Wikipedia:New contributors' help page/Archive/2010/December

December 1

My contribution was deleted

I tried making an entry and it was deleted very quickly. Is there any way I can see the deleted page or is it gone forever? Also, shouldn't I have been given a little bit of time to try and defend/improve the article before it got deleted? Admittedly, I'm a n00b. – Douglas a clark (talk) 00:46, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Any administrator can restore it to a sandbox where you can work on it. ǝɥʇM0N0^farewell 01:12, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

I have posted to the deleting administrator at User talk:RHaworth#Clark's Principle. Note however Wikipedia:Notability and WP:MADEUP. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:01, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

• It's not that you are a noob but that you posted on a totally inappropriate subject. OK, perhaps it did not fit any speedy criterion but I would cite WP:NOR and WP:SNOW as extra grounds for deletion. Post it on one of these sites. When it becomes notable someone else will write about it here. — RHaworth (talk · contribs) 10:39, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

For the life of me...I can't figure out how to take my draft and publish it.

I've searched, spent way too much time, and I must be an idiot. I've got a draft. Ready to go. Just need to publish it. What should I do? Diane Burket (talk) 01:44, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

The box at the top of User:Dianeburket/ArmandCabrera has a link to Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft which says: "If you are ready to go live, you can move it to mainspace." Note that "move" is linked. Terms in Wikipedia are often linked to a page explaining them. The encyclopedia place for the article would be a move from User:Dianeburket/ArmandCabrera to Armand Cabrera without User:Dianeburket/ in front, but the page sounds very promotional at the moment. See Wikipedia:Conflict of interest if you are associated with the subject, and see Wikipedia:Neutral point of view. Also, the references are not connected to the part of the article they reference. The <ref>...<ref> code should be in that place. See more at Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:16, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

I have reviewed the article at Armand Cabrera and it appears to be a copyvio of http://www.armandcabrera.com/profile.html, so I have tagged it for speedy deletion accordingly.

Where to go for help?

Hi, I have listed my problem at NPOV noticeboard and have not heard from them yet. I wondered if there was another resource so that I could connect with an unbiased person knowledgeable about POV issues on Wikipedia? I thought there was a way to talk with someone on my talk page, but cannot find information on how to do that. Or, since the issue is being discussed on the article's talk page, is that the best place to send help? Thanks 174.74.68.103 (talk) 04:31, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

There is an active discussion now at the article talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:08, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

changing name header on a page

Hi Can someone please tell me how to change the name at the top of the page: example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Nurses_Organisation The name Irish Nurses Organisation no longer exists it is now the Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation, I have updated all the other information but cannot seem to change the page name. Thanking you, Murielhaire (talk) 19:32, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I've had to revert your changes. The material you've added appears to be copied and pasted from this page. Please note that Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted materials. I will leave you a message on your talk page about this. TNXMan 19:35, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

Based on the website, I have moved it to Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. – ukexpat (talk) 19:44, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

December 2

New Mayor of Rota, Spain

Eva Corrales is to become mayor until general elections next May —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.108.46.98 (talk) 09:42, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

Excellent. Do you have a reliable source which will allow us to verify this before we update the article? --Jayron32 05:46, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

December 3

Inserting an Excel spreadsheet

How do i go about deleting an existing table on a page and uploading a table i have on excel. Perci010 (talk) 09:19, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

You can't upload an Excel spreadsheet onto a Wikipedia page directly. What you can do instead is use one of the tools listed at Wikipedia:Tools to convert the Excel table into wiki format, and then use that code to replace the existing table. --Mysdaao ^talk 15:05, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Repeated vandalism

A user today vandalised the Jackson family article with the following:

“The Jackson family is an sexy assAmerican family of sexy kids including Michael and JAnet JAckson. I'm going ot marry them but too bad they have to be brother and sisiter.!singers who originated in Gary, Indiana.”

This was of course speedily reverted, but I’ve had a look at their user page User talk:65.202.244.2 which shows that this user (or users) has consistently vandalised a variety of articles from May 2009 to the present. They have had many warnings, and a couple of final warnings and at one time a three hour ban. It seems as though these ‘final’ warnings and ‘only’ warnings were empty threats, and the user/users continued to vandalise.

I realise that this may be an IP address used by many (e.g. at a college) and that Wikipedia is an incredibly friendly and forgiving place, but my question is do you think that this user/users has pushed it a little far? Shouldn’t this IP address be blocked? TehGrauniad (talk) 15:46, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

WP:AIV is the place for this. --ColinFine (talk) 18:02, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

Deleting current photo and uploading new photo

A Wikipedia entry has been made for me by a friend including a photo. Since I am the subject of the entry, I would like to replace this photo of myself with another personal photo to which I own the copyright. How to do this? 74.199.3.218 (talk) 16:07, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Please follow the process described at WP:IOWN. Thanks. – ukexpat (talk) 16:25, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

December 4

Logo usage

Is it ok to use copyrighted company logos? You can't really make your own version of their logo, so how else could you get it? --Thekmc (talk) 16:29, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Logos. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:16, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

So, I can use it, but from what i read, it shouldn't be in the infobox. Where would you put, say a website logo, if not in there? Sorry if this is a really dumb question. I'm still pretty new, so i don't understand everything yet. Thanks. --Thekmc (talk) 20:12, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

I think you have misunderstood Wikipedia:Logos#Logos as icons which is about a small icon in a related article. See Wikipedia:Logos#Uploading non-free logos instead when it's the logo of the subject of the article. The company logo in the company article should be OK. If there is still doubt then link to the logo and name the article. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:55, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

Ok. Thank you. I've got it now. --Thekmc (talk) 21:48, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

Oh, never mind. More trouble. I understand the logo thing a little better, but now i'm just having trouble finding a downloadable version of the logo on the website. I try to right click on it, but it doesn't show anything about downloading. The website is www.tuaw.com. Sorry to keep bothering you, but wikipedia does need to be complete.--Thekmc (talk) 22:10, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

I guess you want to update the logo at The Unofficial Apple Weblog. The TÚAW image with grey text on blue background at http://www.tuaw.com/ is made with the transparent http://www.tuaw.com/media/aol-globalheader-sprite.png on blue background. It would need some image work to use in Wikipedia. You can see what others are using with a Google image search: http://www.google.com/images?q=tuaw+logo. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:48, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

OK. Sorry to continue bugging you, but I'm wondering if it is okay to just take a screenshot straight from the website and then put it on Wikipedia? --Thekmc (talk) 02:51, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Entrapment

im trin to find out info on intrapment by the police in scotland84.13.65.109 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 21:16, 4 December 2010 (UTC).

The Entrapment article has a small section on Scotland. Sadly it does not reference any sources, but you may be able to find more about the leading case using a search engine. Note that Wikipedia does not give legal advice; see the Legal disclaimer. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:14, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

December 5

Mooncalf

The article about the mooncalf states that Shakespeare describes Caliban as being a mooncalf. I do not believe that is correct. A word-search on http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/ does not find any use of the word mooncalf by Shakespeare in any of his plays. The reference should be deleted. 97.103.91.171 (talk) 00:33, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

The reason you didn't find it in your word-search was that Shakespeare hyphenated it. Look for moon-calf. David Biddulph (talk) 01:23, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Moon-calf

I raised a question about the article entitled mooncalf, questioning the reference to its use by Shakespeare. A contributor correctly noted that Shakespeare does use the word, but hyphenated it as in moon-calf. I searched on opensourceshakespeare.org and found it there spelled that way. But that being so, the spelling of mooncalf in the article is incorrect and should be changed. to moon-calf. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.103.91.171 (talk) 04:48, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

My understanding is that either form can be used. Moon-calf redirects to Mooncalf, and I have added a note about the alternative spelling in the article. If I get a chance later this week, I will see if I can find some reliable sources which can be used as references in the article, as it is currently unreferenced. If those indicate that the hyphenated version is more prevalent, then I will make that the title of the article with the non-hyphenated version as the redirect. -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\^{[alternate account of Phantomsteve]} 07:08, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Looks to me as if the unhyphenated version is much more frequent. Not too surprising that Shakespeare's usage doesn't necessary tie in with more modern usage. David Biddulph (talk) 08:35, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

December 6

Problems editing reference on The Voice 106 page

I am having problems editing a reference on my page. The text for the link does not seem to go next to the [1] number, so I need some general help tidying that up and making sure the links point to the correct external referenced article which can be found here: http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/news/Festive-FM-air/article-2954708-detail/article.html comment added by Jver10 (talk • contribs) 11:00, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Try reading WP:REF. - David Biddulph (talk) 11:13, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Hi David, I read through that article before posting the question and searched for a possible solution, I even tried copying the script from other Wikipedia articles and pasting it into my article (of course making the necessary changes to the text), but I think I might be missing something somewhere as it doesn't seem to be correcting itself. Is there any chance you might be able to perform the required edit for me (it is my page)? Jver10 (talk) 11:32, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Done, see this diff. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:35, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you very much, David, Much appreciated. Jver10 (talk) 12:58, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

message

all i would like to know is can where can i ask ian duncin smith a question81.153.222.242 (talk) 13:52, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia has no way of contacting Iain Duncan Smith. His constituents in Chingford and Woodford Green can contact him via his website; you might have some luck with that. Gonzonoir (talk) 14:05, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Editing

What happens when someone edits a page in Wikipedia and the information they add is wrong? Do edits get reviewed befroe they appear on the web?

Thanks in advance Stephen Brenton —Preceding unsigned comment added by Swbrenton (talk • contribs) 18:16, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

The edits are not reviewed. Wikipedia depends on everyone to review information that is added. If you see something that is incorrect, feel free to jump in and correct it. TNXMan 18:21, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

In fact any information which is not referenced may be deleted at any time, though in practice this often does not happen unless it is blatantly wrong, or contravenes the policy on biographies of living persons. --ColinFine (talk) 00:53, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks Swbrenton (talk) 11:22, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

irish echo

contributors include brian friel , john b keane and tom caulfield —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.40.117.162 (talk) 23:47, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

I guess you are referring to The Irish Echo. If have more than the meagre information which is in that article, and the information you have is sourced from reliable sources, you are very welcome to edit the article and add the information. If it concerns people or topics which are already covered in Wikipedia, please link to their articles like so [[Brian Friel]] (which displays as Brian Friel). --ColinFine (talk) 09:17, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

December 7

Help me set up my pages

Is there some one who can he me set up my general template for my page and my talk page? Andrew Revender 00:56, 7 December 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrew Revender (talk • contribs)

Hi there - can you tell us a bit more about what exactly you're trying to do? Is it the appearance/style of your user and user talk pages that you want to change? Wikipedia:User page design center is a good starting point for that. Or do you perhaps want to add an edit notice to your talk page? Gonzonoir (talk) 09:20, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Editing References

I was looking through the article about Jason Grace, the protagonist from the book "The Lost Hero" by Rick Riordan and added some information about Jason's tattoo and memories of his former friends. I was going to edit the references, to cite the pages where the information in the article is gathered, but I don't know how to edit in references. Step by step instructions would be very helpful. 24.10.233.164 (talk) 01:27, 7 December 2010 (UTC)Estelle Bolin

Try WP:REF. - David Biddulph (talk) 01:31, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Defining a new word and publishing it on Wikipedia

I have created a new word, and I am still building the definition. I was hoping to have help and feedback from the Wikipedia community on this new and interesting word. Is this an appropriate use of Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lifebio (talk • contribs) 09:07, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

• No, I'm afraid not: Wikipedia is only concerned with matters which others have already written about. See WP:NEO. --ColinFine (talk) 09:19, 7 December 2010 (UTC)
• You can add your new word here: Wiktionary:List of protologisms. -- œ^™ 14:49, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

December 8

“defacto spying” or “defacto espionage”

An act or operation 1) "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law"; 2) an act or operation which may also be used when there is no relevant law or standard, but a common and well established practice that is considered the accepted norm of spies; 3) an act or operation which involves an individual or organization obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information; and 4) an act or operation which is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it is known that the information is in unauthorized hands; 5) an act or operation which is usually part of an institutional effort by a government or corporation, and the term is most readily associated with state or terror spying on potential or actual enemies; and/or , 6) an act or operation whose objective is intended to result or hold hostage another and thereby secure or create fear (terror), and are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians), and are committed by non-government agencies or organizations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.53.192.240 (talk) 00:40, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Conspiracy (crime), an agreement between persons to break the law in the future, in some cases having committed an act to further that agreement to effect or support, even jointly inact, defacto spying or espionage. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.53.192.240 (talk) 00:41, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Sounds good. This desk is for asking questions about using Wikipedia. Is there something with which we can help you. TNXMan 01:20, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

I'll take a wild guess that this posting is aimed at Wikileaks. If so, {{notleaks}}. --ColinFine (talk) 08:02, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

malicious edits

Suppose I create a page on a certain topic. What happens if somebody with malicious intent makes false/defamatory edits? Is it up to me to police it? Do Wikipedia editors keep a lookout for this sort of thing, and, if so, is there any indication how effective they are?

Rfreund md (talk) 17:52, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Vandalism and disruptive editing is usually reverted very quickly; many of us look out for it, and some people use semi-automated tools to find and revert it. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 17:54, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Translation of page

How can I translate the page already exists? Gergedava (talk) 18:47, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Are you referring to a page here on English Wikipedia that you want to translate for another language version? – ukexpat (talk) 18:53, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

December 9

Wilderness photos

I am a novice concerning HTML and web-site building. I want to contribute some photographs from my personal collection from years of experience in the wilderness. I do not know how to upload .jpg files to Wikipedia sites. I also do not know what code to insert to link my photographs to the appropriate locations. Please let me know where I can find instructions for the task.

CoMtMan (talk) 04:01, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for your offer of assistance to the project.

• It would be better to upload them at Wikimedia Commons rather than here, so that the pictures can be used in all the Wikipedia projects and not just the English-language one. The commons upload page is here.
• To add images to a Wikipedia article, see the Picture tutorial.

Any problems, ask again here. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:44, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Search entry

I've just created a new article discussing my hometown, Flinton, Pennsylvania, and I was wondering, how do I make it so that it will now show up in the autocomplete entries that pop up when using the Wikipedia search bar? Jbs1985 (talk) 18:23, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

It should show up soon, you don't need to do anything, just have to let the indexing catch up. ~~ GB fan ~~ 18:17, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Look again tomorrow. See Wikipedia:Search#Delay in updating the search index. - David Biddulph (talk) 18:20, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Alright, thank you much for the input Jbs1985 (talk) 18:23, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Nice work on your first article! – ukexpat (talk) 18:30, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

December 10

using family account as a source

I'm writing a bio for a deceased actor with the help of his family. There is very little information published about this actor (despite his relative fame in the 1970s), and so the family account would have to be the main source of information. (There is an imdb page for him, but in terms of personal details -- where he lived, where he went to school, how he died -- there's almost nothing that's been published.) Does consulting the family count as "original research," and does it therefore not qualify for Wikipedia? It would seem that his family would be considered a reliable source, but is that not sufficient? (And if not, any ideas where I should post such a bio, instead of Wikipedia?) Thanks in advance for your help!

Lwhiteman (talk) 01:40, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Unless it's been published then it would be original research. Without contacting the family - who are not independent, and may exaggerate or embellish the account, or ignore anything of a critical nature - how can the information be verified? Wikipedia needs information to be verifiable at independent reliable sources -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\^{[alternate account of Phantomsteve]} 01:49, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Incidentally, Wikipedia:Alternate outlets might have some useful ideas for you, also if you told us who it is, we might be able to help find sources -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\^{[alternate account of Phantomsteve]} 01:54, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Nomination for Deletion of "MichaelMullen.org"

Hi,

I created a page for my web-site, michaelmullen.org, but I got a message saying it will be deleted. I want to know what I did wrong in creating this page and how I can fix it.

Thanks,

AbbleFan (talk) 19:23, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

You have created the same page three different timestwice, each one totally promotional and without value. "MichaelMullen.org displays his latest works and has great articles of anything and everything..." is an advertisement, and has no place here. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:27, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Could the notices on your talk page not be any more clear? – ukexpat (talk) 19:31, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

December 11

what do u guys called vandalism

i got a message from DVdm telling me he was going to block me ( http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Leghacy_of_444&diff=401772267&oldid=401771475 ) because of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Soldati?diff=401772191 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Leghacy of 444 (talk • contribs) 13:05, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

You wouldn't be blocked for that edit in isolation, but for the overall collection of your edits. For the particular edit, the original problem was that you hadn't given a reference, but subsequently you have been edit-warring by repeatedly reverting, and hence you are close to being blocked for WP:3RR. In other cases you have been adding inappropriate information to other users' talk pages, and you were warned at your own talk page. - David Biddulph (talk) 13:14, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

I think your edit shouldn't really be called vandalism. It was probably an overreaction by DVdm when he saw your edit, something that is all too easy to do when patrolling recent changes. However, I think the tone of your contribution wasn't really suitable for an encyclopedia - you were implying that most people in that particular area of Buenos Aires are "poor", which they might not be too happy about. Much better to stick to the facts, for example saying "the average wage in Villa Soldati is X amount of dollars" - and of course this has to be backed up by a source that can verify it. See WP:VERIFY and WP:NPOV for more details. There is also the fact that some of your other edits were adding external links to other users' talk pages which is against Wikipedia policy. Just like David Biddulph said above, it is the combined effect of all your edits that ended up with the blocking threat. It is easy to see the kind of edits you have been making from the messages on your user talk page, and User:DVdm may well have taken previous messages into account when he gave you the warning. All the best. — GypsyJiver (drop me a line) 13:21, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

what classifies an article as a stub?

I haven't been able to get a solid answer on whether an article is a stub. It would be useful if someone could just check the article plasq, and see if it is a stub. I've worked on it quite a bit, but i'm not sure if it is still a stub. Thanks. --Thekmc (talk) 14:57, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

The best answer is probably listed here. Basically, there is no "correct" answer on whether or not an article is a stub. A stub can range from a few sentences (if there isn't much to be written about the subject) to a few paragraphs (if there is much to say about the subject). I think the best way to look at the situation is this: ask yourself, "What is maximum size this article could be? How does that compare to what currently exists?". TNXMan 15:08, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for the fast answer! --Thekmc (talk) 15:22, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

December 13

article about the Associated Press - last chapter

I am asking you to add the last chapter of the German wikipedia about the Associated Press also to the English version (and to the other versions in other languages). I believe this chapter is essential as we are in an ongoing debate about freedom of information and freedom of the press, the Associated Press would sure support this, as it describes their own experiences. I hope you have translators. thank you !

"Druck auf AP und Medienmanipulation durch das Pentagon [Bearbeiten]

Anlässlich einer ehrenvollen Erwähnung (national citation) der journalistischen Exzellenz für den AP-CEO Tom Curley von der William Allen White Foundation am 6. Februar 2009 in der University of Kansas kritisierte Curley den anwachsenden Druck des US-Militärs auf unabhängige Berichterstatter in Kriegsgebieten und eine zunehmende Beeinflussung des US-Verteidigungsministeriums der Medien.

Seit dem Irakkrieg 2003 seien elf AP-Journalisten für mehr als 24 Stunden festgenommen worden und allein 2008 hatte das US-Militär weltweit acht Journalisten mehr als 48 Stunden arrestiert.[4] Wenn die festgenommenen Journalisten dazu bereit wären, ihre Kollegen schlechtzumachen (to trash other people), kämen sie umgehend wieder frei. Andernfalls hielte man sie zwei bis drei Wochen lang fest und setze sie weiteren Befragungen aus.[4] Führende Kommandeure hätten ihm zu verstehen gegeben, dass man die AP und ihn zerstören (ruin) wird, wenn er und die Nachrichtenagentur AP weiterhin auf ihren journalistischen Prinzipien bestünden. Er habe diese Äußerungen allerdings nicht als Drohung verstanden, sondern als einen „Ausdruck von Ärger“ (an expression of anger), erklärte Curley später in einem Interview.[4] Nach dem Irakkrieg erweiterte das US-Militär die Regeln für Kriegsberichterstatter von eine auf vier Seiten und nun (2009) seien diese so vage gehalten, dass ein Journalist auf der Stelle weggeschickt werden kann, wenn einem Kommandeur die Berichte nicht gefallen.[4]

Auf der anderen Seite hat eine einjährige Recherche von über 100.000 Seiten Regierungsdokumente und eine Befragung von 100 Personen durch AP-Mitarbeiter ergeben, dass das Pentagon seit 2003 das Budget für Propaganda-Operationen um 63 Prozent erweitert hat, es umfasste 2008 4,7 Milliarden Dollar und beschäftigte 27.000 Mitarbeiter.[5] Die meisten Informationen darüber seien geheim, sogar solche, die früher veröffentlicht worden waren. Anstatt die Journalisten bei ihren Anfragen zu unterstützen, würde die Pressestelle des Verteidigungsministeriums eher geheimdienstliches Material über die anfragenden Journalisten sammeln.[6] Nach AP-Informationen ist eine für Public Relations zuständige Dienststelle namens «Joint Hometown News Service» auf einem früheren Luftwaffen-Stützpunkt in San Antonio, Texas. Dort produziere man Wort- oder Bildberichte, die unter falscher Quellenangabe den Medien zugespielt werden. Für 2009 sehe man die Herausgabe von 5400 Pressemitteilungen, 3000 Fernsehspots und 1600 Rundfunkinterviews vor.[5] Curley forderte wegen des Regierungswechsels in den USA eine neue Transparenz in den Regeln zwischen dem Militär und den Medien." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.187.106.17 (talk) 11:15, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Material in the English Wikipedia should be in English. If this material meets the criteria on neutrality and sourcing then some of its content, in translation, may be inserted into the article. But note that Wikipedia is not a vehicle for debate or for promoting a position. My German is not good enough to tell whether this material is a neutral account of matters which have been written about elsewhere (it appears to have numbers for references, but no references). --ColinFine (talk) 23:58, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

hello Colin Fine, couldn' t find a direct link to answer you. The numbers with the references belong to the references in the German wikipedia article, and if it was ok for the German wikipedia entry, it should be ok generally. If you don' t have someone who speaks German, I can translate it, although not into other languages except English, maybe Italian as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.187.107.35 (talk) 01:12, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Cuban American vs American Cuban

Cuban American is a Cuban born American citizen and an American Cuban is an American of Cuban ancestry. Please consider updating. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.207.156.59 (talk) 14:35, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

If a Cuban American is a Cuban born American citizen, wouldn't an American Cuban be an American born Cuban citizen? ~~ GB fan ~~ 14:46, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Standard useage is to designate an American citizen who is FOO-born or identifies as of FOOish heritage, as "FOOish-American". An "American-FOOan" would be a FOOan citizen who is of American birth or who identifies as of American heritage. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:52, 13 December 2010 (UTC) (Irish-American)

Possible Addition to Wikipedia

Now i'm not a very computer literate or knowledgeable person, and i know that this may just seem like an obnoxious suggestion say what "people should do." Someone has probably already suggested it, but anyhow my question is this: Wikipedia has a very helpful function of highlighting different subject/word(s)that relate or are used to describe the article that you are reading about. Example: You read the article about Mombai: (pronounced /mʊmˈbaɪ/; Marathi: मुंबई, Mumbaī, IPA: [mʊmbaɪ]), formerly known as Bombay (/bɒmˈbeɪ/), is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the second most populous city in the world, with a population of approximately 14 million.----- All the italicized items are what i'm talking about. But what i am suggesting is that Wikipedia add a function similar to that of the google search engine, where whenever you place your mouse cursor over a highlighted word in an article it opens up a smaller box describing the highlighted word very basically without leaving the web page you're already one. Or possibly show the first portions or the article you're highlighting.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Soofyan27 (talk • contribs)

Wikipedia already has such a tool - it's called "Navigation popups" and you can enable it by checking the appropriate box in the "Browsing gadgets" section of the Gadgets tab in your user preferences. – ukexpat (talk) 17:43, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

adding pictures to the article on Everest Base Camp

I uploaded 2 pictures to the Everest Base Camp (EBC) article (before I established an account). They went to a request file, where I saw them listed, but I can't find it again to track their progress or see what other information might be needed. I'm really new at this, and not all that computer literate. (I'm 66 years old.) I couldn't really understand the directions for adding a picture to an article. But I did visit EBC in September and made a couple of corrections to the article. The previous latitude put it way off to the north in China. I don't what you mean for me to do to sign. I don't have that little squiggle on my computer keyboard that I know of. Please notify me on my talk page. I think I can find that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12345joy (talk • contribs)

You can only upload images if you have an account and that account is autoconfirmed, so you cannot have uploaded images before you created your account. Your correction to the latitude is in the article. Standard image advice follows:

• If you want to add an existing image to an article, add [[File:File name.jpg|thumb|Caption text.]] to the area of the article where you want the image to appear – replacing File name.jpg with the actual file name of the image, and Caption text with a short description of the image. See our picture tutorial for more information.
• If you want to upload an image from your computer for use in an article, you must determine the proper license of the image (or whether it is in the public domain). If you know the image is public domain or copyrighted but under a suitable free-license, upload it to the Wikimedia Commons instead of here, so that all projects have access to the image (sign up). If you are unsure of the licensing status, see the file upload wizard for more information. Please also read Wikipedia's image use policy. I hope this helps.

On a standard US layout keyboard, the tilde is accessed by ⇧ Shift+`, the key immediately to the left of the 1. – ukexpat (talk) 18:36, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Edit first paragraph; doesn't show up when I choose edit button

I tried to edit an article about the agency I work for because there are factual and grammmatical errors. But I am unable to edit the first sentence, which contains numerous mistakes. How do I select the first sentence/paragraph? Thank you! 72.44.160.138 (talk) 20:20, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

The "Edit this page" tab at the top of the page. - David Biddulph (talk) 20:26, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Community Treatment Solutions (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

But before you take this any further please read Wikipedia:FAQ/Organizations - if you work for this organisation, you should not be editing the article directly because you have a conflict of interest.

The article's only reference at the moment is the organization's own website, so it is likely to be nominated for deletion. Your first task must be to find reliable sources, independent of the organisation, that demonstrate that the company is notable enough for a Wikipedia article to be written about it. Have mainstream media such as books, newspapers and magazines written about the organisation? If you can find anything along these lines, please post details at the article talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:41, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Notable Bands

What does a band have to achieve in order to be deemed 'notable' enough for Wikipedia.

Thanks.

Murorga (talk) 23:20, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Notability (music). PrimeHunter (talk) 23:54, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

December 14

Place holder Page

I work for the PR company representing Mickey Ferro, and I have recently created a page titled with his name. At this stage, it's as much a place holder page as anything else. I anticipate updating this page with further information over coming weeks as we speak further with Mickey and get more details. Is that OK? Turtle4771 (talk) 05:08, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Not really, no (but thanks for asking). A page which has no reliable sources, and more particularly no assertion of notability is liable to be removed at any time. More seriously, if you work for the PR company representing him, you should not be editing an article on him as you have not only a conflict of interest, but an interest which is specifically contrary to that of Wikipedia. Your best bet is to post on the Talk:Mickey Ferro, explaining your conflict of interest, arguing why he is notable by Wikipedia's standards, and pointing to independent reliable sources about him, so that others can write an article. --ColinFine (talk) 08:39, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

And indeed, the article has been deleted, by OrangeMike: log is here. This means that the talk page I pointed to does not exist, so if you want this article creating, you should post a request (again with references) to WP:AFC. --ColinFine (talk) 00:04, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

inadvertent removal of image

in Pargeting I altered a location in the caption of an image, from 'County Museum' to 'Ancient House Museum', but upon saving I found I had inadvertently eliminated the image, which I do not want to do. Can this be rectified?

Many thanks 86.141.32.41 (talk) 09:08, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't have a talk page, and do not want to set one up. Thank you.

I've reverted your edit. When you need to do that, look at the history of the page, show the difference, & undo. - David Biddulph (talk) 09:15, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Categories for my article

Hello,

Can you direct me to a page with a step-by-step explanation how to add categories. The title of my article is "Southeastern Regional Lipid Conference (SERLC)". Thanks a lot for your help.

Ebieberich (talk) 11:49, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Southeastern Regional Lipid Conference (SERLC) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

The "uncategorised" notice is only a small problem; I have fixed it by finding a similar article and copying the category from it.

The main problem you need to address is to show that the conference is notable; the article has been tagged for deletion because of this. I think the most relevant page for you to read is this one. You need to show that the conference has attracted mainstream media coverage. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:43, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Looks like spam to me, tagged for speedy as such... – ukexpat (talk) 16:32, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

HMS Wryneck HMS Diamond Troop ship Slamat 27thMay 1941

86.166.218.10 (talk) 16:35, 14 December 2010 (UTC)In ny my booklet "Call Me Royal" in a poem ,"Face to Starboard," I recount the salute(to which I was a witness) of HMS Calcutta to the destroyers Wryneck and Diamond 27 th May 1941 as they turned from the convoy to attempt the rescue of survivors of the Troopship Slamat I recently discovered that there is monument to the Slamat in Birmingham and a museum in Holland. Jack Lacey

OK. This desk is for asking questions about using Wikipedia. Is there something with which we can help you? TNXMan 16:37, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

And if you look at the relevant articles in Wikipedia, you'll see that it was 27 April, not 27 May. - David Biddulph (talk) 18:07, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Where can I find a "boilerplate" layout, to start my article from?

Over at Sourcewatch I created a "stub page template" at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stub_Template ...that has all the sections & some useful macros (aka transclusions, I guess) for a well formed page. Whenever I'm starting a new page, I use it as a starting point.

Where can I find a similar "sample" page to use over here at Wikipedia?

(please notify me on my Talk page, User talk:AnnaHaynes Thanks - AnnaHaynes (talk) 19:51, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

At the top of this page there is a link to Wikipedia:Article wizard. Have you tried that? - David Biddulph (talk) 20:01, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

No David, I did not see any mention of or link to a "template article" in the Wizard. (perhaps I overlooked something?) It seems to me this'd be a brain-dead-obvious need, though, that others have had too. AnnaHaynes (talk) 20:28, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

I think David's question was whether you have tried using the wizard? Because of the huge number of different types of article there are no "boilerplate" templates, but the wizard has been designed to get you started in a somewhat user friendly way. Please then consider asking for feedback on your article at WP:FEED. – ukexpat (talk) 20:37, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Manual of Style (layout) covers best practices for organizing an article. --Jayron32 20:41, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

(e/c) If you get all the way through the Wizard, it gives you a copy of Template:Article_wizard/userpageskeleton. This might be the "sample page" that the OP is after. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:44, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Yup, that's it (tho it is a bit skimpy...). (I'd bailed, partway through the Wizard) Thank you Sir John (& abashed thanks to David who gave me good advice I should have followed thoroughly.) AnnaHaynes (talk) 21:08, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

December 15

Category syntax

I would really appreciate help with creating categories for my first submission.** Please go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Veins,_basilic_vein,_forearm,_human_anatomy&action=edit&redlink=1

Note that my categories are incorrect. I have read the "categories" FAQ but do not understand it. Would somebody please help me by either assigning categories to my image or explaining here how I can do it?

• • TARGET IMAGE (needs correctly formatted categories): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Basilic_Vein.jpg

Thank you, Erasistratus1

Desired categories: Human anatomy forearm Veins Basilic Vein — Preceding unsigned comment added by Erasistratus1 (talk • contribs) 04:18, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

I have edited Commons:File:Basilic_Vein.jpg (see this diff) to separate out the different categories, 3 of which exist. The fourth one, Category:basilic vein, doesn't exist. - David Biddulph (talk) 06:19, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

December 16

adding a new page... new user

Hello,

I have recently written an article, and can't seem to be able to upload it. I have read the "move" section in the FAQ, but am still unable to pass the article over to the main site or for approval.

Please could you advise the next step?

many thanks for your help,

Ceiron Ceiron Jones (talk) 12:33, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

The reason you can't move the article is because you are not autoconfirmed. To become autoconfirmed your account must be at least 4 days old and have made at least 10 edits. Your account is over 4 days old but you have only made 3 edits. Even if your account was autoconfirmed your article is not ready to be moved to the main space. You need to add some reliable sources to the article. I would suggest you red WP:FIRST. It provides food information about writing your first article. ~~ GB fan ~~ 13:25, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Presumably you are referring to User:Ceiron Jones/Enter your new article name here? If so, you should spend some more time working on it before moving. I am not convinced that any of the references demonstrate the notability of the company as discussed in WP:CORP. Notabilty requires significant coverage in reliable sources - none of those sources appear to be reliable for the purposes of establishing notability. – ukexpat (talk) 17:31, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Editing help

When I add a section to a page a warning comes up that says "If you want to add text to the article, please move it up to an appropriate place in the article". How do I move the section up in the article instead of adding it at the end? 208.58.254.35 (talk) 18:25, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

If you click on the edit tab at the top of the article you can edit the whole thing rather than individual sections. Then add your text to the approproiate section, with appropriate references in support. – ukexpat (talk) 18:34, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

And see Help:Section for more detail about how to use sections. - David Biddulph (talk) 18:36, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

December 17

factual error

I have found a factual error in an article.

How do I edit the article or alert you to the error.

Ggambrell (talk) 01:26, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Click on the edit tab; explain why you corrected in the "Edit summary" box below; preview to make sure you did it right; save. --Orange Mike | Talk 01:31, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Since you managed to edit here, I'm wondering if perhaps you could not edit the article because it was protected. If this is the case, pick the "Talk" tab at the top and edit the article's talk page, adding a new section explaining the change you want to make.

In either case, if you want to insert some information, you should find a reliable source for that information. See WP:Verifiability. --ColinFine (talk) 08:13, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

If you tell us which article and error then we can give better advice or fix it. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:26, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

How do tags get removed once a page is cleaned up and corrected?

I made detailed changes on the way a page is organized, adding references and correcting information (December 16, 2010). The page I was working on had been tagged 3 times in August 2009 and one time in October 2010 - I believe my changes solved those problems. How do the tags get removed? Restorz (talk) 19:22, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

if you feel the tags don't belong you remove them. be sure to explain in the edit summary why you are removing the tags. ~~ GB fan ~~ 19:30, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

I've made some changes to Marriage Equality USA - removing original research, sources tied directly to the subject, and other promotional material. You should note that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a forum to promote a group. TNXMan 19:31, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

December 19

disambiguation

I am creating a new article on the subject of 'nowcasting'. This term is used in both meteorology and economics. A Wikipedia article on its use in meteorology already exists but there is nothing on its use in economics. The article I want to write is principally about nowcasting in economics. What should I do?

The article I have drafted does contain a brief reference to the use of the term 'nowcasting' in meteorolgy, with a reference. Is there some way that I can create a link to the existing article on nowcasting in meteorology?

Jasper McMahon (talk) 16:28, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

I've included a link. Change it to suit. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:34, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. But what do I do about the title? I cannot move the article to the live site with the title as it stands. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jasper McMahon (talk • contribs) 16:51, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't quite follow where your problem is. If it is about the name of the article, you move it to "Nowcasting" (see WP:SYMUD). If it is how to link to a section of an article, use [[Weather forecasting#Nowcasting]]. If it's that you think the article should have a note at the top mentioning, and directing the user to, the meteorology article, see WP:hatnote. Do these help? --ColinFine (talk) 17:56, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

The OP may be worried about the fact that Nowcasting is currently a redirect to Weather forecasting#Nowcasting. Presumably the thing to do is move the user draft to Nowcasting (economics), move the current Nowcasting redirect page to Nowcasting (meteorology), and make a new disambiguation page pointing to them both? - David Biddulph (talk) 18:18, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

If one of the meanings can be regarded as primary, it probably doesn't need a disambiguation page, but just the relevant hatnotes, see Wikipedia:Disambiguation.

December 20

Wikilinks and images

Hello how can i relate words on my article to other wiki pages, also how can i add a picture ? Thanks for your help— Preceding unsigned comment added by Qajar2010 (talk • contribs)

You can link to other pages like this:

[[Example]]

and add images like this:

[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Caption]]

More info about linking here, and about images here. DARTH SIDIOUS 2 ^(Contact) 15:00, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict)You can add "wikilinks" to other articles, by wrapping terms in double square brackets [[like this]]. You can also link to an article using a different phrase using a piped wikilink; for more information see WP:WIKILINK. As for images, follow the instructions at WP:UPLOAD to upload an image, then it can be inserted using the [[File:Example.jpg|100px]] format, for example, or as a parameter in an infobox. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 15:03, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

Pre-approval of projected username via email?

I'd like to register a username that shouldn't be (but could be understood to be) WP policy iffy. Could I email the leadership and get some sort of pre-OK? (I don't want to mention my projected username in public.)

83.250.231.9 (talk) 16:43, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

I suggest you use Wikipedia:Request an account and use the "comments" box to explain why you think it should be OK. The team that process these requests will be experienced in assessing proposed user names. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:07, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

Fine, will do!

83.250.231.9 (talk) 17:19, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

December 21

Changing an article title

The title for the entry on Chretien de Troyes's Yvain, ou Le Chevalier au Lion mistranslates the romance's title as "The Knight OF the Lion." Some translations, like Burton Raffel's, referenced in the article's footnotes, make this same mistake, but it IS a mistake. It should be "The Knight WITH the Lion." It's an important distinction, not only grammatically but also for the interpretation of the allegory of the lion. However, I can't change that title according to the FAQ about editing an article's title, which says:

You move the article using the "move" button (to the right of the "edit this page" button). But in order to do this you must have an account that has reached autoconfirmed status, meaning it must be at least four days old and have made at least ten edits. If you are not an autoconfirmed user, or the move is controversial, or the page you wish to rename is move protected, visit Wikipedia:Requested moves. You may also request to have an admin grant you confirmed status.

I have only just created an account and haven't made any edits yet. I'm not sure how "ten edits" are counted. Does that mean I have to edit 10 articles? Or make edits ten different times, even for a single article?

In any case, I hate for an error like this to stand, just because I'm not yet authorized to make such a change.

Alanbaragona (talk) 03:53, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Yvain, the Knight of the Lion (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

I'm afraid I have removed your addition to the article. One of Wikipedia's core policies is that it does not publish original research. Articles must stick to facts and opinions that have already been published in reliable sources. Your paragraph on the mistranslation of the name may well be true, but, until you can show that the ideas have been published in scholarly works, they should not be mentioned in the article.

For the same reason I don't think you should change the article title. To answer your question, though, the ten edits can be to anything at all - even your post here counts towards the total. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:12, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

changing picture?

How do you change the picture on the wiki page? 98.149.35.240 (talk) 10:49, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

If you have a picture that you think would improve a Wikipedia page, there are four steps to think about:

1. Copyright - is this a picture that you took yourself? If not, things get complicated very quickly, as the copyright-holder would need to provide evidence that they were willing to release their copyright (see Donating copyright materials for this). But if it is a picture you took yourself, we can go on to step two.
2. Create an account - only logged-in users can upload images. See this page.
3. Upload the file to Wikimedia Commons using this link. Choose a good descriptive name for the file, and try to fill in as many of the other fields as you can. For "licensing", either choose the "recommended" option from the list, or place the image entirely in the public domain.
4. Edit the article to use your image instead of the old one. Click the "Edit" label at the top of the article, and look for something like [[File:A file name here|other stuff]] or [[Image:A file name here|other stuff] or, near the top of the article, something like {{infobox ... | image = A file name here ... }}. Replace the file name with the name of the new image. Use the "Preview" button to see if you've got it right, then fill in the edit summary and save.

If you have trouble with any of these steps, post again here. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:58, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

December 22

Editing Wikipedia

Editing Wikipedia. I have unknowingly made an inappropriate entry under 'Florida' that I am attempting to correct but have been unable. Can I get more detail as to how to correct this. I have made some corrections but I am not sure I have corrected my mistake as I'm unsure what the mistake is! Thanks so much. Cmac65 (talk) 10:44, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Your edits were undone soon after you made them; just before those messages were added to your talk page. You can check the page history by clicking on the "History" tab at Florida or using this link. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:29, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

writing a new article about a client

Hello, Although a regular reader/searcher of Wikipedia I have never edited or contributed an article before. Having recently designed a website and some software for a client's company, he has asked if we could create some social media account pages for him, including a Wikipedia page. Technically there is no problem, but having read up on policies and guidelines here I am not quite sure if the article will be accepted by "the community".

As you may surmise there is not already an article about his company or himself, but I believe it is not because he is not "notable" as outlined by the guidelines. Rather, it is that he is really only notable in Ireland, which has a relatively small population and influence on world affairs. And Wikipedia is essentially American (the English version at least). Obviously his own websites provide primary sources for citation; however, there are many reputable secondary sources where he is extensively quoted and interviewed in national newspapers as he is considered a leading expert in his field in Ireland. I imagine people in Ireland would search his name and his business name online quite frequently, but only his company website would appear or links to the newspaper articles or reviews of his books.

My question is - would it be considered a conflict of interest for us to write this Wikipedia article for him? If so, would it be ok to submit an outline article for a Wikipedia editor to write? Thank you for your time.

83.147.129.97 (talk) 21:52, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

You are correct; if this person is notable then a Wikipedia article could be written about him, but because of your conflict of interest you should not do it yourself. You could have a look at Wikipedia:Requested articles - if you put together a good collection of references to reliable sources such as those newspaper interviews, someone may get round to writing article.

You should read Wikipedia's Law of Unintended Consequences before requesting an article, though. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:13, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

December 23

Unsuccessful registration. Username taken — and not taken?

I tried, unsuccessfully, to register my username of choise, but the system rejected the name saying it was already taken. However, upon search it said "Wikipedia does not have a user page with this exact name." So, it seems it's not taken. The name is the same as a WP article. Is there a rule against that?

83.250.231.9 (talk) 02:34, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

great-grandmother —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.239.130.250 (talk) 02:42, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I resent that. Further, on the user's talk page, the user is recommended to use the sandbox.

83.250.231.9 (talk) 02:52, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Based on your description, the user exists but hasn't made a user page. Making a user page is optional when you have a user account. The post by 125.239.130.250 seems unrelated to you and wasn't a reply to you. Many new users don't know how to use discussion pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:06, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Me included... I apologize if I misunderstood 125.239.130.250's post.

83.250.231.9 (talk) 04:29, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

do i get a certificate if i work for wikipedia?

Can i get a certificate that shows that i have worked my bit on wikipedia like editing articles etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.200.48.173 (talk) 15:20, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, we don't have those. However, a record of your contributions will always be kept. TNXMan 15:23, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

How do I create the new pages for an essay

I want to write an essay.  An essay is associated with a Talk page.  How do I create the new page or pages?
Thanks, RB  66.217.117.192 (talk) 17:16, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Addendum

The title of the Essay is "Policy Sculpting: Inclusion vs. Exclusion".

It would say:

Some sculptors have described the process of sculpting as removing the parts of the stone that are not part of the sculpture.  I think that this analogy applies for the core content policies.  WP:Verifiability is a rule for inclusion.  WP:Verifiability is like picking the block of stone from which the sculpture will be made.  What happens next is that in WP:Due_weight we have rules for exclusion.  Here we remove un-interesting parts of the block of stone.  In the end we want balance (WP:NPOV), not a mound of what wasn't removed.

RB  66.217.117.192 (talk) 17:16, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

The best thing to do is to create an account. This will grant you a userpage and a userspace where you can create essays such as you are proposing. --Jayron32 17:20, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I looked at WP:WHY, WP:USERPAGE and WP:NAMESPACE.  I still don't understand. 

Here is an essay: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CREEP

The URL is in the wiki/Wikipedia: namespace. 

Here is a "user page": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ebieberich/sandbox

This URL is in the wiki/User: namespace.

Even if I got an account, I still don't know what is needed to create an essay.  Thanks, RB  66.217.117.192 (talk) 18:08, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure which part you don't understand. If you created an account (say EssayWriter for the sake of example), then after that account was autoconfirmed (meaning after four days and at least ten edits anywhere in Wikipedia) then if you searched for a page say User:EssayWriter/Policy Sculpting, it would offer you the option of creating that page. I suggest you do create it there, in User space at first, and later ask for help in moving it to Wikipedia space. --ColinFine (talk) 19:44, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

To the OP. Essays in the Wikipedia namespace are there because they have achieved wide acceptance among the Wikipedia community. They almost all started out as someone's personal essay. Until your essay has gained community-wide acceptance, it is best to create in as a subpage in your Userspace, rather than as part of the Wikipedia namespace. --Jayron32 20:28, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm not a new user but would like to change the name of one of the articles

It's an article I started a while ago called List of Canadian petroleum companies. I originally started it as Canadian Petroleum Companies which right now redirects to the list but someone else decided to change it to a list. I think it has become more than just a list and would like to see it renamed Canadian Petroleum Companies but would like to know other people's opinions first.Grmike (talk) 23:45, 23 December 2010 (UTC)grmike

I'd clean it up first (wikification, etc.); then move it to Canadian petroleum companies (only "Canadian" should have been capitalized), currently a redlink. --Orange Mike | Talk 00:02, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

thanks, what does wikification mean exactly? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grmike (talk • contribs)

Articles need to be "wikified" if they contain few or no links to other articles ("wikilinks"), if they contain obsolete html tags that need to be replaced with wiki markup, or if they simply need general formatting improvements to conform with Wikipedia's formatting guidelines and Manual of Style. --Orange Mike | Talk 02:48, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

And see WP:WIKIFY. – ukexpat (talk) 16:21, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

December 24

black ops

dude,really — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joomuffin1 (talk • contribs) 16:10, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, really! Did you have a question about Wikipedia with which we can help you? TNXMan 16:11, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Is this a WikiLeaks reference? Please note that Wikipedia is not related in any way to WikiLeaks. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:17, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

December 26

Indian society

how muslims marginalized in indian society — Preceding unsigned comment added by Singh 515 (talk • contribs) 06:42, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

You might find what you are looking for in the article about Islam in India. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at the Humanities section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for).For your convenience, you may click here to post your question. I hope this helps. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:31, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

But note that you should do your own homework. – ukexpat (talk) 16:14, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Separate registrations for Wikipedias in different languages?

If a user contributes to different Wikipedias, say the English one, the Italian one and the French one, is it necessary to register on each Wikipedia separately, or is there "an international registration"? If a user should register separately to Wikipedias in different languages, should the same user have the same user name on the different Wikipedias, or is it OK for the user to have different user names?

212.247.104.148 (talk) 11:23, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm not an expert in this, but the page m:Help:Unified login might help you. Feel free to ask again here. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:36, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

If you sign up for the English WP, then you can also log into basically all the projects (wikibooks, wikimedia, etc), as well as any language you want. However, in my experience, you have to make a new user page for each language and project. I hope this answers your question. --Thekmc (talk) 22:20, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

December 27

Possible Bias!

I'm a Latina real estate professional who just happen to be trying to track down information about the NAHREP (the national real estate organization for Hispanics). After discovering that there is no article on the organization, I checked out the articles on the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the NAREB (the national real estate organization for African Americans).

Someone on your staff has placed a heading on the NAREB page, e.g. it should be removed because it reads like a advertisement. This prompted me to re-read the article on the National Association of Realtors (a mainly Caucasian focused organization). I see no difference in the writing style. In fact, the article on the NAR, as its currently written, given the supposed criteria this staff person has used is longer and has more of a "promotional" slant! Yet, there is no "heading" call for the NAR article to be rewritten. Why not? Frankly, this gives the impression of racial bias, particularly when there is no article on any other racial group, besides the African American organization. If, a heading is placed on the NAREB article, then one should be placed on the NAR by the same staff person. Obviously, this needs to be brought to the attention of both organizations because Wikipedia promotes itself as being neutral, yet here is a clear example that its staff is not! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.255.139.109 (talk) 07:30, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

National Association of Real Estate Brokers (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

National Association of Realtors (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Wikipedia is a collaborative effort by volunteer editors. There are a few "staff persons" watching over the computer servers, giving legal advice, manning some phone lines somewhere, and so on, but 99.999% of the work and the article edits are done by volunteers. And with 3.5 million articles, it can be ages before someone notices that an article is sub-standard and tries to improve it. So if you think that the National Association of Realtors reads like an advert, you can be bold and tag or improve it yourself. If you'd like to tag it, use the "Edit" link at the top of the article and insert the text {{advert|date=December 2010}} at the top. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:58, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

SCDs; multiple medical abbreviations

This abbreviation is also commonly used for Sequential Compression Devices in medical transcription. See Stedman's Medical Dictionary.

Medical Transcriptionist —Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.58.16.97 (talk) 17:58, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Is that something different from the Sequential compression device that was already mentioned on the Scd page? I have sorted the entries into alphabetical order, so it should be clearer now. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:48, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Translating an article

Hi,

I have a question regarding articles in different languages. I don't want to create a separate article, but I want to translate an article in wikipedia, so that it's available in English Wikipedia, how do I do that? (As I want two articles to be linked together right).

Thanks, AniAni25962 (talk) 21:59, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Try Wikipedia:Translation for general instructions and advice. For linking the translated page to the original, try Help:Interlanguage links. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:35, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

December 29

Brewton schools that was left out

W.S. Neal Elementary School located at 701 Williamson St. in Brewton,Alabama W.S. Neal Middle School located at 703 Williamson St. in Brewton,Alabama W.S. Neal High School located at 801 Andrew Jackson St. in Brewton,Alabama —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.90.95.73 (talk) 01:09, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for this information. Please feel free to add it to the 'City schools' section of the Brewton, Alabama article -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\^{[alternative account of Phantomsteve]} 02:37, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

- provided you have references for the information. --ColinFine (talk) 21:43, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

How do I create an entry?

How do I create an entry? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Christiaan1960 (talk • contribs) 16:15, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines with which all articles should comply. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article. You might also look at Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is also available to walk you through creating an article. – ukexpat (talk) 17:09, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

etiquette and procedure - subject-matter experts

Hi. I work for an advocacy-oriented nonprofit and we'd like to volunteer as subject-matter experts on an article tagged as needing "attention from an expert on the subject." The article in question has been under suspicion of being sabotaged by PR folks working for large companies in the past. I want to be sure that our contributions are welcome before we proceed. I'm also uncertain if we should just edit away or introduce ourselves first -- whether on the article's talk page or directly to folks who have worked on the article before. Basically, we're total newbies to this and don't want to misstep. Thanks! Lkloop (talk) 21:26, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

A couple of tips. First of all, you'll want to create a userpage (see WP:USERPAGE) where you declare your association and purpose. Wikipedians are very forgiving of people who are up front and honest, deception is the only thing to likely get you into real trouble. See WP:COI for information on editing under a conflict of interest. Also, when you speak of "we", please make sure that every person in your organization has their own unique login. Wikipedia does not allow group logins; it is one-person-one-account. --Jayron32 21:34, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

But having said that, and once you understand the conflict of interest guidelines (if they are relevant), please feel free to improve the article. Please make sure you always give a meaningful edit comment, and if there are changes you want to make that you think might be controversial, please discuss them on the article's talk page first. Everything you add should be sourced. --ColinFine (talk) 21:47, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Image licensing

Hello, i am new on wikipedia. I just edited, contributed a couple of pages on health and especially converted my college stub page into a whole new briefly explained page on wikipedia. I added some pictures as well on my college page. But the main problem which i am facing now a days is that how to categorize license on pictures. Well in my country, though licenses does not matter a lot, but i think it is good to put some license on pictures. I have following questions if anyone guide me. 1) I snaped, created and edited real pictures of my college especially of buildings and some famous places and uploaded on wikipedia. Now I dont know how to put license on them ;( I mean i could refer it to college administration if wikipedia want, because i am the official representative to write brief description on wikipedia about our college through any means. But I dont know how it works. I could also refere from social networks like facebook, flicker or something. But for god sake, i am a doctor, not true wikipedian. How it works, i dont know. Please guide us. Thanks and regards in advance!

Dr.faizanali (talk) 23:06, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry you are having trouble with the Wikipedia copyright pages. For the college pictures, I think the help section you need is here. The instructions there explain how the college authorities can give up some of their rights in these pictures so that they are usable at Wikipedia.

For the stamp pictures, the copyrights will be held by the postal authorities or the stamp designers, so it is unlikely that these will be acceptable pictures for Wikipedia.

If you have more questions, try asking at Media copyright questions where the copyright specialists will gladly help. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:09, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

December 30

Reverting

I was reading through Princess Hours when someone deleted a hole bunch of information here. It was there for months now so I don't see why this person, Ophois, is deleting it? 187.50.244.70 (talk) 05:07, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

The information is completely unsourced, which the anon has been alerted to several times. Ωphois 05:10, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Wow! You are ignorant. The stuff you deleted have been around for months. So what if it is unsourced. It is your job to source them. Alot of information on Wikipedia is unsourced, but we are supposed to help out by finding the sources for them. Half of Wikipedia would be deleted because there are so many unsourced stuff on here. 187.50.244.70 (talk) 05:11, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

The fact that it has been unsourced for months doesn't mean that it can be kept! If no one has added a source, that could mean that there are no reliable, independent sources to verify the information. If you have such sources, then re-add the information with citations -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\^{[alternative account of Phantomsteve]} 05:46, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Actually, the stuff is still there. The anon was starting an edit war over it, so I stopped reverting. Ωphois 05:57, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

187, please never tell any editor "it is your job to source them". Wikipedia is entirely created by volunteers, who choose what they want to do to improve it. If there is unsourced material, any editor is entitled to remove that material. It is preferable to find sources, if possible, but removing the material is perfectly within the rules. If you want some unsourced material kept, it is you that have an interest in finding sources for it, more than anybody else. And I cannot think of any circumstances in which saying "Wow! You are ignorant" to another editor is acceptable behaviour. --ColinFine (talk) 11:28, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Nutrition

why do we require nutritions —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.243.227.159 (talk) 08:46, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I suggest you begin by reading the Nutrition article. If you have specific questions you could try asking at the Science Reference Desk. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:58, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

But note that we will not do your homework for you. – ukexpat (talk) 15:40, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Problem with references

Hello I have a problem concerning the references. I have created one entry but i could not add the reference. I tried ten times but in vain, I have the same message "Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{Reflist}} template or a <references/> tag; see the help page."

I try to add the references in the bar, next to "link" and "emebedded file",

thank you in advance for your explination, if possible on my talkpake

daglarkizireyhan

You need to add a references section immediately before the External links section (if there is one). In that section add the {{Reflist}} template and the references should be displayed. – ukexpat (talk) 15:36, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Presumably you are referring to Riva Kastoryano? I have tagged the article for speedy deletion because it does not appear to indicate how or why the subject of the article is significant or important. Please take a look at WP:BIO. – ukexpat (talk) 15:39, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Changing species name created a new page

Hello,

Norrisia norrisi is the correct name of the species I am currently working on. However, I realized that as originally posted in Wikipedia, the species is listed as Norrisia norrisii--with two i's on the end--and there should only be one, hence the correct name is Norrisia norrisi. This is validated at: http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=70013

So when I edited the page that has the species, and also the page for the genus, there were weird changes. Since I am a new user, I was hoping you could point me in the direction of resources to fix hierarchical pages for taxonomic information.

Thanks! Steve LonhartLonhart (talk) 18:49, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

To change an article title, you move the article to the correct title. I have moved it to Norrisia norrisi for you. – ukexpat (talk) 18:53, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Upon further research, it seems we now have two articles that appear to be about the same thing - Norrisia norrisi and Norrisia. Should they be merged or should Norrisia be rewritten to be about the genus rather than the species.? – ukexpat (talk) 18:59, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Expand Stub Article - Poss. COI

Hi all, I work for a regulated power utility. Our Wikipedia page has virtually no information - it's classified as a stub. I want to expand the content, flesh out our history, what we do, where we do it, who we service, etc. We are a regional monopoly and, as such, have no need to write any sort of promotional content. Any new information added to the page would be strictly factual and simply tell the world who we are.

After reviewing the COI section, I'm concerned that even though I intend to play it straight with the entry, the fact that I am an employee could be considered a COI. Is this the case? If so, and if writing the entry as an employee of the company is taboo, then who can be charged with the task?

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks! RKilowatt (talk) 20:34, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, you most definitely have a COI, thanks for recognising the issue and asking for help! Please use the article's talk/discussion page to suggest changes to the article or create a user subpage such as User:RKilowatt/Sandbox with your rewritten version and ask for comment on the article's talk page and/or at Requests for feedback. – ukexpat (talk) 20:38, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

made a new page, now its gone

I created a page called Kanguera, and now I can;t find it anymore — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeff Song (talk • contribs) 21:33, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I am surprised that the article was deleted without any warning on your talk page. The deletion log entry reads

21:22, 30 December 2010 PMDrive1061 (talk · contribs) deleted "Kanguera" ‎ (A7: No explanation of the subject's significance (real person, animal, organization, or web content))

I can't see the text of a deleted article, so can't really comment. You should read Why was my page deleted? for advice on what to do next. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:58, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. I read "Why was my page deleted?" and it led me to Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion where it seems that A7 is a code for articles that do not provide an indication of importance, about individual real people or animals, organizations or web content - but my article is not about any of these. It is about a robotic hand. What do I do now? How do I get the content back (it was not alot, I managed to write just one line before it was deleted.) How do I provide an indication of importance? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeff Song (talk • contribs) 22:21, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I suggest you start again in a user sub page, either by using this direct link User:Jeff Song/Kanguera to create the page or by using the Article wizard. Then you'll be able to write the article in peace and have it reviewed and moved when it is ready. To show that the robotic hand deserves a Wikipedia article, you need to show that it is notable by including references to reliable sources such as books, newspapers, news sources or magazines that have written about it.

To get the deleted content back you should leave a message at User talk:PMDrive1061, or maybe a passing admin will see this help thread and copy the text for you. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:48, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

My advice would be to re-create the article as a userspace draft first, at User:Jeff Song/Kanguera, for example. When you think it's ready to be moved to mainspace, submit a request for feedback at Requests for feedback. Please also take a look at your first article, notability guidelines and reliable sources. – ukexpat (talk) 22:50, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

many thanks to both of you, I appreciate the advice, and will create it in User:Jeff Song/Kanguera . no need to worry about recovering the text, it was just one line. Any help on how to include references to books or magazines would be great. —Preceding undated comment added 23:02, 30 December 2010 (UTC).

For help citing references, please see WP:CITE. – ukexpat (talk) 23:11, 30 December 2010 (UTC)