Wikipedia:Help desk

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July 1

Creating templates?

How do you create templates?--Summonmaster13 00:28, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

See here. Help:Template Garion96 ^(talk) 00:31, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

WP image

I would like to know if it’s ok with policy to copy the image at the top of Diderot’s article and paste it in my user page? —Cesar Tort 03:42, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, because all those images in that page are in Public domain. --WinHunter ^(talk) 03:46, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Italics

I haven't been able to get titles of works to appear in italics. I consulted the Help site, which shows double quotation marks being used for emphasis, triple marks for further emphasis, etc. When the extant copy appears in the Edit format italicized entries are shown with double quotation marks, but when the edited copy with double quotation marks is saved, the entries so marked are not italicized, but simply have the double quotation marks and larger type.

24.20.159.212 04:19, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi, I think you need to use five appostrophies to both sides of the title Like this. '''''Like this''''' Hope this helps. --Starionwolf 04:52, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

(after edit conflict)

Not double quotation marks but two apostrophes. Compare:

• 'single quotes' (apostrophes)
• "double quotes"
• italics (two apostrophes)
• bold (three apostrophes)

Take a look at the source for this (by clicking edit and looking in the textbox) for clarification. · rodii · 04:56, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Personal commentary on article

Someone is repeatedly adding personal commentary to an article. Obviously, the comments are not encyclopedic nor are they neutral. Correct me if I'm wrong, I think repeatedly adding personal commentary is against the policies Neutral point of view, No original research and verifyability? Is this action considered to be vandalism? If it is, then I will ask the editor to stop adding the comments. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Cheers --Starionwolf 04:51, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

You are right about the above policies. However, the policies of WP:BITE and WP:AGF also suggest that such a user may be new to wikipedia and may not know where to add personal commentaries. Its best to discuss with him either on his or the article's talk page. -- Lost 04:58, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the link to assume good faith. I forgot about intentions. I'll try to talk to the editor. --Starionwolf 05:30, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

If you look at the policy page for WP:Vandalism, violations of NPOV is not considered an action of vandalism (Of course, there are certain cases where one side believes their additions are not NPOV and the other side believes it is). It falls under Edit War instead. --ColourBurst 06:31, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

IPA

What kind of character encoding do I need to be able to see all International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols? (I'm using Firefox 1.5.0.4, if it matters.) Ayn Rand, specifically, is giving me trouble; I get question marks for the second and fourth symbols in the IPA parenthetical with Unicode (UTF-8) encoding. --zenohockey 05:41, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

I think there is a problem with that article; can you give me your OS? Thanks. --Quentin Smith 07:39, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

I tried to fix this. Is it working for you now? My guess is it went through someone's text editor and the Unicode got mangled. UTF-8 should be the right encoding. · rodii · 14:02, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

It's working now. Thanks. --zenohockey 03:55, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

User contribution licensing

Hello, I have been browsing Wikipedia for some time now and on some user pages I've noticed a box that says something along the lines of "I agree to license my contributions under a Creative Commons license ..." or something along those lines. Now, I was under the impression that whatever anyone contributes to Wikipedia becomes part of this "free" GNU license, meaning that whatever edits I make, I no longer have a right to claim as my own. But seeing these messages on some user pages, it appears that whatever contributions a user makes, he or she still has a right to claim. So, my question is, if I make edits, especially major edits to an article, do I retain any rights to those edits? For instance, hypothetically spekaing, I create an article and fill it with information (with sources, of course) but sometime later I decide that I don't want Wikipedia to enjoy the fruits of my labor. At that point, would I be able to have all my edits removed from the article since I have not put this license message on my user page? Thank you. DragonRouge 06:20, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

No, any contribution to wikipedia automatically falls under the public domain. To the best of my knowledge, users displaying such a message on their user page are only being clearer about their intentions. Their contributions would fall in the public domain even without this message. -- Lost 06:27, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't think "any contribution to wikipedia automatically falls under the public domain" can be true. Quite the opposite: it says under this box that "You agree to license all contributions under the GFDL." Not the same thing at all. If it were public domain, anyone could copy Wikipedia without any reference to the GFDL terms. Notinasnaid 07:20, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for clarifying.. -- Lost 08:09, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for this information. DragonRouge 13:12, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Back to the original question - it's simultaneously true that you retain authorship rights to anything you write (including anything you contribute to Wikipedia) and anything you contribute to Wikipedia is licensed under the GFDL. What this means is you (but not anyone else) can republish what you write here anywhere else under whatever terms you'd like (and folks using these licensing boxes are basically doing this), however anything you contribute here is also available from Wikipedia under the terms of the GFDL. BTW, IANAL. -- Rick Block (talk) 16:05, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

• There's a difference between the copyright and licensing. Basically, you own the copyright to what you write and by contributing to Wikipedia you license anyone to use it under the terms of the GFDL (i.e. leaving a copy of the entire edit history crediting all contributors, providing a link to the current article and provide a copy of the GFDL requirements). But you still own the copyright on the edits you make. However, suppose you write an entire article and later decide to revoke it you can't. If you release something under the GFDL, you can't take it back and suddenly tell people they can't use it. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:46, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Updating Deaths in 2006

There is a death of a prominent person Ryutaro Hashimoto, a former Prime Minister who died today. I want to add him to create a Deaths in 2006 to archive June and change the current month to July. Does anyone know what the correct procedure is to do this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Capitalistroadster (talk • contribs)

You can edit the page and add the person in if they are notable and you have a reliable source. Although it looks like he's been added, but don't worry, people die all the time! Icey 00:00, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

JPG->SVG

Where is the tag asking people to change a JPG image to an SVG image, and can it be used on fair use images? --Quentin Smith 07:38, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

{{badjpeg}} or {{shouldbesvg}} WP 10:29, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Can I use it on fair use images? --Quentin Smith 13:01, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

• No, we are already treading a small line by using them. We do not have the right to alter fair use images, converting to a different file format is included in that. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:49, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

That isn't really true — for example, rescaling fair use images to a smaller size is obviously appropriate. The rule is that we should not host fair use images that are larger or of higher quality than what is reasonably required for the use that we are arguing is fair. Thus, modifications that make the image less suitable for unfair uses, or that make it more suitable for fair use on Wikipedia without making it significantly more suitable for unfair uses, are generally acceptable.

The catch is that modifications that change the nature of the image, even subtly, can affect the fairness of its use. For example, if a magazine cover is cropped so that only part of the cover is visible, the standard fair use rationale for magazine covers no longer applies. Similarly, redrawing a logo in a vector format, unless done very faithfully, creates a derivative work subtly different from the official logo, and therefore makes its use to illustrate the official logo rather dubious at best.

Also, a common argument against converting fair use logos to SVG is that an SVG image is scalable, and therefore can be printed at any resolution. Of course, just because the image is scalable doesn't mean it has to include all the fine detail that would be visible at high resolutions — but this counterargument only applies to images that have fine detail, which most logos don't. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 18:00, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Almost every image in the category is fair use. Also, there's discussion at TfD. WP 19:55, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Having my own glossary

Is it OK for me to have my own glossary of terms that I use frequently, like this --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cultural_Freedom/Glossary

-- to which I could then refer people, instead of having to explain the same thing over and over again? --Cultural Freedom talk 2006-07-01 14:04 (UTC)

If you provide the link, I don't see any reason why it can't be used. Happens all the time...For example, in RfAs, people just say "Fails my criteria" and link to their admin criteria. There shouldn't be a problem with it. — Ambuj Saxena (talk) 14:34, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Great! Thanks for the quick reply. --Cultural Freedom talk 2006-07-01 14:39 (UTC)

How to point to a URL

Hi :

I am a new editor trying to add/improve info about TPNS .. I am having a lot of fun.. but not able make the HTL in the web page ( using HREF) point to an external web site..

If you search the web site — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mrmel (talk • contribs) 19:02, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Just put a URL between '[' and ']'. Jacek Kendysz 19:13, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Read more: Wikipedia:External links#How to link

How to point to a URL

Hi :

I am a new editor trying to add/improve info about TPNS .. I am having a lot of fun.. but not able make the HTL in the web page ( using HREF) point to an external web site..

If you search for theWikipedia page containg TPNS u will see. What I would like to setup a link to web site below if the reader clicks on the string TPNS protottyping..

But I am doing something wrong as the hot string is the name of the web site..

Something wrong with the way I am using the href command below Any help much appreciated.. Mrmel ..

<a href="http://www-306.ibm.com/software/network/tpns/library/mel_whitepaper.html">TPNS Prototyping</a>

You should use this code: [http://www-306.ibm.com/software/network/tpns/library/mel_whitepaper.html TPNS Prototyping] -> TPNS Prototyping --WinHunter ^(talk) 19:24, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

• Try the Wikipedia:Tutorial. It tells you the basic of the syntax of wiki code. HTML is easy once you know it, but it's laborious to learn for most. Our code is quick and easy to type. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:38, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

July 2

vandalizing my talk page

User:Arthur_Ellis is putting personal attacks on my talk page, and when I remove them he keeps putting them back. what should i do? Counter-Vandalism Unit, Arbitration Commitee, what? Geedubber 00:35, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Remember, personal attacks do not include civil language used to describe an editor's actions. In your specific case, the comments in question are right on the borderline. I doubt you were behaving "malicously" but obviously if someone else is on the other side of the dispute they may view the situation differently. Instead of making a big deal of things and continually removing the statement from your talk page, try explaining your reasoning in simple and civil terms below. --Hetar 01:35, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

I did explain my reasoning on his talk page and on the talk page of the page he was upset about, yet he still insists I was acting dishonestly and malicously. He was not decribing my actions, but calling into question my intent, and that is a personal attack. Geedubber 02:12, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

• I'd actually just leave what he wrote on your talk page, and possibly just add a short rebuttal justifying the edit he's criticising. Eventually, the world being the world, you will encounter someone with a negative opinion of you, regardless of how well-intentioned your actions are. Part of Wikipedia, I'm afraid, is to learn to accept that this will happen and try not to take it too personally. The user in question seems to be on the verge of a RFC process anyway, and what he wrote isn't "Vandalism" as such, it's just unconstructive criticism. Sorry I can't be more helpful just now, but you're welcome to leave a note on my talk page if it escalates. Please, for your own sake, do not escalate this yourself! All the best. — Estarriol ^talk 11:40, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

About WP:WEB notability

Does an article on slashdot about a website make it fulfill any of the WP:WEB requirements? Noob cannon lol 01:07, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

In and of itself, no. However, it could probably go towards the first requirement (multiple non-trivial published works whose source is independent of the site itself) if included with other reliable sources. --Hetar 01:25, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

pathetic....

the information posted on Indian classical violonist is simply pathetic.They dont deserve these kind of references.shame on you.simply pathetic— Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.93.65.12 (talk • contribs) 01:59, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

It's difficult to assist people or correct articles when we don't know which article you're referring to. Can you specify the article in question please? ~Kylu (u|t) 02:04, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia is an open-content, collaboratively written encyclopaedia that anyone can edit. If you feel that any article needs improvement, then be bold and edit it yourself, rather than insulting others efforts. You could, at the very least, have told us in your message which article you feel needs improvement. --Kwekubo 02:13, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

I suspect the complaint is about one (or more) of the articles in Category:Carnatic instrumentalists, several of which are stubs. As Kwekubo says, if you feel an article needs improvement please improve it! -- Rick Block (talk) 02:35, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

for education

I want use my id in wikipedia for education purpose permenantly is it possible or not - — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.195.78.103 (talk • contribs)

Here's the official policy on usernames: Wikipedia:Username. In case you are looking for more specific info, please elucidate -- Lost 03:47, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

.bz2 dump file

I downloaded the articles dump, which was a .bz2 file. Then, as suggested by Wikipedia:Database download#Dealing with compressed files, I downloaded the command-line bzip2 decompressor linked to above. But when I try to run it, the window opens and closes almost instantaneously. What's going on? (I'm running Windows XP.) --zenohockey 04:34, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Did you try running the decompressor in the command prompt? WP 09:01, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I tried that, using the instructions here, and it's claiming not to find my dump file. How should I enter its location? --zenohockey 21:33, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

What exactly did you type at the command prompt? WP 07:26, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Or, even better, in the very likely event I'm doing something wrong (I'm an amateur at this sort of thing), could someone give me step-by-step instructions? Then they can be posted at Wikipedia:Database download and/or WP:AWB. --zenohockey 23:40, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe using 7-Zip[1] to decompress it would be easier? WP 07:29, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Adjusting Preferences

I am a newly logged in user -- although I've played on the system a little. When I began to experiment with my preferences, I seem to have inadvertantly locked into a "Skin". I can't seem to change the appearance of the page now, and I can't enter information such as my date preference. Also editing seems more awkward than before. Is there a fix someone can recommend to let me experiment a little? Thank you. GwenW 06:53, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Try this link. -- Rick Block (talk) 15:17, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

copyright issues: promotional photos

I'm trying to correctly upload a promotional photo that, to the best of my knowledge, and according to Wiki's copyright tags page, qualifies as "fair use."

The problem is, I don't see "Publicity photos" (the tag is technically "Promophoto") as an option on the upload page's drop-down. Am I misunderstanding some part of the uploading process, or have promo photos ceased to be a legal option on Wiki? Thanks!

Mushfromnewsies 07:48, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

You have to go to the image, click on "edit this page" and add {{promotional}} to it manually. WP 08:59, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

what are the tools and sources of geography?

what are the tools and sources of geography?

This page is for questions about Wikipedia. Try the reference desk. - ulayiti (talk) 15:27, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Notability

Hi, I have flagged the Melanie Slade article as I don't feel that she is notible enough yet to warrant her own article. There has been a little discussion on the talk page about merging her article with Theo Walcott's and also with the Wags article about wives and girlfriends of footballers. Please can you have a look and let me know what I ought to do next? thanks Lynnathon 11:28, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

If in your opinion Melanie Slade article should be deleted, you can try Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. It's in my opinion the best thing you can do with that article. Jacek Kendysz 11:41, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Link color

Maybe someone here can help me out. In working on the wikification drive, I often need to see which article's I have been to and which I haven't yet. This gets difficult to do quickly and easily when the difference between active and visited links is so few in the color spectrum. So I've been overriding it with my Mozilla web options. However, that screws up a lot of other things, so I have to keep toggling it on and off as I go to visit other sites or work on something else Wiki-related. Does anyone know of a way to change the colors within Wikipedia so that it can easily be seen what's been visited and what hasn't? Metros232 11:54, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi Metros232. You can change the colour of visited links by going to Special:Mypage/monobook.css and then adding some formatting to visited links. For example, you could add this:

a:visited { color:#f80 !important; }

To make all visited links orange. If there's any specific formatting you would like, let me know and I'll tell you what you can use to achieve it. Icey 22:30, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Ahh, thank you very much. That helps a lot. I'll play around for a bit to figure out which HEX value works best in keeping each one distinct without hurting my eyes :) Metros232 22:38, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Link to site that may contravene copyright

One of several points under discussion at Talk:Jack Vance right now is the question of whether to use as a reference a link to a site that may be hosting the reference material in contravention of copyright. The source being referenced is an issue of a PDF journal named Cosmopolis, a newsletter published by an organization called the VIE. Paul Rhoads, a representative of the VIE has indicated that the site is breaking copyright by hosting this pdf file. Paul indicates that he will shortly be making an official version available, but it's not clear when that will be, though the conversation is ongoing. Hence I'd like to clarify what we should do if the official link is not forthcoming. Clearly we can replace the old link with a new official link when the new one is available. However, I'm not clear if the use of the link to the unauthorized site is against WP policy. Paul does not deny that the pdf file is accurate, and the point being referenced is quite uncontroversial; it's only the hosting of the file that's at issue, not its authenticity. Can someone tell me what WP's policy is for linking to sites that are clearly accurate resources but may break copyright? I should also mention that I have no evidence other than Paul's word that there is a copyright problem here, but it does seem plausible, since Paul is the editor-in-chief of the VIE and it's clear that Cosmopolis is the VIE newsletter. Thanks for any help. Mike Christie 14:53, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

If its accurate then let it be I say. We are not responsible for other sites copyright problems. Mike _{(T C)} 14:59, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

I tend to agree. Is there any relevant policy statement in WP policy articles, or any precedent for legal concerns arising from such links? Mike Christie 15:19, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, current policy says that we should remove any links that we know breach copyright, as explained here. Road Wizard 15:22, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for. Mike Christie 15:55, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

about use of wikipedia

how we open our account in to wikipedia and use for it

You can go to Special:Userlogin to create an account (or click 'Sign in / create account' in the top right of the page). For usage instructions, you can have a look at Wikipedia:Introduction. Welcome to Wikipedia! - ulayiti (talk) 15:25, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

image insertion help

Could someone help me correctly insert the Argo Tea photo above each other on the left. Tony The Tiger 18:37, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

I fixed it. How does it look?. I recommend not putting them in the box, telling putting "left," and placing the pictures underneath the infobox. Yanksox 19:22, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Regarding Acura 1998

I would like to know which is the best oil for Acura TL 2.5 1998?? can i use some other oil than what the earlier owner of this car was using ???

Please help me with thw same

Thank you SV.

You might want to try asking this question at the science or Miscellaneous Reference Desks. --zenohockey 20:19, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Links

In the article Hebrew Language, which of the external links are appropriate, and which should be removed? I ask this because it looks like people have just been listing links which provide interesting services (like converting English transliteration into Hebrew [which is pretty pointless since you can just easily add Hebrew support to your computer]), even if they have not contributed to the article.

Sorry that that last paragraph was such a mess, by the way. Mo-Al 19:10, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

• Hebrew support for a computer only allows hebrew transliteration characters to be shown, so such services aren't all that pointless. Perhaps WP:EL gives you a few ideas on what is appropriate. I'll take a look to see if I can give more detailed ideas. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:10, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually I meant the ability to type in Hebrew (I forget what the term is for it). Mo-Al`

• I couldn't find anything that, IMO, required immediate removal, but I do think that perhaps the links in the external link section "History of the Hebrew Language" may actually be references (material used to write the article) instead of external links, which would require them to be included in the note section (and noted in the text) or put in its own references section. Instead of deleting external links, I would try to trace sources for the included material that hasn't got notes and sort stuff in the section it belongs. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:15, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, however things like the transliteration service seem pretty clearly unneccessary. Mo-Al 20:50, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Stubs

I am a little confuased about stubs. Can anyone add stubs ro does the addition of one need to be discussed first? What code do you copy and paste in to turn an article into a stub?

--Hydro the Water Wizard 19:16, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

• An article doesn't need to be tagged to be one. A stub is basically a short article that isn't quite large/complete enough to be an article, but useful enough to be a jumping board for someone to make a full article. WP:STUB may be of interest to you. It describes the ideal stub article. You tag a stub by adding a template to the bottom of the article. Wikipedia:WikiProject_Stub_sorting/Stub_types lists all the templates you can use to tag a stub. They're automatically categorized. -- Mgm|^(talk) 20:21, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your help! Hydro the Water Wizard 21:15, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

adding a word to the computer lexicon

Hello!

I am an author of a video game book called "The Art of Gamefare" and i wanted to know what the procedure is for adding a word to wikipedia. The word is "gamefare."

Gamefare is a play on the word warfare. Gamefare is the conflict involving two or more competing entities trying to win by succesfully completing the games' specific objectives.

If you could let me know what is neccesary to add this word, please let me know. THanks! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gusdawn (talk • contribs) .<name and website address removed>

Please see the Wikipedia:Tutorial for information on how to edit Wikipedia. However, note that we have an established policy against use of Wikipedia for advertizing, see WP:SPAM and WP:NOT as well as against recently coined terms, see WP:NEO. The edits you want to make sound like they would violate these policies and guidelines--Fuhghettaboutit 21:25, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

If it's a definition rather than an encyclopædic entry, you may want to try Wiktionary instead, but you may find similar limits on what you can add due to notability and frequency of use, as Fuhghettaboutit mentioned. EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 22:10, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Main Page

I am stuck with getting 'Canada' every day as the topic on your main page. Can you help please. End of message.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 87.113.0.228 (talk • contribs) .

Try refreshing your cache. On some computers you can do so by hitting control + F5.--Fuhghettaboutit 21:19, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Its simply because Canada is the best country in the world

Jeremy D. 20:56, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Link to intranet files

We are running a wiki site inside our network. I'd like to link to a file on a file server. Sorry to ask a dumb question but I'm struggling with the syntax. Here's my current attempt:

Help is appreciated! Thanks! Anders22 21:39, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

If the link starts http: this is telling the client to connect to an HTTP server. If you want to use file sharing, you need to use a file: URL. The syntax is a little fiddly, so open the file in a browser to see what it fills in. That gives the URL. In Wikipedia, a link to an http: URL can be in single [] brackets or completely free. Not sure about file: URLs, or whether the wiki software you use is the same. Notinasnaid 21:53, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Got it! Thanks! Anders22 22:42, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Email

Hey, I don't know if this is the best place to ask about this, but my Wikipedia email doesn't work. I have email "enabled", I've had password notifications, but I never seem to get user emails, I sent myself one a few days ago and nothing came. Can I get some help? Highway ^Batman! 22:03, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

That's odd. Have you tried logging in and out again or even logging in from a different computer? Are you sure your email is working- I know these sound obvious but you'd be surprised. EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 22:07, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

I sometimes log in on diff computers, I'll try it to see if it emails me. Highway ^Batman! 22:10, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

It got sent instantly. Could you perhaps send me a test email to see if it works? Highway ^Batman! 22:11, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Sure, I was about to suggest I do that! EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 22:12, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Now it works! Thanks, Highway ^Batman! 22:15, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

No problem. EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 22:24, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Gamefare

Hello!

I am an author of a video game book called "The Art of Gamefare" and i wanted to know what the procedure is for adding a word to wikipedia. The word is "gamefare."

Gamefare is a play on the word warfare. Gamefare is the conflict involving two or more competing entities trying to win by succesfully completing the games' specific objectives.

If you could let me know what is neccesary to add this word, please let me know. THanks!

Gus Maximus www.GamefareProductions.com (email removed to prevent spam)

Well, "gamefare" appears to be a neologism, and Wikipedia isn't very keen on those. However, to answer your question -- technically, if you want to create an article about it, all you need to do is start it -- all you need to do is create an article named gamefare and you can type whatever you want in it. I wouldn't recommend doing so without due consideration for Wikipedia's content policies, and if you're going forward with a word like that, you had better prepare yourself for other editors nominating the article for deletion. It's also worth noting that Wikipedia is not a dictionary, and mere dictionary definitions (ie. expalantions of what words mean) aren't encyclopedic material. For that, I suggest you visit Wiktionary. -- Captain Disdain 23:15, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

This question was already asked and answered two sections up--maybe my normative reply wasn't to your liking, but we really do have policies against advertizing and neologisms.--Fuhghettaboutit 00:39, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Custom CSS and printing

I have a custom monobook.css that specifies a yellow background as follows:

body {
background: #FFF700 none;
}

How can I specify that this colour applies only to pages on screen and not pages I print? _SeahenNeonMerlin 23:16, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

I think you probably need to use a alternate skin while you print pages. --WinHunter ^(talk) 03:31, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, to specify print-only, wrap it in a @media print { }. So what you would want is

@media print {
    body {
        background: THE COLOR YOU DON'T WANT TO PRINT OUT;
    }
}

GeorgeMoney ^{(talk) (Help Me Improve!)} 03:44, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

July 3

Why don't my signature flags work?

Why don't the flags in my signature work? --[[User:Username132|Username132 ([[User talk:Username132|talk]]) {{GBR}}{{NED}}]] 00:19, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

You're using raw signatures, right? Copy exactly what you have in your signature field here. — Knowledge Seeker দ 00:42, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Templates can't be used in signatures. Prodego ^talk 00:43, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Whyever not? It's made it very complicated. How do I operate the flag template = <no wiki>[[Image:{{country flag alias {{{1}}}}}|22x20px|{{country alias {{{1}}}}}]] = Netherlands</no wiki> --Username132 (talk) United Kindom Netherlands 01:07, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Templates can't be used in signatures. Prodego ^talk 00:43, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Whyever not? It's made it very complicated. How do I operate the flag template = <no wiki>[[Image:{{country flag alias {{{1}}}}}|22x20px|{{country alias {{{1}}}}}]] = Netherlands</nowiki>

It would drastically increase server load if it were allowed. Note that many users frown on the use of images in signatures for the same reason. See WP:SIG. The proper format is [[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg|22x20px]] (for ) and [[Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg|22x20px]] (For ) Prodego ^talk 01:10, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Please don't use images in your signature. You can place them on your user page. — Knowledge Seeker দ 02:55, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Templates aren't permitted in signatures for a couple of technical reasons. First, it generates appreciable server load (the template has to be 'looked up' whenever a page with a template is edited) and second, it becomes a target for vandalism (by modifying the template, a vandal can deface your signature everywhere it appears on Wikipedia). Please refrain from using images in signatures anyway—they also represent an unecessary server load, and it's discourteous to our editors with slower connections. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:21, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

How do I thank winhunter-- the editor who helped me

Hi

How do I thank the editor who helped me with editing my page on TPNS. I could not get the link to work properly..

User mrmel..is very grateful to use winhunter

You can always award him a barnstar. There are many for different purposes. -- Lost 02:09, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

• Just leave your note (or barnstar) on his talk page at User talk:Winhunter. The coding is the same as any page here on Wikipedia. - Mgm|^(talk) 04:51, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Display window of 'difference between versions'

On some occasions when I click on 'dif', the resulting two boxes can sometimes be very wide, up to 2000px wide which means I have to use the scroll bar to see it all. Is there a way I can force it to be a certain width? Skinnyweed 02:45, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

It's often caused by URLs or vandals adding verylongwordswithoutspaces. As these are one massive word without spaces, and MediaWiki doesn't do hyphenation, word wrap won't work properly on these. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 19:44, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Requested audio clips?

We have Category:Wikipedia requested images for pages that need images. I'm wondering if there is any similar mechanism for pages that should have audio files/samples? On some pages (Lyrebird comes to mind) an audio clip would be very helpful in, 'illustrating' the subject. Dgies 04:10, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

At this time there does not appear to be any similar mechanism for requesting audio samples. I checked in Category:Wikipedia cleanup categories (which is where the requested images page can be found) and came up empty handed. I would recommend requesting the sample on the article's talk page, or requesting it from a user who specializes in sound. Also, you will want to make sure that any requested samples comply with fair use guidelines. --Hetar 04:21, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

• Using user-created sound files would be even better than relying on fair use claims. - Mgm|^(talk) 04:53, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

That may be the case in some situations, but if your writing an article on a particular song (such as Stairway to Heaven), a user created file won't be that helpful. --Hetar 04:56, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

• True. I just wanted to mention one should use free options whenever possible. Too many people go for fair use straight away when it's not necessary. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:50, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Ideal proceedure for questionable user page

I've come upon a user page that is full of blog-like personal discussions and seems to be in flagrant violation of Wp:not#Wikipedia_is_not_a_free_host.2C_blog.2C_webspace_provider_or_social_networking_site. User has made zero contributions in the 10 months since joining besides user page and blog chat in their subpages. Is the correct proceedure to warn the user ifrst, or just list them in WP:MfD? Dgies 05:08, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

The place to start, I'd say, is a message on the user's Talk page citing the appropriate section of WP:NOT. --MCB 06:31, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Done. If no response I will list in WP:MfD. User has enough accumulated stuff I'd like to give a fair chance to move it to a blog site. Dgies 06:38, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Marrage

can a man marry his stepmother?

This is for help questions about Wikipedia. Try asking at Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities. Dgies 05:17, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Ari Setya Ardhi - category: Indonesian poet

We are going to write books about my late son, the Indonesian poet, Ari Setya Ardhi. A book contains his works,which we hope not only beautiful but also full of related information such as the background, analysis of his works. Since Wikipedia has categorised him as one of Indonesian poets, I am grateful if you would assist and furnish us with your observation, research, analysis, judgement, that made Wikipedia enter to the conclusion that his works are appreciated and made Ari Setya Ardhi as one of Indonesian Poet category? Thank you. Annie Sarino —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.130.234.197 (talk • contribs) 06:17, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

I believe you will get the best answer if you ask this in Humanities Reference Desk. --WinHunter ^(talk) 06:43, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

thank you Winhunter for your suggestion. Annie Sarino--203.130.234.197 03:55, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Map of the US Forestry trails in the Camp Verde, Arizona Coconino National Park

How do I find a map of the off-road trails in the US forest areas of the Camp Verde region of the Coconino National Forest in Arizona? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.19.34.238 (talk • contribs) 07:08, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

• Try the reference desk. This page is for questions about Wikipedia and while I don't know the answer to your questions, I do know Wikipedia has nothing to do with forest trails. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:52, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Lack of password reset e-mail

I have requested a new password - having forgotten the last one - but no mail has arrived. I had tried several time to confirm the e-mail address at registration but no e-mails then either. any advise would be gratefully recieved.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.188.156.235 (talk • contribs) 08:51, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

• What email service do you use? Did you check your spam filter or trash? - Mgm|^(talk) 11:51, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Hello

I'm a new user at Wikipedia, I thought I'd better introduce myself. My name is Mrs and I live in London, in the Canary Wharf region. I met your website in a Google Search and I think it is very good.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Scarbor (talk • contribs) 11:50, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

• According to the noticed on your talk page, you've been commiting some acts of vandalism. Please take a look at the welcome message I left you to get familiar with what is and is not considered appropriate. Removing information generally isn't unless you can cite a good reason for it in your edit summary. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:55, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
  • I am not commiting acts of vandalism, I am correcting errors in an otherwise rather useful encyclopedia. your information on Torchwood-related articles is rather rubbishy and could do with a good cleanup. I say, don't you know? Der loewe schlaft nie! --Scarbor 11:57, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
• You're removing mention of Torchwood in Doctor Who related articles and you are submitting for deletion without providing any reason that follow Deletion policy -- that is vandalism. That's not going to improve out coverage on the topic. As far as I can tell, the information we have is accurate and straight from reliable sources (for example the creator of the series). If you think something is incorrect, please discuss it on the relevant article's discussion page and be prepared to provide sources that back up your statements. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:10, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

REICHSBANKNOTE

Hi I have from my great uncle a 1,000,000 Mark from Feb 1923, and was wondering if anyone can tell me anyhing about it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.80.37.182 (talk • contribs) . e-mail removed to stop spam

See the article on German papiermark. If you have other similar questions, please use Wikipedia:Reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions. Hope this helps. Garion96 ^(talk) 14:54, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Song Lyrics: Allowed or No?

I'm new- very new -to editing at Wikipedia, and I couldn't seem to find this information anywhere else; When editing a page on Music Singles, is it permissible for me to put the lyrics in as one of the information features? If no, please let me know. :) Thank you for your time!

ChloeKent 15:12, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

As a general rule, no. Song lyrics are copyrighted, and posting them on a website is illegal (yes, all those lyrics websites out there are illegal, and the only reason they have not been hunted with the same ferocity as, say, music-sharing websites, is that they don't reduce the profits of the music companies as much, so they are considered small fry in the War Against Copyright Infringement). If a particular line from a song is noteworthy, then, you could argue that under fair use you could post it - but certainly never a complete song! A few lines at most, if you must. — QuantumEleven 15:18, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Special guidance on history sourcing

Not long ago I found somewhere some notes for appropriate sources specific to history articles. Similar to WP: RS but with a few extras. I remember reading, for example, that historians would usually have a PhD in history. I can't remember where I saw these notes, and would like to find them again. Can you help? Itsmejudith 16:07, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe Wikipedia:WikiProject History?--Commander Keane 19:36, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

That's right, thanks. Itsmejudith 10:14, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Bitmap images needing cleanup?

Hi, I recently learned about Inkscape's bitmap tracing feature. I used it to clean up an image from Cat's cradle (string game).

You can see how it went: old version and new version.

I'm very pleased with the results. Is there some way I can find other images to trace? Thank you. --Kjoonlee 17:19, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

There are Category:Images to convert to SVG and Category:Images which should be in SVG format. (These two categories should eventually be merged into one.) —Bkell (talk) 17:48, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. :) I'll have a go with some easy images later. --Kjoonlee 17:52, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Why don't the site provide the option to set wiki as home page?

Why don't the site provide the option to set wiki as home page? Thank You ! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.88.88.25 (talk • contribs) 17:53, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

You don't need a special link to be present on a website to set it as your home page, you need only change the setting in your internet browser. For most browsers, you can just click on the Tools tab, go to Options (or Internet Options), and then click on the General tab. You can then set your home page to be whatever you like. By the way, 'wiki' is not a nickname for Wikipedia, but the name of the type of website that Wikipedia runs on. --Kwekubo 18:13, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Paula Meronek

--69.105.196.208 18:44, 3 July 2006 (UTC)Paula Meronek went to see a psychologist to get help. Who was the psychologist she went to see??

Peter Hamilton disambiguation

I just created an article on Peter J. Hamilton (not yet coming up on searches, but it's there -- he was an Alabama lawyer/historian and later a Puerto Rico Judge). There is an existing article on an unrelated person, Peter F. Hamilton. Does this situation call for creating a disambiguation page under the title "Peter Hamilton"? Newyorkbrad 19:02, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes. Jacek Kendysz 19:06, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Will do once "Peter J. Hamilton" starts showing up in searches. At present searching for "Peter Hamilton" directs to Peter F. Hamilton. Or perhaps the latter, which is the more commonly searched one I am sure, should be the default with my "Peter J. Hamilton" disambiguated in some other fashion? Newyorkbrad 21:14, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Currently Peter Hamilton redirects to Peter F. Hamilton. Your disamb should be made in Peter Hamilton, with links to Peter F. Hamilton and Peter J. Hamilton. Jacek Kendysz 11:12, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Suspected vandalism

I think that I have found some vandalism on the project, but it looks like it occurred some time ago. I would clean it up, but I'm not sure how extensive it is, and I'm not sure what is correct and what should actually be on the articles in question. Where should I report this, and what should be done next? --Brian G 19:31, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

• Most vandalism report pages are aimed at current vandalism. You could try informing the counter vandalism unit and give them as much information as possible. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:02, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Redirect disambiguated subjects from Wikipedia search engine

I created several subjects:

• Sylvia O'Brien (actress)
• Sylvia O'Brien (soprano)
• James McDermott (business executive)

which required disambiguation for evident reasons but now they cannot be accessed from the Search Engine without including the parentheses. Is there a way to redirect for easier access?

Thanks. Rosemary's Baby 19:40, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes. I have done this by creating Sylvia O'Brien and James McDermott (info at Wikipedia:Disambiguation). Wikipedia's search index is rather out-of-date, but these pages should help.--Commander Keane 20:23, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Japanese text problem

For some reason, all the Japanese text at [2] has been replaced by question marks. I have all Japanese scripts installed, and the effect even appears in IE, which normally replaces bad letters with squares, not question marks. Has something gone wrong, and if not, can someone who knows Japanese fix this? smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 19:41, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah; the text seems to have been screwed up by [3]. Is there anyway to stop this happening? smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 19:45, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

It looks like the editor was using some sort of automatic script and it got a little out of hand. It would probably be best to advise the editor of the problem so they modify the script if they use it again in future. A way to prevent it happening again though may be to place the Japanese text in the {{Nihongo}} template - the presence of template markers may convince the script to ignore such characters in future. Road Wizard 19:53, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

• I have no problems editing such Japanese script normally, but when I tried using AutoWikiBrowser it faltered and messed up non-Latin scripts. Something to do with the programming not playing nice with Windows 98. Perhaps you suffer from a similar compatibility problem. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:04, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Apparently, the user was copying text into Notepad, editing it there, and then pasting it back. As Notepad doesn't like Unicode, the symbols got damaged upon pasting back. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 17:49, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Skinny oddness

Has someone just "improved" the monobook skin? My TOCs and redlinks have all disappeared, and I can't work out how to get them back. I can't find anything promising in the my preferences screen, and I can't browse this page to see if someone has asked already because I can't see the TOC. Help! Henry^Flower 20:41, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Did you alter your preferences? Go to the Misc tab in your preferences and check the boxes marked "Format broken links like this (alternative: like this?)" and "Show table of contents (for pages with more than 3 headings)". --Kwekubo 20:56, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah, that's interesting. Both of those were already checked, but I saved anyway just in case, and all is now back to normal. Thanks! Henry^Flower 21:25, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Displaying Part of an Image

Does anyone know if it is possible to display only part of an image? For example, in a section of an article describing characters in a novel, I would like to be able to display part of the bookcover (which displays that character) next to the appropriate section. Can this be done, or do you have to upload a completely seperate image? Thanks - Runch 21:16, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure you'd have to upload a separate image. Sorry. SCHZMO ✍ 21:22, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

It is technically possible, using the CSS clip property, but if you can pull it off you're better man than I (not unlikely). · rodii · 21:41, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

If the book cover is covered by copyright, then what you are proposing could violate that copyright anyway. See Wikipedia:Fair use.--Commander Keane 21:44, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

I'll just use the book cover and a clever use of captions to eschew both problems. Thanks, though. - Runch 23:24, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

July 4

Copying text

Is it ok to copy and modify text from one Wikipedia article and put it into another unrelated Wikipedia article? 70.97.110.38 00:11, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

That seems fine. Just be sure to cite the article just like you would any other source. -- Psy guy ^Talk 00:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

You can never cite Wikipedia as a source of information in Wikipedia. Ideally every piece of information in Wikipedia should come from reliable sources (this excludes Wikipedia itself). From a copyright standpoint is fine to copy and modify text from a Wikipedia article, as long as it is backed up with sources. In reality things do get copied across without citation, that's ok. Wikipedia:Citing sources, Wikipedia:Reliable sources, Wikipedia:Verifiability.--Commander Keane 00:51, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

How about if I cite the source in the Edit Summary? -- 70.97.110.38 01:32, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Agreeing with Commander Keane, yes, it is ideal to go to the original source. Their should be no orginial research at Wikipedia. Secondly, citing source source in the Edit Summary is not a good idea because it is difficult for another user to find the it. The user would have to anticipate that you placed the source in the summary and go edit by edit to find the source. It should be in some kind of reference section at the bottom of the article. Not knowing what article you are discussion, I can't specific. However, I would suggest putting the related article in a == See also == section. -- Psy guy ^Talk 02:06, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Given that we credit authors, and our main tool is the history, how will cutting and pasting text do that? The edit history is lost. That's our primary reason for not doing cut and paste page moves, and I don't see why it doesn't apply here as well. Plus, I don't understand why copying from one article to another is likely to be a good thing to do anyway. If there is really some text in one article that is equally good and relevant to another article, and new text can't be written for the new article--and I'm skeptical about both of those premises--that seems like an ideal use of hyperlinks, as Psy guy suggests. · rodii · 03:41, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Category deletion

Is there anyway to suggest the deletion of a category and all of the articles in it? (specifically Category:Onomastics) Mo-Al 04:47, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Categories for discussion has all the information you'll need. --Hetar 05:49, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Straight Vertical Line

In Wikipedia, in order hyperlink a word or phrase to an article whose title is not that word or phrase, you need to type a character, that is a straight verticle line, between that word or phrase and the article's title.But the problem is that in my computer's keyboard, there's no key that has the character of a straight verticle line.60.241.147.187 06:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Are you talking about this -> | <-? On a US keyboard it is SHIFT + \ (forward slash) WP 06:47, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I guess you mean a vertical bar (also called a pipe) - this character: | ? I may appear on your keyboard as a broken bar (this character: ¦ ). If not, it appears in the edit toolbox - just edit a page, and while editing, scroll to the bottom of the screen, where you'll find a whole host of symbols you can use, including the pipe (under "symbols", second from left). Click on it to insert it into the edit window. Hope that helps! — QuantumEleven 06:48, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Just for clarity's sake, the "\" character WP cites above is actually a backslash. "Forward" slash (really just garden-variety slash) is "/". · rodii · 14:22, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

This is an extremely common question from new users (including, a few months ago, myself), inasmuch as the "|" (vertical line) character lacks other common uses and was not found on standard keyboards until recently. Suggest consideration of adding this explanation of how to generate this character to the tutorial and FAQ pages. Newyorkbrad 15:44, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

how to use wikipedia on a pda

hi, wikipedia makes an excellent mobile reference solution, for internet-enabled pdas. however, i can't read it very well on my pocket pc. if i display it as normal in pocket ie, i am forever having to scroll horizontally and if i choose 'fit to screen', it displays the content almost a word per line - not Nice!

is there a way (stylesheet?) to optimise wikipedia for pocket pc displays?

thanks in advance.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.71.7.219 (talk • contribs) 06:44, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

What help there is about this is at Wikipedia:Browser notes#PDA & cell phone browsers. If you can add anything that might be useful for others, please do so. -- Rick Block (talk) 13:01, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

The Pocket PC version of Opera works very well with Wikipedia in my experience, but it costs US$24. —David Wahler (talk) 01:02, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Userpage help - forgot about a link

I was browsing the userpage project last week (Wikipedia:WikiProject_User_Page_Help) and in the process, either directly or indirectly I came across a userpace that had two external links coded in the top right corner above the title bar. One pointed to the now defunct edit counter by Interiot and the other had a useful tool of which I can remember very little, but I would still like to find it again. Does this ring a bell with anyone? - Mgm|^(talk) 10:15, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

User:My Cat inn, perhaps? fetofs ^Hello! 22:31, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I can't log in!

I'm RobbieG, but I've been busy over the past few days and haven't actually logged in in a while. Today I tried to log in, but was unable to because the site claimed my cookies are disabled. I didn't disable my cookies and I don't know how to. I don't know how to enable them either, and I've tried using all sorts of reference books and websites which were no help at all. Please help, as this is actually pretty distressing. 88.105.147.99 13:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

What browser do you use? -- Psy guy ^Talk 14:13, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I've no idea. Can you tell me how I can find out, please? By the way, I just noticed that my user number (I mean the number that shows up when I'm not logged in; don't know what it's called) has been changing over time. I've been 80.42.110.162, 80.42.98.247, 80.42.102.188, 80.42.105.151, 80.42.101.218, 80.43.236.24 and 80.42.97.189, and many more besides. Do you think that's anything to do with this? 88.105.147.99 14:27, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

What's the name of the application that you use to explore Wikipedia (it's probably written on the top of your screen; probably it's Internet Explorer, Opera or Firefox)? These numbers are called IP addresses. Jacek Kendysz 14:34, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, et cetera? -- Psy guy ^Talk 14:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

(edit conflict city) No, that just means you have a dynamic IP address, one that's assigned by your internet provider when you connect each time. It looks like you're connecting from the Netherlands, right? Look at the top of your browser window--does it say Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Netscape, AOL? If you still can't tell, try this: are you connecting via AOL? Do you use a Macintosh? If not, and you are (most likely) using Windows, you probably are using Internet Explorer. · rodii · 14:39, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Oh, Internet Explorer. Sorry. Sorry about the edit conflict, too! 88.105.147.99 14:41, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

If you are using Internet Explorer, check Tools->Internet Options->Privacy tab and then the settings area, check if the level is set to at least medium or below. --WinHunter ^(talk) 14:49, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

It's already set to low, but it still says I have my cookies disabled. 88.105.147.99 14:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Look in the bottom right of the internet explorer window, on the grey bar. There is a box; mine says "Internet" and has a little world symbol. What do you see? Notinasnaid 15:02, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Exactly the same. 88.105.147.99 15:07, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Ok, in Privacy settings.... Click the Sites button. I see an empty list, nothing in it. You? Now click the Advanced button. Is "Override automatic cookie handling" off, and everything else grey? Notinasnaid 15:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes 88.105.147.99 15:25, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Ok, here's one more thing to try. Sometimes when Internet Explorer fills up its part of the disk, it stops working properly. Open Internet Options on the "General" tab. Click the "Delete files" button then click OK. This will free up some space and might mend things. Notinasnaid 15:34, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll try that. Can I just say, I'm really surprised and grateful to all the people who responded so quickly. Thanks a lot! 88.105.147.99 15:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you all! RobbieG 16:01, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Converting Redirect page to Disambiguation page

As discussed above, yesterday I created Peter J. Hamilton, thus requiring disambiguation of Peter Hamilton, which currently redirects to Peter F. Hamilton. My thanks to user: Jacek Kendysz who confirmed yesterday (via this help desk) my instinct that this is necessary. However, although I have located that tutorial on how to create a Disambiguation page, I am not certain how to convert an existing Redirect page into a Disambiguation. Is there a tutorial on how this is done, or can someone explain (or does doing this require Admin privileges?). Thank you. Newyorkbrad 15:54, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

When you go to Peter Hamilton and get redirected to Peter F. Hamilton the top of the article (right below the title) will have a note saying "(redirected from Peter Hamilton)". Click that link and you can edit the Peter Hamilton page directly. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:11, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Done, at least as a first version. Should article title of Peter Hamilton be changed to "Peter Hamilton (Disambiguation)"? Newyorkbrad 16:30, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

No. Jacek Kendysz 16:37, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Noted, and thank you for adding template. Newyorkbrad 17:07, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

• You only need a separate disambiguation page if one subject is obviously more common. In this case none of the Peters appear to be more famous than any of the others. By the way, the modifiers (the stuff between the brackets) usually should not start with a capital letter. It's "disambiguation" not "Disambiguation". - Mgm|^(talk) 18:31, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually I would say Peter F. is very much more well-known than Peter J., as the author of a number of recent best-selling novels. No disrespect to Peter J., but I think people searching for "Peter Hamilton" are overwhelmingly likely to want Peter F., for what it's worth. · rodii · 19:51, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Despite being the initiator of Peter J. Hamilton I have no reason to disagree with the above. I proceeded in accordance with advice from experienced users on this help page but have no objection to any modification deemed sensible. Newyorkbrad 00:31, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

UserPage or UserTalk Difference

I am confused as to the difference between UserPage and UserTalk. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Brainiacoutcast (talk • contribs) .

Your user page is a page you own, which you can use pretty much as you'd like (information about yourself you don't mind other people being able to see, pages you're interested in, ...). Your talk page is where other people can communicate with you. This is the same difference between a regular article and its talk page (the talk page is for discussion about the article). Please see Wikipedia:User page for more details. -- Rick Block (talk) 17:31, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

SVG Support

I recently uploaded an image in SVG format: Image:Discworld-unseen-university-amoswolfe.svg which is the same as Image:Discworld-unseen-university-amoswolfe.png only in SVG format instean of PNG. The source is a vector drawing done by me.

The program I used to draw the image does not directly support SVG so I used "SVG Factory" (found in SVG tools). Viewing the image in the sandbox at a high resolution (2000px), I noticed that the enlarged image is pixellated, much as a bitmap/raster image would be if so enlarged.

I should add that the image has some drop shadows which are automatically created by the program. Could this mean that the SVG contains some kind of embedded bitmap within the file (as is possible in WMF)?

Any thoughts on the matter appreciated. -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 18:59, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

You may want to ask this in Village Pump: Technical --WinHunter ^(talk) 19:31, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, your SVG file is just an SVG wrapper around a PNG bitmap image. If you look at the source you can see it clearly. Converting from raster to vector format is not something that can be done automatically, at least not well, despite the claims of various programs with "tracing" facilities. · rodii · 19:48, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I will try re-saving the file without the drop shadows and re-uploading. The original image is a vector, but I think it is the shadows that are causing the problem. -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 20:03, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Removal of Links

Hi I am the admin of [4] a forum for the support/education/advice of skin allergy sufferoes similar to another site - skincell.org. Some of my Moderating team put some links to our site in various entries to help people find information and support for the conditions described. We then recived the following message

skincity.org.uk Please do not add commercial links or links to your own private websites to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising or a mere collection of external links. You are, however, encouraged to add content instead of links to the encyclopedia. If you feel the link should be added to the article please discuss it on the article's talk page rather than re-adding it. See the welcome page to learn more about Wikipedia. Thanks. --Clawed 08:40, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I take exception to being called a profit website then our link removed while a similar site is left up (see [5] the link for our forum was taken down but skincell is still up. Skincell is a forum similar to our in content but different in style and age I recommend that your admins investigate the links before you take them down.

regards Webmaster (email removed to prevent spam) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 172.189.132.126 (talk • contribs) 19:43, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Note: Clawed's edit was to User talk:86.128.234.78. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

• Dear webmaster. Forums are generally not considered suitable links in Wikipedia. Your particular forum appears to have just 47 members at the time of my checking, so while you may not be a for-profit website, you did engage in promotion of your forum which is expressly disallowed in WP:NOT. Exceptions are sometimes made for especially well-known forums or ones with lots of members, but yours doesn't seem to fit either category. Wikipedia:Spam and Wikipedia:External links should give you an idea of what is and isn't acceptable. In the mean time, if you can point out the specific similar URL you complained about remaining up, I can take a look at it. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
• Skincell appears to be a forum with a lot of activity (20 times as many posts as your forum, 200 times as many members). Even though you've been running for similar amounts of time, their forum simply has more information (which is the main quality external links are judged by). - Mgm|^(talk) 21:02, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

quick note we as a website have only been running for 4 months and that is why we have less members but we are growing. Admin Skincity etc

Citations

I'm having an issue with another editor, who seems to like removing cited statements, whenever he feels like it. Is there a policy or guideline that requires discussion first? Or is he allowed to remove cited material from any article he sees fit? Just so there is no confusion, any statements he has removed, were pertaining to that article, and only discussed it after it was reverted. He feels this is good way to handle it, and says its good faith! Zos 20:45, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

It can be a good way to provoke discussion. In some articles, I've found it the only way. If the consensus is to keep the item, then it would not be polite to remove it. And where the talk page is doing a good job, it seems unnecessary to start with a removal, but remember that "BE BOLD" is one of Wikipedia's tenets. Notinasnaid 20:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

• Sure. "Be bold" is a good rule of thumb, but I don't think sourced statements can be removed that easily. Only unsourced material can be removed without any sort of discussion. They should at least give people a chance to fix things if you think something's wrong with it. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:04, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply. Although hes saying that he'd like me to quote policy, and I simply cannot seem to find where it says he cant. I see his point of view, I may sound like I own the article in saying that I just dont want a cited statement removed, especially if its germane to the article. I'm at a loss as to why there is no policy for the removal of sourced, cited, and basic historic facts. Zos 21:06, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

One more question that pertains to this...How would I go about asking for a policy to be made? I assume I would have to put it up for a survey, and let consensus decide right? But where? Should I post it to Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines? Or a different page? Zos 21:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I think there are valid reasons for removing sourced information, though of course discussing it on the talk page is always good. But concerns about relevance, POV, spam, lack of balance, undue weight or triviality might cause someone to decide an article would be better off with some information removed, even if it's fully sourced. Just because something is sourced doesn't mean it's sacrosanct. And in some articles, at least, discussing every removal is just a waste of time--spammers and drive-by POV pushers add passages with "citations" all the time. Zos, it seems like you're looking for a general rule you can use as ammunition here, but I feel like there's a need to consider the context. What's the other editor's position on these links? · rodii · 01:51, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree there are valid reasons for removing sources statements, but these would be exceptions as many policies and guidelines have exceptions. I'm just in awe that there is no rule or policy for removal of relevant cited statements. And I'm not trying to look for amunition for a debate, just needing some general consensus for this issue. If this would be the case, then whats stopping me from removing cited statements from any article I see fit, saying "theres no policy that says I cannot do it". I feel this is wrong, and something might need to be added to a guideline/policy page, describing the nature of such. The other editors position on the matter was that it was irrelevant, and that it was my opinion to put it in, and his opinion to take it out. So we reached a point where no policy or guideline has touched yet, I suppose. So how would I ask for a survey, and on which page would you think? Zos 05:41, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

It sounds to me like you might want to read Wikipedia:Resolving disputes, which is the policy by which "I think this" vs. "you think that" disputes should be resolved. In general, if somone deletes something from an article (sourced or not), and you add it back, and they delete it again and you feel it should be added back you're in dispute territory. There is no absolute or even general policy about deleting sourced statements and there likely never will be. If you'd like to pursue creating one (and I strongly caution that this will almost assuredly be a complete waste of your time and anyone else you get to participate in the process), please see Wikipedia:How to create policy. -- Rick Block (talk) 13:57, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

You may also like to read Wikipedia:Reliable sources -- Lost 14:03, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

article on Guraura

Hello, I wrote a short note to David Newton about my article on Guraura, a village near Lucknow, India. I don't know much about Wikipedia and I don't know how to do the basic tasks it seems. How does my article (unfinished) get to be a regular article ? I started looking through all the directions but my head gets dizzy there are so many options, so many things to click which lead you to other things. If you could write a short note that would be much appreciated. I am well aware--having been an academic for many decades--that one does not copy, cut and paste, etc. other people's work. Everything that I wrote or will write, will be strictly my own. I am unlikely to be editing other people's work, though adding something would not be out of the question. I think the idea of Wikipedia is great, so spoiling it would not be very consistent with my support.

Bob Newman--Bobnewman 22:21, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Hiya Bob! I refactored your message for clarity, I hope you don't mind. Anyway, I found your article, Guraura, and would point out that since it's listed as an article currently... well, it is, by definition, an article.

What I'd probably suggest you do, first of all, is find sources for your content. While it's great that you've got hands-on experience with Guraura, it'd help quite a bit if we could find verifiable sources. I've tacked a "welcome template" onto your page, filled to the brim with useful links to various policy pages on Wikipedia that you should find useful. Click on "my talk" at the top to access this.

I'd also suggest browsing similar Wikipedia articles and view them (click "edit source" and just don't change anything) to determine how the editors of that article put it together and made it look nice. If you still have questions, just respond here. :) ~Kylu (u|t) 23:28, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

(conflict)First, don't use paragraphs – they're handled by the software in a strange way. Instead, put a blank line between both blocks of text. I'm afraid only a single note is not enough to explain everything there is to writing an article. A good short description is to make a lead section not putting any headers, with a brief overview (bold the first occurance of the title and make it the subject of the first sentence). Then, use headers to go into deeper information on particular subjects. Link extensively to other articles (relevant to the subject of the article) inside your text by using Wiki syntax. This particular internal linking syntax is [[Link destination]]. Set up a External links section to cite sources and provide useful links (Guidelines at Wikipedia:External links) that add to what's already in your text (alternatively, to cite, you could use footnotes). Any questions you may have, you can ask them at my talk page. fetofs ^Hello! 23:45, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

• You made a slight mistake there Fetofs. Sources should not be in the external links section, but instead in a references or sources section of their own. External links are useful and related material, but material that hasn't been used in the creation of the article. - Mgm|^(talk) 04:56, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
  • Yes, but sometimes there is a mix between sources and additional material in the links. But anyway, we should explicitly cite sources when possible. fetofs ^Hello! 11:55, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
    • If the references section is done in footnote style - as it should be - then there's rarely any overlap. For example, if the references section points to a website, it will generally be pointing to individual pages. The external links section, however, can contain a link to the website as a whole. There's also no confusion over which sources have been used to write the article and which haven't. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 14:26, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Copyright, photos and photoshop

Hi - what's the situation where someone takes a copyright photo, photoshops it with a filter and then puts it up - does that still breach the copyright?

--Charlesknight 22:45, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes. ~Kylu (u|t) 22:52, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Right - what's the procedure for removal?

--Charlesknight 22:57, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Check with WP:CSD. Zos 23:03, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Bloody hell that's complex! (thanks for the tip anyway) --Charlesknight 23:09, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Try template: {{PUInonfree}} ? ~Kylu (u|t) 23:33, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Edit by unknown party

Hello - I refer to article Trooping the Colour on which I have contributed quite a bit. I do not know who 62.56.98.120 is, but on 2 July they went through the article substituting the expressing Saluting Dais for Saluting Base.

"Base" is correct, as per the program for the event, which I atttended.

I have rectified the error and put a note about it on the article's discussion page.

However, is there anything else I can do to contact 62.56.98.120 ? (whoever they may be?)

Or can we protect the word Base and base throughout the article in any way?

Thanks for advice. I have also contacted the very helpful user called Phaedriel on this.

-- FClef 22:44, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

It appears you've done everything that you could do, I do recommend leaving the IP a little note. Just because they are an anon, does not mean they are any less of a user. But, good work. Yanksox 22:46, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

How do you "give the IP a little note"? (i.e., what does that mean and how do you do it?) Sorry for further question , but am a Wikivirgin. (or as close as dammit... :o) -- FClef 22:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

This refers to leaving a message on the Talk page - in this case User talk:62.56.98.120 When somebody makes an edit without creating an account or logging in to an existing one, all edits are attributed to their IP address. ---=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 23:03, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I have done so. Can you please give me the format for, e.g. Trooping the Colour Talk Page? I mean if I want to say "please reply to teh Trooping the Colour Talk page - how do I put it in Wikilingo? Gramercy. -- FClef 23:08, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I recommend just saying something along the lines of, "Thank you for your edits to Trooping the Colour, however, I have reverted your edits. For a further explanation please see the talk page." Add you username. Feel free to copy the code if you want to paraphrase that. Yanksox 23:12, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks - v. helpful, especially cool neutral tone. -- FClef 23:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

You can also use {{talkheader}}. FellowWikipedian 01:59, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

What is a talkheader? And thanks to everyone for help - the user actually wrote back to me and we sorted out the errors. -- FClef 23:07, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

July 5

PDF/EPS to SVG?

Is there a free software/freeware program for Windows that can convert EPS or PDF to SVG? Thanks WP 02:52, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

IP address

Is there a link on wikipedia that can tell me my ip address without having to make a contribution somewhere? -- 216.143.142.68 06:52, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

It's not on Wikipedia, but see http://whatismyipaddress.com/. Notinasnaid 07:39, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

• Er, you just made a contribution... Anyway, remember that you can have a dynamic IP address (meaning it changes) especially when you connect through AOL. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:38, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

yeah, the reason was I wanted to check my ip :)... thanks for the help...216.143.142.68 09:28, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Email confirmation

I created two accounts on two wikipedias - English and Vietnamese. I could confirm my email for the English account but could not for the Vietnamese account. There was an email sent to ask for confirmation but when I clicked the link, it says "there is not yet an article with this name, you can start one" ???--lhagiang 06:53, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

There may not be a page at your username space since they start as an empty page. This blank page does not necessarily mean your account wasn't created: are links to your user pages (Userpage, "my talk", "my preferences" etc) displayed in the top right of your screen, or is there just a "Log in/register" link?. EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 11:47, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply. My account has been created. The problem is I could not confirm the email address under which I registered my account. Perhaps it would not matter much anyways, but I would not be able to receive news from Wiki/emails from other users?--lhagiang 15:49, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

• What link are you pointed to when you try to confirm? - Mgm|^(talk) 18:03, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay in a response: you should, if you are able to enter your Vietnamese account, be able to change the email address in my preferences (top-right corner). Hope this helps. EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 18:51, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Information technology Wiki 159.52.64.118 07:15, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Hello,

I was wondering if there is a specific Wiki, either a feature of this one or other wikis, that cover the subject of Information Technology/Computers etc

I would be very greatful to know of whats out there.

Many thanks David

You could start by looking at Category: Information technology and Information technology. --Hetar 07:17, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Lack of congruence symbol (mathematics)

When editing my first contribution, I couldn't find the congruence symbol (three dashes vertically aligned) and was forced to use the equivalence (equal) symbol. Although I have no doubt that readers will understand my contribution, would it not be a good idea to make the congruence symbol available to editors? --Duke Dudley 13:57, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Where you searching for this? "$\equiv$" --J B 13:35, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Indeed! But it isn't in the "Insert" list of characters and symbols. --Duke Dudley 13:57, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Many mathematical are not. If you are unsure try the LaTeX command. Often it works nice :-) --J B 14:02, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Right, this worked for me, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Germain_prime. A thousand thanks for your prompt and helpful advice! --Duke Dudley 14:14, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

A few problems and suggestions:

• Don't sign your name inside articles.
• Use edit summaries when you edit articles.
• To make links to Wikipedia pages, use double brackets: [[Sophie Germain prime]] becomes Sophie Germain prime.
• It's not a very good idea to use a math tag just for a single symbol. Instead, use ≡ (to obtain it, write an ampersand (&), followed by the name of the symbol (equiv), followed by a semicolon (;).)
• KSmrq has a useful list of characters you can insert this way in User:KSmrq/Chars.
• For cases where the math tag is necessary, Help:Formula is a useful reference.
• For all-around help on wikimarkup, see Wikipedia:How to edit a page. This also includes the names of some common characters.

-- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 15:24, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Okay, duly noted although this is a lot to keep an eye on IMHO. Nevertheless I'll do my best to maintain Wikipedia's excellent quality. --Duke Dudley 18:48, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

2 Edit or Not 2

I looked up Critical Success Factors.

I found a stub.

One or two sentences in it are good/useful/scholastic.

One paragraph of it is nonsensical (has no logical grammatic / semantic structure, so no meaning can be ascribed to it).

Another paragraph provides a link to an external site advertising Executive Coaching!!! The following paragraph to that seems to be made up of key words rather than providing any illumination or erudition on the subject.

What should I do about this if anything? Who out there reads this, if anyone? Hello? Should I for instance simply dfelete the offending material? That seems a little unilateral even to me!!!

If this sort of thing proliferates surely the truly wonderful resource that Wikipedia is, a source of reference, will slowly rot away, a sort of entropic process of exponential aggregation?

Apart from noble hope, what stands in the path of this decay process?

Can I help?

Will this message in a bottle ever be read and if so will I receive a reply? How could such a thing ever happen?

Err . . . bye then. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.249.211.240 (talk • contribs) .

You could try expanding it yourself: take a peek at the introduction and tutorial! EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 16:05, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Is this the article you're talking about- Critical Success Factors doesn't exist as an article? EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 16:08, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Be bold! If you see anything in the article Critical success factor which you don't like, feel free to edit it (in order for the article to improve, someone has to edit it, right?). You should also consider creating a user account (click here to learn about the benefits). And don't worry about the future of Wikipedia - Although there will always be several articles of lower quality, there are very good reasons to believe that the overall quality of Wikipedia will only improve with time. And you can help! -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:41, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

2004 World Series Picture

How can I take an image I have on my PC an embed it onto the article, 2004 World Series?

The most important thing to deal with first is copyright. Is it a photograph that you, personally, took and are willing to release? If not, what is the copyright status? Notinasnaid 18:34, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

how do you add a page in wikipedia

How do I add a page —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kljklj (talk • contribs) 19:31, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

You should read Help:Starting a new page. Jacek Kendysz 19:41, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Archving Warnings

If you left an NPA warning on someone's talk page, and they archived it shortly there after, would you revert even though technically its still there but in an archive? --Crossmr 19:32, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

• I wouldn't if their archive is readily available, but that could easily change if they have a history of archiving such warnings without heeding them. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:53, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Questionable articles

Can somebody look at Francis Lee (comic book creator) and Boneville. The first one looks like a bad advertisement and the second's content is messy.

Both of these have been nominated for deletion. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 20:50, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Image provider incentive?

Hello. Concerning the need for more images in the surfing article, I was wondering what could be offered to the owner of an image in the way of exposure. Is there a policy restricting the information that can be included in the caption accompanying such an image, e.g. could it include the name of the surfer, the photographer or perhaps a statement like "image courtesy of" or "screen shot from (the movie title)", etc? Any suggestions? Thanks. --Maradja 20:57, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

The name of the surfer is generally accepted to describe the picture (as long as there aren't any copyright issues). As from the last two options, you would get the image page, (like Image:Example.jpg) edit it and put it there, that is the place for general information about licensing. fetofs ^Hello! 21:24, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Generally, you shouldn't need to give copyright attributions for images in articles, as licensing information on the image page should be sufficient. However, there are exceptions (see, for example, the photo in The Falling Man article). Andrew (My talk · World Cup) 21:33, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Three Laws of Robotics

Hi,

Just out of interest I was wondering wether what people lok a has any bearing on the daily featured article. I ask you this because I looked up the Three Laws of robotics Yesterday and today it's the featured article. Is it something to do with me or a huge coincidence?

Harry Case (email removed)

Well, yes. The featured article director, User:Raul654, chooses one of the 1000 odd featured articles to appear for one day on the main page. More or less, everything gets a shot. Highway ^Batman! 23:17, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I think what Harry is asking is whether we operate some sort of statistics on the numbers of page views (or hits) that articles get and decide the featured articles based on that. To that, the answer is no: Wikipedia has no way of keeping track on how many hits each individual article gets. The FAs are decided through a special process (WP:FA). - ulayiti (talk) 23:46, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

How to add an article to those boxes of links at the bottom of articles

How do you add another article to those link boxes at the bottom of some pages? For example, NYU has a box at the bottom with links to other schools in the University Athletic Association. If another school were to join that, how would I add it to that box? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dell1212 (talk • contribs)

Those boxes are in what is called the template namespace. The particular one you are interested in is found at Template:University Athletic Association. Just edit that page in the same way you would a normal article. Evil Monkey - Hello 02:19, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

(After edit conflict:) You've just asked about templates. If you click on "edit" in the "External links" section (or if you edit the whole page) you will see a list of templates that are used in the article, below the edit box, at the bottom of the page.

That list is made of clickable links. You can follow the links and edit the templates as you would edit an article. --Kjoonlee 02:24, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

New user... confused.

I've been using wikipedia for information for a while, but today I finally registered and created a couple of articles... there's a little bit of trouble I'm having understanding policy.

Main issue: I've long been irritated at the vast number of independent bands in the south who do extremely well regionally and are influential in underground circles, that go relatively undocumented. I created an article on a southern cult band Late Night Killers... this thing played out as follows... it got flagged for speedy deletion based on copyrighted material... i contested, plead my case that this was not copyrighted material just because it appeared on myspace... it was from the band's official bio, was not copyright protected, and they gave me the go ahead to use it... i was going to append my own material as soon as i could draft it up, but i thought their bio was a good starting point... so they changed it from a copyright flag to not notable band flag... i contested this and told them i was working on appending it to show how they were notable... within 5 minutes i go back to check the discussion to make sure nothing else has transpired... someone has just asked (in rather snide wording) whether the band had a record deal... i was editing the discussion to answer that question that, no they were currently unsigned but were negotiating a deal and were being produced by a member of a "notable" band that exists here on wikipedia... i make my edit only to find the whole damn thing has already vanished and been "protected" so that nobody will ever post that band again.... maybe i did a sloppy job ... i'm sort of new at this... but i think the impatience and bad attitude towards me were rather uncalled for and someone could have attempted to be helpful instead of rush-deleting my entire article and making it to where i could not rework it. am i wrong? what did i miss?

minor issue: another article i created has been flagged for clean up (Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt)... what does this mean, and how do i "clean it up"?

You might find WP:MUSIC and Wikipedia:Cleanup helpful. Dismas|^(talk) 03:42, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• It's probably best to not post an article to the main article space until you've added the notability in. In the mean time, you can work on the article in a Wikipedia:Subpage of your userspace. Also, the band's official bio is copyrighted unless otherwise noted. Not because it's on MySpace but because anything is automatically copyrighted to whoever wrote it. If they gave you permission to use it, have them send an email stating this to permissions AT wikimedia DOT org from an email address that's recognizably theirs so we can confirm this is the case. Finally, make sure it follows WP:MUSIC guidelines. - 131.211.210.16 07:37, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

July 6

Design For an Atomic Bomb

Dear Helper, I know i might sound like a terrorist but really i'm not,i had to join Wikipedia to source for material for my project. I'm a final year student of the Physics Department in the University of Calabar,Cross river state in Nigeria and i'im writing on the project topic "Physics in the millitary". Quite a wide topic isn't it?, Well my supervisor has advised me to downsize the topic to "Uncontrolled fission". Hence, I have to talk about radioactivity, uranium, it's history, the isotope used in building the bomb etc, and a design for the bomb (which is my main problem); to get a design and how it would work! All these would be in theory, i'm not actually building it(God knows i would'nt even want to come near anything radioactive) talkless of me being a mile near it. I need help to get a design, please help me, thanks yours sincerely, Emmanuel Ntia (email removed)— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimmynuel (talk • contribs)

A good place to start would probably be Nuclear weapon design. This question however really belongs on Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science as this page is designed for questions about Wikipedia. Evil Monkey - Hello 02:53, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Let's help the Nigerian avoid Nigerian scams by removing his email.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 03:18, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Citation needed?

Hi. I am a newcomer here. A few weeks ago, I edited the Jacques Brel entry in several spots, notably with:

>Sadly, with the exception of the Eric Blau-Mort Shuman translations used in "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris," the English translations of Brel's songs often strip them of their brilliance. For example, "Ne Me Quitte Pas" evocatively mentions pearls of rain that come from countries where rain never falls. However, Rod McKuen’s insipid English translation replaces that imagery with a day like no other, past and future, stealing Brel’s magical lyricism from English-speaking music lovers.<

I just returned to the entry and found [citation needed] at the end of the above paragraph. Truth is, I wanted to cite a bit of Brel's lyric and a bit of McKuen's translation to illustrate my point, i.e., Brel's "Moi, je t'offrirai / Des perles de pluie / Venues de pays / Où il ne pleut pas" versus McKuen's "But if you stay/I'll make you a day / Like no day has been / or will be again."

Question is: Can I cite these snippets on your site? And is this what you meant by "citation needed"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Primerib (talk • contribs) 03:29, July 6, 2006 (UTC)

Thanks.

You should certainly provide some examples of translations that have been "stripped of brilliance." Including the original text would be a start and you can use small "snippets" on Wikipedia for this purpose. The citation needed tag was probably referring to your use of "often." I also question your use of "insipid" as it violates our policy of maintaining a neutral point of view. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 03:40, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I think what is really needed is a citation to someone who expresses the sentiments that you have. You are presenting facts that can easily be checked (though citing a printed or other legal reference is good), but words like "sadly" and "insipid" cannot be used unless they are an accurate reflection of an accepted citation. Notinasnaid 08:01, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Mapmaking, or Cartography...

I want to make a map for this article, similar to those used in the various London Underground line articles. (example) How and where do I start? Pacific Coast Highway ^{(blah • lol, internet)} 04:40, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

That map was "Generated as part of the London Underground geographic maps project by software written by ed g2s • talk and James D. Forrester utilising GPS data." according to the image description. I would suggest asking one of them how to do it. You can link to their user pages from the image derscription page.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 05:09, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Pacific Coast Highway ^{(blah • lol, internet)} 05:14, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Multiple Language Log-Ons

Hi, I've been using and contributing to the English language wiki for a while now and, when I have time, thoroughly enjoy trying to improve it for everybody.

However, I also have knowledge of some other languages, such as French, German, Spanish and Simple English. However, if I try to edit pages in those languages, I am asked to create a whole new account as it doesn't recognise my log on.

When I notice something that I can contribute in another language, I don't want to have to log out, and log in under another i.d. each time.

Is there anyway my user id can gain me access to multiple language wikis? Any help gratefully accepted. Duncshine 09:47, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I am afraid that's not possible, you have to register another account in another language's wiki. However, since both site's cookie can concurrently exist so you only need to login once and ask the site to save your login. That way, you won't have to login each time you switch to another wiki. --WinHunter ^(talk) 09:52, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Tarn (disambiguation) and Tarn

Hello. Tarn has different meanings, see Tarn (disambiguation), but if you type Tarn you are straight directed to the French department Tarn instead of the Tarn (disambiguation) page. Should it not be the other way round? Tarn should direct you to the disambiguation page. But this means Tarn (meaning French department) should be renamed. I know some things you can do by your self, but these changes seem rather complicated to me! Guss2 09:59, 6 July 2006 (UTC) (copied from Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous)

• I don't think this move is needed. If you look at the whatlinkshere for Tarn, you see that most articles that link to Tarn are aimed at the French department. That's why the disambiguation note is at the top of the article. It could potentially be moved, but that would require fixing all the articles that will point to the disambiguation if you do that. That is a lot of work for a minimal return. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:29, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I guess the point here is that if you type a word into the search box and click Go, it is sensible that you are taken straight to the most common use of that word. I just typed Genesis into the search box, looking for info on the band, and was taken to the page about the opening book of the Bible instead, which actually seems logical to me. It's no biggie; I got to the band page with just two more clicks, via the disambig page. --Richardrj 10:36, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

My point exactly. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:47, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi Seems logical. Thanks for the answer and also for the speed in answering. Guss2 11:16, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

how

how to go to cookies—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.65.159.61 (talk • contribs) 11:36, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• Please be more specific about what you want. Do you want to locate your cookies on your hard drive? Do you want to remove them? What browser are you using? Do you use a Windows or Mac system? Without any of that information it's very hard to answer you. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:00, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
• I would suggest asking an expert cookie consumer where to find them. The Cookie Monster probably has a big stash somewhere. If you're nice he might share. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 18:55, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Skeeter J

<snipped submission>

• This is not the page to submit new article. Please try WP:AFC instead and make sure you read the instructions at the top. Especially those regarding WP:BIO, WP:MUSIC, Wikipedia:Vanity and Wikipedia:Reliable sources. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:57, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

female-african american pornstars

please can you show me pictures of female african american porn stars —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ibox (talk • contribs) .

Maybe a Google search would present suitable results... EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 18:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

User:Dickbauch

Would an admin please do his job, tanks. Dickbauch 17:17, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• It's easier if you tell what exactly needs to be done... - Mgm|^(talk) 19:18, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Lune Fiction

Lune Fiction

Lune Fiction is one of Britain’s premier literary magazines and the world’s only journal dedicated to first class flash fiction (plus the occasional short story, minute novella and poetry). The magazine is named after the city of its origin: Lancaster, a city on the banks of the Lune in the North West of England; a town from which Lancashire derives its name and from which England derives its Red Rose. The Monarch of Great Britain is ultimately the Duke Of Lancaster. Lune Fiction is written by Lancaster writers such as Jomar de Vrind, Hendryk Korzeniowski, Mollie Baxter, Jane Scargill and Herschel Waters plus anyone of discernible talent from the Palatine Of Lancaster, Britain, the Commonwealth and the rest of the world. LF, as we call it in the Biz, is produced on a futuristic type-writer/ television hybrid machine, based on the findings of Alan Turing and his involvement with calculating devices during WW II. Lune Fiction is produced every four weeks in Lancaster. Give or take the odd day. It all depends on fortune and other circumstances. And the mood of the editorial collective that is Humble Sam, JM de Vrind and the ghost of Herschel Waters. The magazine is produced to further the cause of flash fiction, a newish form of literature which has come to destroy the manacles of excess that exist within conventional literature (Death to streams of consciousness and all that. Minimalists of the world unite: you have nothing to lose but your chains of plenty!). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.150.177.9 (talk • contribs) .

Ok. What is your question? Notinasnaid 17:42, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Linking to Redirects

I have a question about making wikilinks to redirects. So, for example puppy, puppies, and dogs all redirect to dog. Here are a few related questions:

• If I wanted to have the following sentence in an article, "George Washington owned a puppy", with "puppy" hyperlinked. Should I have it as just [[puppy]] or [[dog|puppy]]?

• Alternatively, if the sentence is "George Washington owned many puppies", should I have just [[puppies]] or [[puppy|puppies]] or [[dog|puppies]]?

• And finally, if the sentence is "George Washington owned many dogs", should I have just [[dogs]] or [[dog|dogs]] or [[dog]]s?

• If you have any other variations on the theme, feel free to add them

Thanks JianLi 18:22, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

You can leave it as [[puppy]]. That's what redirects are for. Ditto for the second case, i.e. [[puppies]]. In the last case, you would want [[dog]]s. There are some people who think that redirects shouldn't be linked to if possible and will go around piping everything, but AFAIK this is a minority POV. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 18:43, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

In fact, "fixing" redirects is explicitly discouraged - see Wikipedia:Redirect#Don't fix links to redirects that aren't broken. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:35, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

adding articles

how do i add an article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by James soad rule (talk • contribs) 18:26, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

You should read Help:Starting a new page. Jacek Kendysz 18:39, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

MP3 to OGG

Does anyone know of any sort of software that can convert MP3 format files to OGG files? It would help in uploading classical music to Wikipedia. --Mr. Lefty _{Talk to me!} 20:02, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Check this out. You will surely find some good software. Jacek Kendysz 20:23, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• • I believe Audacity will do it. See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spoken_Wikipedia/Recording_guidelines#Recommended_tools. Wikibofh_(talk) 21:56, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Using content for a book

I would like to publish a book (not ebook) using content taken from 100 Wikipedia articles. I have several questions:

1/. I can't possibly cite every author so if I put a URL of the original online article at the bottom of each article in the book is that enough to keep everyone happy? :o)

2/. I have put the copyright notice after the title page and the GNU Free Documentation License as an appendix. Does that meet requirements?

3/. I would like to make some small alterations such as leaving out certain blocks of text and photographs. Is there anything I need to be aware of here?

Thanks for your assistance

--84.66.2.148 20:48, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• See: citing wikipedia. Wikibofh_(talk) 21:55, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
  • Actually, Wikipedia:Requests for publication is more relevant. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 22:34, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Searching for my article...

Hi, I recently started an article, Versatile Toroidal Facility, about a laboratory at MIT. Because i was sort of bored, i tried searching for my article (via the "search" rather than "go" button) using different keywords, but i can't make it come up on a search! I tried "toroidal" and "versatile" and "versatile toroidal", even "versatile toroidal facility", and the only page that comes up is about a department that contains the VTF lab. Did I do something wrong? Should I add keywords or something? Thanks, --Bmk 21:50, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

You don't need to do anything, the search index isn't updated very often (for weeks, months etc). So you just have to be patient. Also, there isn't fuzzy matching (for mispellings etc). Google et al will probably index the page first (and they have fuzzy matching).--Commander Keane 21:56, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! I'll try to restrain myself and be patient :) --Bmk 22:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

help with vandal

i don't keep watch pages, but can you see how the latest change here Structure of the Sun serves to blind people? I think this is very dangerous (and therefore made the second-to-last edit. We don't want people staring at solar eclipses. Thank you very much. 82.131.188.84 22:05, 6 July 2006 (UTC).

I agree, so i changed it. The article structure of the Sun doesn't need to contain medical information relating to looking at the sun, especially misleading info. FYI, it is true that during total eclipse, the sun is probably safe to look at, but not everyone knows how to distinguish between total eclipse and 99% eclipse, and according to NASA (see the solar eclipse links - too lazy to copy), viewing a 99% eclipse can still damage your eyes. Although i don't think it's fair to call it vandalism; just not the best addition. Also, feel free to change it yourself...this is wikipedia after all --Bmk 22:22, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Question re: legitimate use of biographies

I would like to know if citing a biography is acceptable at Wikipedia. When I attempted to address an issue at the Barry Manilow page about not having any information on personal life, I had cited that three biographies on this celebrities had been written, and that the 3d biography was considered the most controversial of the three. I had also mentioned the fact that he had been married once, and had a long term cohabitational relationship. However, a person took out the paragraph in its entirety, and accused me of having a "personal" agenda for putting it in. Another Wikipedia re-instated the paragraph, only to have the individual who originally removed it to do it again, and accuse the person of slander! When one reviews other celebrity profiles here at Wikipedia,for example Jim Morrison there is extensive discussion on the celebrities interpersonal relationships. Some of the information is not necessarily flattering or verifiable but apparently there are some who have a mission of keeping the Manilow page completely free of any kind of personal information. I suspect overprotective fans are behind this. I am not happy about being accused of the stuff this person is accusing me of because it simply isn't so. So, is the use of biographies a legitimate citation or not and is there any recourse that can be taken if a person falsely accuses another Wikipedian of slander? Ladycascadia 22:16, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Reliable sources for your first sentence. The rest of your comments appear to be a content dispute, see Wikipedia:Resolving disputes.--Commander Keane 23:17, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Copyrights and Featured Picture eligiblilty

Are images with copyright status "Some Rights Reserved" under the Creative Commons license eligible for featured picture status? Specifically, is the image Image:Maps-sodor-railways-amoswolfe.png eligible for Featured Picture? I would have nominated it already if not for the copyright concerns. C. M. Harris 23:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes I think so. The requirements say "Have a free license", and that image's licence is listed as free on Wikipedia:Image copyright tags. To help its run to be featured, I think ideally the image would be .svg format and without the CreativeCommons watermark.--Commander Keane 23:22, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

lost my foxfire

when I click on my foxfire icon..it tells me that it is working offline. I have been using foxfire for two years and this the first time I have had a problem with it..can you help me Please? I do not know what to do to correct this. (personal details removed to protect from spam) Hope to hear for you soon.--68.171.29.54 23:16, 6 July 2006 (UTC)Beverly Caron

What you need to do is open Firefox, press the 'file' button at the top, and click the 'work offline' button, and it should cancel the working off line. GeorgeMoney ^(talk) 23:21, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

About Stocks

Hi,

My name is Dipankar Chauhan and I want to invest money in the stock market. I don't really have a good enough idea so that I may invest without anybody's guidance as I am totally new to this, please help me in understanding stocks, i.e., how it works, what is the profile & responsibilities of a stock broker and what are the follow ups done for thier work and by whom.

I would be highly obliged if you can provide me some help on the same, my contact info is :

E-mail : deepankerchauhan@rediffmail.com, deepu0101@yahoo.com,

Ph No.s - +91-9910364012, +91-9818466066, +91-9212723671.

Kind Regards,

Dipankar Chauhan.