Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2014 October 3

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October 3

Assistance in page

Hello, I would like to know how to go about changing the wiki page from user: Earnest Diaz to a regular titled page Earnest Diaz

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Earnest_Diaz

Earnest Diaz 01:42, 3 October 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Earnest Diaz (talk • contribs)

You have a few things wrong, and we will start with the big one Wikipedia is not a resume posting service. And so your content is not appropriate anywhere on Wikipedia and it has been blanked.

On to your points more directly, the page you created is your user page where you can post a little something about yourself, primarily as it relates to your editing on Wikipedia.

In order to become part of the actual encyclopedia, the subject must have been the subject of discussion by those not closely affiliated with the subject.

If you are Earnest Diaz, you have a conflict of interest and should not create a Earnest Diaz page nor edit content about yourself. If you are not Earnest Diaz, you should change your user name so it does not appear you are impersonating him.-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 02:04, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Problem with Arabic script templates

I have noticed that at times that templates that use Arabic script which involves the script going from right to left will effectively capture text that is outside the double brackets marking the end of the template eg ([[Kurdish language|Kurdish:عمر سهروردى]]c.1144-1234). (This piece of code comes from the article Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi. Despite my best efforts I can't seem to cleanly get the template to stop capturing the birth and death dates that follow. So I had to artificially put in the c. to try and physically separate the dates from the text template. I can't believe I am the only one facing this problem and hopefully it is already addressed somewhere, but I couldn't find it. Thanks --Chewings72 (talk) 07:52, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

There is no problem with Arabic here. [[Apple]]s renders as Apples, and [[Apples]] as Apples. Note that both the links render the same, though the first link takes you to "Apple" while the second to "Apples". It helps when you want to use plural words. Rather than typing [[Apple|Apples]] simply type [[Apple]]s. So, you should put a space between the link and "c." to get it right. If you want no space and no eating up of the word by the link, use a zero-width space, U+200B ZERO WIDTH SPACE (​, ​, ​, ​, ​). --Fauzan^{✆ talk}_{✉ mail} 09:17, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, I will give the zero-width space a try.--Chewings72 (talk) 09:43, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Fauzan Did as you suggested, but no luck. Same problem occurred. Try and add {{Unichar|200B|ZERO WIDTH SPACE|html=8203}} straight after ([[Kurdish language|Kurdish:عمر سهروردى]] at the start of the article called Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi. Unless I am doing something crazy, you should find that the text editor will move parts of the no space code in with Kurdish text.--Chewings72 (talk) 10:35, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Instead of linking in that manner, use one of the {{lang}} templates; for Kurdish use {{lang-ku}}. Am I correct in that this is a right-to-left writing system? If so, I need to make a change to {{lang-ku}} to preserve the directionality. I will also discuss adding text-direction isolation to the {{lang}} template directly. --  Gadget850 ^talk 12:31, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Chewings72, it will render properly even if it looks mixed up in the edit window. Just make sure the cursor is in the right place before you paste the HTML code. You can post in WP:VPT if you like, guys there know more about these things. Other than that, better use {{lang}} as suggested by Gadget850. --Fauzan^{✆ talk}_{✉ mail} 17:02, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Gadget850, yes it is right to left. --Fauzan^{✆ talk}_{✉ mail} 17:05, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

I was pretty sure it was RTL, but I have not found a good reference yet. So: I added {{lang-ku}} tot he article, then updated the template to remove italics as they are not appropriate for this writing system, then I enabled RTL mode. This should resolve the issue. There are a lot of specific variants of {{lang}} and not all are implemented correctly, so let us know if you see issues. --  Gadget850 ^talk 18:25, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Fauzan and Gadget850 Thank you for your help in resolving this issue for me.--Chewings72 (talk) 06:30, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

Heading / Name change

The heading of the page '32 (Scottish) Signal Regiment' should be changed to '32 Signal Regiment'. We are no longer known as a Scottish Regiment. I have read through the processes for change, however, I cannot seem to find how to change this myself.

Your help is greatly appreciated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cameraface (talk • contribs) 08:02, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Please have a look at the list of the other Wikipedia articles in Category:Regiments of the Royal Corps of Signals. Most of those other articles have some qualification like that (not simply "British") in their titles. What word(s) would you suggest instead of Scottish? If I can find some online support for your suggestion, I wouldn't personally see a problem with renaming it (which is called a "move" at Wikipedia), and I would be happy to do that. ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 08:18, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

@Cameraface: Ping might be helpful for the first-time Wikipedia user, unless they left a trail of breadcrumbs. Cameraface, you can reply by clicking the [edit] link beside the heading above. ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 15:04, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Contacting Administrator

Good Morning, I have tried to create a page, and was told that it can only be created by administrators. When I followed the link, the administrator said that he/she is on a long breal from wikipedia and that other administrators can review his past articles. Since I am very new to Wikipedia, please help me with who should I contact to get that page created (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=Template%3AUnreviewed-preload&editintro=Template%3AUnreviewed-editintro&summary=&nosummary=&prefix=&minor=&title=Daniel+Kanu&create=Create+a+new+article+directly)

Thank You Ljiljana K — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ljiljana K (talk • contribs) 09:09, 3 October 2014‎ (UTC)

You have a draft at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Daniel Kanu. You deleted the tag which gave you a "Resubmit" button to allow you to submit the revised draft for review after the previous version had been declined. I have reinstated the tag for you. I suggest that before you resubmit you read WP:Referencing for beginners, and make sure that each reference is placed with the specific text which it is being used to support.

You have also generated Wikipedia:Articles for creation/Daniel Kanu, which is not the correct location for a draft and is presumably a duplicate, so I suggest that you request its deletion by adding {{db-g7}} to the top of the page. Draft:Daniel Kanu is presumably another duplicate, but you can't request deletion of that because other authors have contributed. Hopefully someone will tidy things up when the draft is submitted for review. --David Biddulph (talk) 11:50, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

The draft is now at Draft:Daniel Kanu and the other draft pages have been deleted accordingly.--ukexpat (talk) 13:22, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

I would like to delete my account and every articles inside of it...

Hi there. I was creating a webpage on wiki and wanted to give up. How can I delete the account and everything it provides...?

I searched through google and wiki but it all says I am not able to delete it that I am not "admin" of wiki...

I need help could you please ?

Sincerely, — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aaron Sam Peterson (talk • contribs) 09:51, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

All of your contributions (except for your post here) have already been deleted in accordance with speedy deletion criterion G7, because you requested their deletion. No one can "delete" Wikipedia accounts, however. If you want to stop contributing to Wikipedia, just do so. Deor (talk) 10:34, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

It is not possible to delete user accounts, as all contributions must be assigned to some identifier; either a username or an IP address.

All Wikipedia editors have the right to leave Wikipedia for good (ie, permanently). The usual way to leave the Wikipedia project is simply to stop editing. Your contributions remain in Wikipedia. If you wish to resume editing at a later date, you can simply start again by logging into the same account. Old accounts that have any significant edits are almost never deleted or recycled to new users.

If you decide to make a fresh start and do not wish to be connected to a previous account, you can simply discontinue the old account(s) and create a new one that becomes the only account you use. Discontinuing the old account means it will not be used again; it should note on its user page that it is inactive— for example, with the {{retired}} tag —to prevent the switch being seen as an attempt to sock puppet.

Editors seeking privacy per their right to vanish can have their accounts renamed and their user pages and (in some cases) user talk pages deleted. --  Gadget850 ^talk 12:11, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

(Sorry for intruding, but I need to ask this question) "Almost never deleted"? Does that mean that some are, Gadget850? Tharthandorf Aquanashi (talk) 22:19, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Need to move page, but can't...

Hi, I am trying to change the name of this school *St George's School: A Church of England Academy

The page title needs to become "St George's School: A Church of England Academy". I've looked all over but just can't find a way of doing it, any help would be much appreciated!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr-kennedy (talk • contribs) 10:42, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

@User:Mr-kennedy Follow the procedure described at Wikipedia:Requested_moves#Requesting_a_single_page_move. If you have further questions, I am here to answer. Bagnume (talk) 11:36, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Mr-kennedy. I have moved it, but not to the name you suggested: following WP:COMMONNAME I have moved it to St. George's School, Blackpool.

The reason you could not find the 'move' button was that your account is not yet "autoconfirmed": to deter page-move vandalism, an account needs to be more than four days old (yours is!) and have made at least 10 edits (you have made 8, including this one).

If you have an interest in the page, can I implore you to turn the page from a useless collection of information of completely unknown validity into a useful article, by finding and citing reliable sources for the information in the article? See referencing for beginners for how to go about that. --ColinFine (talk) 11:44, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

 Done

I took the liberty of making the following additional edits:

• I removed {{DISPLAYTITLE:St George's School: A Church of England Academy}}, which was added shortly before the move.

• I changed the title above the infobox, since it should match the article's title (and it was misspelled).

• I removed {{DEFAULTSORT:St George's School: A Church of England Academy}}

I hope these edits are all appropriate. ‑‑Mandruss (talk) 09:29, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

Jorge Grant

Hi I have just read an article about Jorge Grant professional football player for Nottingham forest, it states that he is 20 years of age.

However this is not the case, he is still 19 and will not be 20 until December. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.134.239.154 (talk) 11:45, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

The birth date of September (not December) comes from Soccerbase; if you have evidence that this is wrong, please let us have a reference to a reliable source. --David Biddulph (talk) 11:55, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

How can I check on a user's block/ban history?

Is there any way I can do this? --P123ct1 (talk) 13:35, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Hi P123ct1, see Special:Log/block - Sincerely, Taketa (talk) 13:44, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict) For blocks, if you go to the user's contribution page, one of the links at the top is the block log. For bans, until yesterday you could have looked at Wikipedia:List of banned users, but it was deleted last night after this discussion. There is still Category:Banned Wikipedia users. --David Biddulph (talk) 13:45, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

For limited bans/interaction bans/topic bans and other editing restrictions, there is also Wikipedia:Editing restrictions. --Jayron32 14:53, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks to all! --P123ct1 (talk) 15:53, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Creating new page for something which has a page but is redirected to a different page.

Hi,

I'm trying to create a page/article for the disease myalgic Encephalomyelitis , but when I check ed too see if it already exists I am directed to the chronic fatigue syndrome page.

Any ME page would have many links to the CFS page, but as there are now differential diagnostic criterias for both illnesses I believe they should have separate pages.

Otherwise everyone who googles ME gets sent to CFS , which causes bad patient outcomes in hospital settings .

How can I 'undo the page redirection and create a new one?

Ps I'm new at this and was hoping to do a draft page slowly,

Best regards

Littlefish123 (talk) 17:31, 3 October 2014 (UTC)Littlefish123Littlefish123 (talk) 17:31, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Hi Littlefish123, when you are send to the redirected page the redirects name is shown under the articles name at the top of the article. Click it to go to the redirect and once there you can edit the page. Be very carefull with medical topics, and make sure you consider a global view. All the best, Taketa (talk) 17:41, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

But you might want to consider starting with creating the page Draft: Myalgic encephalomyelitis first. Just click on the redlink here, then start to edit. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:52, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

References

Adding a picture in a table with background color?

Hey, I have the page WWII Puppet States, and I have a table with most of (hopefully) the puppet states in WWII. In this page, there is a table. Some of the info in this table have background colors, using the tool bgcolor=, and then a color, like lightgreen. I'm trying to add a column to the table with flags, however, on the corresponding row, the background color goes over the image. You can still mouse over and click the link of the picture, but you can't actually see it. Thanks for any help. Cnd474747 (talk) 19:56, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Cnd474747, you could try WP:VPT.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 22:28, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

North Shields FC Wikipedia Page

I have to say that I am absolutely disgusted at the fact someone was allowed to delete the historical statistics from the above page. Its OK for other clubs at our level to have them on but not us. I spent days compiling them and now they are gone stating wiki is not for meaningless statisitcs. I find the Manchester United football club statistics meaningless, but I bet I'm not allowed to delete them.

Being a member of the North Shields FC committee I am frankly astonished that Wikipedia wouldn't be more supportive of growing football clubs like ours trying to get more information about our history out into the public domain.

I can understand possibly removing the league records going back to the early 1900's but to removed club honours which are important facts about any club, not statistics, I feel is out of order. I am more than happy to clean up the page with any required references as was helpfully suggested in specific cases by other admins. Madworld1979 (talk) 21:02, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Madworld1979. Please calm down. Nothing has been lost: except in very rare circumstances (where something was a copyright infringement, or a libel) everything that has ever been in a Wikipedia article is still there in its history, and can easily be retrieved.

There isn't a "Wikipedia" that "allows" you to do things: there are thousands and thousands of editors like you and me, and sometimes they don't agree about what should go into an article: this is healthy, and Wikipedia has ways of helping editors to reach agreement if they are having difficulty.

In the case of North Shields FC, I don't know quite which edits you are talking about. But the way to proceed is to look at the page's history and see which editor removed the material that you think should be there, and start a discussion about it with them either on the article's talk page, or on their user talk page, and try to reach agreement. They are not right and you wrong: neither are you right and they wrong. You are just two people who at present have different ideas about how to make that article better. The fact that information of similar type is in other articles has no bearing on the matter: with four million articles, there are plenty that are not as good as we would like. It may be that it would be appropriate to delete the comparable information about ManU, I don't know. You are not "forbidden" to do so - but somebody else may disagree if you do. On the other hand, maybe the person who removed the information from North Shields would agree that it should go from ManU too.

You should also read about Wikipedia's policy on conflict of interest: as a member of the committee, you are actually discouraged (not forbidden, but discouraged) from editing that article.

Oh, and Wikipedia's sole purpose is to be an encyclopaedia: a neutral summary of information published elsewhere about notable subjects. it is no part of its mission to be supportive of any person, organisation or product, no matter how worthy. And it is very explicitly not part of its purpose to help anybody get information about themselves "out into the public domain": that is called "promotion", and is roundly forbidden. --ColinFine (talk) 22:28, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

I support User:ChrisTheDude's deletion of material such as "Shields' first season in Northern League Division One since 1988–89 has so far got off to a good start" and "They will play their biggest rivals Whitley Bay on 1 November 2014". Wikipedia's content should aim to be permanent. It is an encyclopedia, not a streaming news service. Maproom (talk) 07:18, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

I only removed a couple of inappropriate sentences, I think Madworld1979 is really referring to the removal of a large section of stats by GiantSnowman..... -- ChrisTheDude (talk) 17:53, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia needs reliable sources to verify information - furthermore we are not a statistics database! GiantSnowman 17:59, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

First DYK nomination

Can someone please help me with this: Template:Did you know nominations/Lia Olguța Vasilescu ? Bagnume (talk) 22:19, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Hi Bagnume, you placed a single ] where there should have been two. I made some changes. All the best, Taketa (talk),

Show improved diff view not working

Hi, the "show improved diff view" green triangle button is not working for Safari on Windows 7. This seems to happen whenever there's some sort of update. Can someone fix it? Thanks. μηδείς (talk) 22:21, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

It works for me on tested diffs in Safari 5.1.7 on Windows Vista 32-bit. You can report problems at User talk:Cacycle/wikEdDiff. Please give an example diff, describe what happens, and state your Safari version. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:32, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

References and reliable sources

I keep getting the error message on my Quincy Brown wiki page that I don't have any references or sources when I do. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Brittlovesquincy (talk • contribs) 23:07, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

@Brittlovesquincy: Hello and welcome to Wikipedia. The "error" you are describing is a tag that the user Fram placed on the page (you can see the change here). If you believe that the issue has been fixed than you should discuss it on the user's talk page that placed the tag or remove it if you are absolutely sure that there is no need for it anymore. Thanks, -24^Talk 23:18, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Brittlovesquincy. It may not be strictly true that the article has no references, but it is effectively true, because none of the links in your "References" section is satisfactory. Every piece of information in an article (and especially an article about a living person) must be referenced to a reliable published source, and in most cases to one that is unconnected with the subject. You have three external links, not attached to any information in the article; one is to a video, which is a primary source, and so is of limited use in supporting an article; the second is to IMDB, which is not regarded as a reliable source (because anybody may edit some of the information). The third is to an announcement by the subject. Please read referencing for beginners, and find places where people unconnected with Brown have written at length about him, and published this in reliable places such as major newspapers. If you cannot find such sources, then he does not meet the criteria of notability, and it is not possible at present to write an acceptable Wikipedia article about him. --ColinFine (talk) 23:36, 3 October 2014 (UTC)