Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2015 April 7

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April 7

How to get a list of all .svg files on Wikipedia.org and commons.wikimedia.org?

How to get a list of all .svg files on Wikipedia.org and commons.wikimedia.org?

Hi!

I do have a very slow internet connection. Nonetheless it would be fast enough to download a list of the files I'm looking for: I want a list of all .svg files on Wikipedia.org and commons.wikimedia.org. (And later on after that of all svg-files on the other wikipedia and wikimedia pages.)

But my internet connection is not fast enough to find the right search-words by trial and error: It's absolutly tedious to do trial-and-error with 64kbit/sec.

Could anyone point me to the right page on wikipedia or commons.wikimedia where I could start such a search and which keywords and settings to use?

Greetings John — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.113.99.195 (talk) 00:08, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

This search finds around 900000 svg files at Commons but no practical way to actually get the full list. Are you sure you want 900000 file names? PrimeHunter (talk) 00:30, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Over at dumps.wikimedia.org is a link to a compressed "all-titles.gz" file containing the names of all pages at Commons. That would take an hour or two to download at 64kbit/sec, but you'd then be able to grep the .svg files. The corresponding list for other wikis could be reached via the dumps index page. -- John of Reading (talk) 04:02, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

The search is good, but the dump is actually what I was looking for. Tyvm!

Revision messages

Why I am getting this message (not the only one, btw)?

The revision #0 of the page named "User talk:Kelapstick" does not exist.

This is usually caused by following an outdated history link to a page that has been deleted. Details can be found in the deletion log.

--Bbb23 (talk) 01:06, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)/Archive_135#Weird_deletion_display_error - I went ahead and fixed Bonanno crime family with a purge. ―Mandruss ☎ 01:36, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. I'll try purging next time, although it seems to go away on its own, sometimes quickly, sometimes less so.--Bbb23 (talk) 04:24, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Primary/Secondary schools

I've often seen that primary and secondary schools are to be merged/redirected to their community, but is this in writing anywhere or just general practice? I can't find it. Thanks in advance! Kharkiv07^Talk 02:01, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Hi @Kharkiv07: WikiProject Schools has a short essay on this at WP:WPSCH/AG#N. As it's an essay, it's not an official policy or guideline, but it is good advice and the typical standard (as you say, general practice). WP:SCHOOLOUTCOMES also has a bit more on this. That being said, if a primary/secondary school does meet the general notability guidelines, it can have its own article - this just isn't common. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 02:30, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Draft amendments

Hello, I am stuck. I need to make amendments to my existing Draft Young Drivers of Canada in terms of the references. I don't know how to do this. I received comments on what to amend, but can't seem to find how to amend the references. TeeMarek (talk) 02:41, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Hi@TeeMarek: It looks like you have added references to Draft:Young Drivers of Canada pretty well, though adding a |title= followed by the reference's title would get rid of the red notes. The problem seems to be that none of the references are from reliable sources which are independent of Young Drivers of Canada. For instance it references a newspaper article in The Star at http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2009/08/21/driving_examiners_go_on_strike.html. That is an article about a driving examiners' strike. A substantial article which was about Young Drivers of Canada in a major newspaper or magazine would be a reliable independent source. Wikipedia:The answer to life, the universe, and everything has a quick summary of what we are looking for. Many companies do not have such coverage about them, so usually they would not have a Wikipedia article. I hope that helps.  SchreiberBike | ⌨  03:32, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Why would an article that has been successfully archived by the Way Back Machine cease to be available?

I added an archive url for a reference several months ago, but when I just went back to check on it, I was told that the page "cannot be crawled or displayed due to robots.txt". I'm not at all technical, so I don't understand what this means (and clicking on the "learn more" link, which took me to the Wikipedia page on Robots.txt didn't really help). Does anyone know why a webpage that had been successfully archived would all of a sudden disappear? --Jpcase (talk) 02:55, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I think I've found a problem. It is because of a bug that was discovered over the last few days. Thankfully these guys at Internet Archive are getting it fixed, as described in these forums. I hope they get it fixed soon. --Angeldeb82 (talk) 03:03, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

That's good to hear. Thanks for finding that! :) --Jpcase (talk) 03:26, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

List of Agatha Christie's Poirot episodes keeps getting vandalized!

Lately I've been having a problem with the "List of Agatha Christie's Poirot episodes" article. I noticed that the bots keep replacing the correct UK airdates on Seasons 6, 8, and 9 with wrong airdates! And this happened not once, but twice! I keep having to undo the changes these bots have made, as they are vandalism. Is there a way to semi-protect the article so that the bots can't vandalize the page by replacing correct airdates with wrong ones again?--Angeldeb82 (talk) 03:00, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

The changes you complain of were made by an IP-address user. I see no reason to think that a "bot" (an automated process) was involved.

I also see no reason to regard them as "vandalism", which is a deliberate attempt to damage Wikipedia. More likely, they are a (possibly misguided) attempt to improve Wikipedia. Maybe 86.136.101.122 does not live in the UK, and is giving the release dates for his own country. Anyway, you should try to discuss this on the article's talk page, and next time you revert his edit, your edit summary should direct him there. Maproom (talk) 07:25, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Dear Maproom, I'm not involved in any way in these reverts and re-reverts, but I'd like to say I really doubt you can explain replacing 25 December 1994 with 1 January 1995, 16 March 1996 with 16 March 1997 or 26 April 2004 with 30 August 2004 [1] just with 'living in another country'. --CiaPan (talk) 10:01, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I really appreciate it. Thanks anyway, Maproom. --Angeldeb82 (talk) 15:02, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

writing times

What are the acceptable forms for times? -9:00pm &/or -9:00 pm &/or -9:00 p.m. or what? 64.53.191.77 (talk) 03:38, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

See MOS:TIME. There's more than just time there but it includes time. Dismas|^(talk) 03:41, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

List vs disambiguation

Dear editors: Here's a draft disambiguation page: Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Cordemoy (disambiguation). Since these are all people with the same surname, should this instead be "List of people named Cordemoy"? Or can there be both? —Anne Delong (talk) 05:13, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

If the list contains only one type of item (people, towns, whatever) a "List of..." is preferred rather than a disambiguation page. Each of the linked biographies then gets an {{other people}} hatnote. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 08:28, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Such lists are, in my experience, usually titled "XXX (surname)" rather than "List of ..." And I don't think hatnotes are needed unless the people share a surname and a given name. Since Cordemoy is currently a redirect to Géraud de Cordemoy, you might retarget it to redirect to the surname list (unless it's clear that Géraud is a primary topic). Deor (talk) 10:57, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, Roger (Dodger67) and Deor. I have changed it to a list, named it Cordemoy (surname), retargeted Cordemoy and fixed the hatnote at Géraud de Cordemoy.—Anne Delong (talk) 14:58, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

remove G-STICK word of this product the tongue scraper.Thats my brand and its missuses on other product,

Products for wikipedia G_STICK TONGUE SCRAPER x

catalog of tongue-scrapers
Breathrx Tongue Scraper / Cleaner - Pac... $5.95 eBay Tung Brush The Original Tongue Cleaner/... $7.99 eBay Breathrx - Starter Kit- 2 Tongue Scrape... $20.67 eBay The Tongue Cleaner Green - 1 Unit... $5.04

eBay — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gladsgstick (talk • contribs) 06:41, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Is this a comment about a Wikipedia article? If it is, which one? I cannot find the word "g-stick" anywhere in Wikipedia. Maproom (talk) 07:31, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

saving information by creating a book

I have created about three books and when I leave the page after saving or log out I can't find the option to retrieve them. I only want one book and to keep adding to this but when I try what the directions say the book gets lost.. How do you creat a book and keep it then be able to find it and access it plus add to it later. thankx ≈≈≈≈ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tanya Naylor (talk • contribs) 08:23, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

@Tanya Naylor: Click "Contributions" at the top of any page to see your edits. Special:Contributions/Tanya Naylor shows you saved two books before posting here, and you have since edited both of them. Does that mean your problem is solved? You can click User:Tanya Naylor/Books/Desktop and then click "Book creator" in the box. You have deleted the box from User:Tanya Naylor/Books/Books PrimeHunter (talk) 10:34, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Muhammad contains figures

The MUHAMMAD PBUH contains figures of him which are displesing — Preceding unsigned comment added by 39.55.231.87 (talk) 11:44, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not censored. See Talk:Muhammad/FAQ. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:02, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Harvcoltxt template and surname starting with "Þ"

Hello. On Faroese phonology page, I can't get the Þráinsson reference to work. I mean when I click "Þráinsson (2004:350)", it doesn't redirect to the Bibliography section to show the detailed info about the book. Can somebody fix that? Peter238 (talk) 12:35, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

When you click on the "Þráinsson" link, it takes you to the Þráinsson reference at the bottom of the page. But as you are already at the bottom of the page, you probably don't notice anything happenning. Maproom (talk) 13:03, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Yes, because PrimeHunter fixed it. Before that, it was broken. Peter238 (talk) 13:04, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Right, Template:Harvcoltxt#Reference section says: "To make the anchor, parameter |ref=harv must be set." Fixed in [2]. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:05, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Western Style Admiralty Law

See WP:NOTFORUM. This is not a platform for the promotion of pseudolegalistic bollocks. AndyTheGrump (talk) 18:37, 7 April 2015 (UTC)
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
I have been and am carrying through with a Point of Law. In so doing, I have come to realize that the Billings from utility companies such as gas and electric spell the person in ALL CAPS. This is also true of DRIVERS" LICENSES, etc. Here is where the Point of Law comes in. In these cases, the STRAWMAN yes I did use that word and it is a very 'powerful' word. As such, the real human being is being sited as the TRUSTEE of that LEGAL or STRAWMAN NAME. If you wish to refute it, do so in writing and tell each user of the STRAWMAN NAME that they may not attach your real human person to it. If they continue to do so, they will be charged $25,000.00 per year for each year they use it. This amount is collectable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.55.6.112 (talk) I'm not sure why you are posting this here but Wikipedia does not give legal advice. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:10, 7 April 2015 (UTC) The OP isn't asking for legal advice. The OP is providing questionable legal advice. Robert McClenon (talk) 15:34, 7 April 2015 (UTC) The idea that some form of one's name or one's US social security number is a legal entity has been floating around the Internet for decades as a conspiracy theory. An article on this theory might be appropriate if it could be sourced to reliable sources, that is, reliably reporting that some people believe this conspiracy theory. Robert McClenon (talk) 15:34, 7 April 2015 (UTC) More information on this particular conspiracy theory is covered at Tax protester conspiracy arguments#"Capital letters" argument. It may belong as an article on its own, but that's completely different than whether it is a conspiracy theory.Naraht (talk) 18:01, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Adding accents

Is there a quick way to add accents to text, for example turning RTE into RTÉ. I've been doing it manually through copy and paste, but don't always remember to substitute E for É. Thanks, This is Paul (talk) 16:30, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

If it's an É you want, and you are using Windows, you can hold down ctrl alt shift all together as you type the e. Or just ctrl alt for an é. For more obscure characters, at the bottom of the edit box you use to edit Wikipedia, click on the "Insert" listbox, choose "Latin", and it gives you an array of things like Ķþß. Or "Hebrew", "Greek", etc. instead of Latin for צכ Ξώ. Maproom (talk) 17:27, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, that seems a lot easier. It'll save me having to find a previous one every time I want to use it. But it's a shame there isn't a bot or something that could correct any that are missed. This is Paul (talk) 18:43, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

@This is Paul: please also look here: Template:Accent. For more complicated cases needing manual Unicode character input, please see: Unicode input. --Djadjko (talk) 01:06, 11 April 2015 (UTC)

is there a function to determine if page X is in category Y?

I could've sworn I'd seen some template which did this, but now I can't find it and can't find an answer in the magic words or parser functions help pages (unless I'm missing something). The idea: I'd like to be able to run a basic function to say if page X is in page Y, and to specify true and false actions.

For example (and I'm totally making up the terms):

{{#IFEQ:{{PAGEINCATEGORY|April|Months}}|yes|positive|negative}} → "positive"
{{#IFEQ:{{PAGEINCATEGORY|April|Dubstep}}|yes|positive|negative}} → "negative"

Possible? — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 16:50, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I think you may get better results if you ask this at WP:PUMPTECH, its the best place for technical queries. - X201 (talk) 09:54, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Ok. Just did. Thanks. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 16:16, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

Editing through proxy and other anonymizer softwares

My questions

1. Can I use Tor to edit articles? I mean log into my account through Tor-enabled browser, and then edit?
2. Freegate (an anonymizer) is blocked on Wikipedia. Is there anyway to grant access to use it?
3. Does editing through proxies/vpns/anonymizers need a special user right? criteria? Details and instructions.

I have trouble to access some articles and images on WP (due to my ISP limits). This is the reason why I asked. Thanks. --Zyma (talk) 17:39, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

@Zyma: any particular reason you need to do so? Feel free to email me if you need to about this. Mdann52 (talk) 06:09, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Is it possible to search Wikipedia by longitude/latitude?

I came across an object in London and wanted to know more about it. The easiest way to look it up would have been to search by location. Is such a feature available? If not, are there plans to add it? 95.151.235.101 (talk) 18:26, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I did find this website, where you can search by latitude and longitude. When you look up a latitude and longitude you will get a result and get results. I am not 100% sure how to trace a Wikipedia article about it but I would give it a try. NHRHS2010 RIP M.H. (1994-2014) 18:49, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Try taking a look at wikimapia.org . Naraht (talk) 20:58, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

My recent editing patterns

To compare with 2007 and 2008, when I was still a teenager in high school, I have been very active on Wikipedia as an editor. I even showed NHRHS (my high school) community that I was obsessed with Wikipedia and even screamed "Wikipedia" to this one kid at my sister's middle school graduation in 2008 when his name was called. Fast forward to 2010s, when I am a lot less active as I have been busy with college, flight training, involvement with American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and graduate school preparations. Now today, when I try to contribute, other editors appear to oppose my edit. I feel like after all these years, now, as an adult heading to graduate school this coming fall, my Wikipedia editing abilities are deteriorating and I feel like I can't edit without others' objecting to it. Is there anything I can do to contribute like I did as a teenager? On the other hand, I occasionally fight vandalism and make minor edits, and now that I have a private pilot license I enjoy taking aerial photos, uploading them to relevant articles. NHRHS2010 RIP M.H. (1994-2014) 18:46, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Just a hypothesis: maybe, for better or worse, you are more sensitive to criticism than formerly? Maproom (talk) 21:20, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I think standards have gotten higher here too - WP has matured greatly since 2007/8, there's a lot more editing compared to the earlier era where it was madhouse of new, and often quite rough, content creation (not that there still aren't major issue in that area). Rwessel (talk) 22:44, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Nope. I was actually more sensitive to criticism in 2007/8 than now, as evidenced by my old unsuccessful RfAs. I came here on Help Desk for tips on improvements, not criticize the criticism. In fact, I have no plans to apply for RfAs at this moment, especially due to my lack of activity during the last few years. NHRHS2010 RIP M.H. (1994-2014) 11:24, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

You didn't give example edits and it's hard to say why others are objecting without seeing examples. It may simply be that others have become more critical, or you edit pages which get more attention. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:40, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

NHRHS2010, adding aerial photos to articles sounds like a wonderful contribution, one that most of us can't make. You say that you are looking for a way to contribute that won't be criticized. I agree that taking time out from content creation to defend edits already made can be frustrating. Some areas in which you are less likely to have this problem are: (1) Adding references to reliable sources such as books and newspaper reports to articles - everybody agrees that articles should have reliable sources. (2) working on the rescue of abandoned drafts (which I do) - the drafts on this list haven't been touched for six months, so there's seldom any arguments, and yet some are good topics that need saving (3) Add infoboxes to articles in Category:Wikipedia articles with an infobox request - at least one user who made each request will be grateful. Happy editing!—Anne Delong (talk) 13:02, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Thank you. I did not mention as I figured editors would know what I mean when they look through my contributions. I will state most recent; Abraham Park (1928-2014), the senior pastor of my church system, has published books, including Genesis Genealogies. Having read Genesis Genealogies, I used that book as a source when I edited articles about patriarchs from Adam to Noah; I inserted birth and death years without much thinking. I am a Presbyterian and obviously Wikipedia is open to everyone so we must use neutral point of view; the edits were WP:NPOV violation. I did, however, made a decision to self-revert my edits. Another example includes editing a disambiguation message on top of Selena (article about the singer named Selena Quintanilla, who passed away in 1995 aged 23) to make note that those intending to view an article about Selena Gomez (born 1992), also a singer. The other editors disagree with that edit however. NHRHS2010 RIP M.H. (1994-2014) 20:54, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

I would agree about Selena. The message there is adequate as Selena Gomez could be found from the other page. I don't see "Selena" alone as a likely place to look for the other singer.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 22:13, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Yeah Selena Gomez was only three years old when Selena Quintanilla passed away at age 23. It does not seem like the fans of one Selena would become the fan of another. I do not follow either singer but I have only heard of Gomez. I have never heard of people referring Selena Gomez by only her first name but I hardly know or heard of people with the name Selena. Similar to Elvis Presley; I actually met another person named Elvis on a cruise ship in 2003 but did not know about Elvis Presley then. NHRHS2010 RIP M.H. (1994-2014) 21:01, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

Besides, I do not want to talk about Selena situation anymore. It is in the past now and I have been self conscious about it. NHRHS2010 RIP M.H. (1994-2014) 21:02, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

I agree it was a WP:NPOV violation to state disputed birth and death years of biblical figures in infoboxes, especially when all the people were alledgedly hundreds of years old and there isn't even agreement about the timeline within the religion. It's possible such edits were more likely to go unnoticed in 2008. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:30, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

Yes, like I mentioned, I self-reverted my edits as you can see in my contributions. Fortunately, I got a Barnstar of Resilience from the same editor who reminded me about NPOV issues regarding biblical features, presumably due to my decision to self-revert. I am here to improve and hope to make useful contributions, not talk about my past edits. I mentioned my recent edits as examples of what has been going on, and I wish to discontinue having other editors bring it up as this is now the past. This is Help Desk, and I am hoping to move on. Anne Delong seems to have good tips. NHRHS2010 RIP M.H. (1994-2014) 14:57, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

I JUST remembered this. In December 2010, the article Tryon's Rat Experiment was started by a friend of mine from high school who attended Duke University. His class had a Wikipedia-related project and he had his own draft page before he felt like it was ready to actually allow it to become an actual Wikipedia article. I am about to attend graduate school this coming fall and perhaps I can create a draft myself if I wish to start a Wiki article; I have started pages before, but it has often been stubs (which some of them eventually develops, like Malpensa Express). NHRHS2010 RIP M.H. (1994-2014) 15:33, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

Maxine Peake Artilce

I updated a table listing films in this article Maxine_Peake and have done something wrong so that the table no longer follows the section heading! Can someone help? Twofingered Typist (talk) 19:04, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Y the table wasnt closed properly. MilborneOne (talk) 19:37, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Wikidata

We don't have a way to navigate from en:The Railway Series to es:The Railway Series. In the old days, the solution was to add something like es:The Railway Series to the end of the article, but now we have Wikidata. After much trial and error, I almost added the link to the left side of the English Wikipedia page, but it said: "An error occurred while saving. Your changes could not be completed. Details The link eswiki:The Railway Series is already used by item Q6145076. You may remove it from Q6145076 if it does not belong there or merge the items if they are about the exact same topic." I was well beyond my familiarity limit, so I didn't try to change Q6145076, whatever that is, for fear of blowing it up or something. Art LaPella (talk) 19:32, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I merged them. The Spanish entry was at d:Q6145076 , all of the others were at d:Q4348667. I used d:Special:MergeItems to merge them together at the lower numbered one that had all but the spanish.Naraht (talk) 19:43, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Art LaPella (talk) 00:13, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Add multiple pages to watch list

How can I bulk add pages or categories so I can be vigilant with changes and keep track of an article's structure? Buffaboy ^talk 21:37, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

@Buffaboy: Not sure how you might add pages in a category to your watchlist, but if you have a list of pages you'd like to watch in mind, you can head to Special:EditWatchlist/raw and edit your watchlist in a text box. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 21:43, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

@SuperHamster: Thanks. Buffaboy ^talk 21:44, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

adding photos to an existing page that is no mine ( that i do already have uploaded to my account)

I was a close friend of someone whom has a bio page on here, I did upload a few photos of him since there are none on his page. I wanted to add them to his page but it seems a little over my head doing it... HELP — Preceding unsigned comment added by L.RoseGreen (talk • contribs) 22:31, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Hi @L.RoseGreen: You might find what you are looking for at Wikipedia:Uploading images where it tells how to upload an image to be used on Wikipedia, and then how to display it. Note that in order to upload a file directly, a user account must be at least four days old and have completed at least 10 edits. If you need to add the file before that, you can submit a request at Wikipedia:Files for upload. If you have any other questions, or need help making sense of that long page, feel free to ask here. After you write your note, please add four tildes (~~~~) to sign your post.  SchreiberBike | ⌨  00:50, 8 April 2015 (UTC)