Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive 98

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how best to add a comment to an article talk page?

I'm a complete novice for adding any info to wikipedia. I was just looking at the article on 'Dutch Auction', and see that a) there is some dispute over what a Dutch Auction is, and b) neither the article nor the talk page mentions the fact that in Holland this is a standard method for selling/buying a property. This would be an interesting fact to contribute to the discussion. How do I best go about it? Helpful advice much appreciated. Peter5319668 (talk) 20:33, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia, Peter5319668! The best course of action is to bring up your comments on the talk page for Dutch Auction, located at Talk:Dutch auction. Do you see next to where it says "Edit" on the top line where it says "New section"? Press that, think of a title, and voice your opinion. I warn you that there hasn't been much activity at the talk page, so you may have to do research yourself and be bold in editing. Happy editing! öBrambleberry of RiverClan 20:41, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Suggestion

I just post on my talk page some template to get suggestions from SuggestBot. But it did nothing, nor even showed my activity at the history.... what's that?  Miss Bono (zootalk) 18:48, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

As far as I know, SuggestBot does not respond instantly. Instead, you will get talk page posts from time to time, with suggestions based on your recent editing history. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 19:45, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Picture problem

Hey i was searching around trying to fix some deadlinks and on one of the pages the picture was way to big and i attempted to fix it but i dont know how could someone help? This is the link to the page 168th_Military_Police_Battalion Thanks in advance!

Shashenka (talk) 18:00, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

I check that out and i couldn't find a way to reduce the picture. i did my best. I'll try to ask for advice to another user.  Miss Bono (zootalk) 18:19, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Shasheka, welcome to the Teahouse. I've resolved this problem for you but if you find it again in future any image will support a size parameter like this [[File:168th MP BN DUI.jpg|200px]] where px is the size in pixels. 200 is normal for infoboxes but you can use any size you want, depending on the context the file is being used in and the size of the original image. NtheP (talk) 18:26, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Oops! I had already done that but with 300px. Guess you get first....  Miss Bono (zootalk) 18:29, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

To reduce the size of the largest picture on the page, |image=[[File:168th MP BN DUI.jpg|200px]], you simply change the "200px" to something smaller... I've lowered it to 135px, pet me know if it is still too big or you now should know how to change it yourself. :) Technical 13 (talk) 18:30, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks so much! Shashenka (talk)

Great Answer

What is considered as a Great Answer? Miss Bono (zootalk) 14:40, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

This is. Keri (talk) 18:27, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Joking aside, a Great Answer "is one that fits in with the Teahouse expectations of proper conduct: polite, patient, simple, relies on explanations not links, and leaves a talkback notification." Keri (talk) 18:29, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

This was a great answer (and I have the badge to prove it)! Technical 13 (talk) 18:32, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

References Problems Again

I have a problem with this source <ref name="nl.newsbank"/> here [[1]]... Need some help!! :D  Miss Bono (zootalk) 14:12, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Hey, Miss Bono, welcome back! The problem here is that, in the sandbox, you use the ref name nl.newsbank, but you haven't actually defined it anywhere. The first time you use that ref name, you need to put the information of the reference inside the tag, so that Wikipedia knows what you're talking about. It would look something like this: <ref name="dijkstra">Dijkstra, Edsger. "GOTO Statement Considered Harmful." March 1968. ''Communications of the ACM''.</ref>. From then on, you can just use the <ref name="dijkstra"/>, and Wikipedia knows you mean a repeat of what's in the first tag, without you having to retype it all. You have the second part, but not the first one. Hope that helps! Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 14:16, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks  Miss Bono (zootalk) 14:21, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Use of IMDB as a reference

Hi there, I'm at the early stages of working on an entry for an Actor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:G2003/Greg_Wendell_Reid i was wondering how to treat IMDB - I'm guessing that it's of no value as a reference but can be used as an external link. Does having an IMDB profile have any benefit in terms of notability? ThanksG2003 (talk) 13:48, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi G2003. Because IMDb is user generated (like Wikipedia), it's not regarded as having much value as a source. Since the question gets raised regularly, we have a guideline on it: WP:IMDB. Basically, it's okay as an external link, but not as a source - and it doesn't count at all towards notability. Yunshui 雲‍水 13:56, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

IMDB is not a reliable source, anyone can edit and change the information on that page. Wikipedia has to be serious and formal, even in articles popular culture. It is not trying to be like IMDB and it is definitely not like a fan site. The things that end up in Wikipedia are things that come from mainstream general news sources like BBC News, CNN, Reuters. Hope this helps.  Miss Bono (zootalk) 14:03, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks both, yes - makes perfect sense.G2003 (talk) 15:18, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Anytime ;)  Miss Bono (zootalk) 15:21, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Can someone explain

While looking at recent changes, I came across this: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arroyo_High_School_%28El_Monte,_California%29&curid=13336094&diff=550940050&oldid=550940013 Could someone look at this and explain how this article came to be, how it has the same name as a legitimate article and therefore cannot be easily found. In fact, after clicking on this link and opening the page, when you click above left on article it reverts to the legitimate article. Can some explain this? Thanks Robvanvee 08:20, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi Robvan, welcome to the Teahouse. Rather than an alternate version of the article, what you're looking at there is a diff - a page that shows the changes between two revisions of an article. The current version of the article (located here) doesn't contain those inappropriate edits - they were removed in this diff by User:AdventurousSquirrel. If you check the page history for the article, you can see all of the edits that have been made to it, including those where AdventurousSquirrel removed the vandalism. Hope this helps clear the issue up for you. Yunshui 雲‍水 10:23, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Aah...I see. thanks! Robvanvee 10:36, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Article was deleted

Hi, yesterday i wrote an article about a german musicband Pride Shall Fall. But today it was quickdeleted. First of all: is there anywhere a copy of this article because it would be very annoying to write it once again. And I dont know why it is deleted!?

CyrasGER (talk) 06:49, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Hello Cyras, and welcome to the teahouse!

Yes, there is a copy of your article. To get it, you just need to find an admin, and ask him to userfy your article.

I suggest you directly contact User:Alexf, who deleted the article.

ALternately, you can also put the following on your talk page along with what you want - {{admin-help}}

I hope this helped.

Cheers,

TheOriginalSoni (talk) 09:57, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi, Cyras. You say you don't know why it was deleted: there's an entry on your talk page explaining it: the article did not show that the band are notable (in Wikipedia's special sense of the word). Many, many new articles get deleted on these grounds, particularly about bands. There are two possibilities to proceed. If in fact the band have been noticed by reliable sources independent of them (articles in newspapers and magazines, for example; not blogs or user-contributed websites, and not just listings) then you can get and admin to userfy your articles, and you need to cite these sources in the article. On the other hand, if the band have not yet been noticed by these sources, I'm afraid that Wikipedia cannot have an article about them at present. --ColinFine (talk) 16:33, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Formatting References

I need help to format the references here [[2]]... Thanks! ;P  Miss Bono (zootalk) 15:51, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

I've done what I can. Some of these sources I appear to be unable to access from home, so I didn't know exactly what to do. I'm not sure you need "pqarchiver" as the publisher, since the "work" is the newspaper, but I could be wrong. I would also recommend you change the ref name "pqarchiver" as you use that as a source several times. I also don't quite understand what the mention of Twitter is doing in one of your references.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:33, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

There is nothing wrong with mentioning a subjects connection to Twitter or any other social network as long as it's not expected to hold the weight of the subject's notability. For example, you couldn't write an article on Mark Zuckerberg without mentioning Facebook... Technical 13 (talk) 19:01, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

My point was I had never seen a reference like that. I didn't know whether it was "legal".— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:02, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

I'm at a library and I thought I could access the source, but this library apparently doesn't have that ability. I'm guessing that Miss Bono got the information about where to find the source from Twitter, which I suppose is fine. I just had never seen it done.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:08, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

What is the policy concerning text copied from another wiki

How should I clean up Salting out? As I was reading this article yesterday, I noticed a lot of unformatted content at the end, following the "See also" section. I made a few minor edits, attempting to put the article into the standard Wikipedia format.

Today I searched for this material, and discovered it came from a wiki at UC Davis, which has a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License, but seems to violate the license, because no attribution is provided.

This material was copy-pasted last month by an unregister user in this edit.

What is the policy of Wikipedia on copying from another wiki? Would it be acceptable for me to remove the copied material, and replace it with a reference or an external link?

Thanks.

Wikfr (talk) 20:25, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Hello and welcome to the Teahouse. Yes, all unreferenced information that isn't "common knowledge" should be removed and be replaced with reliably sourced information were possible. Technical 13 (talk) 23:21, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Hey, Wikfr, welcome to the Teahouse! You were right to have reservations about the material. I have removed it from the article, as it is a copyright violation; the CC-BY-NC-SA license that Chemwiki uses is incompatible with ours (CC-BY-SA), due to the NC clause in it. Thanks for noticing this! Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 23:25, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for taking care of the copyright problem so quickly. I added an external link to Davis, and cleaned up some of the references. The article looks much better now. Thanks for your help. Wikfr (talk) 03:02, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

How would someone lose authorization to be the admin of a page about their own organization?

How would they go about reclaiming the ability to do things like change the logo image, etc.? 24.9.79.189 (talk) 18:32, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

I think,no one is the admin of any page. Anyone can change images since Wkipedia is a Free encyclopedia.  Miss Bono (zootalk) 18:34, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Which page are you referring to? If you want to change the logo, create an account and upload the new logo under a fair use claim.--Gilderien Chat|List of good deeds 18:42, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

So logos are not protected? Anyone could go on the page for any organization and upload the McDonalds arches as the logo, for example? Could you send me the link to instructions for how to change our image? Right now when I click on it, I get a message that says, "You cannot overwrite this file." 24.9.79.189 (talk) 18:45, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Also, administrators on Wikipedia don't own pages more than anyone. CNN does not own the CNN page, nor can your organization own your page. I'd suggest that, following best practice and to avoid conflict and avoid time wasting, you not edit your own article, but post on the talkpage of the article. To get to the talkpage, use this address, replacing PAGE with the page name with underscores (_) for spaces: http://enwp.org/Talk:PAGE_NAME. Hope this helps! gwickwire^talk_editing 18:45, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

I think, since you seem to have a lot of questions (which isn't a bad thing!), it may help if you come to our live, real-time help channel by clicking on connect: #wikipedia-en-help ^connect. Otherwise, logos aren't protected. Nothing is. You have no control over your article just because of your work for the organization. gwickwire^talk_editing 18:47, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, gwickwire, I'll go there... 24.9.79.189 (talk) 18:51, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

What's the link for the page of your organization??  Miss Bono (zootalk) 19:00, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Format Problems

I have some BIG troubles with my talk page. Someone did something wrong and it is a mess now. I need help.  Miss Bono (zootalk) 12:05, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

What is wrong with it Miss Bono? I thought I had it mostly fixed up yesterday? Let me know here or on my talk page and we'll see if we can tweak it so that it works the way you like. Technical 13 (talk) 12:12, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

The problem is in my TALK PAGE not in my User Page (the one you fixed extremely AWESOME!!)  Miss Bono (zootalk) 12:26, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Miss Bono, What exactly is the problem. I don't see anything messed up. If you point out the exact issue, maybe we could help easily. --Ushau97 (talk) 16:20, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Oh well. It have already been fixed by T13. --Ushau97 (talk) 16:23, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

i solved the problem this morning by copying some code lines. Thanks...!  Miss Bono (zootalk) 16:58, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Writing abt a friend

Hello i am an army personnel and wants to write obt my colleague and friend for his gallant actions how can i do that — Preceding unsigned comment added by Veeraazik (talk • contribs) 05:57, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Veeraazik, welcome to the Teahouse. If your friend meets the general notability guidelines then an article about him is fine. For military personal there is a guideline docuument called WP:SOLDIER which helps to define what sort of things help define him as being notable. In the case of gallantry it does suggest that only people who have been decorated with their countries top awards meet the crtieria. There is no disrespect intended towards your friend but this does mean that it is likely that he doesn't meet the notability threshold. NtheP (talk) 08:06, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

A possible alternative to writing about your friend's specific involvement in the actions is if the event surrounding it was significantly covered in the media, it may be a notable event in which you may mention your friend. Technical 13 (talk) 12:11, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Double image

Can someone please tell me how to put a double image (two photos side by side) in the infobox of an article? Thanks. --1ST7 (talk) 23:56, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi 1ST7. At least some infoboxes support the use of image galleries (see Battle of Hyderabad for an example) but whether this places the images above each other or next to each other I suspect depends on the width of the images and the width of the infobox. Perhaps one ofthe more technical minded hosts can expand on this? NtheP (talk) 08:06, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Depends a bit on the infobox (they don't all use exactly the same formatting for images), but {{multiple image}} should work in most of them. Yunshui 雲‍水 08:42, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Assuming that you're referring to Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Good Cop, Bad Cop (NCIS), you'd format the image line in the infobox as follows:

| Image = {{multiple image


| width = 100


| image1 = name of first image (without "File:" prefix)


| image2 = name of second image (without "File:" prefix)


}}

Copy that, change the italic bits appropriately, and you should be good to go. Yunshui 雲‍水 08:49, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the help. --1ST7 (talk) 22:13, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

International Golf Federation

Hello,

I work for the International Golf Federation. I have been trying to update information on that page which is not accurate but for some reason my corrections do not seem to be taken into account. Please let me know what I should do.

Thanks Aurélia Tacchini — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aurelia 78 (talk • contribs) 06:53, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

Question moved to top of page. NtheP (talk) 08:06, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi Aurélia. Your edits have been reverted by User:Tewapack; I would guess that this is primarily because you seem to be adding promotional content and copyrighted text. The best course of action would be to discuss this with Tewapack on his talkpage. I also note that you appear to be adding the same information as User:International Golf Federation; did you previously use this account? If so, you should be aware of Wikipedia's policy on multiple accounts. You should also read through the conflict of interest guidelines, since it appears that part of the issue may be due to your close connection with the Federation. Yunshui 雲‍水 08:57, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

With all due respect, Yunshui, I'm not sure that I understand your reference to Wikipedia's policy on multiple accounts. The account User:International Golf Federation was blocked a month ago as the user name represented an organisation, rather than an individual. Aurélia's account was registered a week ago, and it would be perfectly in order (and in accordance with the instructions in the block notice) to register an account as an individual after the previous account in the organisation's name was blocked. Your conflict of interest reminder is, of course, perfectly valid. - David Biddulph (talk) 10:19, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

I agree; there's no inherent issue with a user whose account is blocked purely on username issues registering a new account. I mentioned the policy purely for information, since the COI issue means that Aurélia will need to be cautious in her editing to avoid accusations of avoiding scrutiny or other illegitimate uses, such as contributing to the same page with undeclared multiple accounts. It's also pretty mandatory to link alternate accounts in these circumstances, which is also covered by the policy. Since it isn't directly relevant to the question I didn't want to derail the thread with a discussion of an unrealted issue - linking to the policy and suggesting she read it seemed like the easiest way to alert her to the information without wandering off on a tangent. Yunshui 雲‍水 10:45, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Can someone help User talk:Patrickdene

Hey all, I normally would mentor new users, but life has been particularly busy, and I may not have handled the guiding of a new user at User talk:Patrickdene. Could someone else walk him through the problems with his contributions, esp. the ones sourced from his grandfather.... Sadads (talk) 04:28, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I have been moved sufficiently by that user's contributions to instigate an SPI at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Patrickdene. Keri (talk) 13:17, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

emailing Wikipedia

Hi, I am experiencing problems with info-en-vwikimedia.org. Is this email address correct? JCinfo 04:58, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Did the email bounce back? What was the error message? --Tito Dutta (contact) 05:03, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi JCinfo, the email address is info-enwikimedia.org. There's a v in the one you have written. Perhaps this is the problem? Chamal ^T•C 05:05, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Editnotice

Hi, I'm just wondering, how do I create a personal editnotice for my user talk page? Thanks, ^King Jakob _C2 21:39, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Welcome back to the Teahouse, King Jakob c 2! What do you mean by edit notice? Can you give me an example? öBrambleberry of RiverClan 21:49, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Er, WP:Editnotice#User_and_user_talk. ^King Jakob _C2 21:53, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

(e/c) Hi King jakob. Go to your talk page. Click edit at the top. You should then see red links on the right hand side of the page labeled Group notice and Page notice . Click on the latter (it will lead here) and then add to the page notice the content you'd like. Click save page. Voilà. See also Wikipedia:Editnotice. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 21:53, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Is it possible to delete an article in Wikipedia?

Hello. Several months ago I initiated a trial at one of the websites for mathematicians, MathOverflow, http://mathoverflow.net/questions/107650/axiom-of-global-choice, about the content of the article in Wikipedia devoted to the so-called "axiom of global choice", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom_of_global_choice. My complaint was that the subject of the article in Wikipedia resembles too much a hoax. My arguments were that the references in Wikipedia and in the other places where this term, "axiom of global choice", appears, have no mentionings of it, and second, people who were trying to explain the meaning of this term did not succeed. Recently I asked the authors of this article in Wikipedia what they meant when writing this, and the results are here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Axiom_of_global_choice. I deduce, that I apparently was right when thinking that this article is about nothing, and as a corollary, perhaps, it's time to think of deleting it (together with the combination of words "axiom of global choice" everywhere in Wikipedia)? So I wonder, what is the standard procedure for those cases? Perhaps, however, the authors could rewrite this text in such a way that this term could be endowed with some mathematical sense, anyway, I suppose, something must be done with this. I will appreciate any suggestions. Eozhik (talk) 20:04, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Hello Eozhik, and thanks for visiting the Teahouse. I won't express an opinion on whether or not the article should be deleted, but it seems you've raised legitimate concerns. We have a process called Articles for deletion, which is commonly abbreviated "AfD". An editor, you in this case, nominates an article for deletion, and then there is an open debate. Normally, the debate lasts a week. Sometimes, it ends promptly, if consensus is clear. Debates can be extended if few people comment. Discussion should be limited to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines, and the quality of the sources discussing the topic. I suggest you read the page I linked to. It is complicated at first, but makes sense once you've read it all. Good luck! Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 20:35, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

If it's obviously a hoax, you can put {{Db-hoax}} on the article.^King Jakob _C2 21:39, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

True, King Jakob c 2, but in this particular case, it is not an obvious hoax, but instead an arcane aspect of mathematical set theory. So, I think a deletion debate is the best tool, where editors with mathematical training can comment. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 21:50, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! I nominated this article for the deletion, I am not sure that I did everything correctly, so I would be grateful if anybody could check. Thank you in advance! Eozhik (talk) 05:00, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Medical uses of silver

This article became an anti-cs brochure instead of a quality scientific article. What can be done in such situation? I have tried to engage on the talk page, to have a discussion on wp:medrs, but it all has brought no results so far. The article is dominated by 4-5 very experienced editors who are well versed with the policies. They remove all of my edits, and virtually all edits of the other pro-balance editors. Ryanspir (talk) 17:10, 20 April 2013 (UTC)a

Question moved to top of page. NtheP (talk) 17:22, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for visiting the Teahouse, Ryanspir. Wikipedia summarizes what the best quality reliable sources say about a topic, and it seems that high quality medical sources agree that ingesting colloidal silver offers no proven benefits. "Balance" does not mean giving equal weight to mainstream scientific views, and dissenting or fringe views. Wikipedia articles ought to be written from the neutral point of view and should not give undue weight to an advocacy point of view. If high quality medical sources cover new research in this area going forward, that would be the time to revisit this matter with those other editors on the article's talk page. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 20:46, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

resources and palagrism ?

I have trouble in stating websites so I don't plagiarize Abdulrahman rihani (talk) 14:38, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Hey there! Welcome to the Teahouse! My suggestion to you would be to not ever copy text from anywhere else, at all. That way, there's no issue of plagiarizing. If you absolutely need to have a quote or two, make sure you cite your sources. The best way to do that is to use the neat little "RefToolbar", as explained in the nice video at this link. But again, use quotes only when absolutely necessary to further the reader's knowledge.

Instead of copying from the sources, it's best if you summarize what your reliable sources have to say about the topic. For example, don't copy a sentence from CNN that says "recently a study came out that said that 80% of Wikipedia was written by men" or something along those lines; you should summarize that to your own words, maybe saying "According to this study..." Copying things and putting them together is also going to make the article sound awkward and like it doesn't flow.

If you have any further questions, or if my answer was a bit long or hard to understand, please feel free to reply here and ask me, or to ask at my talkpage here. Thanks! gwickwire^talk_editing 14:54, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

looking for the right example of a discography for an active classical musician

I've been all over the Wikipedia:WikiProject Discographies pages, and can't find what I'm looking for. Maybe all good for 50 Cent or Beyoncé, but not appropriate for doing a thorough classical or jazz discography for an artist. I suspect there are Wikipedia pages where this is done superbly -- but I seem to just be stumbling around trying to find them at this point. So, I was hoping someone would say: "use this as your 'best practices' model".

Here are two I'm rehabilitating: Zuill Bailey -- in rotten shape as a discography, and Navah Perlman -- a much simpler example, but it raises all the issues (collaborators, re-use of tracks on different album, just on some tracks of a CD, ...

This is the best I've stumbled on: Kronos Quartet discography, but I didn't want to put in a bunch of time cloning it, only to discover I'd made a poor newbie choice. ResearcherQ (talk) 01:57, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Hey ResearcherQ. Usually you can't go wrong with going directly to featured articles or featured lists in any search for a page to emulate. There is an entire section at featured lists on discographies: Wikipedia:Featured lists#Artist discographies. Featured content are pages we have identified as exemplary after a peer review process. One thing though: standards have tightened over time, so featured content promoted in 2006 may not be up to the standards of featured content from 2011, and so on. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:31, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick reply. Been to that page, Wikipedia:Featured lists#Artist discographies, and clicked on most everything. What I see, for example, is that the Lang Lang discography is formatted quite differently from the Oregon Symphony discography -- both "featured."

(as a newbie)I'm not concerned about my knowledge expertise, but very concerned of wasting time doing FORMATTING in a certain way, when there's a better/preferred way to have done it. I'm an amateur at "best practices" in formatting, and presumed there was a more efficient path than "stumbling around" -- that is, to ask. Still asking -- looking for a strong "USE THIS" (of course, direct me wisely, cuz once you point me there, I'll replicate it hundreds of times). It's the idea of "replicating something that's sub-optimal hundreds of times" that is my primary concern. Thanks for the pointers -- ResearcherQ (talk) 13:55, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Not to be grandiose with this analogy or imply our articles are actually analogous to grandmaster works of art, but if you were an artist looking at a Van Gogh and a Monet and asking for a definitive answer of whose style you should emulate, if either, the answer would be whatever techniques and styles fits the needs of your subject and comport with your own sensibilities. I personally think the format of Oregon Symphony discography has more pizazz than Lang Lang. But remember that it's not all or even mostly about format; depth, quality and proper attribution of references; great prose compliant with the WP:MOS; logical organization, comprehensiveness, images if available and so on all figure in. When it comes to article writing, every subject has its own concerns and there is no one size fits all, do-it-this-way answer on the big picture. You have a bunch of good examples. Choose one and just start is my advice. Or, if that's not good enough: I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU USE Oregon Symphony discography! and don't look back lest you turn into a pillar of salt.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:35, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

P.S. You could always ask for an opinion from the subject matter experts (or interested people anyway) at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Discographies.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:35, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Notability "Ditto"

I also did an article which stated their was lack of notability. I'm lost. It's for an an Emmy, Humanitas, ACT award winning screen writer, Dev Ross. I guess if it was for George Lucas, it would be a household name, but Dev has written more scripts! And seen by more people! They just don't know it, since they were children watching T.V. The article was marked for a rapid deletion for not being "notable". When I listed over 60 different screen credits, all with sources, and that only being her various animated television series, from Darkwing Duck to Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers, from Clifford the Big Red Dog to The New Adventure of Winnie-the Pooh, etc., the table grid (in a Wiki approved format) was deleted for being "resume" like. When I add information it is deleted, then told the article is not substantiated or notable by another editor. Dev also has written live action and children's books, the latter endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, but those weren't included, as the grid was focused on only television animated series.

Right now, I have asked that the "deletion" notification box be removed from the page as I have had two other related articles "speedy deleted" by new administrators. The box has been there for more than 10 days and the editor says he is waiting for "notability", yet adding that Dev has written for more than three major channels (ABC, Disney, PBS, Disney Afternoon, Fox, etc.), as well as straight to video, her own book series, etc., and have proven she is award winning, is not cutting it. This editor refuses to believe that anyone arbitrarily deletes anything, yet that is why there are complaints and wonderful zen like places, such as the tea house, where we can remember to breathe, right?

I clearly had labeled the article as a "stub" and am now becoming an expert on this person, the point that I took my laptop to the library out of the house for research, and it got wet in the rain...you guessed it...tax refund is going to pay for a hard drive recovery :( It's a good cause as this writer chose to work on scripts that were only about morals and love for children, during the 1990's and early part of this century. Your guidance is truly appreciated! Also, is there a way to be assigned a mentor so I am "protected"? Someone who is familiar with writing biographies so they understand that we can list items without it being a "resume" or advertisement? I have no personal gain in this. Dev is listed throughout Wiki. This started as a place to give a bio on who she is so other places could link to it. Now I'm frustrated and heart broken every time I'm "deleted". Domo for your kind hospitality.Smacorder (talk) 03:14, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi Smacorder. I'm sorry that your experience of Wikipedia has been... a little fraught, shall we say? (Sorry to hear about your laptop, as well!) However, there's light at the end of the tunnel - the discussion over whether the article should be deleted has been closed, pretty uninimously, as Keep, and such a decision can't be easily overturned; in effect, the page is now "safe" from deletion. Obviously, like all articles, there's room for improvement (I'd suggest collapsing the lengthy tables, for example), but at a glance, it looks like a solid start to me. Thanks for helping to improve Wikipedia's coverage of screenwriters. Yunshui 雲‍水 10:31, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Response: Yunshui, thank you, and those who responded to my plea, for saving the article. I am still learning HTML and since the save have been working on improving it. I have reworked the table so that the congruency of the columns makes more sense and I will study other articles for the best formatting from similar artists. Once the deletion notice was placed I panicked and began putting as much information as possible to show that this person was "notable" both through citations, as well as breadth of work. I am not an expert on the person, and had only created a stub. Since then, I have gained a true respect for what she has wanted to pass on to the next generation. Now, I endeavor to make the improvement of this, and related Wiki pages, my new hobby, so I guess I'll be learning html! Your graciousness is much appreciated. SandyC (talk) 22:31, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

signing posts

Hi. Why is it that my posts on talk pages get signed by SineBot, even when I do sign them?! Signed, Kristephanie 03:47, 22 April 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kristephanie (talk • contribs)

Your signature is supposed to link to you page, so try the code <span style="color:#9370DB">[[User:Kristephanie|Kristephanie]] ([[User talk:Kristephanie|talk]])</span>. Hope that helps! —Mikemoral♪♫ 03:56, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks! Happily, Kristephanie (talk) 04:13, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

No problem! I'm glad to help. :) —Mikemoral♪♫ 04:19, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

how to get permission to upload personal photograph of an old building

If I take a photograph of an old but in use public building, do I need to get some type of permission or license to upload that photo to my article?

Thanks in advance, WikinewbieterrorGagegs (talk) 02:58, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

You do not. You can upload your photo directly to Wikimedia Commons under a free license. This and more is explained on Commons. Though it does depend on what country you are from. Commons:Freedom of panorama explains about restrictions placed on photographing buildings. In the US, Canada, and the UK it's okay to photograph buildings, but I recommend checking the rules listed at the page I link to. All the best, —Mikemoral♪♫ 03:06, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

duh! I figured it out

gagegsGagegs (talk) 03:19, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Howdy Mike! Thanks for your response. I wasn't sure if I needed to actually apply for a license myself. I haven't yet gotten to all the Wikipedia pages...to be honest, I keep clicking on interesting links and getting lost. I've spent the last hour on some other website GNL? GDP? trying to figure out how to download software to get a license I thought I needed to apply for LOL. Newbies!

I appreciate the help more than you know. Have a lovely evening

gagegsGagegs (talk) 03:18, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

oops, somehow my response got in the next article. See, I really need help!

gagegsGagegs (talk) 03:19, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

No problem! Copyright and image licensing can be pretty complicated, so no worries. Commons will guide you through the process pretty well. And don't worry, I don't even know all of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. There's a lot of them. :) —Mikemoral♪♫ 03:58, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

How to upload photo to article?

How can I upload a photo to an article of mine? Do I have to first upload it to wikimedia commons or something like that? Thank you. akhooha (Alan Draheim)Akhooha (talk) 02:10, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

If you took the photo yourself, and it wasn't of something copyrighted such as a work of art, then yes, upload it to Wikimedia Commons. If it is not entirely your work, please give us more details. By the way, welcome to the Tearoom, and thanks for helping to improve the encyclopedia. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:05, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

What if the images in an article are not representative of the article & "Pages in Category" - What does it mean ?

1) This is especially with regards to this particular article K.pudur. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.Pudur I had actually put up an afd tag as I realized the page was next to useless and was clearly an advertisement. I was rejected based on technicalities.

Anyway, the images in here are clearly random images(I don't know how red, yellow or blue cricket balls are supposed to represent a village) and there is clearly no new information in here at all. What should I do now. Also how do I edit this page ?

2) Can someone explain what pages in category mean or should contain with regards to the following page if you please http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Districts_of_Tamil_Nadu

Thanks for helping out in Advance, Cheers Vignesh Mani M (talk) 22:42, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Vignesh Mani M. This article has shortcomings, so please be bold, click the "edit" button, and improve it. I agree that there are too many photos, so just go ahead and remove those that add nothing to the article. If you are familiar with the area, please add some reliable sources. Consensus is that every inhabited town, village and hamlet is notable, so this is not a technicality. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 22:51, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Where do "dead link" tags go?

Hi, do "dead link" tags go outside or inside the references? Nick1372 (talk) 20:28, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi, Nick if you use the template {{Dead link}} it goes inside the <ref> </ref> tags but outside, and after, any {{cite}} template used in the ref. For example

Markup	Renders as
Some text.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org |title=Web page title |accessdate=22 September 2012}} {{Dead link |date=April 2013}}</ref> {{reflist}}	Some text.

NtheP (talk) 20:50, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Depends on the circumstances, if there is only once source for a particular item^[1], I'll usually put the tag both in and out, if there are multiple sources^[1][2][3] then I'll only put it inside. Technical 13 (talk) 20:43, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks! Nick1372 (talk) 20:51, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Using {{cite web}} but can't put a retrieved date in the reflist

I'm doing some work on bare urls at2003–04 in English football. Done a few already but I notice that if you use {{cite news}} a Retrieved date appears in the reflist but if I use {{cite web}} I can't get the retrieved date to appear without an error report. Is it the norm when using {{cite web}} to not have a retrieved date in the reflist. If the retrieved date is good practise how do I do it? Jodosma (talk) 20:24, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

I use citeweb often and, via the parameter 'accessdate=' a Retrieved date appears. Are you adhering to a Manual of Style format when entering the dates (see WP:DATE)? Keri (talk) 20:35, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

The date format shouldn't make any difference but as Keri says both {{cite web}} and {{cite news}} support the |accessdate= parameter so there shouldn't be any problems. Try it on a sandbox page and if there are still problems post the sandbox link here so someone can take a look. NtheP (talk) 20:39, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse. I don't know what you were trying to do, but I have added a retrieval date to one of the refs on which you were working, to show how it's done. - David Biddulph (talk) 20:36, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks you very much, I thought I'd done it that way but must have messed it up somehow. A lot of work still left on that page so I'll get back to work.Jodosma (talk) 20:43, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

<ref> tag: where is its code?

The <ref> tag: I'd like to use it in an HTML document of my own. Is the code available anywhere? I'd like to ask W3C to consider adding it to the HTML5 specs. Is there a problem with this idea? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ferren (talk • contribs) 20:06, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

It's not an official HTML tag, and the documentation for it can be found at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php Technical 13 (talk) 20:33, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Tsung Tsai article?

I was wondering if anyone would like to write an article on the Buddhist monk Tsung Tsai; there is a book by George Crane, titled "Bones of the Master", about his escape from the Red Troops during the Great Leap Forward and his journey back into inner Mongolia as an old man, to try and revive Buddhism. It is a very interesting, enticing story, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in this topic.

24.131.239.128 (talk) 01:45, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Alternate citation style

I'm not familiar with the citation style being enforced by this edit. The template pages for sfnp and refbegin are not helpful. When is this format preferable over using <ref>{citation}</ref> with <reflist>? Andrew³²⁷ 00:05, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi. Shortened footnote with parenthesis (sfnp) is the preferred style where there is a bibliography listed from which multiple citations using different page numbers are taken/will be taken. Keri (talk) 00:25, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

It is very useful if an article is going to use a few references and cite different pages. The article, British Motor Syndicate, is only a few days old and still being worked on. (This is why its good to write an article in user space and move to only when completely written.) It is usual to maintain the citation style in an article, though very long ones tend to have a mixture of styles. To see the style in use look at Richard Nixon. StarryGrandma (talk) 00:30, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

How can we have the institution included, like other similar one?

Ok other institutions like Serere Township Secondary School have pages in wikipedia, so why leave this one out, or how can we make it pass for inclusion like the others. Thank youElayu Michael (talk) 22:24, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

As per thread below. -- Cassianto^Talk 22:41, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Hi Elayu Michael. There is an unwritten acknowledgement that all High Schools are notable, but articles about them tend to be written in a way which does not demonstrate their notability. I will gladly help you start an article about your school. I've started it off at User:Elayu Michael/sandbox. Keri (talk) 22:53, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

What did I do wrong?

I tried to create a page for Serere Township Secondary school but it was speedly deleted. Just let me know what I did wrong and what crime I am commiting.Elayu Michael (talk) 22:09, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Hello, you were not committing a crime, but it seems the article could have failed on the grounds that it was of a non-notable subject or was too short. Thousands of articles are created each day on WP in good faith, but a lot are deemed not notable enough to be retained. A solid article with reliable sources and grammatically correct information should see away potential deletions. There is no reason why you couldn't start again using a sandbox. You will need to provide good sources for your text. My advice would be to do this and get someone to check it over before swapping it over to the main space. Good luck! -- Cassianto^Talk 22:16, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Hi. It's difficult to know why the article was deleted, but might it have been because you didn't base it on secondary sources (such as books or newspapers), but instead wrote it without citing any sources or citing just the school's website?

Our rule is that any article needs to have secondary sources in order to indicate that the subject is notable enough to get an article on Wikipedia. See WP:GNG.

If you have secondary sources, I would recommend starting a version of the article in your own userspace (User:Elayu Michael/sandbox) . See WP:Starting an article for instructions about how to get it to "go live".

If you have only the school's website, consider instead adding content as a section in the article on Serere, rather than as a standalone article. Formerip (talk) 22:23, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

sock puppetry

What does sock puppetry mean??  Miss Bono (zootalk) 20:04, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Hello again Miss Bono Sockpuppetry: Using multiple accounts illegitimately. Improper purposes include attempts to deceive or mislead other editors, disrupt discussions, distort consensus, avoid sanctions, or otherwise violate community standards and policies. nerdfighter 20:07, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

i get it now. Thanks! :D  Miss Bono (zootalk) 20:09, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

AWARDS

I want to relocate my awards in a subpage from where I am able to access to it from my Userpage. Need Help :P  Miss Bono (zootalk) 18:06, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

You can simply cut/copy them from your User talk:Miss Bono and paste them to something like User:Miss Bono/Awards. If you are truly relocating them and cutting from your talk page, make sure to save that page as well. You can see what I've done with all of the boxes my talk pageUser talk:Technical 13 copied to my award page (I called it feedback because not all are necessarily positive) User:Technical 13/Feedback Technical 13 (talk) 18:25, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

How exactly can I make a link from an Image??  Miss Bono (zootalk) 18:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Take a look at this and teel me how can I instert it in my talk page as a header.  Miss Bono (zootalk) 19:01, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

I would move it to User talk:Miss Bono/header and then at the top of User talk:Miss Bono you can simply transclude it as {{:User talk:Miss Bono/header}} Technical 13 (talk) 19:16, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Need help from an admin or senior editor

Help has been given, it's at somewhere more already. To new editors asking questions, this doesn't apply to you, this is just a long question that is taking up space :) gwickwiretalkediting 04:00, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
At Talk:Tea Party movement, we have two very contentious discussions going on simultaneously. These concern two terminology choices: "Grass-roots" vs. "a combination of grass-roots and Astroturfing" "Opposed to illegal immigration" vs. "anti-immigration" In each case, I believe the first term is supported by consensus. This is due not only to the number of editors supporting it, but also the number of reliable sources. WP:WEIGHT indicates that the first term in each pair is the majority opinion. Unfortunately, one or more editors in the minority have become borderline disruptive by arguing non-stop against this. We need to get these issues resolved and move on. I regret that due to the constant bickering, the talk page has become a wall of words and is quite daunting to the newcomer. Please review the Talk page and determine whether there is consensus in these two content disputes, then report your findings in a new section. Hoping that a kind admin or senior editor will see this and make a ruling as a previously uninvolved "third opinion." Thank you. Phoenix and Winslow (talk) 17:44, 22 April 2013 (UTC) "Help us, Obi-Wan. You're our only hope." Phoenix and Winslow (talk) 18:27, 22 April 2013 (UTC) Hi. You might consider WP:Requests for comment (RfC) - an informal process for requesting outside input concerning disputes, policies, guidelines, article content, or user conduct. RfC is one of several processes available within Wikipedia's dispute resolution system. Keri (talk) 18:30, 22 April 2013 (UTC) That takes a minimum of 30 days, and usually goes on for several months. By that time, the Talk page will look like War and Peace (novel). Furthermore it's a hot political topic and an RfC would invite drive-by editing from people who hate the subject of the article. There's enough battleground behavior there already. I'm just asking for an uninvolved admin or senior editor to look and see if anything can be done immediately. I think there's consensus on both points but the minority is very vocal and resembling Custer's Last Stand. Thanks. Phoenix and Winslow (talk) 18:40, 22 April 2013 (UTC) You have a member of arbcom attempting to mediate a discussion who has said the wider issues have to be settled first. How many places are you going to take this? Its forum shopping ----Snowded TALK 19:00, 22 April 2013 (UTC) I was sent here by Technical 13. [3] So it isn't forum shopping. Stop stalking me immediately. Everybody's ignoring the wider issues discussion offered by SilkTork, the arbcom member you mentioned, because everybody is bogged down in an endless discussion of the two terminology disputes I've mentioned. Ladies and gentlemen, Snowded is a member of that vocal, semi-disruptive minority I told you about, and has decided to grace us with his presence here. Phoenix and Winslow (talk) 19:12, 22 April 2013 (UTC) Sorry P&W but I'm more than entitled to check out if an editor is forum shopping ----Snowded TALK 19:15, 22 April 2013 (UTC) Like I said: borderline disruptive. Phoenix and Winslow (talk) 19:18, 22 April 2013 (UTC) Congratulations, you've killed the thread. Phoenix and Winslow (talk) 03:56, 23 April 2013 (UTC) Both of you stop that. This is the Teahouse, not an area for bickering at each other. This whole thing's at ArbCom, wait for that before doing anything. Please. gwickwiretalkediting 04:00, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Upload New Picture to an Article

How do I upload my new picture from Google to an article in edit an article ? User:FarizMadridista (User talk:FarizMadridista) 15:38, 22 April 2013 (UTC) --FarizMadridista (talk) 08:03, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

No, you can't do that. Wikipedia has an extremely restrictive image rights policy. You cannot use photos you see in newspapers or magazines or find on the web. For the most part, only photos taken by Wiki contributors themselves can be used.  Miss Bono (zootalk) 15:43, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

That isn't strictly correct, Miss Bono. FarizMadridista, a good point to start is to read through Wikipedia:Image use policy and Wikipedia:Uploading images. Keri (talk) 15:45, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Oops Sorry. That's the answer I get once when i asked the same thing.  Miss Bono (zootalk) 15:56, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

No worries, Miss Bono. In four years of Wikipedia editing I don't think I've uploaded a single image that I had actually photographed myself. There are thousands (conservative guess) of images on the internet that satisfy the licensing criteria for use on Wikipedia. Photo Pin, for example, allows you to filter search results of images from Flickr that are available under appropriate licenses for Wikipedia. Keri (talk) 16:09, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

See also meta:Free image resources. Keri (talk) 16:13, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Miss Bono is correct that you can't use images you find online, unless you are sure that they have a proper license allowing free usage. Your working assumption should be that most photos you see online are unacceptable here. If it is on Wikimedia Commons, using it is fine. For historic photos, those first published in the U.S. before 1923 are fine. Many photos published by the U.S. federal government are fine, but there are some exceptions. "Fair use" such as book and album covers, and movie posters, are allowed in lower resolutions. It is a tricky area, and caution is advised. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 19:36, 22 April 2013 (UTC)