Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 November 17

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November 17

login problems

I just had a huge trouble logging in! For years I've relied on my browser to fill in my details on the login page but now it doesn't. Eventually I realised that the domain name of the login page had changed! For secure logins it used to be https://secure.wikimedia.org but now it's https://en.wikipedia.org and the old domain name no longer accepts logins - this needs to be flagged up prominently when people go to login as browsers remember usernames and passwords by domain name, they are not psychic! Ideally the old login page should be kept alive, in my case I had absolutely no idea what my password was and had to download a cracking program to get my browser (Opera) to divulge it in plain text so I could login! I don't know when this change took place but it must have been in the last couple of weeks. I also ended up creating a new username on another wiki project thinking at first my account must have been deleted Samatarou (talk) 02:16, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Secure server. https://en.wikipedia.org has been running since March 2011. https://secure.wikimedia.org continued operating until a few days ago but has been deprecated for over a year. Maybe it should have told visitors that. I once pointed out that it didn't.[1] Relying on your browser to remember passwords is risky for many reasons. Users with email enabled at Special:Preferences can get a new password by mail. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:39, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

thanks for the info. My browser settings predate the introduction of direct secure access to wikipedia.org last year. Although I've made over 800 contributions over 5 years to wikipedia articles I've never had the time or inclination to get involved in admin issues (I already administer sites elsewhere) so I was unaware of changes coming up, I am sure there must be many others in my position, so it is unfortunate that your flagging up the issue was not acted upon by those privileged with the ability to edit the relevant pages. Since domain names are the basic granularity of internet security I'm surprised the upcoming changes weren't flagged up via people's user pages, I've had alerts about much less significant matters pop up when logging in in the past. Samatarou (talk) 03:32, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Rendering problem

I do most of my browsing on Firefox 1.5 with JavaScript disabled. I went on the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time article and noticed something terribly wrong with how it rendered (Firefox 12 render with JavaScript disabled to show it’s not just FF1.5). It appears that {{Collapsible list}} doesn’t like the references when JavaScript isn't on, but I have no idea how to fix it. Any help? -- Tohler (talk) 09:51, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

It was wrong template syntax in {{vgrelease}} and also failed with JavaScript enabled (but the failure was only visible after clicking "show"). Fixed in [2]. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:13, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

hierarchy posts

How do you , being an unregistered user format your goddamn replies so that they appear exactly up under the author's post you're answering is there some sort of tags that say where you have to paste your message between so that it gets offset relative to the original post!!! Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.35.43.160 (talk) 10:42, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

If you are asking about indentation, you begin the paragraph with one or more colons. This paragraph begins with one colon.

This paragraph begins with two colons.

Is that the answer you were looking for? —teb728 t c 10:51, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

yep mate !!! Thanks alot thats exactly what i was trying to figure out!! Colons!! who could of guessed it???!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.35.43.160 (talk) 10:55, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

See Help:Wiki markup for other features of Wiki markup. —teb728 t c 11:41, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Inclusion criteria

Hi, i was asked on my talkpage whether this article by Rudy Buttignol in POV Magazine is appropriate for inclusion in the Rudy Buttignol article. Do you think it is? benzband (talk) 11:04, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

It depends entirely on the context. If you're using it to source a claim about Rudy Buttignol then it would be considered a self-published source and it would be acceptable although a third-party source would be preferable. If it's used as a "see also"-style external link then it could be appropriate depending on how many articles Rudy Buttignol has written, whether this article is particularly notable or representative of Rudy Buttignol's writing, and how DUE this inclusion is. There are many instances where it might not be appropriate as well. It really is strictly context dependent. For more help on this question, please post your question to Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard. They are the experts of this kind of question. -Thibbs (talk) 13:57, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! benzband (talk) 14:12, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

How do I find ISBN?

If I have a book, know its title and such, how do I find ISBN to cite it on Wikipedia?

I also found that some users have a shortcut when they cite. I do not recall the exact syntax, but I do recall that they seem to use {{ }} or something similar between ref syntax, and a bot will take over and put it in proper format. Where do I learn such shortcuts?Anthonydraco (talk) 11:56, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Most ISBNs can be found by googling the name of the book and ISBN, google will display it at the top of the page, or it will be in the first link.

I'm not sure what shortcut in particular you are thinking of but there is a tool called Reflinks that semi-atuomatically fills references. I use ProveIt which is useful for filling in information in the Citation templates. Wikipedia:Citation_tools lists loads more. Sarahj2107 (talk) 13:19, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

If you have the book, then the ISBN should be in the front matter. If not, then don't add the ISBN— there is no requirement for it and just searching may give you an ISBN for a different version of the book. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:17, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

shape of earth

is the shape of earth is like a ball or a circular disk or a half cut ball!is it flat and imaginerily round as it appears in photograph taken from space! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.193.141.27 (talk) 12:55, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

You might find what you are looking for in the article Figure of the Earth. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at the Science section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for).For your convenience, you may click here to post your question. I hope this helps. benzband (talk) 13:43, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Help me please

Hi, I'm a new contributor. I had a former account to which I forgot the password, so I followed the steps to recover the password and added my e-mail address so a new password would be sent to my email address, but I put a mistaken username, not the username of my account, and the email has already been sent. My question is, the user who owns the account "Kennethh", does he have access to my email now? Please help me I'm desperate. Kennuser (talk) 13:25, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

First of all there is no user named Kennethh. But secondly, no. The forgotten password process allows a user to have his Wikipedia password emailed to him, not to have his email delivered to his Wikipedia account. The worst I could see happening if Kennethh were a real account would be that this editor would get a note in his email that gave him his own Wikipedia password again. -Thibbs (talk) 14:02, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Oh and the other user would also have gotten to see your IP address which is included in the email. -Thibbs (talk) 14:05, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Kennethh is the name of an account registered on 1 August 2006, but has made no contributions. benzband (talk) 14:16, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

OK. Kennethh would not have received Kennuser's email address. He would receive an email with a temporary password for the Kennethh account and the IP address of the requester. Kennuser's email is still private from the operator of the unused Kennethh account. -Thibbs (talk) 14:48, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

If you fill out the "Username" field at Special:PasswordReset then the "E-mail address" field is completely ignored. A mail with a temporary password is sent to the address stored in the account for the username (if there is one), but the old password will also continue to work. User:Kennethh hasn't actually stored an email address so no mail should have been sent. The mail would have mentioned the used IP address but not the entered email address. The email address is only used if the "Username" field is blank. In that case, if some username has stored the given email address then a mail is sent with the username and a temporary password. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:02, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

This has come up before. Perhaps we should update MediaWiki:Passwordreset-text to indicate only one field should be filled. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:13, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Good idea. "Complete this form to receive an e-mail reminder of your account details." certainly sounds like both fields should be filled. It's the default MediaWiki message so it may also cause confusion at other wikis. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:53, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Sinc numerical methods

Can someone take a look at Sinc numerical methods and fix the math syntax. Thanks Illia Connell (talk) 13:48, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Fixed in [3]. I guess Krishnavedala copy-pasted the code from some software which inserted a non-displayed character to indicate a function application. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:34, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Illia Connell (talk) 18:09, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! I was verifying the Math Tex syntax on an online Tex editor which messed it up. --ElectroKid (☮ • ✍) 23:31, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

REVISIONUSER

Can I use the magic word REVISIONUSER in my talk page editnotice to welcome by his name the user making a revision of my talk page ? Thanks, — Racconish^Tk 16:11, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

According to mw:Help:Magic_words#Technical_metadata you can. Ruslik_Zero 17:22, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

The value of {{REVISIONUSER}} is only set after the editing user has hit Save page (although it does update on a temporary basis if they use Show preview). Up to that point, it displays the login name of the previous person to save an edit to the page. --Redrose64 (talk) 17:28, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Thanks to both. Just to make sure : point is to have the name in the editnotice top screen. I tried with {{REVISIONUSER}}, but it does not seem to work. I am familiar with the page indicated by Ruslik, but I am afraid I am missing a subtlety, such as how to pass on to the editnotice the variable from the talk page modification. Cheers, — Racconish^Tk 17:55, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Until mw:MediaWiki 1.17 it was possible for an editnotice to do that; this exploited a bug in the way that {{REVISIONUSER}} was set. This bug was fixed with mw:MediaWiki 1.18 in October 2011 (see bugzilla:19006), so editnotices can no longer be coded that way. --Redrose64 (talk) 19:32, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Clear. Thanks, — Racconish^Tk 20:13, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Wrong info about a song

In your article on 1957 Tamil movie Vanangamudi ,the song Kattazhagu Mama has been sung b P.Leela and NOT by T.V.Rathnam as given b you. iAm well versed on the ubject of old Indian films. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.197.3.106 (talk) 16:28, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

You have a few options. One option is to post your concern to Talk:Vanangamudi. There other editors who are familiar with the topic can add or alter the information in the article when they see your note. Another option is simply to edit the page yourself. Wikipedia is freely editable by users like you and by clicking the "edit" tab at the top of the page you can alter the information and then click "save page" at the bottom. If you decide to change the page yourself, please remember that it is good practice to add reliable sources to back up your claim. Thanks for your interest in the project! -Thibbs (talk) 17:26, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Solidiers's Award

Please place my name on the list of veterans who have recieved the Soldier's Award

EN3 Lowell E. Beenenga — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.165.184.21 (talk) 17:43, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Of which country's military are you a veteran? I see an article on recipients of the Soldier's Medal. Is that the same thing? And I have no doubt that you did receive it, but do you have any sources that state the fact directly? That would be required if you want to ensure that your name stays on the list. -Thibbs (talk) 18:51, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

And we don't list people on lists like that unless they are otherwise notable enough for other reasons to have an encyclopedia entry written about them; so if you are not, you wouldn't qualify. --Orange Mike | Talk 02:15, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

SwedishDiaspora

In the article Estonian Swedes theres that SwedishDiaspora thingy on the bottom of page. Could someone fix the link "Swedish-speaking popuation of Finland" as Swedish-speaking population of Finland. J.K Nakkila (talk) 18:25, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Done. Thanks for pointing out the mistake. For future reference, if you want to edit templates like that, just click the little "E" in the upper left corner of the template. -Thibbs (talk) 18:46, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Hawaiian Wiikipedia

How do I check the activeness of users on the Hawaiian Wiikipedia? That is to find users that are actively editing either this week or this month.--KAVEBEAR (talk) 18:33, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Recent changes (i.e. edits) to haw.wiki are recorded here: haw:Papa_nui:NāLoliHou. -Thibbs (talk) 18:43, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

Why did you remove external link and description of the book 'Savage To Savvy' I posted up on Wikipedia?

Other books about feral children had links and descriptions so your comment that it was 'inappropriate' should apply to them all in that case. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kirby Gate (talk • contribs) 19:45, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

That wasn't any of us here at the help page. That was User:Yappy2bhere who reverted your edits under the theory that you had a conflict of interest. It would appear that your username is an anagram of the name of the author of the book you linked, and Yappy2bhere must have guessed that you are that author. Also rather than simply citing the book, you linked to a commercial website to purchase the book. Wikipedia is intended as an encyclopedia, not an advertisement forum. -Thibbs (talk) 19:59, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

For further clarification on the subject you should try to contact Yappy2bhere here, or you could post to the article's talk page here. Hope that helps. -Thibbs (talk) 20:01, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

From Thibbs' description, that would appear to come under section 5 of WP:ELNO as a link to avoid. --ColinFine (talk) 17:09, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

File:Batman The Dark Knight Returns (films) part 1 (DVD cover).jpg

Hi, I am the uploader of File:Batman The Dark Knight Returns (films) part 1 (DVD cover).jpg, and I just wondering if any of you can help on moving the file name and removing the older version of it. Thank you very much.--NeoBatfreak (talk) 22:38, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

File moving is a special ability reserved for admins and file movers. Instructions on how to request a file move can be found here. -Thibbs (talk) 05:08, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Bad links?

Hi, this link brings you to porno site on your page: TorrentFlux External links TorrentFlux — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.233.252.161 (talk) 23:53, 17 November 2012 (UTC)

I added a section header to your question to seperate it from the one above. None of the external links in that article went to a porn site when I checked them just now. Can you be more specific about which one you're concerned about? It's also possible that your computer has some malware that is redirecting you. RudolfRed (talk) 00:38, 18 November 2012 (UTC)