Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2014 October 21

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October 21

Inexplicable negative net size change

In this edit, I expected a net size change of 0, but the history shows -30. I see no explanation for that in the diff. It seems irrelevant, but this was a case where I took the entire article into Notepad for a mass change that I couldn't do in edit mode. Did I replace multibyte Unicode with single bytes? ‑‑Mandruss (t) 00:16, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Yes, and that was correct. The old quote character “ requires two bytes. MOS:QUOTEMARKS recommends a straight " which is part of ASCII and only uses 1 byte. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:05, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Ok, thanks. Actually, to lose 30 bytes by changing 15 characters, the old characters must have required three bytes, not two. ‑‑Mandruss (t) 02:30, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Right, “ is E2 80 9D in UTF-8 while " is just 22. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:40, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Help upload pictures - Masters Environmental Management student!!

Help - upload pictures - AM completing Masters Environmental Management & have posted page on bird species Certhionyx variegatus last Friday plus added a photo outside copyright period to the Wikipedia Commons area - I've waited the 4 days but still am not able to add either the commons photo File:Eggs North pg90.jpg or photos (having received permission form photographers). Kathy Maguire (talk) 00:55, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Just to show you how, I added the nest photo to the Reproduction section of Pied honeyeater. You may wish to add a caption, or move it to a more suitable location. For information about using images in articles, see Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. As for images received with permission, I don't think that will be allowed unless the photogs have released the images under acceptable free license; see Wikipedia:Image use policy. ‑‑Mandruss (t) 01:18, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Referencing problem

Your Computerr Dragon will not give me an account, I wish to correct an error in your article "augustian History and give you the reference, but I can't achieve that simple thing. I would prefer to send you a letter by slow mail with this correction, but

"Phlegon" said to be "Unknown " Phlegon" is referenced three times in Origen's work "Against Celsus" which is on the web

References

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.218.236.14 (talk • contribs) 02:13, 21 October 2014‎ (UTC)

Hi, welcome to Wikipedia. I assume your suggestion is about Augustan History. Please post your suggestion at Talk:Augustan History. You can take all the time you need to type at that talk page. All the best, Taketa (talk) 04:15, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Clueless user handling

What to do when a new user lacks a clue about anything besides basic use of edit mode, and therefore is deaf to edit summaries, article talk pages, their own user talk page, notifications, etc? When things aren't bad enough to seek a block (they're not vandalizing, just using really bad judgment), but it's too time-consuming to follow them around cleaning up after them? Note, this is more for my own education than for addressing one specific user. ‑‑Mandruss (t) 04:18, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

As WP:ANI says, the first step is to attempt to explain the situation to the user, perhaps with welcoming templates advising them to check out the Teahouse or similar. If that fails, and as you said the editor would seem to be moreso confused as opposed to set out to vandalize, then their disruptive editing should be brought to the attention of an administrator via WP:ANI. RegistryKey^(RegEdit) 05:13, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

use their talk page. if they dont communicate, begin giving the standard warning templates and escalate if the continue to be non responsive and non productive. Wikipedia is a collaborative project and so basic communication skills are required WP:COMPETENCE. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 05:17, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

This is well summed up in Wikipedia:Competence is required. --  Gadget850 ^talk 09:58, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Maybe, it also has to do with what kind of prompts and click through tour (somewhat like the WP:TWA) a person who registers for the first time is taken through. Many new users don't know a bit about userspaces, contribs, talkpages etc. Any idea who takes care of that? --Fauzan^{✆ talk}_{✉ mail} 11:38, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Watchlist dots

My watchlist has a dot or small bullet at the start of each line. Some are green, some blue. No explanation in Help:Watching pages. Someone else posted a similar question in August at Help talk:Watching pages#Bullets/Dots, but it has gone unanswered. Apparently they see something different at that location. Not that I'm OCD or anything, but I mustn't have unidentified dots on my screen. :) ‑‑Mandruss (t) 06:43, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

The green ones are edits that you have not checked or viewed. The blue ones are edits that you've seen. You don't have to view the diff. Just viewing the most recent version of the article will turn a green dot blue. Dismas|^(talk) 06:45, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Oh ok, thanks. My old eyes could use more color contrast between the two states, but I think I can make use of that anyway. ‑‑Mandruss (t) 06:55, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

advertising or inappropriate external links

Hello,

I have been trying to rework an existing wikipedia side regarding Tiger (danish store) but i recieved the following message:

Please do not add advertising or inappropriate external links to Wikipedia, as you did in Tiger (Danish store). Wikipedia is not a mere directory of links nor should it be used for advertising or promotion. Inappropriate links include (but are not limited to) links to personal web sites, links to web sites with which you are affiliated, and links that exist to attract visitors to a web site or promote a product. See the external links guideline and spam policies for further explanations of links that are considered appropriate. If you feel the link should be added to the article, then please discuss it on the article's talk page rather than re-adding it. See the welcome page to learn more about Wikipedia. Thank you.

It was never my intention to do advertisement or inappropriate links, and I would like some clarification of which part of my article was in violation.

Kind regards Daniel Fromberg

DanielFromberg (talk) 09:49, 21 October 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by DanielFromberg (talk • contribs) 09:46, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

You can read WP:NOTADVERTISING and WP:NOSPAM. Specifically, your edit added some promotional or advertising tone to the article, and lots of minute details which may not belong to Wikipedia, but on the company's own website. The best place to discuss is the article's talk page, Talk:Tiger (Danish store). Pinging NawlinWiki. --Fauzan^{✆ talk}_{✉ mail} 11:29, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

The sentence "Over time, Tiger’s business focus has shifted from cheap to unique, from generic to own-designed products, from single to multiple price levels, from a spontaneous to a deliberate assortment" is blatantly promotional. If you can't see that, I recommend that you avoid making any edits to Wikipedia. Maproom (talk) 15:59, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

The Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC)

Hi there. This acrticle is part of cross-wiki-spam for a travel agency selling holidays in Israel combined with hebrew-language-courses (see [1]). I see no notability and its just a cheap advertisment. Since I don´t have the slightest idea on how to propose deletion, I hereby ask someone who knows how to it to do this for me. Thank you very much in advance. Weissbier (talk) 11:21, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Hi Weissbier, can you provide an English translation of the linked German Wiki discussion you provided? While your concern may very well be valid, looking at the article independent of your concern, it appears to be an article that meets the criteria for inclusion on Wikipedia based on the policy of Notability (organizations and companies). The first step I would suggest is either bringing up this matter on the article's talk page, or directly as an Article for Deletion discussion. RegistryKey^(RegEdit) 17:10, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Request name change to article 'P.J. Polyp'

Article in question: P. J. Polyp

Request for name change of article from 'P.J. Polyp' to 'Polyp (Political Cartoonist)'.

The subject of this article no longer uses the pen name 'P.J. Polyp'.

A {request edit} message has also been left on the article's Talk page.

Kind regards, Sparkysparkspark — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sparkysparkspark (talk • contribs) 13:42, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

I can't see any such request at Talk:P. J. Polyp, which has not been updated since August 2012. --David Biddulph (talk) 13:47, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

It looks as if you may have put the request on your own user talk page instead. - David Biddulph (talk) 13:58, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

interwiki link for categories

I wanted to link an English Wikipedia category to a Norwegian wiki page. https://no.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=22_(band) The category page is 'Best Before Records Artists' to pull related foreign wiki pages to this category page but I am having difficulty directing the link to the English Wikipedia. I've tried several prefixes such as w:en: and couldn't get the link to work. So can anyone kindly advise me on what the correct prefixes are? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wainessjk (talk • contribs) 13:56, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

I have answered on the user's talk page that it is not possible to get a no:wp page to appear in an en:wp category, he would have to make an en:wp article about the band. If anyone knows better, please advise him. JohnCD (talk) 14:44, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

EPD eukaryotic promoter database

I created this page today, how to know if it is already accepted and publisched ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rcavin (talk • contribs) 14:10, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

I don't know what you mean by "accepted and published". I assumed that you meant that you had created it in draft space, and wanted to know whether it had been moved into article space. However, you created it in article space, and it is still in article space as EPD Eukaryotic Promoter Database. I am not sure that it should be in article space. It does not provide much evidence of notability, and it is in need of copy-editing, and I wouldn't be surprised if a request is made to delete it. What is your question about the article? Robert McClenon (talk) 14:36, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

So the answers are: "accepted", not yet; "published", yes, but it may get unpublished. Meanwhile, I have done a little copy-editing. Maproom (talk) 14:40, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

By "accepted", I assume that Maproom means having consensus that it is a reasonable article that should be retained. Robert McClenon (talk) 15:55, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Pirates of the Carribean 5

Hi there, as principal photography is starting in a couple of months, I've started to create the article for Dead Men Tell No Tales on my sandbx page, which you can feel free to visit and improve. I will keep adding information until principal photography starts, so it should be pretty complete article by then and we can trim the bloated section on the film series' page. Do I have to announce this somewhere on the project page, so that no one else does a second article for no reason?--DasallmächtigeJ (talk) 15:52, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Maybe someone else has a different opinion, but creating a draft article in a user sandbox and requesting that other editors edit it there seems a little strange. Why don't you at least create the article in named user space, or in draft space? Robert McClenon (talk) 16:39, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

You might like to request an edit notice similar to Template:Editnotices/Page/Doctor Strange (film), which would be displayed to anyone trying to create the article in mainspace. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:56, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, I didn't know that was actually possible. I guess I'll go with that.--DasallmächtigeJ (talk) 17:57, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Since there is a redirect now [2], you can also add something to the redirect and an edit summary like in [3] (I would have linked the draft in the edit summary), so editors can see it if they examine the page history before trying to gather info and write an article. Redirect pages can display content below the redirect so maybe we should also have a template for this purpose. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:50, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

HELP Request: Please help reinstate/improve article. Earlier edits have removed copyright violations in question. Continually blocked.

Request has been made on article talk page, so doesn't need duplicating here

{{request edit}} The page in question is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Schiller Simply trying to improve Wiki community, sources verify that this page is very much incomplete. An earlier user's attempt to revise was flagged for copyright infringement. I am referring to the community of admins and expert editors for assisntance in lifting this and posting and accurate article. Please see edit history, most recent edit attempt is described as "removed copyright material" please see that revision for possible reinstatement. If that too does not meet requirements for whatever reason: I have proactively included a list of sources that verify information as requested of me in talk page instructions. Reliable sources do support the proposed changes: http://www.americascup.com/en/news/111_Americas-Cup-appoints-Dr-Harvey-Schiller-as-Commercial-Commissioner.html http://www.diversifiedsearch.com/PracticeArea/..%5CBiographies/BioTemplate.aspx?ID=14 http://www.citadeldirectorsinstitute.com/panelists/harvey-w-schiller http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=5373465&privcapId=42185469 http://www.deseretnews.com/article/67873/SCHILLER-LEAVES-SEC-FOR-USOC-FOR-THE-2ND-TIME-IN-AS-MANY-YEARS.html?pg=all http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Dr.+Harvey+W.+Schiller+Appointed+Chairman+and+CEO+of+YankeeNets,+A...-a059448451 http://www.nccp.baseball.ca/eng_news_story.cfm?NewsID=1026 http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/03/11/Champions/Harvey-Schiller.aspx http://www.citadel.edu/root/commencement_honorarydegrees_corps2012 http://www.asama.org/awards-of-sport/honorary-doctorates 108.231.30.51 (talk) 16:12, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

The request has been made in the correct place, on the talk page of the article, so doesn't need repeating here. I have put nowiki tags around the {{request edit}} tag, as it doesn't belong on this page. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:34, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Southbridge, MA

Please fix this spelling error ASAP. This was brought to my attention by a resident of Town who Googled "Southbridge".

I am the Town Clerk in Southbridge and this was brought to my attention today.

Thank you.

Southbridge,_Massachusetts — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.39.73.122 (talk) 18:05, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Vandalism yesterday, so I've corrected it now. Thanks for pointing it out. Although you theoretically have a conflict of interest, no-one could reasonably criticise you if you corrected such obvious vandalism yourself. - David Biddulph (talk) 18:11, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

You might also wish to regularly check the article for things like this (which can easily be done using the page history). In this case, the vandalism was corrected after only 25 hours, but it could have been much longer. Every article needs at least one interested "caretaker", in my opinion. ‑‑Mandruss (t) 18:27, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Epinephrine went wrong

The infobox in Epinephrine displays "Lua error: bad argument #1 to 'sub' (string expected, got nil)." The pre-revert version shows correct infobox, but subsequent diff shows no infobox mess. I don't see what went wrong. Brandmeister^talk 18:29, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

I'm not seeing that error. Local configuration difference? ‑‑Mandruss (t) 18:37, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Looks ok now, maybe my browser messed up. Brandmeister^talk 08:30, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Removing heading from page; creating link in heading

I'm new at creating a page for Wikipedia and have tried reading all the instructions. However, I'm still lost. I created a page about my University's Retiree Association. (I'm a member of the Board of Directors for the Association.) But I can't seem to get the page onto Wikipedia without it also having "User:SmallChangers/sandbox: on it. How do I delete this information or move the page so that it doesn't have this heading?

Secondly, the page is about the University of New Mexico's Retiree Association; however, many individuals know the group as the UNM Retirees Association. How do I get both names in the title of the page?

Lynn Beene — Preceding unsigned comment added by SmallChangers (talk • contribs) 20:41, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

It appears that you almost answered your own question immediately before posting this inquiry. You did first create the article in your sandbox, but you then moved it to Wikipedia space. You may have meant to move it to article space. In any case, User:David Biddulph moved it to article space as University of New Mexico Retiree Association. Since you are a member of the board of the organization, strict interpretation of our conflict of interest policy would have said that you should have avoided creating the article, or should have requested the article instead, but I don't think that is a serious problem, and if the article needs cleanup, it can be edited by other editors. Robert McClenon (talk) 21:35, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

To answer your question about an alternate title, that is done by what is known in Wikipedia as a redirect. I have created one, UNM Retirees Association. Robert McClenon (talk) 21:42, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

As an update, the article has been nominated for deletion. Robert McClenon (talk) 15:25, 22 October 2014 (UTC)