Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2013 June 8

Help desk
< June 7	<< May | June | Jul >>	June 9 >

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.

June 8

Anthony DePalma

My name is Anthony DePalma, which is the byline I've used at The New York Times since 1978. There currently exists a Wikipage for Anthony DePalma which is causing a great deal of confusion. That page more legitimately should be labelled Dr. Anthony F. DePalma, a famous orthopedic surgeon and father of director Brian DePalma. I've considered using my middle initial , R., to differentiate my page from his (now deceased, but that would likely create more confusion in that I have never used my middle initial in my byline or on my books. In the body of the existing article, Dr. DePalma is always referred to as Anthony F. DePalma. It is only in the title that his name appears without the M.I. When I tried to set up a page for Anthony DePalma, I was rejected, and could only reach in with Anthony R. DePalma. I've now had a page prepared, and I am almost ready to submit it, but I would like to see if it is possible to clear this up first. My preference would be for Dr. DePalma's page to be labelled Dr. Anthony F. DePalma, which would release Anthony DePalma so that I could use it myself.

Thanks, ADP — Preceding unsigned comment added by Depalman (talk • contribs) 00:00, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

If an article is added for you, then whatever name it is under there can be a note added to the existing page that can point to yours. Before you submit your article for review, please read the guidance at WP:AUTO, creating a page for yourself is strongly discouraged. RudolfRed (talk) 00:15, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

I second what RudolfRed was saying about not writing an autobiographical article. See also Wikipedia:An article about yourself isn't necessarily a good thing. I have, though, moved the page to Anthony F. DePalma (without the "Dr.") because that appears to be his common name, per reliable sources. We do not add credentials, honorifics or other embellishments to proper names in page title.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:19, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Since you've spent some time writing User:Depalman/Anthony R. DePalma, we're probably not going to dissuade you from continuing to work on it. So, some suggestions. First, improve the format of the footnotes (see WP:FOOT and WP:CITE, and/or go into edit mode at an article that has good footnotes, to see how those footnotes are formatted). Second, take out most, or - ideally - all of the detail that's unsupported by the sources you cite. For example, unless a news article has covered information about your children and grandchild, you certainly should omit their names. (If you keep all the detail, it looks like a vanity profile, something anyone could write for themselves: "In his senior year in high school grade, X's English teacher told him ... ") Third, keep in mind that ideally every sentence (or, at worst, every paragraph) would be supported by a footnote (source), and the majority of the sources are not things like your biography or profile at places where you provided information and the organization posted it. (Such profiles are often considered self-published information - not what Wikipedia calls a reliable source.) And fourth, it really would be good to ask another (much more experienced editor) to review the article and move it from your userspace to where regular articles are, rather than your doing it yourself. Otherwise, you may be surprised at how negative a reaction the article may get. (Wikipedia administrators delete about a thousand articles each day.)

As for naming, Wikipedia's practice is to add a descriptor to a subject name when there is possible confusion, such as "(film)" when a book and a film have the same title. For articles about people, we don't expect readers to know middle initials (and we don't use "Dr." in the names of biographical articles). In this case, I'd guess that the best thing would be to title your autobiographical article to Anthony DePalma (writer). -- John Broughton (♫♫) 20:17, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Text size messed up; not a zooming issue

Due to IE browser issues, I'm using Firefox temporarily. In Monobook, the links on the left side (Toolbox and up) and the text at the top of the page ("project page", "talk", "edit this page", etc., as far as "log out") are all smaller than normal, but I know that it's not a simple case of zooming out by accident: the text everywhere else on the page is the same size as I'm used to seeing. Is there something I can do, e.g. changing preferences, that will make the text all the same size as normal? Nyttend (talk) 01:01, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

@Nyttend: Doesn't sound like what I'm personally seeing (in Firefox), but we might have different OSes or Firefox versions, or add-ins, or there might be something that is interacting with your browser. Have you considered changing to the (newer) Vector skin? If that's not an option, I suggest reposting at WP:VPT, which tends to get more technical editors who might provide a good answer. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 18:44, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. Firefox is version 19.0 on my computer. Got the browser issues fixed, so I'm back to IE and had forgotten about this entirely. I greatly prefer Monobook, and the size thing was quite trivial — I asked because it seemed to be something that needed to be fixed, but not because it was bothering me — so the lack of an obvious solution isn't really a problem for me. Nyttend (talk) 19:41, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Help

What should I do if I have seen someone that has made dozens of malicious edits? On random pages of Hungarian villages he puts nude pictures and saying they where taken in that village. I have deleted some but don't know how to report him or whatever. Charlie the Pig (talk) 03:44, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Report the user at Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism, if he/she doesn't stop after being given a warning on their talk page.-- Brainy J (previously Atlantima) ~✿~ (talk) 04:54, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Infobox help

I recently added an infobox to Braulio Rodríguez Plaza using a infobox template that has worked for me in the past but for some reason the infobox does not work on this bishop. Can anyone help me fix this infobox for me? I do not know if I put it in wrong. Spongie555 (talk) 05:30, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Fixed - it's a pity that getting a bracket wrong can have such big effect. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:36, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Thank you. I knew it had to be something minor. Spongie555 (talk) 05:58, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

URL anchor

Is there an URL anchor or hook available that one can use to jump to Wiki in the midst of a text file? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.72.81.196 (talk) 06:25, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Please clarify what you mean. A wiki is a type of website. A text file is a type of file. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:06, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Some word processing systems will recognise a URL in text, and display them as a clickable link when you read a document on a computer. If that is what you mean, you simply need the URL for a Wikipedia article: you can copy this from the browser bar when you are viewing a page. It will be of the form http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Selfe (for today's featured article, for example). --ColinFine (talk) 21:27, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Help with Accessibility / no skin / no CSS wanted

Occasionally I need to really enlarge the text to see it better, like 400%. Both left and right margins enlarge uncontrollably, leaving very narrow vertical strip for the text itself.

I used to be able to set no skin in my preferences IIRC (or was there some skin without the side navigation bar perhaps?). On occasion due to some error pages do load without any css/skin; then such pages look best - all the navigation foliage is moved to the page's bottom, and the text takes the whole of the page's width. This is what I need / want.

With the new four skins I don't know how to get rid of the side menu (move it to the bottom).

Choosing "mobile" view doesn't help because it uses its own sans-serif font. I need serif to be able to read better. I've replaced the definition of sans-serif font in my browser (Chrome) with a serif one (Times Roman) but mobile view still shows in sans-serif, and I can't read that (believe it or not).

Please help. Firefox has "no css" option, but Chrome does not. Can a fifth skin option - no skin - be added? How can I move the side boxes to the page's bottom? How can I load a page in Chrome with no CSS? Getting an answer to one of these three questions might help. -- Adcipps (talk) 07:03, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Go to http://www.e how.com/how_10001369_disable-css-chrome.html (remove the space for it to work; site is on Wikipedia's blacklist). (Found via Google search for "how to disable css in chrome?". — The Potato Hose 07:19, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

thanks for your feedback, but I don't really want to install third-party extensions for that (I've seen that site before). Is there anything I can put into my custom CSS / JS on WP to move the boxes to the bottom of page? Where do I make a request for the fifth, "no skin", option in the Preferences//Appearance//Skins ? Please help. -- Adcipps (talk) 07:36, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

The boxes on the left are referred to as the sidebar; discussion is here: MediaWiki talk:Sidebar. As for a "no CSS" option for a user skin, I'd say that the likelihood of that being implemented is roughly between zero and nil. You best bet, I'd think, would be to disable it using your custom CSS on WP; perhaps talking to an editor who has posted at the talk page of, or editing Help:Cascading Style Sheets, would tell you if that's possible, of whether you could override the default font via custom CSS. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 20:27, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Also, if none of that helps, I'll note that WP:VPT is where the really technical editors hang out. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 20:28, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Thank you very much for this. Will try. -- Adcipps (talk) 13:53, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Bold watchlist

How do I prevent my watchlist indicating pages I haven't yet visited in bold? I appreciate there is an option in preferences/gadgets/watchlist but checking/unchecking this box makes no difference. I have also read but completely failed to understand 'Customising watchlists' so if there is an answer there, I need some additional explanation (in plain English). Failing all that, is there a quick way to mark all pages as visited, because I find all this bold text extremely difficult to read (ironically!)--Ykraps (talk) 07:33, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Pretty sure that the gadget is the only way. You may get more help by reporting the issue at WP:VPT, since this sounds like a technical issue; be sure to specify what version of what browser you're using, and if you're not using the default Vector skin, you'll need to say what skin you're using. Nyttend (talk) 12:50, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Images in Wheelchair causing a layout problem

Please take a look at the layout of the page. The images in the "Mobility and access" section are "indented" towards the left instead of running down the right margin and are thus squeezing the text into a narrower space than the rest of the page. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 08:36, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

I'm not seeing any such layout issues. Any chance of a screendump?--Launchballer 10:35, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

See http://s14.postimg.org/hvrbendnl/Wheelchair.png Rojomoke (talk) 11:26, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

I was seeing the same thing. I have added {{clear}} at the top of the section where the overlap begins.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:57, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

That's fixed it, thanks! Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:04, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Google Chrome has difficulty with copying coordinates (latitude/longitude).

Most geographic articles in Wikipedia these days have, near the top right hand corner of the article, the coordinates of the location in question as a hyperlink to GeoHack. In Internet Explorer or in Apple Safari, it is possible to very easily copy those coordinates to the clipboard in the usual way. It is possible, and in fact very easy, to copy the coordinates with both right-to-left and left-to-right mouse motions.

However, in Google Chrome, this is very difficult to do. It is possible to copy the coordinates left-to-right, but it requires very precise mouse motion - by very carefully starting on the single and not very obvious white space immediately after the "Coordinates:" link. However, it is not possible to copy the coordinates right-to-left. Any attempt to do so will copy the coordinates and vast amounts of surrounding text and pictures.

This problem appears to be generic within Google Chrome, in that it occurs on both the Windows and the Apple versions of the product. Old_Wombat (talk) 11:58, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

It takes an extra mouse click, but I find it better to go to the GeoHack page and copy the coordinates from the top of that page. I use IE and can copy degrees-minutes-seconds title coordinates with a very careful right-to-left mouse drag; but if the coordinates are in decimal form, I can't manage to copy them at all without the problem you describe. Deor (talk) 12:28, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

So ... You do agree that there is a problem? Question is ... Is this a problem within Chrome, or is this a problem with Wikipedia HTML code? If the latter, do you think that "something" should be done about it? 58.166.81.234 (talk) 12:47, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Browsers usually mark a paragraph with a triple click. On the space after "Coordinates:" you can try to triple click to mark both "Coordinates:″ and the coordinates. You can then remove "Coordinates:" after pasting. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:55, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

There's a Wiki Mini Atlas icon/link between "Coordinates:" and the actual coordinates that probably has something to do with the difficulty. I just attribute it to the inexplicable behavior of computers. Deor (talk) 13:02, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Joseph Isabelle

This article should be moved to Gaston Isabelle (currently a redirect), which is the name by which he was always known. The obituary in the links confirms this. Joseph was the first name of every other French Canadian boy born in the first 60 years on the 20th century (as the name Marie was given to almost all girls), but in practice it was not used. A few other other sources: [1]; [2] [3]. The article af fr:wp is also under Gaston. --Xuxl (talk) 13:21, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Done. Reliable source overwhelmingly confirm your contention of his common name. For future reference, a direct way to make such a request is at the technical section of requested moves. Moreover, in this case, there did not appear to be any technical impediment, and you could have simply been bold and moved the page yourself.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:37, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

In Deutschland Erwache (ISBN 0-912138-69-6), Ulric of England (sic) says:

Swastika - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.... In Deutschland Erwache (ISBN 0-912138-69-6), Ulric of England (sic) says:

Dear Sir

Ulric of England is a company name. The company name is sometimes used by company proprietor and author Ulric Woodhams.

Given the above, please kindly remove '(sic)' from the above reference

Thank you

Ulric Woodhams Ulric of England — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.158.156.86 (talk) 14:31, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Confused. Are you asking Wikipedia's volunteer Help Desk to remove "(sic)" from a published source? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:07, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

No, he's quoting the text he is objecting to from our article swastika. It introduces a quotation from the book (which ought to be formatted as a proper citation - but it appears to be self-published, so I'm not certain it counts as a reliable source). Ulric, I understand why you are unhappy with the '(sic)', but I also see why somebody put it in, since a name of that form sounds unusual for a modern source. In any case, the place for further discussion on this is Talk:swastika. --ColinFine (talk) 21:39, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

On the one hand, I was totally confused, so thanks for the explanation. On the other hand, questions as strange as that come through here constantly, no? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 01:37, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Deletion of history of my user page

For privacy protection (i.e. sensitive personal information matters), I would like to ask you to delete all previous records and versions of my user page (User:Finefir2001) other than the current version. or... Is there any method to do it by myself? Finefir2001 (talk) 16:14, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

 Done by User:TParis. In the future, you can use {{db-g7}} with the instructions and an admin will pop by and delete it for you :) Charmlet (talk) 16:44, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Many Thanks. Finefir2001 (talk) 16:58, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Page full of lies

Michal Belej article full of lies. He born in 1984 not 1982. Not futsul player for team Tango Brno. Playing position not winger. Change these lies. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia = sky full of liars. Beware of destructionists Wikipedia. --Czech Czecg (talk) 18:00, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

You can change it yourself, if you find and cite reliable sources to support your edits.-- Brainy J (previously Atlantima) ~✿~ (talk) 18:21, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Well, if the Wikipedia article is full of lies, they are lies that were first told by UEFA: [4] has all of the same information as Wikipedia does. --Jayron32 18:24, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

UEFA = sky full of liars, beware of destructionists UEFA --Czech Czecg (talk) 18:47, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Malware warning on a source

So this source on the Chow Chow page gives me a malware warning when I tried to check it (the url threw up a reliable source red flag for me). Is there a way I can safely see the contents of the page? --TKK ^{bark !} 19:33, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Proceeding at my own risk, as it were, chucks up a "This page cannot be displayed" error. Tag it as a dead link or erase it.--Launchballer 20:32, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

That's not a reliable source, so I've removed the sentence and its footnote. More generally, you can safely look at old versions of many web pages via the Internet Archive - in this case , see here. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 20:37, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Copyright

Hello,

You have said that you haven't added the Hunter G. Williams page because of copyright infringement. I assure you that's not possible as I wrote the info myself for this site as well as Imdb. Please untag the page and make it live.

Justin Chien — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.210.29.142 (talk) 19:37, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Hey Justin; please see Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. Cheers, Theopolisme (talk) 20:15, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Michel Bernholc

I'm working on a version of it in userspace. There is an article at de:Michel Bernholc, but it contains no references whatsoever AND the google translate version of it makes it illegible. Anyone who speaks decent German willing to help?--Launchballer 20:29, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Try WP:TRANSLATE, and a list of translators is available here. Hope that helps, jcc (tea and biscuits) 20:41, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Article on our radio station at WQJJ-LP

I apologize for asking in this manner but, can someone please teach me to update the logo of our radio station (which is no longer on 97.7-FM and has moved to 100.1-FM) in the article at WQJJ-LP so that it no longer sends people to the wrong location on the radio dial?

The station's website is at http://www.worldwidefm.com and anyone who can help with this is welcome to download the new logo and correct this but, I would really like to be able to know how to correct matters such as this without disturbing anyone in the future.

Thanks in advance, Keith Hammond General Manager - 100.1 Fox-FM — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.143.121.192 (talk) 21:12, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

That's done. I downloaded the new logo from your site, then clicked on the old logo on the article. That took me to the image page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WQQQ-LP_radio_logo.png (or just File:WQQQ-LP_radio_logo.png). There I clicked on the "Upload a new version of this file", entered the filename on my machine, and voila! Rojomoke (talk) 22:02, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Mr Hammond, nobody can upload new images without first registering a user account. This is basically to prevent people from playing with our images and changing them inappropriately, since it's easier to stop people doing this when they're using a registered account. Since you don't appear to have an account, your decision to come here was basically the best thing you could have done. Thank you! Nyttend (talk) 23:09, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, folks! I'll set up an account and "play" a bit (without making any changes) to see what I can and cannot do. I do appreciate this. Thanks very much! 75.143.121.192 (talk) 01:50, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

I do see where the changes were made and I do even see the correct thumbnail for new logo on the actual image page but, the old logo is still showing on the main page (article). Is this something that will correct when links update over time or, is this something that actually has not yet happened? Monsterfm (talk) 02:08, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

I'm seeing the new purple logo in the article, but your browser may not have realised that the image has changed. If you go to the page and then bypass your browser cache (Ctrl-F5 in many browsers) you should see the new logo. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:22, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Hello, Keith, and welcome to Wikipedia. I hope you do create an account, and become a contributor; but in case you should feel inclined to edit WQJJ-LP, please read WP:COI before you do. Apologies if I am telling you something you already know. --ColinFine (talk) 10:01, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

The content re Pero Anes do Canto is wrong

John of Kent did not accompany Edward, the Black Prince, to Castile. It was John Gaunt and he was not an ancestor of Pero Anes do Canto. The correct info can be found in Four Gothic Kings, edited by Elizabeth Hallam, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, NY, pp. 286-301 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.40.107.32 (talk) 22:49, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

If you have a reliable source stating that the information is wrong, please either edit the article, citing the reliable source, or discuss on the article's talk page. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:02, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Hello, and thank you for the correction. Robert has replied with some standard information, but from what you have said, you have a reliable reference. Since the article Pero Anes do Canto is unreferenced, anybody may remove information that they think is wrong, especially if they have a reference. I would encourage you to edit the article to correct it, preferably citing the book you have (see WP:Referencing for beginners for how to do this). Don't worry if you make a mistake: see WP:BOLD. (I could do the edit, but I should not really put in that citation, since I have not seen the book). --ColinFine (talk) 10:11, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

Where do I find council meeting minutes?

How do I log in to get council agenda meeting minutes I can't seem to find the info on main page? Thank you.~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.209.94.46 (talk) 23:21, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. RudolfRed (talk) 00:00, 9 June 2013 (UTC)