Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 April 11

Help desk
< April 10 << Mar | April | May >> April 12 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.


April 11

edit

Uploading a city's official seal

edit

What do I tag an image of a city's official seal when I upload it?--Uga Man (talk) UGA MAN FOR PRESIDENT 2008 00:02, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Try {{Non-free seal}}. Xenon54 00:05, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you.--Uga Man (talk) UGA MAN FOR PRESIDENT 2008 00:15, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Permission to use illustration.

edit

The Wikipedia article on Bull Pass contains an excellent aerial photograph of Bull Pass, Antarctica. I would like to use this photograph in a book, nearing completion, that will be published shortly in New Zealand. This Bull Pass is named for me, as I led the first expedition (The Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition, 1958-59) to this area. From the article I deduce that the photograph was taken by the United States Geological Survey. If that is correct, then may I assume that the photograph is "Public domain" and that I do not need permission to use it, other than courtesy acknowledgment of source. If USGS does not hold the copyright, can you please tell me who does, and whether I need permission to use it. Thanks so much, Colin Bull. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.56.85.2 (talk) 00:18, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The image description page at Wikimedia Commons at [1] indicates that i is public domain, but neither I nor anyone on Wikipedia can give actual legal advice - it's probably a good idea to speak with your publisher, or to check directly with the USGS. Anyway - congratulations on having a place named for you, I think that is very cool indeed, and good luck with your book. DuncanHill (talk) 00:23, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Whilst we cannot give legal advice, you should be allowed to use PD images for any purpose without permission. Don't hold me to it though! George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 15:50, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

FAA PDF of old accident reports

edit

The US Department of Transport's Special Collections contain a number of US Department of Transport aircraft accident reports in PDF format that would be good sources for information on accidents that took place between 1934 and 1966 in the United States (and in rare cases overseas). The problem is that the files can't be linked to directly: unless the user goes through the rigmarole of starting at the main DOTSC page, searching by year, then locating the correct folder for that specific accident report, *then* opening the PDF, he or she will get an Access Forbidden message. It's therefore impossible to put a working link to these reports on the article for the accident.

Are the PDFs of these documents public domain? And can I place these on a website of my own and link to them from a Wikipedia page? Is there some place better I should upload them to? Thanks! --NellieBly (talk) 01:25, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note: this page is for questions about using Wikipedia. General questions should be asked at the Reference Desk. Anyhow, Title 17, Section 105 of the US Code says that anything made by an employee of the federal gov't during that person's official duties is ineligible for copyright and therefore public domain. And if you can get the file, and it's public domain, you should upload the PDF, it is possible (you just won't be able to show it like an image). -- Calvin 1998 (t-c) 01:32, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(Edit conflict) Work produced by the federal government is usually released into the public domain by definition. If it is PD, Wikisource might be a better place to host it, rather than your own web page. --Bfigura (talk) 01:32, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
PS, Wikisource is here. --Bfigura (talk) 01:35, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you! --NellieBly (talk) 21:48, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do you allow curse words?

edit

on the page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Idol someone has changed it to read that American Idol is a "shitting" contest. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.113.225.44 (talk) 02:12, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Did you mean for page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Idol to say that American Idol is a "shitting" contest??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.113.225.44 (talk) 02:13, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:REVERT for details about what that means. --Teratornis (talk) 04:04, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
While that particular example was vandalism, yes, Wikipedia does allow "curse" words. Wikipedia is not censored. -- Kesh (talk) 15:36, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How do I...?

edit

How would I apply to change my username?Community service (talk) 03:18, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I believe it's here! BoL (Talk) 03:19, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Or WP:CHU/U if the name you want is already taken but the account has made no (or very, very few) edits. Pedro :  Chat  15:42, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Creating a Bibliography on a Separate Page

edit

I want to create a very large bibliography on a separate page for [[[George Bernard Shaw]]. Since it is very long and will require much editing I would like to do it privately—except for input from selected editors—perhaps within my personal webspace, before linking it to the parent article. I think it can be done using the nowiki command, but I don't know how to use that. Please tell me how to use it, or suggst another way to limit viewing of the project. Wugo (talk) 03:19, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, there isn't a way to prevent other users from seeing content you've created, that would be against the entire spirit of the project. If you'd like to create a draft away from the main article, you can do so in userspace. (For example: User:Wugo/Draftpage). However, this isn't hidden, and can't be, because you don't own your userspace. Best, --Bfigura (talk) 03:22, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I can think of several ways to do what you want, with varying degrees of convenience and privacy:
  • You could edit a user subpage, or any page actually, merely previewing it as you edit, without saving, and then instead of saving your changes to Wikipedia, copy and paste the edit window contents to a local file on your computer. That way you could see how the page will look on Wikipedia without actually committing your edits here.
  • You could edit a user subpage, save your edits, and then blank the page. That way a casual visitor would have to know to look in the page history to find what you were doing in your previous session, but this seems unlikely. Of course the casual visitor might see your edits if he or she stumbles in between the time when you save the page and the time when you blank it.
  • You could download your own copy of the MediaWiki software that runs Wikipedia, and run your own personal wiki by using an AMP package on your computer. This is the most private but least convenient of my suggestions. If you want to try this, see mw:Manual:Wiki on a stick.
Unless you are guarding state secrets, a user subpage should be secure enough. Few users would pay much attention to another user's pages unless that user calls attention to them. The exception might be a user with an extremely high profile such as User:Jimbo - quite possibly his user subpages get scrutinized more than most. --Teratornis (talk) 04:20, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, I've got to admit, some of those are quite creative. (Whatcha been up to Teratornis? :) ) I'd concur though, the user subpage would probably be the best way to go. Cheers, --Bfigura (talk) 04:25, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, I've been editing on some articles and templates relating to Peak oil and Renewable energy, while wondering if industrial civilization will collapse in the next ten or twenty years. Also, I'm kind of gunning for the top spot in Help desk edit count, unless PrimeHunter gets there first. Note to the original questioner: the nowiki tag does not work like you seemed to think. See: Help:Wikitext examples#Just show what I typed. --Teratornis (talk) 08:27, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You don't even need to use personal wiki to work on a totally private copy. Just save the edits in a text editor and preview them in any edit box or sandbox to check out the links and templates. Just remember to hit Show preview and not Save page. It is quite common for users to work on private copies of biographies especially in /sub pages from their user page. If fact that is what is recommended at well I can't find it now, but I remember seeing it somewhere. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 15:08, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think by the time an editor has graduated to the point of learning about user sub pages they are way past knowing how to look at edit histories. I think that while looking at user subpages is not uncommon, editing them by someone else would be quite rare. So I would recommend building the text for the autobiography as a user/subpage. Unless you are dealing with state secrets of course. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 15:16, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

NEW LANGUAGE

edit

There problably is a page about this but I have not find it. I would like to know how to start a wikipedia in a new language. If it's possible and allowed. I would like to start a wikipedia in Papiamento. Any comments or help, would be greatly appreciated —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.0.83.200 (talk) 03:46, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You'll have to make a request for a new language. Someguy1221 (talk) 03:51, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

User boxes

edit

Hello, I'm the user The Bush Bear here on Wiki. I'm wondering how do I create a "user box" like I've seen on other user pages? The Bush Bear (talk) 07:50, 11 April 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by The Bush Bear (talkcontribs) 07:47, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

By "create" do you mean:
  • Select a userbox from our existing userboxes, and put it on your user page? (this is easy)
  • Actually create a new userbox which does not exist anywhere on Wikipedia yet? (a little harder)
See the links under WP:EIW#User_b for more information about user boxes. User boxes are simple templates, so read Help:Template if you want to understand how they work. Give us more detail about what exactly you want to do, and someone will chime in with specific instructions. Also, this is Wikipedia, specifically the English Wikipedia. The word "wiki" is a general name for thousands of sites similar to this one, although Wikipedia is among the largest and best-known. The word "Wiki" with a capital W refers to WikiWikiWeb, the original wiki. --Teratornis (talk) 08:18, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think if you read Wikipedia:Userboxes it might give you some ideas. ·Add§hore· Talk/Cont 08:19, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Go here. Visit me at Ftbhrygvn (Talk|Contribs|Log|Userboxes) 12:42, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Changing an article's name

edit

Hi. I believe that the article on Antipater II is wrongly titled - as far as I've been able to tell, there was no Antipater I. I want to be sure of this before I make any changes, though - how should I go about supporting any changes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vincent-D (talkcontribs) 09:46, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As you can see by the red link, that page doesnt exist. Perhaps you could check for spelling mistakes and I would be happy to help.--Cameron (t|p|c) 12:07, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you mean Antipater II of Macedon then then yes there was a first Antipater. He can be found here. --Cameron (t|p|c) 12:10, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Contact details of Portal manager

edit

Hello,

I would like to know the contact details of the person who can upload the data and help us to do the things on behalf of our school.

Regards

LRSMV —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lrsmv (talkcontribs) 08:48, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Anybody can edit Wikipedia, but see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. You can suggest an article at Wikipedia:Articles for creation. If you have a problem with existing information about your school then see Wikipedia:Contact us/Article problem/Factual error (from enterprise). You can post a problem in public here by clicking "edit" to the right of this section. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:00, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If an article on your school already exists you can use the talk:page to make requests. Low trafficked sites will not get much attention though. There are also a lot of Wikiprojects, and you can solicit assistance from Wikipedia:WikiProject Schools. You might start by reading over the project page and posting a request on the talk page there. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 15:34, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You can't use WP:AFC, as suggested above, as you are a registered user. George D. Watson (Dendodge).TalkHelp 15:36, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Why is their no category for pages needing to be wikified?

edit

I added the wikify tag to a page and it didn't seem to add a wikify category to the page.--Urban Rose 15:20, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The wikify category is a "hidden category" – see Category:Hidden categories. This means that, while the page name displays in Category:All pages needing to be wikified, the category name doesn't display on the page. GracenotesT § 15:33, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I have to say that after a year of editing I have no clue what the term Wikify means. I see it all the time, and a page that was created a year ago and has over 50 edits, many by very experienced editors still has the Wikify tag on it. What's up with that? Is there a list of what Wikify means somewhere? Sign me very confused 199.125.109.104 (talk) 16:07, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikify. --— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 16:14, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Holy Guacamolie that's a short list of steps to Wikify an article! I see that no one bothered to take the tag off, since all those steps were completed by about the 5th edit. Well I'm not going to take it off, then either. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 16:32, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(undent) While lots of people use the word "tag" to describe a messagebox template such as {{Wikify}}, a messagebox template is not a "tag." A "tag" is something that appears in angle brackets, such as: <nowiki> (see: Help:HTML in wikitext). Muddling templates together with tags reduces the precision of our language and makes it harder for Wikipedia's users to understand each other. Unfortunately, this misuse seems well-entrenched: WP:TAGS is a redirect to Wikipedia:Template messages (anguished sigh). --Teratornis (talk) 17:22, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Tag is so much shorter than template - takes a whole lot less keys to hunt for, for all those hunt and peck'rs out there. I think you are fighting a losing battle on that attempt at correctness. You could always change the redirect though. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 17:31, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I might start a discussion somewhere about moving that redirect to WP:MBOX; moving a redirect isn't something one should do lightly, since it could break many existing links. I've always felt curiously drawn to Uphill battles. After all, that's what Wikipedia essentially is - an uphill battle against the rest of the world's inefficient approach to collaboration. I almost regret having seen how smoothly things work on Wikipedia, because now I can hardly bear to watch the rest of the world struggling to get work done by e-mailing file attachments to each other. It's like watching people hit themselves with hammers. I can work with distant unseen strangers on Wikipedia more efficiently than I can work with most people I actually know (another anguished sigh). Anyway, on Wikipedia we have the potential to communicate much more coherently than the rest of the world does, because we can link our jargon to pages that define what we mean, thereby avoiding the Marklar problem. Communication takes effort, by both the writer and the reader. Usually, less effort by the writer means more effort for the reader. Writers who make a habit of shifting work onto readers will generally be less effective than writers who work a little harder to save work for the readers. This is especially true when writing for many readers. In an environment like Wikipedia where everything is in writing, Touch typing would seem to be an essential skill, and I would expect this to be obvious to everyone (shows how much I know). If someone wants to save keystrokes, I would suggest "mbox" as an unambiguous abbreviation for messagebox. Not that I expect anyone to heed my suggestion. --Teratornis (talk) 18:14, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Wiki culture has been slowly spreading to mainstream corporations. For example when a small company that has been using Wiki's for years gets bought by a big company that can't think of using them, the big company often realizes how brilliant they are, despite initially objecting. I'm thinking of one company that used to e-mail mega sized spreadsheets back and forth and got slammed with a virus as a reason not to e-mail docs. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 19:20, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
HTML tag (equivalent to your restriction of the term) is only one of the meanings listed at Tag. I don't think it should be the only allowed use in Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:02, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
We allow many more things than we encourage. When people start from the word "tag," it's a little harder for them to find the Wikipedia:Template messages page and other pages that describe how templates work. I.e., there's nothing in the word "tag" that gets a person easily to the concept of "template." Multiplied over the thousands of users who might need to learn about messagebox templates, widespread use of the more ambiguous term makes it harder for new users to learn what is going on here. I harbor no illusions about turning this particular battleship, but I do like to point out instances of inefficiency when I see we are creating them for ourselves. --Teratornis (talk) 18:22, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Despite the "For tags on Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Template messages." at the top, Template is not one of the uses listed for tags. That tophat message can be removed as well. If for no other reason than it is a self reference. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 18:28, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Adding an in-line message box

edit

I want to create a box with a picture, some text and an external link. The Template:Message Box works fine for me. The only problem is that I want to control the width of the box (message box seems to be as wide as the text requires, with no text wrapping), and I want it to be in-line, like a thumbnail with the "|left" parameter.

How do I do this?

Thanks--Ravpapa (talk) 15:48, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Where do you plan to use this? See: Wikipedia:Template messages and Wikipedia:Template standardisation. Wikipedia already has many messagebox templates, with long precedent establishing how best to use them on different kinds of pages. If you do something which is a little too innovative, and outside your user page, you might run into disputes with other editors who want to maintain the existing standards. Wikipedia makes it easy for anyone to edit just about anything, but that makes it just as easy for anyone else to revert anything we do. Therefore, on Wikipedia, it's not enough merely to know how to do something, one must also have good reason to believe it will "stick." --Teratornis (talk) 17:33, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]


Something like... User:Texas Patriot/imagebox? I never, ever, mess with templates except on my own mediawiki, but it turned out right I believe. Align is set to "right", along with a paragraph tag <p>, to make the text wrap.

|Texas Patriot | Talk | Contributions|

17:24, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
Or {{quote box2}}. See the examples at Template:Quote box2/testcases. --— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 18:17, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, quote box2 works nicely. --Ravpapa (talk) 05:50, 12 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Email Change Confirmation Not Received

edit

I updated my e mail address in the "My Preferences" area, and clicked the SAVE button. I got a message saying "A confirmation e mail has been sent to the nominated e-mail address. Before any other e-mail is sent to the account, you will have to follow the instructions in the e-mail, to confirm that the account is actually yours." But I still have not received the confirmation e-mail. I have reverified several times that the e-mail address I entered is exactly correct. Can you tell me how to generate, or regenerate that confirmation e-mail change mesage?MAC-IN-WWWV (talk) 16:13, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ensure it is not geting deleted by your spam filter or going directly to trash. --— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 16:46, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) See Help:Email confirmation. The confirmation mail may have been stopped by a spam filter or delayed somewhere on route to you. You can generate a new by changing the email address away and back again. Or only change it away to an alternative address you can receive mail on. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:47, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
For some odd reason some e-mail gets received instantly, other e-mail gets delayed a few days. I have always figured it was just a backlog at the e-mail censor and snoop department at your fair country. Seriously some e-mail does take a long time to deliver due to server backlogs and glitches. Assuming of course that it was typed correctly. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 17:10, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Talk Page Formatting

edit

I have a message on my talk page but every time anyone posts, the message goes to the bottom and the post at the top. Is there anyway I can format the talk page to keep the message at the top. Have a look at my talk page (the message is in yellow). SimpsonsFan08 talk contribs 17:56, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's ok. I've worked it out SimpsonsFan08 talk contribs 18:12, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You forgot to start and close the table with <table> and </table>. --— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 18:13, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
edit

I work for the National Women's Health Network and we are trying to put more information on the Wikipedia article for our organization. I can't copy and paste text from our website because of copyright rules, but how can I get around this and use our text to give a better account of the history and current projects for our group? I know I need to cite the source and get permission, but I would be getting the permission from myself here at our office... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nwhnintern (talkcontribs) 18:46, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Don't copy and paste. Rewrite it. I seriously doubt that the info on the website is in an encyclopedic format. It is more likely in a publicity format. So, it doesn't even belong on Wikipedia. Whatever is there needs to be rewritten so it is not a copyright violation and it is encyclopedic. -- kainaw 18:48, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Seriously doubt you'd violate anything documented in WP:CONFLICT, but read it anyway if you haven't already. And as Kainaw stated, rewrite it, into an encyclopedic style and remove promotional statements.

|Texas Patriot | Talk | Contributions|

18:57, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
An intern "getting the permission from myself here at our office"? I like it. You are hired for Wikipedia editing because you are clearly very bold. You have full permission to get permission from yourself for all of your edits here. That are not copyright violations. Your pay, of course is the same as the rest of us. Zero. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 20:26, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You could reduce the appearance of a conflict of interest by searching for reliable secondary sources that are independent of the National Women's Health Network and rewriting the information they contain. For example, has the NWHN received any press coverage? Beware of using any exact sentences from any copyrighted source on Wikipedia, because other editors may check for copyright violations with automated methods that may flag your article. The problem with granting permission is that it's hard to keep track of. When other editors discover text on Wikipedia that appears to have come directly from a copyrighted Web site, they won't have a simple way to determine whether we have permission to redistribute it under the GFDL. So it's better to rewrite everything for Wikipedia. Also read WP:PEACOCK for examples of how not to write here. --Teratornis (talk) 00:15, 12 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

stuck in the sandbox

edit
  Resolved
 – Article moved from personal sandbox to Abacus School. BencherliteTalk 22:59, 13 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

My article is stuck in the sandbox and I can't seem to get it out, should I move the article under a new name or what? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 06dsouza (talkcontribs) 19:10, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You can move it to a title in the mainspace, or if it is entirely your own work you can just copy-paste to the new title. Someguy1221 (talk) 19:12, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If it's the main sandbox, I would highly discourage moving it. Copy-paste would be the best move in this case - go to the "history" tab, find the revision where you wrote it, click on "edit this page" and copy the text there. If you mean a personal sandbox, then moving it is ok. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 22:53, 13 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The main sandbox is protected against moving anyways... - Milk's favorite Cookie 22:58, 13 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Black blocks on image

edit

I have uploaded this image, Image:Graphic method 1.svg. I am seeing black blocks on the image both on the image's page and in the article in which it is inserted. However, the black blocks are not there on the original artwork, nor do I see them if I click on the image in Wikipedia and open it for editing. Can anyone explain? IE6.0, SP2, Inkscape 0.46, Win XP V2002, SP2. SpinningSpark 21:03, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

For me its just the 527px rendering of the picture that has the black blocks   <- no black blocks for me there, for example. Opened the svg in inkscape and couldnt find any black things there... I got some error when i tried to open it in Illustrator Chandlertalk 21:33, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm seeing five "rect" that probably shouldn't be there when I do a view source on your object. They are probably being covered up in one view and not in the other. SVG images are just text that are instructions to the browser about how to render an image. Just click on the image and hit "view source" in your browser. To fix it you will need to go back to an SVG editor. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 21:38, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See commons:Help:SVG#My text is appearing as little blocks, or isn't showing up at all after upload to Wikipedia!. This should help. Its a pretty simple fix when you put the image back into an editor. « Gonzo fan2007 (talkcontribs) 21:42, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia creates a .png image when you specify a size in pixels, which is why the hidden rectangles don't show their ugly head no matter what size you specify. 199.125.109.104 (talk) 21:51, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Crossing Categories

edit

How to generate a list of people who are in both of two categories?

Eg, sculptors who are also living people, Harvard University alumni who are also puppeteers, that sort of thing? Thanks, Wanderer57 (talk) 21:47, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm pretty sure this is nowhere in Wikipedia's own software, but you can set Auto-Wiki-Browser to compile just such a list, by creating lists of articles in each category and then using the "List comparer" in the tools. Someguy1221 (talk) 21:56, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This question has come up on the Help desk before: search the Help desk archive for: category intersection. --Teratornis (talk) 00:05, 12 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Network wikipedians

edit
Is it allowed for members of one household to have completely separate accounts on wikipedia without being accused of being sockpuppets!?What I mean to say is: Do computers in the same network have different IP's? Thanks for the responses. --Cameron (t|p|c) 22:19, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, in fact it's mandatory. Per policy, accounts cannot be shared between multiple users. To answer the other question about IP's, probably, although whether that IP is dynamic or static would depend on your ISP. (Although if the accounts are registered, only checkusers can see the IP's behind the account). Best, --Bfigura (talk) 22:21, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The problem is that neither admins nor checkusers have any way of distinguishing between multiple users of the same shared IP and a single user abusing multiple accounts. It would be advisable, then, for those in your household to not engage in the same content disputes or participate in the same !votes or polls. Someguy1221 (talk) 22:31, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
But no, there is no inherent problem with two users having the same IP. Someguy1221 (talk) 22:32, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
More specifically, in answer to the second question, yes most home/office networks share the same IP address with the rest of the world. Your proxy server or router sorts the traffic out and routes it to the proper local IP address which is not displayed to the rest of the world. 199.125.109.64 (talk) 16:02, 13 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

problem with the font

edit

Hello,

since a few weeks, I have problems with the font. Some letters are introduced into the space between the words, and it is not readable anymore.

For example: "asking your question mi"

the "b" are strange written, and in the end of the words, I find the letters mi.

I would like a correct font, can you help me?

Thank you for your support.

Frank —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.219.145.213 (talk) 23:01, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried the Computing section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. Xenon54 23:04, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Unique pages

edit
  Resolved

When viewing a user's edit counts with Interiot's wannabe kate tool, I had always noticed the edit counter for "unique pages", wondering what it was. I couldn't find any info about it on here, although I haven't fully searched the depths elsewhere, such as meta. Lately curiosity has been nagging me, so could someone kindly answer a question that's been pressing on my mind? :) --JamieS93 23:39, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That would be the number of different pages you have edited. So say a user has 300 total edits, but all the edits are to one page, then the user has only edited 1 unique page. Now say that same user had made 300 edits to 300 different pages, then the user has edited 300 unique pages. Hope that answers it. « Gonzo fan2007 (talkcontribs) 23:46, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, now it makes perfect sense. So basically it's the inverted form of the edits-per-page average figure. Thank you for the quick response, Gonzo fan! (reminds me to try to answer questions on here more). Have a great day. ☻ JamieS93 23:57, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Haha, your welcome! « Gonzo fan2007 (talkcontribs) 23:59, 11 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]