Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive 243

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Archive 240

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Archive 242

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Edit War Help: Date and Story of a Prehistoric Observatory

Greetings! I love Wikipedia and what it does, and I enjoy adding more information to articles, and take books and web sites as references. I have done several edits and created several pages (esp. about Armenians and their culture). The day before yesterday I fell upon the article of 'Zorats Karer,' a prehistoric archaeological site in Armenia, which had not a lot of information. A radiophysicist named Paris Herouni, among with several multinational scientists, has researched on the site and has written a book which has been approved. I have more than four references that cite that the megalithic structure has been built 7,500 years ago (i.e. 5500 BC) but an admin keeps removing the date information and specifies that the date is unclear. Zorats Karer is just like Stonehenge, the dates of which have not been precisely determined, although in the Stonehenge article it is written that Stonehenge has been built between 3000-2000 BC. Every time I try to add the date in the Zorats Karer article, the adminstrator removes it. Any help or suggestions? Thank you. Iamcool2014 (talk) 18:08, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

@Iamcool2014: It looks from the edit history as though other editors do not think that the sources you are citing are reliable. I would recommend starting a discussion on the article's talk page to see if you can come to a consensus with the other editors. Calliopejen1 (talk) 19:20, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

There have been many such discussions in the history of that page, with exponents of fringe theories introducing questionable material and others removing it. Describing the site as an observatory is an example of such controversial material. --ColinFine (talk) 20:37, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

request for considering my wiki page to reopen

My name is Yordanos i have created a Wikipedia page on the title of Renaissance of Africa on the user name of Androy20. have created this page for my college research paper writing class. I have spent several days researching about the topic and did my best to portray my understanding. However, my wiki link is deleted because it contain several ideas and because of the deletion i received a failing grade. The link i submitted redirected my professor to African Renaissance link. To clear up the misunderstanding and to prove my professor i have created my own link I would really appreciate it if you would be able to reopen my wiki link just for couple of days.

Thank you so much.

Yordanos MuluAdroy20 (talk) 17:26, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi Yoordanos - and welcome to the Teahouse
It seems that your article was deleted following the discussion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Renaissance of Africa. You should ask the deleting editor Tone, at User talk:Tone, if they are willing to temporarily restore the text. I am fairly Tone will not reinstate it at Renaissance of Africa, but might well be willing to restore it to your user page, so your professor can see what you wrote. - Arjayay (talk) 17:38, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

I created User:Adroy20/Renaissance_of_Africa which you can use to show your professor. While the edit history shows I created it, I confirm it is a copy of the edit you created.--S Philbrick (Talk) 18:02, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

I see this has been taken care of. Let me know if there is any help needed from my side. --Tone 20:40, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

websites with free license ?

could somebody provide me with names of some websites that have images with no rights reserved that could be used for a wikipedia article? thanks! Camcamhamham (talk) 21:14, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

@Camcamhamham: Hi Camcamhamham. You might try this search (for images licensed under CC-By 2.0) and this search (for images licensed under CC-By-SA 2.0), which targets Flickr images that were uploaded under a free copyright license compatible with the free licenses for our content, and which will be acceptable for upload at the Commons (). You can also search for free images using Google:

Perform a Google Images search, but place "-Wikimedia" in the search so you avoid Commons images;
Click on the gear icon on the top right hand side of the screen and select Advanced Search;
Scroll to the usage rights: section and select from the dropdown "free to use, share, or modify even commercially";
Click the Advanced Search button.

There's also a free image search tool you might try called FIST. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:51, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

"needs additional citations for verification" message

I wrote the article POlarization Emission of Millimeter Activity at the Sun. It is a short, yet to be expanded, text, that it is based on a article published in 2013 in a specialized journal which is cited inside the text. Moreover, this is the best reference that can be used in this case: the description of an instrument. So, why the article still has the label "needs additional citations..." and " Unsourced material may be challenged and removed"? I find it not bery fair, disgusting, and a little bit aggressive. Thank you very much. Guigue (talk) 18:17, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello Giugue and welcome! I looked at the article, and, to be honest, I do agree with the tag. I think the article is a good start, but it does need more coverage and more sources to improve it. It's not intended to be an insult, and one should not take its presence personally (and don't worry, you aren't the first and won't be the last to do so). It's intended to be supportive and encourage other editors to see what they can find. After all, another editor you've never met may have access to more information on this subject that makes the article better for everyone. --McDoob AU93 18:48, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi Giugue. Thanks for the question / observation and for joining the conversation! Wikipedia was created with the idea that everyday people can contribute their knowledge to the everyday subjects of our life on this planet. However, given the encyclopedic nature and expectations of Wikipedia, it no doubt attracts a highly academic crowd, populated by seasoned writers, educators and thinkers. In my 17+ years experience in those types of crowds, I have found some of us to be..well...jerks. McDoob is absolutely correct..spit out the seeds when you eat the apple (as Grammy used to say); get the good from what may have been a less-than-subtle way of addressing concerns with your article, and become better from it. We certainly appreciate your diligent effort in both researching and citing your article. Also, it may prove helpful to proof-read your work...sets a better impression. For example, above you wrote "bery" when I am certain you meant "very".

Regards and let's keep evolving!--M.D. Finley 20:00, 20 August 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by MDFinley (talk • contribs)

Thank you for your answers. I don't agree with you, but, Ok, it's life... What to do? I will expand the article as planned. Didn't have time yet... Cheers Guigue (talk) 23:43, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Editing of Historical Events

Hello. I am in 8th grade, but a HUGE history buff. I'm wondering if there is anybody that can make a list of historical articles that I could help edit. I tried to do so yesterday, but everything that I can think of is inaccessible. If there is anyone that can help, that would be great. Thank you. Dashielltucker42 (talk) 23:43, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello Dashielltucker42. First, I want to recommend that you be very careful about disclosing personal information that reveals that you are very young. What's important here most of all is the quality of your contributions, and how well they comply with our policies and guidelines, not your age. We were all new editors once. A good resource to find tasks to complete is WP:Community portal, which is also linked to in the "Interaction" section in the menu at the left side of every Wikipedia page. You will find lots of history related articles needing work there. But I have a suggestion for a young student of history who wants to contribute. Consider this: history is a very broad area. Which books have you read, which museums or historical sites have you visited, and what particular aspect of history captivates you? Search for Wikipedia articles in those specific areas, and related articles, looking for those which need improvement. Those will be excellent articles for you to start out improving. Good luck, and thank you for volunteering here at Wikipedia. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 02:11, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Creating a profile.....

Is there a page on Wikipedia that has a plethora of generic but specific templates to build a profile page? Cheers! Conspirasee1 (talk) 02:16, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi Conspirasee1 and welcome to the Teahouse. If you mean a profile for yourself then you have the wrong idea about what Wikipedia is all about. If you mean a profile for something that is what we call "notable" then please provide more details on the proposed topic. Cheers Philg88 ^♦talk 02:58, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

However, if by "templates" you are talking about Userboxes - the little rectangular boxes that people display on their user-page (which is not a "profile") - the index to the dozens of pages of userboxes, can be found at Wikipedia:Userboxes/Gallery - Arjayay (talk) 09:47, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Edit conflicts

Recently I have become subject to the "edit conflict" message when in fact there was no edit conflict. I checked the page and found that my edit had been accepted and that no-one else had been editing the page at the same time that I was. What's going on guys? Jodosma (talk) 20:20, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

It's a Glitch in The Matrix. Pay it no mind. --Jayron32 20:33, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi Jodosma and welcome to the Teahouse. That happens to me on occasion. It is very annoying, but I grit my teeth and move on.--S Philbrick (Talk) 18:24, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Sometimes happen when you hit "Save page" twice. Has happened to me before. Lil Vipt 13:35, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

User:Fosyia/sandbox

I made an article for some Nickelodeon idents. It is unsourced, but I am continuing to find sources. Is YouTube a reliable source? Thanks. Lil Vipt 13:29, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hey Lil Vipt and welcome to the Teahouse! From what I've seen in articles where people try to use youtube as a source, I don't think that it is a valid source. The sources we look for include notable and trustworthy websites such as Discovery or The history channel. Or any news channel. Hope this helps! Mirror Freak 13:50, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello Lil Vipt. the answer is, it depends. There are some YouTube channels which are maintained by reliable organisations, and can be treated as reliable sources (though they are often primary sources, which need to be treated with care). But a lot of the material on YouTube is from unknown sources and cannot be taken as reliable; in fact, some of the material on YouTube infringes copyright, and Wikipedia does not allow linking to such material at all. --ColinFine (talk) 15:05, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Request for review of New Page Patrolling

Hi. Today I decided to be bold and did some New Page Patrolling, but I am still at the verge of worrying I did wrong. Could any more experienced editors review my actions at Commelina ensifolia (fixed around and marked as patrolled) and Thing.js (marked for CSD G11) respectively, as kind of a confidence boost (if it warrants, that is)? 野狼院ひさし (t/c) 13:20, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hey...(I apologize but I don't know how to write your name), Don't sweat it! We all stated from the bottom! And don't forget Wikipedia has a rule about not biting the new editors. The only thing I would say is until you have an actual external link should you make a section for it.Mirror Freak 14:05, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi 野狼院. 你好！ Well, you made the right call on Thing.js, it's been deleted. I checked Commelina ensifolia and that looks fine too. Well done on both counts! Philg88 ^♦talk 16:59, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

My new article "Halo Business Intelligence" has been flagged as an ad! Help pls

Hello teahouse, I created an article for Halo BI, also known as Halo Business Intelligence, about three weeks ago. At first it was a mess but now I have put in related articles, references, and recognitions/awards. The page was fine and had no "wiki alerts" until I put the category of 'food and beverage industry'. Once I populated that category the "Promotional tone" alert populated. I immediately removed the 'food and beverage industry' category to avoid being promotional. Unfortunately, the alert is still on my page. I requested a peer review and asked for someone to help remove any bias or promotional pieces they see. No one has edited my page. Can you help me decide what needs to be changed? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Mitchboylan (talk) 16:30, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Mitchboylan, and welcome to the Teahouse. I took a cursory look at the article-- the history section looks okay, if in need of some paragraphing for readability. There are two problems I noted: first, the content of the section on products presents details that sound like an advertisement. Describing products turns out to be tricky for an encyclopedic tone, and less is usually more. The second problem is with your sources: all but 3 are from either the halobi.com website, or from a PR site (Bloomberg Business Week) that simply posts information provided by the company's PR folks. Those sources fail the requirement for multiple INDEPENDENT, THIRD PARTY SOURCES. You need independent sources to verify notability, and with independent sources, your content has a better chance of sounding less like advertising.--Grand'mere Eugene (talk) 17:07, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Another problem is that Mitch was called Daniel when he created the article. Which is it? Anyway, I've initiated a discussion at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Halo Business Intelligence to consider different options for dealing with the various templates currently adorning the article. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 17:11, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Mitchboylan. Putting a patch in a category or taking it out has no effect whatever on whether its content is acceptable or not. But putting it in a category may draw the attention of people who are interested in that category, who may then look at the article and judge whether it is need of improvement. --ColinFine (talk) 21:13, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for getting back to me.

Grand'mere Eugene, that was very helpful. I will go through the sources and create new and independent, third party sources. I thought the products section would be a cool feature but you're right it is not necessary.

Demiurge1000, I am Mitch. Daniel initially created the Halo BI page on my machine but I took over once I learned how to create wiki pages. Maybe I should've just let him create the page from beginning to end.

ColinFine, thank you for your insight. Mitchboylan (talk) 17:20, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Shifting content in and out of a page

I have plans to remove some content of a page completely and to move an other part to an other page. I have anounced this plans on the talk pages of the target and the source page. Please, what is the time lapse considered polite and appropriate before I make my plans real? One more question, where do I apply for a reassessment of this page which is part of the WikiProject Physics, to get some hints what to improve or bring to Wikipedia standards? Thanks in advance. Purgy (talk) 19:19, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hey @Purgy Purgatorio: Welcome to the Teahouse. I can't really say that there's a particular time elapsed after which you can go ahead and do a move, but I do have a couple suggestions on how to get more editors to contribute to your discussion:

Depending on how much of the article you want to split, add Template:Split2 to the top of the article or Template:Split section to the top of the section you wish to split off.
If you're still not getting any input, try bringing up the discussion on the talk page of a relevant WikiProject. Since you are trying to split Jerk (physics), I'd ask for input at WikiProject Physics. Some WikiProjects are more active then others, so you may get varying results.

As for requesting re-assessments, simply leaving the assessment fields blank will place the page in a category of pages that need assessment. An editor from the WikiProject will hopefully assess the page in due time (or, you can make a request again on the WikiProject's talk page if you'd like one ASAP). Hope this helps! ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 19:31, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

want to add punjabi and hindi cinema actress Keeya Khanna

HI would like to contribute in Wikipedia for a celebrity page of keeya khanna.She appears in Hindi and Punjabi cinema..she worked as a theater actor before her film career. She want to be detailed page on wikipedia with official photograph, kindly suggest me how can I proceed with the same, without any further deletion.

Where is the correct link in wikipedia from where i can post new original content for celebrity. Ravitondak (talk) 18:54, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not have "celebrity pages", nor "official photographs". Wikipedia has encyclopedia articles about people who have been discussed in detail in multiple independent reliable sources (see WP:42), and Wikimedia Commons has photographs and other media that are available under free licenses.

After first making a list of the independent reliable sources that discuss Khanna in detail (not press releases or publicity material), proceed to WP:AFC to start your article. Write it in your own words.

After taking a photograph of Khanna with your or their own camera, the person taking the photograph should proceed to http://commons.wikimedia.org/ to upload it, if they are willing for it to be shared and re-used under a free license. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 19:53, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Woman edit

Can someone please change the picture of Sappho in the montage on the page Woman to a picture of Christine Jorgensen? We have a consensus to change it that way but we don't know how. Thanks. 71.175.26.106 (talk) 20:32, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello. As has been noted in Talk:Woman we cannot use the existing image of Christine Jorgensen in the Woman article as that image is not free. It looks like EvergreenFir, who is part of that discussion, is soon going to make an amendment to that collage that satisfies the consensus established and fits with copyright law. Hopefully this should be sorted in a day or two; things on Wikipedia often take a little bit of time to implement, espeially with image editing. If this is still a problem by the end of the week, let us know here and I'm sure someone will step in. --LukeSurl^{t c} 20:39, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Great thanks. 71.175.26.106 (talk) 20:41, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Change page title

I just created a new wikipedia page and realized it's title is misspelled, can I correct it?Yml1944 (talk) 20:24, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

In order to "move" pages (which is what we call the process of changing a page's title), you have to have an account older than four days. You're not quite there yet. However the hosts here will be happy to move a page for you. What is the page, and where do you want it moved to? --LukeSurl^{t c} 20:42, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you! I created a page for Yosef Eliyahu Deutsch but the correct spelling should be Yosef Eliyahu Deutch Yml1944 (talk) 21:00, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Done --LukeSurl^{t c} 21:05, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Thanks!!Yml1944 (talk) 21:11, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

How do I find out if my new article is good to go?

I started creating the article on <Mario Despoja> in January. At first it was rejected as poorly referenced, since it is about a living person. Some kind Wikipedian sorted out the referencing. I did not see this until August 15, five days ago, when I got a notice to say my article was about to be deleted. That put the bomb underneath me! It is now 1200 words long, with 27 references. How do I get it checked for release to the wild, given that it is no longer an "article for creation"?Tundern (talk) 03:50, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello Tundern, welcome to the Teahouse. The article has already been released to the wild... it is an accepted article... you can improve it further at Mario Despoja. Arthur goes shopping (talk) 06:47, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

So Arthur, how I was to know that the article had been let loose?

@Tundern: If there is nothing like "Draft:" or "Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/" in front of the title then it is in the main article space. Your article was moved three days ago. Philg88 ^♦talk 07:39, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Great! It's only my second creation so I have lots to learn.Tundern (talk) 22:37, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

@Tundern: You're looking good so far. Thanks for making Wikipedia even better with your new article. Cheers, Philg88 ^♦talk 21:13, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Draft article has disappeared

I created a new article and saved the page. Then I logged in. Now I cannot find the draft - I get a message that there is no page with that title. Have I lost all the work or is it just hiding somewhere? FTWILLIAM (talk) 15:53, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello FTWILLIAM, and welcome to the Teahouse.
I see from your editing history here that your account has only made 4 edits, the last one prior to this question, was in 2010, and none of your edits have been deleted.
When you say "I created a new article .... then I logged in" do I assume you created the article without logging in? - If so, please tell us the name of the article you created, or if you can't remember the exact title some important key-words that will allow someone to identify it.
If, however, you made the article while you were logged in, it appears that you did not save it; unfortunately many editors preview their edits, with the middle button (show preview) below, but do not save them. - Arjayay (talk) 16:32, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

@FTWILLIAM: I've checked your deleted contributions and there is nothing their either. Have you changed your user name? Philg88 ^♦talk 16:51, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello Arjayjay the article was titled: Draft:Ian Sinclair - Caledon Ontario Landscape Architect and Politician. Yes I have been inactive for quite awhile. Yes I created the article prior to logging in. Yes I definitely saved the page prior to leaving the page and logging in. FTWILLIAM (talk) 17:11, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Also after logging in I used the 'back' button to try to return to the article but got an error message saying the page, which was named in the error message, doesn't exist - but if it doesn't exist how did the page name get mentioned in the error message? FTWILLIAM (talk) 17:18, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

@FTWILLIAM: Sorry, but there is no record of you ever having created a draft of that name, deleted or otherwise. The error message said what it said because it took the text from what you entered. Philg88 ^♦talk 19:02, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Well that is VERY strange, and I'd like to figure out what went wrong so I don't repeat the problem. I'm absolutely certain I saved the page - do pages created BEFORE signing in go to a different place, perhaps under some temporary identity? A warning message appeared as I was going to the login page and I clicked 'no' I don't want to leave the page and went back to again select 'save page' just to be sure.If it's not possible to save pages without signing in then the 'save page' option should not be live and selectable, or a different and more informative message should present itself.

Sheesh!21:15, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

... and I didn't enter the text subsequent to signing in. FTWILLIAM (talk) 21:16, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

@FTWILLIAM: I can't tell you exactly what you did because Wikipedia doesn't work like that, and neither should it. All I can say is that there is no record of a contribution by you under that title or any other. I'm afraid you're going to have to start again. Next time, if you're unsure what to do, please ask. Someone will be more than happy to help you. Best, Philg88 ^♦talk 21:30, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Problems publishing article

Hi. My User Name is Goonga Pehelwan and I created an article a few days ago by the same name. On finishing, I saved the page too (I did this a number of times) but nobody can find it. Every time I log in, the title of the page shows User:Goonga Pehelwan. I cant upload a photograph either because the article cannot be found. Can you please tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Goonga Pehelwan (talk) 10:30, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

There has never been an article entitled Goonga Pehelwan on the English Wikipedia. You had created an article on your userpage, but I am afraid that I had to delete it because it appeared to be a copyright violation, copying text from a number of other sites (including the film's own website). I've left you a message on your talkpage about this. Yunshui ^雲 _水 10:39, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Yes, I did take information from the website and other places, but I've mentioned all the sources. I'm on the film's team (my teammates created the website and the content) and I'm trying to create a Wikipedia page for the same. Will paraphrasing the content work? Are there any other problems or is this the only problem?

Goonga Pehelwan (talk) 10:49, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Paraphrasing may well also be a copyright violation, although you can write the content in your own words. If you can persuade your web team to release their text under a CC-BY-SA licence (by placing a notice to that effect on the webpage) then we can also reuse the content. However, the point may be moot; it seems very unlikley that Goonga Pehelwan meets Wikipedia's inclusion requirements for films. This is in no way a comment on the quality or the documentary (having seen the film's web site, it actually looks very interesting), but rather a reflection of Wikipedia's requirement that all article topics must meet a certain threshold of notability before we write about them here. Yunshui ^雲 _水 11:30, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Goonga Pehelwan has approximately fifty news articles to its name till date. These news articles include some by very prestigious media houses of India like The Indian Express, Tehelka, The Sunday Guardian, CNN IBN, NDTV, BBC Hindi, The Times of India, Live Mint, Caravan and such. The person on whom the documentary has been made has won medals at events like The Deaflympics and World Deaf Wrestling Championships. It holds a special mention at one international film festival and has been an official selection at another. The Facebook Page is followed by 5130 people currently. A simple Google search would verify all of this. I don't seem to understand how notability can be an issue here. Can I go ahead and remake the page (following the guidelines strictly, of course.) or does it still have chances of being deleted?

Goonga Pehelwan (talk) 12:20, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

If you are the athlete Goonga Pehelwan then I advise you against writing your autobiography here. It never goes well. If you insist on writing it I suggest you use WP:AFC as a route, where you will be able to get feedback. You need to see what the references in reliable sources say and write the article NOT about what you know, but around the references. You must write the article in your own words. Fiddle Faddle 12:26, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

I am not the athlete. I am a part of the team that made the documentary on him, the same documentary for which I am trying to create a page. (Goonga Pehelwan is the name of the documentary.) I need to know if I can go ahead and start remaking the page. Could you please tell me?

Goonga Pehelwan (talk) 05:51, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Welcome to The Teahouse, Goonga Pehelwan. You are not allowed to use the name of a real person as your username unless you are that person. Please follow the directions at WP:CHU before going any further.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 21:40, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Correcting wrong Category listing

I added the category, People from Adelaide, to my new article on Mario Despoja. When I looked at the People from Adelaide page, he appeared under M for Mario instead of D for Despoja. All other entries are listed by the initial letter of their surname. I can find no way of editing this list, so how can the mistake be corrected?Tundern (talk) 22:47, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

@Tundern: Hi Tundern. When you need a category to sort by something other than the article title, a common way of doing so is to place directly above the categories (at the bottom of the article while in edit mode): {{DEFAULTSORT:Last name, first name}} More rarely, if there is only one category, you can just pipe the sort: [[Category:Name of Category|Last name, first name]] but you wouldn't want to do that here. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:33, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you, Fuhghettaboutit! You seem to have added the extra code for me already, and it works!Tundern (talk) 01:43, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Being a Member

I can't add photos to Wikipedia, is there anyway I can speed up the member process thing? By the way Wikipedia is very hard to use there is stuff everywhere. Matthew AdamFrancis (talk) 01:48, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

If you're referring to the autoconfirmed user right, you'll get it in about two days. However, depending on the license of the photo, you may be able to upload the photos to Wikimedia commons, which does not require that you be autoconfirmed. Hope this helps! Howicus (Did I mess up?) 02:19, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Quotations and Ellipsis

The manual of style says that quotations must faithfully reproduce the original wording. Is it acceptable to rearrange the sequence of words or sentences in a quoted passage?

Is there a limit on how much text represented by the ellipsis can be omitted? For an example, use the quote "A ... B." Can the text represented by the ellipsis be over 10 paragraphs and cover multiple subjects.

Thanks in advance. 108.51.208.66 (talk) 23:57, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, 108.51.208.66. It is not acceptable to rearrange quoted words or sentences. Quote precisely and accurately. Use of ellipsis should be limited to leaving out something brief and relatively unimportant. In your hypothetical case of ten paragraphs, I recommend presenting the material as two separate quotations, each properly referenced individually. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 02:59, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Watchlists

Hey teahouse, Its been a while since I've last asked a question here. So I was wondering, How come you cant see anyone else's Watchlist? Thanks, Mirror Freak 13:46, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

@MirrorFreak: Welcome back to the teahouse. I don't really think there would be a need for such a feature. What would there be to gain by looking at what other people are watching? I would imagine that some people would also wish to keep their watchlist private. --Jakob (talk) 17:32, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

This topic came up just recently on User talk:SuggestBot - I raised the question of whether SuggestBot could base its suggestions on my what I have in my Watch List, rather than my recent edits. The answer is no, because that list is private. I just mention this because that is one legitimate reason for looking at another user's list. --Gronk Oz (talk) 01:36, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

@Gronk Oz: That's a pretty cool idea. While you can't view just anyone's watchlist, one can share their own watchlist feed by sharing the token located at Preferences → Watchlist. I suppose such a bot would be possible if one can make the bot run off a private database of watchlist tokens voluntarily handed over to the bot. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 04:58, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

P.S. Ah, I missed that this was briefly discussed in the link you provided. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 05:00, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

I keep my eye on some highly controversial articles that I have never edited, because I want to be sure that no shenanigans take place there. If my watch list was public, I may be tempted to stop watching those articles. I think watch lists should be private, and actual editing public. That's my view. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 03:13, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Cullen328 is right, it should be private, Aftab Banoori ^(Talk) 05:06, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hash tag user names?

Hello, I am not sure where to ask a question like this. I have noticed that a lot of Wikipedia users seem to be given a hash tag for a username. Can anyone say what that is about? Are IPs not used any more? ~ R.T.G 06:21, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi, R.T.G, welcome to the Teahouse! I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Could you give a link to an example? Anon126 (notify me of responses! / talk / contribs) 06:31, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

There are lots of these around [[1]] look at the username 2601:8:8400:92B:F50C:B96D:62B7:5D22. It's like that infobox people put on their pages "This is my hashtag number". There must be something in it there are lots of them and six or more months ago there was none. ~ R.T.G 06:40, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

These are IPv6 addresses, whereas what you describe as an IP address will be an IPv4 address. IPv6 was introduced about 2010, because the world was running out of IPv4 addresses, but so far has only about 5% take-up. One day all IPs will be like that..... Arjayay (talk) 07:07, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Aha! Thanks. Didn't see that one. :) ~ R.T.G 08:37, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Problem with WP:No legal threats

I'm three-month old now. However, I'm still having problem with a policy, WP:No legal threats. My interpretation: You may excercise all your legal rights at your discretion. However, you should not threaten other editors by claiming that you consider taking legal action against them. It is ok to say an action is illegal, but you should not add that you will take legal action concerning that particular action.Forbidden User (talk) 15:54, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

The policy means that if you threaten legal action against Wikipedia or other users your account will be blocked because of the chilling effect that such threats have on our collaborative environment. Wikipedia cannot prevent a user from taking legal action with respect to Wikipedia but if they do, they will be blocked. Does that help?--ukexpat (talk) 17:11, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi Forbidden User. What exactly are you having problems with? Assuming you mean the whole thing, the general idea is that users shouldn't make a threat of legal action on Wikipedia. An example would be 'Remove this information from the article about me or I will sue you.' - this would result in the user being blocked. There rationales on that page which explain why this is problematic, under the 'Rationale for the policy' section. Sam Walton (talk) 17:12, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

It's also worth mentioning that saying things like "your edit is illegal" or "the content of this article is illegal" or "you are breaking the law" might be considered as violations of WP:No legal threats even though they do not specifically threaten litigation. Best to avoid such commentary. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 17:15, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you. To be specific, I mean something like "I will hack your account!!!" then I respond "Hacking is illegal" or "Hacking could be illegal". Also, I wonder if talking about legality unrelated to Wikipedia or editors is included in this policy. There is issue with indef blocked editors too - if he/she is indef blocked, is he/she still part of Wiki? What'd happen if I say that editor could be using some potentially illegal ways in the past/before getting blocked? I saw some blocking rationale which include statements like "due to illegal actions of (the blocked editor)". Does it violate the policy for the blocker and people citing the claim later?Forbidden User (talk) 17:28, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Well, there are lots of interesting points here, but let me just deal with the first one, because I think the answer to it re-emphasises a very important point that should be part of any sensible editor's approach. If someone says "I will hack your account!" then you don't need to tell them about the legality or otherwise of such an act in one or more jurisdictions (because why do so? what benefit does it bring? if they need legal advice, they should pay for a lawyer!). You also don't need to tell them whether you have a secure password or not (think WP:BEANS). You also don't need to tell them that, by publishing such a threat openly, they are clearly of much too limited intelligence to hack anything (think WP:NPA). All you need to do is to email a trusted admin, or message a trusted admin on their talk page, or (if absolutely necessary) post to WP:ANI saying "this person said this to me (diff), please deal with them as appropriate", and that is that. Keep it as simple, factual, and neutral as it can be. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 18:37, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Excellent points by Demiurge1000. To answer the question about discussing legalities, there's certainly nothing wrong with discussing legal issues themselves, related to Wikipedia or not. For example, the news about Yank Barry planning to sue a few Wikipedia editors did garner a lot of discussion on the wiki. What is forbidden is making a threat or implying taking any legal action. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 19:48, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you!Forbidden User (talk) 11:07, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

I want the page I created to be without errors

Hi, I prepared the page "Zorlu Center PSM", one of Turkey's largest performing arts venues. There are some notifications appearing on the top of the page. I want to make this page I prepared perfect. so I need help getting it neatly done. Thank you

Emreonar (talk) 07:26, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Emreonar. I'm afraid I have nominated the article for deletion as a copyright infringement, as much of the text seems to be copied from the Center's own website. This is not permitted in Wikipedia, even with the permission of the copyright holder, unless they explicitly either release the text into the public domain, or explicitly release it under a licence such as CC-BY-SA, which allows anybody to use it for any purpose. At present the site http://www.zorlucenterpsm.com/en bears an explicit copyright notice.

The owners of the copyright could release it under that licence if they chose, but the text would still not be suitable, because, as one of the tags says, it reads like an advertisement. A Wikipedia article about it may say "It is Europe's largest and world's third largest performing arts venue" because that is what a cited reliable source says. It must not say "The center's main theatre is one of the world's most versatile and technically sophisticated", or "Creating the best possible conditions for performers to entertain audiences" unless it refers to reliable sources, independent of the Center, which say exactly that. And it should never talk about "Our public foyer" - indeed, it was that which alerted me to the fact that it was a copyright violation.

The article as it stands will probably be deleted. Judging from the references, I think the Center is notable, so there could be an article about it; but that article needs to be written afresh from what independent reliable sources have said about it, mostly ignoring the Center's own publicity material.

One more point: it is not clear to me whether you are connected with the Center or not: if you are, you should also be aware of the restrictions on editing with a conflict of interest, and should go no further than requesting an article at requested articles, for somebody unconnected to write. --ColinFine (talk) 12:49, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

creating an external link template

I wanted to create an external link template for the following football sites WhoScored.com and football-lineups.com, because they contain rich statistical information about footballers from all over the world. Can you show me how to do it? Kingjezza (talk) 11:16, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello Kingjezza, and welcome to the Teahouse. I assume you are talking about the External links section like most articles. Just click Edit, then scroll down. After you see the title "References", write after the section, 2 equal signs (=), then External Links, then 2 more equal signs. After that, paste your links in between straight brackets. Hope this helped. Cheers! Brandon (MrWooHoo) • Talk to Brandon! 13:15, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Kingjezza, a note of caution before you start adding links to these two sites. Football-lineups.com appears to be entirely user contributed content so won't be regarded as a reliable source. Whoscored.com doesn't say who it gets it's information from so again might be suspect and not a reliable source. Nthep (talk) 13:43, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Heading

Hello !

Why headings of few articles is in italics? for example article Petunia is in italics while Peshawar is normal. Thanks in advance

Aftab Banoori ^(Talk) 13:48, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello Aftabbanoori, and welcome! I'm not sure whether you are asking the grammatical question or the technical question, so I will try to answer both. By the usual rules of English grammar and typography, certain titles are rendered in italics: The names of longer works of art (like novels, movies, or record albums), the names of oceangoing vessels, scientific names of life forms, and probably a few others that are slipping my mind. This guideline explains it in some more detail. If you are asking how the software knows which titles to italicize and which to not, there's a "magic word" template you can add to an article. Just add {{Italic title}} in the article somewhere, and it takes care of it for you. Some other templates, like {{infobox album}}, has the italic title command embedded in them, so you don't need to add it extra to those articles. Does that help any? --Jayron32 13:58, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello Jayron
Thanks for your reply, now I understand
Best regards
Aftab Banoori ^(Talk) 14:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Should I create a new page?

I've got a book and I'd like to scan in some images from it, it's a bunch of pictures (uniforms to be exact), from the Icelandic police, around 20 (5+/-) or should I put it on the already created National Police of Iceland?

Thing is, it's not all National Police of Iceland uniforms, that agency didn't exist until in the 1990's and the uniforms date back from before 1930 in the book. Hopper1010 (talk) 13:17, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Although you own the book, you do not own the rights to reproduce the images from the book. Unless the pictures are under a free license (unlikely) or the book is very old and the copyright has expired (would probably have to be something like pre-1940, laws vary) what you describe would be a copyright violation and the content would be have to removed from Wikipedia.

Sorry! International copyright law is extremely broken and should be reformed, but until it is Wikipedia has to comply with it. --LukeSurl^{t c} 14:08, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Ah, yeah, it's copyrighted, the odd thing is, I can see two pictures from the book on the police departments website (official one). Thanks for the quick reply!!

Hopper1010 (talk) 14:14, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Can I make a page called Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric?

Project Fairy Member Grace (talk) 16:48, 24th August 2014

Why can I not re-name an article I'm editing?

Hopper1010 (talk) 14:10, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hello Hopper1010, to rename a page (by moving it), you need an autoconfirmed account. It seems like your account is over four days old and has over ten edits, so you should be able to move the page. However, if the page is an article that already exists, it is probably best to start a discussion on the talk page before moving it. Howicus (Did I mess up?) 14:21, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! Hopper1010 (talk) 14:27, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

New article

Dear Sir , I want to start an article about a famous Brazilian samba dancer Andrea de Andrade, and I am not confirmed user, just registered soon. Is it possible to upload 2 or 3 pictures of this dancer even if I'm not confirmed? Without this pictures the article is not to much interesting, is obviously. Leedskalnin (talk) 07:58, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi Leedskalnin, and welcome to the Teahouse.
Assuming that you took these pictures yourself, and so you own the copyright, you can upload them to Wikimedia Commons just click on "upload file" in the left hand column and follow the instructions. - Arjayay (talk) 08:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Leedskalnin you only need to wait 4 days and have made 10 edits for your account to be autoconfirmed, so a few days wait isn't going to hurt the article. Nthep (talk) 08:17, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Leedskalnin I don't know if I can write 10 articles.If I upload the photo on Wikimedia how can I put it on Wikipedia article? Anyway,I can ask some wikipedia user to uploaded for me? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Leedskalnin (talk • contribs) 08:32, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

It's not 10 articles but 10 edits, your postings here now count 2 towards the 10 required. Yes, someone else could upload the image for you but it really isn't worth the effort. Your account will be autocnfirmed in four days and another 7 edits. Start the article and worry about the photos later. Nthep (talk) 08:37, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Leedskalnin Ok, thanks, I will start the article, now I'm gathering information. — Preceding undated comment added 09:43, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

@Leedskalnin: Hello and thanks for your question. In case Andrea de Andrade is a living person, I wanted to make sure you had this important information: Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons. Happy editing. --Rosiestep (talk) 14:29, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

How to slightly change the title to an article?

I want to change the title of the film Me and Earl and the Dying Girl from Me and Earl and the Dying Girl to Me & Earl & the Dying Girl.

PhilipDang (talk) 17:40, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi PhillipDang. Changing the title of the articles is known as "moving", and there are a few questions on a similar theme below. Are you referring to the article Me and Earl and the Dying Girl or Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (film)? --LukeSurl^{t c} 17:47, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, re-read your question and you do say it is the film. Like the editor a few questions back you aren't able to move pages yet, your account is not old enough (it needs to be 4 days old). As my account is rather ancient (around since 2004!) and I have this capability I've moved the page for you. --LukeSurl^{t c} 17:54, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you!

PhilipDang (talk) 18:27, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

How to customize user page

There are lots of cool user pages like "This user can speak English fluently" "This user supports Barack Obama" etc. Is there a tool or something to do that ? If not how can it be done ? thanks.

Denizyildirim (talk) 18:52, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Start by having a look at Wikipedia:Userboxes and enjoy yourself. Fiddle Faddle 18:59, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

You can check out my page here at User:MirrorFreak. (I'm not signed in right now) There is a link on my page for making your own userbox.173.78.222.115 (talk) 19:37, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

What happened to REHAB

What happened to project Rehab here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:REHAB . It seemed like a great idea and I'd like to get it back up and running. I'll do it myself it I have to.173.78.222.115 (talk) 19:39, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Wikiprojects like that only run for as long as there are editors to run them. It's great that you're keen to be an active member of Wikipedia, can I suggest one of your first actions being to create an account? Looking at your edit history, you've only a small number of edits, so running a Wikiproject where you would be mentoring other editors is probably not the best thing right now.

If you would like such mentoring yourself, perhaps Wikipedia:Adopt-a-user might be for you. Cheers, --LukeSurl^{t c} 20:28, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Hey User:LukeSurl I asked that question while not signed in. Sorry. But how do I get a wikiproject up and running again?Mirror Freak 20:38, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Ah, I see you have a few more edits to your name! Well, if you'd like to get that project going, you can just remove the {{WikiProject status|inactive}} template and make the project look active again and in general do whatever seems to help. Realistically, you'll need a few other editors on board to keep thinks ticking, and, as your time on Wikipedia has been comparatively short, some more experienced assistance would be useful. Asking around at the Wikipedia:Village pump would be a good way to try and build up a team of editors. --LukeSurl^{t c} 21:05, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Don't know how to write or edit, but have information that would improve an existing article

I have photos, military documents and reports, and personal information about a WWII era test fighter (Curtiss XP-55)that I would like to contribute - but I would need to hand them off to someone who knows how to edit and enhance the existing article.

How would I do this? Acg14564 (talk) 04:08, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi Acg14564 and welcome to the tea-house.
Thank you for trying to help, your photos and documents sound very interesting, however Wikipedia has some basic principles, which include:-

-That all information must be verifiable, i.e. it must already have been published, in way that allows anyone to check the information, at any time, at any point in the future. Unfortunately your information cannot be verified, so it cannot be used.

-That we do not include Original research, which includes avoiding the use Primary sources, (such as your documents) which require interpretation - we wait for experts to review and interpret that primary information, and then cite their work.

Furthermore, although you may own the photo's, you probably do not own the copyright to those photos, so unless they are in the Public domain we could not use them either.

I am sure that there are museums, or aviation history authors, that would welcome your documents, but unfortunately, we probably cannot use them. - Arjayay (talk) 09:39, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply, although it is not what I was hoping for.

W Primary source usage policy reads: "reliable primary sources may be used in Wikipedia; but only with care, because it is easy to misuse them."

Some of the reports are have are in the public domain (crash reports and plane assessment from the Airforce that can be purchased online, no longer classified since these are from 1945. I intend to post them on Fold3 or some similar site, so they would be publically accessible and we could add a link to facilitate that. With regard to the photos, I do have copyright privileges for some, I would have to check on others. Other material I have it from old newspapers and other public documents. The personal information I have is from my personal interview with the Operations Officer of the airshow the day the XP-55 crashed, so I guess that's out of bounds. Anyway, what I need to do is connect with someone who had previously contributed to this article and work with them. They may have more interest in this material and be willing to look at it rather than dismiss it out of hand. How would I do that?

69.207.98.151 (talk) 18:58, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

This may not be the only answer, but if you follow the advice given above, turning these materials over to a museum or an author, there is another step that could make the materials acceptable as sources on Wikipedia. You could contact a newspaper or magazine and they could write about your collection. The article then would likely be an acceptable source. If an author of a book wrote about rhe collection, and the book was published by a reputable company, that too would likely work.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 22:00, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

I see you asked another question. If you want to contact those who wrote an article, go to the top of the article and click on "history" or "view history" and you will see a list. Click on "talk" for any major contributors.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 22:02, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

How to add content....

Wikipedia Information,

Good day! Wanted to see if you could point me in the right direction for posting content to Wikipedia, etc. I saw the link for uploading files/media – but for some reason either could not find or see the link for uploading new/updated content. I do have a file to post as well, but would like the content added first – can you please send me a link, and/or instructions and point me in the right direction.

Content in this case related to Cyber Security.

Thank you! – Robert 2600:100D:B104:AEC4:3147:11FD:7CF1:52E6 (talk) 20:59, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

In terms of adding "content," what do you mean? Editing an existing article? Starting a new article? Or something else? Calliopejen1 (talk) 21:19, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Whichever it is, please be aware that Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, not a channel for original research. All content must be referenced to published reliable sources, and any kind of argumentation, synthesis, or conclusion that goes beyond what those sources say is forbidden. --ColinFine (talk) 12:11, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi, Robert and welcome to The Teahouse. There is an article called Computer security. You click on "edit" at the top and add what you want, as long as it is reliably sourced and has a neutral point of view.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 21:54, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Thanks All - for the information - as appreciate it! Wanted to add content related to the 'definition' of Cyber Security, as used by my organization for cyber security services and delivery, as this is a subjective subject to the definition, as sure there are multiple interpretations out there. So, to confirm - yes, a neutral point of view as it is subjective - and sourcing comes from my services organization - is that sufficient? Thanks - Robert 108.72.73.179 (talk) 18:44, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

It would be better if it came from an independent source. Try going to Talk:Computer security and see if others approve what you are trying to do.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 22:10, 22 August 2014 (UTC)