed and being digitized at Oklahoma State University. It is currently the largest digitized collection of Oklahoma maps in the state and growing. Close to 4,000 digitized maps. If a Wikipedia visitor is searching a historic/geographic page concerning Oklahoma they could find maps that are not available anywhere else. Primary sources like maps are invaluable to researchers. If there are other question please let me know. If you have advice for me I would appreciate that as well. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Athiker99 (talk • contribs) 20:47, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

This kind of issue comes up repeatedly, and anyone adding many links can expect significant resistance. The place to get guidance on the issue is at WP:ELN. Johnuniq (talk) 08:41, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

Should this be in an article?

Should information about these illegal forms of pornography be allowed on this page?

Genres of pornography#Age — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.101.215.2 (talk) 23:42, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Why not? See Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not censored. Dru of Id (talk) 00:50, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

The Alhambra Decree Image Premission Request

Dear Wikipedia,

I would like to request permission to use the jpg image of The Alhambra Decree from your site. It will be used in the front matter of my book "Flower from Castile Trilogy" as it relates to the Sephardim affected by that decree.

Thank you.

Lilian Gafni Author

If you click on the picture, it will tell you how it is licenced, and under what terms you can use it. RudolfRed (talk) 01:03, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

Compare all revisions of a single line

Is there a way to compare many previous revisions of a single line?

For example, on the Bible citation page, the first Bible quote on the page used to only have the Bible reference, not the version acronym. (The next line explains the reference as if it contained the acronym. I just added the acronym, but if possible, I'd like to restore it to what it was when the referencing line was written.

Computergeeksjw (talk) 23:58, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

I've never used it, but the WikiBlame tool might be what you're looking for. WP:BLAME RudolfRed (talk) 00:59, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

I just used WikiBlame to find that it was this edit that inserted the "common example", although I'm not sure that is what you need. On the history page for the article, you can click "Revision history search" at the top to go to WikiBlame. However, you need to slog through the entire history which you can see by setting the limit to a large number, like this. Johnuniq (talk) 08:38, 7 June 2012 (UTC)