Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 October 7

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October 7

Templates not wrapping in articles

When I expand a template box like "Batting champions" on Buster Posey's page, the list doesn't wrap on the page, but extends waaay over to the right. This is using Firefox 15.0.1 on Ubuntu. Can I fix this somehow? Thank you for your help.

It looks just fine for me – Safari 6.0.1 on OS X. Sorry, but I don't know what the problem could be. –– Anonymouse321 (talk) 05:12, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Everything is fine here too. Firefox 15, Win7. Dismas|^(talk) 05:20, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

WP:WikiProject Apple Inc. page is all messed up

Could somebody tell me why all the Wikipedia headers/sidebars are tiny and overlapping the page? It only has happened in the last revision, and I can't seem to find anything wrong. –– Anonymouse321 (talk) 05:22, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

No idea, but it seems to have been fixed by a purge. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:45, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Thank you – I should have thought of that... –– Anonymouse321 (talk) 06:47, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Editing

Is there any limit of age in wiki? Is there any thing is counted to become a administrator?Can I upload a file which is modified from a wiki file.How can I (I am not an administrator) can protect my user page from others?--pratyya (talk) 05:41, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

1. For how old you have to be to edit Wikipedia? If so, no.
2. There really are no specific requirements, but you might want to read this.
3. What kind of file? A picture or movie? If so, click on the Upload file in the "Toolbox" section on the left side bar.
4. You can't, and you probably shouldn't. But, you can use tools like Twinkle to quickly revert vandalism done to your user page.

–– Anonymouse321 (talk) 05:52, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

On #1, a younger editor might find WP:YOUNG of some help. - Purplewowies (talk) 17:06, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Unintentional damaging content while attempting to fix a trivial mistake

I try asking here for i'm new to editing an article and i didn't manage to contact (or even discover) its original authors. The article modified (by me) is the following Dichlorocarbene

I simply noticed a wrong chemical name (dichloroaziridine) for the substance dicholroDIAZIRINE (they are two different substances actually), and I assumed to simply fix it by manually retyping the occurrencies correctly.

For some reason i don't understand, some explanatory text attached to picture [5] is now no longer visible on rendered page, even if i didn't physically cancel it from the source text (perhaps i have corrupted some markup formatting symbol, but i don't know which). I took care not to do that, but it happened nonetheless :-( I dont' know how to contact the authors to apologize or simply inform of this, in order to revert the unwanted change (while keeping the correction). I hope you can give me some advice to solve this problem. Yours sincerely Gatto_Vizzato — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.8.75.145 (talk) 15:06, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

I don't think you screwed up any formatting symbol. I can see from this diff that you have changed only the spelling. The explanation of the picture has been formatted as a reference note. It was in the form of a reference note even before you edited the page. Any text between <ref> and </ref> will appear at the bottom of the article in the references section. --Anbu121 (talk me) 15:27, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Yes, but just to clarify, you do mean the note for the diagram captioned "Dichlorocarbene from dichlorodiazirine" that begins "a) Starting from phenol reaction with cyanogen bromide to phenyl cyanate..."? It seems to be displaying ok now. Is it still not working for you? If so, perhaps we need to get the wizards in the basement experts at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) to have a look, as I can't see how the simple changes you've made should affect the page in such a way. AndyTheGrump (talk) 15:31, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

deletions of alternate covers

Will inclusions of alternate covers never be allowed on wikipedia? recently I have seen thousands of album covers are deleted, such as this mass deletion (See September 2012 section). Puramyun31 (talk) 17:12, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

The images you refer to have been deleted because (in the views of the editor recommending deletion and the admin confirming deletion) copyright law forbids Wikipedia to use them. I guess we would all like them to be used here, but an organisation as visible as Wikipedia can't really get round obeying the law. Maproom (talk) 21:27, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Graeme Burton

I created an article about Graeme Burton in my sandbox. Someone accepted the article but set it up as a redirect. How do I remove the article from my sandbox without destroying the article?Offender9000 18:10, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Graeme Burton was moved to an independent page on August 29. User:Offender9000/sandbox redirects to it. Edit that page (click on the link where it says "(Redirected from User:Offender9000/sandbox)", and delete the text "#REDIRECT Graeme Burton". Rojomoke (talk) 18:31, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Space before text

In the article Mario Forte the initial letters of each paragraph have been indented by two small spaces. Spaces at the beginning of a line always used to produce a dotted box going off the right hand side of the page, and still does, if I try to replicate this. What is different about this in Mario Forte? (I know the article needs a mass clean-up, but I have not done this, in case it disturbs the formatting) Arjayay (talk) 18:25, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

I don't see any spaces in the article or the source text. - Purplewowies (talk) 18:31, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Neither do I and this "article" is a promo Cv hack job only referenced to the subjects website! Do they even meet WP:GNG? FYI, the article creator and only early editor, — Kouriart (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. CaptainScreebo ^Parley! 19:42, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Always be specific when you report something like this. You say "each paragraph" but I doubt it's all of them. The article has a little variation in the Unicode characters between paragraphs. It's not spaces. Maybe some of the paragraphs are displayed like they have one or two spaces in your browser but not in my Firefox. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:55, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

what do i do if ppl change to an unclear verison?

what do i do if ppl change to an unclear verison? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coginsys (talk • contribs) 19:56, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi, first you start by being clear about what article you're talking about and what's with the "unclear" version. CaptainScreebo ^Parley! 19:57, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

all of them they all got changed and the person say to leave a msg on they talk page but doesnt respond. just changes back to the unclear version — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coginsys (talk • contribs) 20:05, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

What do you mean "all of them"? Somebody has changed all 4 million articles? I think not. Please tell us which article(s) you are talking about. --ColinFine (talk) 22:22, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

He means all of his edits to articles are being reverted to a version he believes is not a clear explanation. - Purplewowies (talk) 22:28, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

He has also asked this question at the Teahouse. - Purplewowies (talk) 22:29, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

this problem is still a problem jsut to let anyone that has solutions thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coginsys (talk • contribs) 10:11, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

If this is an example of what you mean, then I can see the problem. You removed a sourced definition, along with its reference, and replaced it with a simplistic example which is unsourced, inaccurate, and presumably your own work. You may have made the wording simpler, but I'm afraid it did not improve the article's quality or accuracy. I can see similar issues with some of your other edits. Yes, some Wikipedia articles are written in complicated technical language, and making these more accessible to a lay reader is a good idea, but not at the expense of accuracy, and certainly not by removing sourced material and replacing it with unsourced material. If your changes to an article are challenged, the next step is to discuss the wording on the article's talk page and try to reach consensus. I see you have discounted the possibility of editing the Simple English Wikipedia, but if your interest is in simplifying the language in articles wherever possible, that project might well benefit from your assistance. - Karenjc 11:50, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

this is impossible to follow, there's so much clutter, im unfollowing this and using this help page anymore, pls just leave a tag on my page or comment so i know someone replied with solutions to this — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coginsys (talk • contribs) 11:47, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Categorisation

I find the categorisation help pages utterly incomprehensible. What about "A category page is a page in the "Category:" namespace." Pretty good, hey? Has anyone got any simple guidance where to find how to do this? I don't mean the tags, I mean how to determine what the categories are for my article? Afterbrunel (talk) 20:27, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia has hundreds of thousands of categories. Wikipedia:Categorization#Categorizing pages has some tips on how to find suitable categories for an article. For example, find similar articles and see which categories they are in. For Bristol and Gloucestershire Railway, an obvious article to examine is Bristol and Gloucester Railway. Category:Industrial railways in England also seems suitable for a mineral railway. You can search the category namespace at [1] (use the search box below the big "Search" heading). PrimeHunter (talk) 21:36, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Your advice is greatly appreciated; but I am not sure it resolves the issue. I went to the link you suggested, and it doesn't tell me how to choose a category. (Incidentally it has separate sections for Categorising Articles and Categorising Pages. This is frankly unintelligible.) You suggest a category for an article I have had a hand in, (thanks!) but why do we select that category particularly? Why not "Transportation in Western Europe", or "Mineral Extraction Ancillary Activities" or "Practical uses for horses" or "The Industrial Revolution in Gloucestershire" or "New transport links opened in 1824"?? After all, I seek the information "Why ... ?" so that I can do it on my own next time.Afterbrunel (talk) 15:20, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

The main purpose of categories is to group together pages on similar subjects. You should find existing categories and not invent new category names. Existing categories can be found with the mentioned methods. If you try to add a non-existing category like Category:The Industrial Revolution in Gloucestershire instead of for example Category:Rail transport in Gloucestershire then the category link at the bottom of the page will be red and not lead to pages on similar subjects. It's possible to create new categories but there are various guidelines and conventions for this. I don't recommend trying it until you are more familiar with the category system. For example, Category:The Industrial Revolution in Gloucestershire sounds too narrow with insufficient potential for growth with other articles. A search [2] shows there are only two categories in all of Wikipedia with "Industrial Revolution" in the name.

Wikipedia has many namespaces for pages of different types, for example articles like Bristol and Gloucestershire Railway, user pages like User:PrimeHunter, and help pages like Help:Category. The lead of Wikipedia:Categorization#Categorizing pages covers all namespaces. Wikipedia:Categorization#Articles is a subsection only covering articles. Later subsections cover some other namespaces. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:59, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Another method to find existing categories is to start with a broad category and look for subcategories. For example, Category:Gloucestershire contains Category:History of Gloucestershire, but no further subcategory for the industrial revolution. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:14, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

how can you easiely see what is inside an edit, like when you have a reply on help, how can i see if it was for me or not?

how can you easiely see what is inside an edit, like when you have a reply on help, how can i see if it was for me or not? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coginsys (talk • contribs) 20:55, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

If a user edits a particular section (in this case – your question), the section will show up on the revision history of the page.

This page discusses the revision page, and look at how the edit summary has →Section title.

–– Anonymouse321 (talk) 21:10, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Also, you can turn on Navigation Popups. Go to My Preferences > Gadgets > Browsing > Navigation Popups. Then if the page is on your watch list, you can hover over the link to the diff and see if the change is something that you want to click and investigate. Dismas|^(talk) 00:02, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

but... that is not easy -- 1) the navigation thing is better but it doesnt help with like the help page, there's so much stuff 2) the teahouse just puts a tag on your page you know — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coginsys (talk • contribs) 10:07, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

this is impossible to follow, there's so much clutter, im unfollowing this and using this help page anymore, pls just leave a tag on my page or comment so i know someone replied with solutions to this — Preceding unsigned comment added by Coginsys (talk • contribs) 11:47, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Statistics

Hello,

I wonder if there is any possbility to get any statistics on how many displays a certain graphic has had that I have submitted?

Here are my contributions: http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Green_Peace_Heart.svg&page=1 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peace_button_large.png http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Peace_button.svg&page=1

Thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.144.98.179 (talk) 21:30, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

This help page is for the English-language version of Wikipedia, and those images are on Commons, so this isn't really the right place to ask. But if you look at those pages you have listed, you will see near the bottom of each a list of the pages which use them. Maproom (talk) 22:10, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

...and then you can find out how many people have viewed those pages: Wikipedia:Pageview statistics. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:39, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Exhilar Innovative Solutions

<<<advertising removed>>> — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.217.240.40 (talk) 23:01, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

What does this have to do with Wikipedia? –– Anonymouse321 (talk) 23:11, 7 October 2012 (UTC)