Wikipedia talk:Community portal/Archive 12

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Link rmy:

So I can´t edit directly to add a link, please I would like the person that is authorized do it: Link to "community portal" in romany language Wikipedia, rmy:Vikipidiya:Maladipnasko than - मालादिप्नास्को थान, in the "other languages" lateral section. As correspondence to its link towards our "en:Community Portal" from such page at the romany language Wikipedia.Sincerely,--Jatrobat 05:17, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Done – Gurch 10:01, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Rename Page

I am a new member and therefore do not have the capabilities to rename a page. I believe the page "Royal commission into whether there has been corrupt or criminal conduct by any Western Australian Police Officer" should be renamed. A good name would be "Kennedy Royal commission". Bse3 21:31, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

You can request that a page be renamed at Wikipedia:Requested moves – Gurch 12:04, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Trivium

For lack of a better place to make this query, I post here.

Q: Renaming a Subtitle/Content - Many pages have a 'Trivia' portion added near the bottom of the page (i.e., Back to the Future, The Amazing Race, etc.) should this portion not be called 'Trivium' instead?

Trivia is plural and Trivium is singular. When a list of bulletted points are given and each point is of seperate interest and not directly linked to a succeding point, would these bits of trivium not be considered seprate and therefore 'Trivium'? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Metamorphousthe (talk • contribs).

See Wikipedia:Guide to layout#Standard appendices: "There is currently no consensus on whether or not the singular or plural form of the section name should be used, although plural is more common (changing section names breaks permalinks, so it is best not to change already-established article section names)"

and Wikipedia:Avoid trivia sections in articles. Hope that helps. —Quiddity 19:16, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Making the site Christmas

Anyone think we maybe should add some holly to the puzzle globe trademark or something? Wiki-newbie 14:14, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

I think not. The Wikipedia is NOT Google. ^BlankVerse 14:53, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

In the past Wikipedia has not made seasonal changes to the logo or any other aspect of the interface, and it is unlikely that it will ever do so. Bear in mind that Wikipedia is intended to be an international site and that most such changes would be meaningless to much of the world's population – Gurch 16:06, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Don't forget that not all Wikipedians celebrate Christians. Mrmoocow 00:46, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

no i also dont think so that wikipedia should be made christmas i have been seeing this site for a long time now and it has never had any seasonal changes we have to ba a bit different from google and ask.com which have seasonal changes but i think we should have changes for national holidays like independence day and republic day of our country —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Arshchauhan (talk • contribs).

It's an international site, why have only NATIONAL holidays celbreated?

Page title

The capitalization of the "p" in "portal" contradicts our standard naming conventions (reflected in the titles of Wikipedia:Village pump, Wikipedia: Reference desk, Wikipedia: Help desk, et cetera). The link on our main page has read "Community portal" since March. Are there any objections to renaming the page Wikipedia:Community portal (with a bot quickly eliminating the resultant double redirects and updating other links)? —David Levy 12:09, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Sounds good. -Quiddity 20:58, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

That should take care of it! :-) Rfrisbie^talk 20:59, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Certainly makes sense, per Wikipedia:Naming conventions#Lowercase second and subsequent words in titles. I support the proposed move. Picaroon 21:38, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Sure. So long as a bot takes care of all of the link changes.--HereToHelp 14:05, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

So, does anyone know who to request a sidebar change to? It's currently written as "Community portal," but links directly to the current "Community Portal," and a redirect from the sidebar would look rather silly. Another side bar change that I'd like to have made is to change the text that pops up when you run your mouse over the "Featured content" link; I'd like to see it go from "Featured articles - the best of Wikipedia" to "Featured content - the best of Wikipedia." Any ideas? Picaroon 02:38, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

A bot and admin can handle the first part just fine. Per the second part, I made a request at Mediawiki talk:Sidebar. :) —Quiddity 07:42, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

I guess Portal:Community to match the other portals is the other option? --BozMo talk 23:12, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

What's this mean?

On my watchlist, several entries have "b" or "mb". I know that "m" means Minor, but what does "b" mean? -Yancyfry 04:37, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

"b" signifies a bot edit. You can hide them by going to special:preferences, clicking the watchlist tab, and checking the "Hide bot edits from the watchlist" box. Picaroon 04:57, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

I would be willing to take the Argentina portal

In the Mormonisim imporvement article section, Family Home Evening has an underline. I can fix thatEl Jefe 13:35, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

It's not there, someone must have changed it 147.188.225.245 09:22, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

If you only ever sign one petition...

...make sure it is this one... to Jimbo Wales RE this whole issue. This community is dead and needs to be revived. [1]. Best. 172.142.14.15 06:37, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

No; Wikipedia is supposed to be an encyclopedia, not a social networking site. However like or unlike one we may actually be, it is part of our official policy not to be one. Any explicit attempts to move in that direction are literally against policy; and whether policy or not, it is not the sort of thing we should be focused on – Gurch 18:16, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Why are people directed here for questions?

I just spent about 20 minutes trying to find the appropriate place for posting a general, non-urgent, non-news message (to warn that individual editors may get more misguided requests like this.) Anybody who wants to post such a simple message is led through a maze of links that often run in loops. Several of them point here. (I lost track of the pages I had visitied, but I remember at least WP:VP and WP:VPN.) Then people come here, and find this big box that commands them: "Post your Wikipedia related news and announcements here!"

Also, there's a big discrepancy between the high visibility of this link and the complication that follows when you click on it. If many people use it, it should be kept simple. I doubt that we really need to invite everybody to add something here, but if we do, there should be a link that lets them create a new topic like this, instead of a link that opens the whole complicated page and expect them to find a place somewhere in the middle to add their message neatly.)

So, where should  people put their Wikipedia related news and announcements? — Sebastian 19:09, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Many active editors, and virtually all administrators, will from time to time get messages from users with whom they have had no previous content, about things with which they have not been involved, demanding that they resolve the situation. This sort of thing happens all the time and is the sort of thing people have to learn to live with; no amount of helpful guidance will make any difference to people who don't bother to read it.

The simple answer to your question is that there is no "appropriate place for posting a general, non-urgent, non-news message". Realistically, Wikipedia is far too large to have a single page for this sort of thing and if there was one, it would be huge, information would quickly become lost in it, and archiving would either be impossible or would result in far too many subpages. Instead there are a number of more specialized pages many of which are in fact suffering from the above problems anyway. Messages about situations that require administrative attention go to WP:AN/I; messages about administrative things in general go to WP:AN; news goes to WP:VP/N, proposals go to WP:VP/P, technical questions go to WP:VP/M; questions about how to use Wikipedia go to WP:HD, reference questions go to WP:RD, other requests for assistance go to WP:VP/A; other miscellaneous stuff goes to WP:VP/M, announcenments go to WP:A, new collaborations and projects go here (WP:CP), as does anything else that a large number of people may have an interest in but don't fit anywhere more specific, like the recent WP:MFD of Wikipedia:Esperanza.

If you want to warn people that they may get misguided requests, there's no real way to reach everyone quickly, which is good, because otherwise we'd all be bombarded with things that other people thought we might want to hear, but which we didn't. The best thing to do is post it in whichever section of WP:VP you think it best fits into; people who like to know everything that's going on tend to check there. And on all WP:VP pages, as well as WP:AN and most of the others, leaving a comment is just as simple as clicking the "+" button next to "edit" and typing a message. The Community Portal is different because it's a portal, not just a message board, so having a tabular layout divided into coloured sections and subsections is more effective – Gurch 21:42, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your good recommendations about posting messages. You convinced me to wait before I post it until I hear back from the student - maybe it was just a singe person who misunderstood something.

However, my main question was why are people directed here for [posting] questions? I take your argument about the size of Wikipedia, but realistically the more different pages we have, the more people will just give up searching and post in the first place they are directed to, which would be our page, as I explained above. Well, maybe they don't, but then they're just frustrated as I was. That can't be what we want, can it? — Sebastian 01:06, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

There is the Village Pump. It's already mentioned at the top of the page, however...--HereToHelp 01:29, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I mentioned the Village Pump in the first paragraph. It directs people here. All I'm asking is: Why? — Sebastian 05:23, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Creation of the Somalia Portal

After a week or so after proposing a creation of a Somalia portal, I finially created one. I have followed the instructions article. It said I should announce the Creation of the Portal here. I have linked the Portal on the Directory as well. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hiiraan (talk • contribs).

Uhh, you forgot to create all the sections. It's just a page of red links in boxes 147.188.225.245 09:24, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Motto of the day

Hi, a while back, a proposal was made about whether a motto of the day could be placed on this page. The idea didn't recieve much feedback, and the only critisism it received was that the mottos were too crude. Since then, I think the project has been more strict on what mottos are approved (see /schedule and /approved), and I'd like to hear an updated opinion on the matter. Thanks. --Tewy 22:14, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

• Oppose - not appropriate for an encyclopedia. Mottos or quotes can have relevance in encapsulating a philosophy or approach, but without context, they are no better than fortune cookies. Addhoc 22:32, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
  • This isn't a vote. —Centrx→talk • 23:00, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

• Oh, and if this doesn't work out, do you have suggestions for a more appropriate location besides the user space? --Tewy 23:04, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I still believe these to be unsuitable in content, and basically not funny or relevant, and best confined to userspace. I'm glad to see the meaningless hierarchy of 'overseers' is gone though.—Quiddity 08:27, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

• I don't think it's a good idea. We have our standard motto ("the free encyclopedia") and we don't need a semi-witty BBS-style tagline every day. >Radiant< 13:58, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Okay, thank you for your opinions—it will remain in the userspace. There's no need to pursue the matter any further. --Tewy 01:08, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

trying to find info about houses

I am hoping to move here with my Husband and my 3 children, depending if he gets the job he wants. I am interested in finding out some info about schools for my kids ages are 10, 6, and 3, 2 in school other home with me. I am looking for a house with 4 or maybe 5 bedrooms and at least 2.5 baths if posible and an attached garage 1 or 2 car, does anybody know if there is a house there in that county that big and how much it would cost us? Please send all info back to me at [removed] or you may call me [removed] Thanks Deb76.214.177.48 15:56, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Your question doesn't seem to be related to the Community Portal, or in fact Wikipedia at all. Sorry, but this is not the place for such queries. Posting contact details here is generally a bad idea, too, as you may recieve unwanted spam; as a precaution I have removed the details. Thanks – Gurch 19:50, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Making Edits Visible

I made several changes to the discussion page on John Locke, comments which I believe will help improve the article and address other users' questions. However, when I returned the day after, my changes were not visible on the discussion page. Interestingly enough, when I pressed the edit button to make my changes again (I did not violate any Wiki rules), I could see my changes in the edit page, but not in the 'normal' webpage. Could someone please explain this to me. I am a new user, and I have good sources and knowledge, but am not familiar with the overall wiki discussion system. If someone could tell me where I can post general questions, and where I can make my comments heard (and responded to), that would be great. LifeScience 02:34, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

The old version of the page has been "cached" by your web brower and isn't updating to the new one. The latest version should appear if you go back to Talk:John Locke and then bypass your browser cache – on most browsers, hold down Control and press F5. General questions about how to use Wikipedia are best left at the help desk – Gurch 16:52, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

spam

hi dno where to add this, but please delete the page on http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nefertiti_%28porn_star%29

its obv spam and also gay and weird!!!!?!?!?!? – —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.67.78.217 (talk • contribs) 02:47, 13 January 2007 (UTC).

Done. —Centrx→talk • 04:57, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia Weekly?

The link to wikipedia weekly shows that the last episode was more than a month ago. Doesn't look good on the community page. It's like there isn't much activity going on. Maybe the link should only put on for the week that an actual episode is on. I'd say the project should be converted to wikipedia monthly! Shushruth ^{\talk page \ contribs} 06:51, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Or maybe nobody's updating the template. That said, a shoutout on the Community Portal is a privilege, be it a link to a WikiProject (active ones only!) or a template, such as Wikipedia Weekly, that gives more info that must be updated regularly.If the project is dead, or nobody cares enough, it should be removed.--HereToHelp 18:06, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll move it back to where it was, a link at the beginning of the See also line. --Quiddity 20:49, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I'd suggest that new issues of WikipediaWeekly get announced in the notices section. We could use some regular features flowing through the CBB anyway, and it might get noticed by people who are good at ignoring any "sidebar adbox" shaped objects. --Quiddity 02:55, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

New portal in town

Hey. I never post here or even frequently read any pages in this area of Wikipedia, and I did not know where to post the fact that there is a new portal in town: Portal:Dentistry! Any comments, questions, or other general feelings about the portal would be much appreciated. Oh, and any help, especially from those of you who are dentists (I know you are out there) would be welcomed. - Dozenist talk 20:46, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

At the WP:CBB. Somebody else has done so. The portal looks good :) —Quiddity 21:16, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

How can a new user get their username deleted?

I'm tired of all the eliteist people. BUt i can't find a link to delete my username for good. After being offline for 4 months, I'm still here. If an admin is reading this. Deleting this username would be great and appreciated. Thanks Solarisworld 03:07, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

User accounts cannot be deleted. —Centrx→talk • 03:56, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Such requests are off-topic here. *Dan T.* 04:29, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

For a proper explanation, look under the "Deleting your user account" section of the Wikipedia:Username page. Harryboyles 04:40, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Userbox help

sorry to be off-topic but I need help creating user-boxes. Any givers? Keenrich 04:26, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Userboxes – Qxz 12:16, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

WP in the news

Infoworld.com Community-run sites: Idealistic but not ideal. "Debate about Microsoft's offer to pay for changes to Wikipedia pages reveals challenges of community-run sites" --Ling.Nut 19:35, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Graphic Lab Promotion

Hello all; I have recently become more involved with the Graphic Lab, whose purpose is to correct images and redraw maps & illustrations and such. I think there is the capacity to accept & process more images and do more, but I don't the the project is known amongst Wikipedians. Maybe there could be a plug put in on the Community Portal page? Also, I have designed an inputbox to make submitting images easier, found here: User:YK Times/graphiclab-request (it can be transcluded). It produces this:

To submit an image: Insert the image name/title in the box below (do not remove the text in the box, add to the end only) and click "Submit." You will be taken to a page where you can fill out your request.

Thanks. -YK Times 23:38, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia needs to get with the times

When are are going to start allowing embedding external flash video and a google map api perhaps interweaved with google earth? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.145.66.151 (talk) 00:27, 2 February 2007 (UTC).

Trust me, if we added the ability to embed flash videos into articles, we'd regret it. Wikipedia is not MySpace – Qxz 14:17, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Geographical coordinates for geotagging efforts. Lots and lots of options, and we already have a 'layer' for Wikipedia in Google Earth (see this article).--Quiddity 18:12, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Color coded Wiki Editing Text

Hey, does anyone know a way to make the Wiki editing text colored by default? Anyone interested in working on it? Let me know on my talk page if you are. Bmunden 22:49, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

It's not a feature of the MediaWiki software at present; however there are a number of user-created scripts that can do this, provided you edit a special user subpage (Special:Mypage/monobook.js) and have JavaScript enabled in your browser. See for example User:Cacycle/wikEd – Qxz 19:25, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

The language callled Gullah

Hello! My name is Jordan and I am here today to talk about a certian type of language. This language was used by slaves. the languge I'm talking about today is called Gullah. since alot of the slaves talked a different language and weren't able to communicate with alot of people, the slaves decided to make up there own language. When they made up their own language the decided to call it gullah. Now, every slave was taught this unusal language. But, then it was easier to talk to people. Gullah was a language mixed with African and english language. Oh and I want to show you what it looked like. This is how it looked. Mek yo do'come en shay dis yuh bile pindah wid me? This gullah language says Why don't you come and share these bioled peanuts with me? can tell that Gullah language says that? Look at the Gullah written sentence try to soubd out the words. And that's all for today on "Awesome languges"! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.147.18.146 (talk) 21:12, 6 February 2007 (UTC).

Hi, your post doesn't really seem relevant to the Community Portal, and hence doesn't really belong here. I assume you're referring to Gullah language? If you wish to discuss that article, the place to do so is Talk:Gullah language. Thanks – Qxz 20:03, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Fungus collaboration glitch

I'm having some trouble finding how to make the portal read the current collaboration. Sorry guysCas Liber 14:04, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Who else finds this funny?

"This week's improvement drive is Crime:"

The wording needs improvement. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JMV290 (talk • contribs) 01:58, February 13, 2007

So, why not go rephrase it? Picaroon 02:18, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

That's what she said

Ok im a noob and dont have time to edit, but someone needs to change the "Thats what she she said page to something good if some one will start with the headings and menu i can finish I am saying this because Internatinal Thats what she said day is this Thursday, February 15 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.36.252.148 (talk)

Page about to be deleted as non-notable, sorry. --Quiddity 18:53, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Albino Blackseep

I just set up a site in Viral video under AlbinoBlackseep and I want someone to set upp a link to the site and set up a page for it. I would really apreciate it. Thanks.

You mean Albino Blacksheep? Always a good idea to check your spelling before you make an article request – often, as in this case, the article already exists – Qxz 14:11, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

WikiPedia Timelapse

WikiPedia Timelapse is a movie of the frame by frame changes of an article on Wikipedia, presently having 7,775 views. It might have community appeal, but I'm not sure where it could be posted for the community to see it. If you know of a location, please feel free to post it there. -- Jreferee 20:41, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Anyone who goes to YouTube and searches for "wikipedia" will see it. I think that's quite visible enough. It's an old video, anyway – Qxz 14:12, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

See a much more informative screencast/movie about the Heavy metal umlaut, from January 2005. --Quiddity 20:44, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Community noticeboard

Shouldn't the new noticeboard be added to the community portal? 198.179.243.53 20:46, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Possibly. I still haven't quite figured out what it's supposed to be for (that isn't already covered by one of the other pages). The only example being given is community bans, of which there really shouldn't be so many that a whole noticeboard is needed – Qxz 19:21, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Image copyright???

File:Visnjica sa brda.jpg

I don't know where to ask, but here sounds nice...

I uploaded this file and I'm author of it, but I don't know how to make copyright template which says that it's copyrighted by me and can't be use without permission...

Help? --Wladimir 21:28, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I don't think such restraints are acceptable under Wikipedia policy. All images that are not fair use (which applies only when a free alternative cannot be created) must use a license which allows for the image to be modified and redistributed, even commercially. self-made images should be licensed under one of these licenses. The best you can do are the Creative Commons licenses that do not include noncommercial or no derivative conditions (leaving attribution and share-alike). If you do not want the image used commercially it must be removed from Wikipedia.--HereToHelp 22:03, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Re: Problem with Monobok skin.

Sorry to be a pest, but has anyone else noticed that there are issues with the monobook skin? It keeps going all wierd and leaving <var=... messages at top and bottom of page. Can someone check this or is it only something I am experiencing at this end. Thor Malmjursson 20:04, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

No problems here. First try clearing your browser cache, or temporarily bypassing it (press CTRL+F5 on most browsers). Do you have custom javascript or CSS files (i.e. anything here or here? If so, try clearing those, bypass the cache again and see if that works. If it's still happening, what browser are you using? If it's an old version, getting a newer version may help – Qxz 13:36, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Browser cache is fine, gets cleared every hour since I browse like water (just never stop), and I am such a wikipediholic I can slow my machine down in 3 hours without cache clearing...I do have custom java in my monobook, but it is working java, tested, and should not (in my estimation at least) be causing any trouble. Its the code for WP:TWINKLE. My browser is IE7, and all security updates and the like are installed on my terminal. Any other stuff could be screwing this up??? Thor Malmjursson 12:14, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Not sure. Try with another browser (e.g. Firefox) if you have one, just in case that's the problem. The "twinkle" script seems to work for everyone else, so shouldn't be the problem, but try just in case – temporarily erase the .js page and clear the cache, or just log out and try viewing pages while not logged in, and see if the problem persists. Failing that, where exactly are the messages appearing, and on which pages? It might be worth speaking to someone who understands CSS and JS and how the site layout works – I wouldn't know where to start (I'm assuming there's a group of administators who do changes to such things) – Qxz 16:27, 28 February 2007 (UTC)