Help desk
< April 30	<< Apr \| May \| Jun >>	May 2 >

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.

May 1

Help with moving completed draft to Article

Hi there, I have become stuck trying to move my completed draft to an article and I'm not sure where I have gone wrong. The name of the Article is (Elwyn Richardson) - I would really appreciate your help in publishing this.

Many thanks Zzita (talk) 01:14, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You'd left the "user sandbox" template on the article; I've removed it. --Orange Mike | Talk 01:20, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

HELP PLEASE

I am trying to get into my wikipedia page but cannot. I have forgotten my password and it appears I have also forgotten my user name as everything I put in does not work.

The page I am referring to is for Graham V Rushton and/or Nor the Moon by Night 2013 a feature film.

The info on this page is now INCORRECT and I wish to delete the page entirely -- how do I do this without knowing my 'sign in' details?

My email is -- ^{[details removed]} -- please contact me to sort this out.

I need to remove all info immediately as one of the people mentioned on their SI WALL who was the dirctor and is no longe ris threatenign to take leagal action if it is not removed.

Thank you Graham V Rushton — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.231.88.192 (talk) 01:51, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I can find no evidence of any article about anybody by that name; and the only film by that name which we have an article about, was released in 1958. --Orange Mike | Talk 02:09, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think the OP is talking about User:Graham V Rushton. GB fan 02:14, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The article NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT(2013) film was deleted in June 2011. Are you referring to User:Graham V Rushton? If it's your account then you can request a new password by mail at Special:PasswordReset. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:15, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If you are talking about the Wikipedia article Graham Rushton, it was deleted, although if you are seeing a mirror of it elsewhere online, Wikipedia has no control over it. Dru of Id (talk) 02:17, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Can you go to a page that you know you edited, go to the history of that page, and see if you can find your user name?--Canoe1967 (talk) 02:20, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Are you also User:Grahamvic? --Orange Mike | Talk 02:23, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I blanked one user space page of questionable legal issues for now. Boldly and in good faith.--Canoe1967 (talk) 02:29, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

More feedback please

I've made some additional edits to User:Tomwfortune/Mercy Jets Worldwide Air Ambulance along with others who have contributed to its content. I am looking for some more feedback before submitting the page. Any thoughts, edits advice etc. would be much appreciated —Preceding undated comment added 03:43, 1 May 2012 (UTC).

You need more secondary sources to demonstrate notability.--ukexpat (talk) 04:43, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Citing primary sources via secondary sources

Hi, folks. I have a vague recollection of once reading a guideline about this, but I cannot find it. What is the protocol for citing a secondary source ('Jones') for an idea that has merely been borrowed from and referenced to a reliable primary source ('Smith')? (e.g., 'Smith said in his 2005 essay that the Sun is big.' --Jones) Ideally I would cite Smith's article, but what if Smith published on a website that is now defunct and has no archive? Can I cite Jones' characterization of Smith? NTox · talk 03:57, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Would WP:PRIMARY help? I'm not sure if that addresses exactly what you're looking for, but it's just my try. AndieM (Am I behaving?) 07:19, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The guideline you're thinking of is probably WP:SAYWHEREYOUGOTIT. Deor (talk) 14:46, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. That's a good one, but not quite it. I'm wondering what to do when the reliable primary source has gone defunct, but the information still exists in the secondary source. NTox · talk 19:01, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It is general scholarly practice to cite a primary source that is quoted or summarized in a secondary source, if the scholar cannot obtain access to the primary source. Also, even if the secondary source does not integrate the primary source into its work, the mere fact that the secondary source decided the primary source was worth mentioning may be significant. Jc3s5h (talk) 19:11, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. This is helpful. NTox · talk 19:23, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Karla Turner

The article I want help with is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Karla_Turner

I just added that article. I copied and pasted it from the article posted at http://www.thefullwiki.org/Karla_Turner

That article (from the fullwiki) gives the following reference: "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"

Therefore it seems that this article was originally posted on Wikipedia and was deleted. Is this true?

In any case, Why did Wikipedia have no article about Karla Turner -- such a famous writer? Was there previously ANY article on Karla Turner that was deleted? If there was an article before, is it possible someone deleted it though the desire to censor the UFO work she did?

CLARIFICATION: I have just put that article on Wikipedia with the understanding that it was here (on Wikipedia) before and was deleted. Nevertheless, in the "talk" section I can see this:

"A tag has been placed on Dr. Karla Turner requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be a clear copyright infringement..."

Please help me solve this mystery! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shyambecker (talk • contribs) 06:52, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It was previously deleted as a result of this Afd discussion: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Karla Turner. --ukexpat (talk) 06:55, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

And has now been re-deleted, as a recreation of a page that was deleted as a result of the deletion discussion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Karla Turner. --Orange Mike | Talk 12:51, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

open search

Why can I no longer do an open search on my mobile phone? If i type in a word that does not already contain an article I'm left clicking the search button repeatley to no avail, it's extremely annoying. Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.109.198.73 (talk) 09:28, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Try Wikipedia:Village pump (technical).— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:47, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Replacement for <tt>?

Help:HTML in wikitext states:

"<tt> (deprecated)
Indicates presentation in a fixed-width font"

But what should be used instead of <tt>? --Mortense (talk) 09:29, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

For which purpose? I see you are a software engineer. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Computer science/Manual of style#Code samples. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:10, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This is not related to source code. An example would be inline formatting (in normal text) of the name of a checkbox in a Windows program (whether or not this should be monospaced is another matter). --Mortense (talk) 15:17, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You can use <code>...</code> tags for that like this. It changes the background color a little but that's fine for this purpose. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:29, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

< code > is the prefered solution. RedirSwans (talk) 01:50, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

open search malfunction

To whom it may concern, Why can't I do an open search on my mobile phone? Whenever I write in a word that does not already contain an article and it automatically takes me to me to a page with the closest match. Ex. If I type he it takes me to hertz every time or even worse when it cannot find a match it leaves me repeatley hitting the search button to no avail. I thought perhaps it was my phone but this only happens on your website. It is extremely annoying, hope to hear back . Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.109.198.73 (talk) 09:40, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Try to ask at WP:VPT. Regards.--GoP_T^C_N 10:10, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Georg Mendelssohn

I found an article on Georg Mendelssohn on Wikipedia via Google but can't find it searching in Wikipedia. Was I looking at a bogus site? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Truthordare (talk • contribs) 10:30, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Was Google showing you the article at the German-language Wikipedia, de:Georg Mendelssohn? -- John of Reading (talk) 10:38, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Cite button in RefToolbar 2.0

The instructions on the edit page of Wikipedia talk:RefToolbar 2.0 state that specific problems should be raised here.
I use IE8 XP Vector with both boxes (Enable enhanced editing toolbar and Enable dialogs) ticked in my preferences.
The Cite option has disappeared from the RH side of the toolbar
Arjayay (talk) 11:36, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It works for me. Try to clear your entire cache. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:21, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, but that doesn't work - tried clearing the cache, tried a McAfee "deep-clean", tried a re-boot, tried turning the settings in My Prefernces off and back on again .... any other ideas? - Arjayay (talk) 14:36, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Does the toolbar look like the second row in the table at Wikipedia:RefToolbar 2.0#Troubleshooting, or like the third row but without "Cite" at the end? What happens if you log out? The Cite option should also be present at the end for logged out users. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:01, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes - that's my normal toolbar - but it usually has the "Cite" at the end
I tried logging out but it made no difference, so I cleared my cache as well, but it still made no difference
As stated above this is with both boxes ticked under "My preferences", so I tried all the combinations :-
* Both off gives the long string of buttons (no drop downs) but the Cite button doesn't work
* First off, Second ticked, gives the long string of buttons (no drop downs) but the Cite button leads to the pop-up "Are you sure you want to navigate away from this page ..."
* First ticked, Second off, gives the "Advanced" options permanently on display. "Advanced" can't be cancelled and the standard options (bold etc.) do not work
Any other ideas? - Arjayay (talk) 17:53, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm unsure from your "Yes" whether you see the second row in the table at Wikipedia:RefToolbar 2.0#Troubleshooting, or the third row but without "Cite" at the end. Do you see the third row without "Cite" and also without the {{}} icon in the middle? Have you followed the full procedure under "To completely clear the cache" at Wikipedia:Bypass your cache#Internet Explorer? Can you try another browser or computer? There might be a JavaScript problem if it doesn't work when the cache is completely cleared and you are logged out. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:17, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

User Name

I miss spelled my User Name. How do I change it?

Do I need to delete my account and then sign-up again? If so, how do I delete my account?

Thanks, — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mayorfrand (talk • contribs) 12:23, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You can request a change of username here. However, since you've made no edits yet (apart from this message), it would make more sense to just create a new account. You can't delete your old account, but you can simply not use it. Yunshui 雲‍水 12:41, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

inquiry

hi...

i want to know who posted the information on this page

Koliwara — Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.62.20.150 (talk) 13:29, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The article's history page shows all of the contributors to that article.--ukexpat (talk) 13:51, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like about thirty or thirty-five editors have contributed something to that article. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:44, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

To get contact details of universities from which contact details are absent on their official websites

dear Sirs,

Please be kind enough to insert email addresses of authorities of each of the university that you publish details. I've found a big problem of contacting South Korean universities. They don't publish those and even from your pages I can't find contact details.

Thanks

Dilip Sirisena Sri Lanka — Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.245.165.30 (talk) 16:14, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This is an Encyclopedia, not a directory. Roger (talk) 16:32, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Stand-alone list vs Article with embedded list?

Hello. I'm creating on my userspace an article about all the coaches of an association football club. It started out as a table-formatted list, but then I decided to add a "history" section, which got quite extended so I even had to divide it in smaller sub-sections. My question is if I can consider it as a stand-alone list with a particularly big prose section or if it's an article with a long embedded list? I'm asking this because when I put this on the mainspace, I'd like to know how to better name it: List of X coaches (as in a list) or Coaches of X (as in an article). Thanks in advance for your help! Parutakupiu (talk) 16:30, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If there is substantial text, I'd say Coaches of X F.C. makes more sense. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:41, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That was my gut feeling as well. Thank you for confirming it. Cheers. Parutakupiu (talk) 16:50, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Saving my searches

Hi there,

Maybe a simple question really,but how do i save the searches I have done.

Regards

Kyle — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kylebanks (talk • contribs) 16:42, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

We have no facility for saving any searches you may have done. This is more a function of your search engine; Wikipedia's own internal search engine is pretty barebones. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:18, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know if this is what you want, but if you want to have a link to a specific search (for example on your userpage), you can put the following url there

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=word1+word2+word3&title=Special%3ASearch

where you would replace word1, word2 and word3 with your search terms. For example, if you want to have a link to a search for water tree (this is just a made up example), you would put

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=water+tree&title=Special%3ASearch

on a page (note the words water and tree inside the URL). Please be aware however that this can yield different results each time you click on the link (for example if new articles have been created since the last time you clicked on the link and these articles are reckognized by Wikipedias search engine in the same search).

Apart from that I am with Orange Mike. Wikipedia's search engine doesn't contain any mechanism for remembering or saving any searches. -- Toshio Yamaguchi (tlk−ctb) 17:50, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Book Error

When I try to download a PDF version of a book, a window comes up that says "ERROR: Version mismatch between Javascript and PHP code. Contact admin to fix the installation of Collection extension for MediaWiki.", and then the progress does not update unless I refresh the page manually. What is the cause of this? Inter change able 20:35, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Help_desk#Version_mismatch_on_Collections_extension--SPhilbrick (Talk) 21:28, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Rio Pardo de Minas: a really empty place

I was wandering around in my normal chaotic fashion and noticed that the population density of Rio Pardo de Minas didn't agree with the given area and population. I went to the Portuguese article to see what it said. Its infobox states it has 35,000 inhabitants in 3118 km², which according to its calculations, works out to 0.01 person per km², just a leeetle bit low. I tried editing it, but couldn't find it. It appears to be something the template calculates. Could somebody give the Portuguese a heads up? Clarityfiend (talk) 21:41, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have fixed it in [1] by changing 35.000 to 35000. I think 35.000 is a valid way to write 35000 in Portuguese (see decimal mark) but the software interpreted it as 35 when the population density was calculated. When it rendered as 35,000 before my edit, this meant 35 in Portuguese notation. The problem was introduced in [2]. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:27, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:50, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse

The title of this institution is incorrect. CASA Columbia is NOT the Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. It is the NATIONAL Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. The Wikipedia page of founder Joseph Califano explicitly states this fact and " The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University" is hyperlinked. But when that page is pulled up, it switches to the wrong title. Can the title of the CASA Columbia page be corrected?

^[1]

References

^ Joseph Anthony Califano, Jr. (born May 15, 1931) is Founder and Chairman Emeritus of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, an independent non-profit research center affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. He has held many posts in the United States Government including United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1977 until 1979. He is now one of only two living former secretaries of Health, Education, and Welfare (the other is his predecessor, Forest David Mathews).

Done though not by me, someone else got to it--SPhilbrick (Talk) 22:00, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Done. I have also added several cleanup tags to the article, as it contains no references to WP:independent sources, no wikilinks, and is written in a promotional style. From reading it I wonder if it might in fact be a copyright violation, but though phrases such as "has assembled the professional skills and research" have several ghits, I suspect that many of these are quoting Wikipedia rather than the other way round. --ColinFine (talk) 22:02, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help needed with inadvertent creation of Category

Hello. Im very sorry to bother you, but Im still not entirely familiar with the various editing procedures in some respects-- today, I inadvertently created Category:List of Famous Families of Lahore whereas I wished to actually create just a List (article form) that I could then expand and work on. What should I do now, please? I visited the Category Discussion page but couldnt understand the rather difficult technical instructions there. If possible, I would like to have this article and continue to work on it; have put in a fair amount of effort; however, if it is better to delete or merge it with some other category/article I would request help with this. Thank you.AsadUK200 (talk) 21:44, 1 May 2012 (UTC)AsadUK200[reply]

Added the initial ':' to the category entry in the above, so that it would appear. --ColinFine (talk) 22:05, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Category pages cannot be moved so I have copied the content to List of famous families of Lahore with attribution to you in the edit summary. I deleted the category page. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:38, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Numbered lists without the indent

This is nit-picking, but I'd like to get it right. I want to make a numbered list in a vertical navbox. The problem with Mediawiki's numbers lists (and HTML's) is that they add too much indent for the small space. I noticed that Mediawiki uses less indent for bulleted lists than numbered list; is there a way to make numbered list only as indented as bulleted lists? I tried typing the actual numbers and using line breaks, but the single-digits won't align with the double-digits. I tried putting the numbers in their own column in a table and making that column align=right, but then I can't have a sub-list within one of the items in the list. Is there another option that I havn't thought of? —Arctic Gnome (talk • contribs) 22:01, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You may have more luck getting a response to your question at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). Monty ₈₄₅ 00:29, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Ferritic nitrocarburizing page

On the Ferritic nitrocarburizing article page there is a section on Plasma-assisted ferritic nitrocarburizing, how do I add Plasma-assisted ferritic nitrocarburizing to the top right search bar so It could be in wikipedia's search bar network system. Is it good to also make a extra page on Plasma-assisted ferritic nitrocarburizing to add more detail.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 23:50, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If you want a search on "Plasma-assisted ferritic nitrocarburizing", and a link to that term from other articles, to redirect to that section then you can make a redirect at Plasma-assisted ferritic nitrocarburizing with the code:

#REDIRECT [[Ferritic nitrocarburizing#Plasma-assisted ferritic nitrocarburizing]]

If you are considering to create a new article then see Wikipedia:Your first article. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:10, 2 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Joseph Anthony Califano, Jr. (born May 15, 1931) is Founder and Chairman Emeritus of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, an independent non-profit research center affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. He has held many posts in the United States Government including United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1977 until 1979. He is now one of only two living former secretaries of Health, Education, and Welfare (the other is his predecessor, Forest David Mathews).

[1]

Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 May 1

Contents