Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 June 18

Help desk
< June 17 << May | June | Jul >> June 19 >
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.


June 18

edit

change a microformatted article to a form Google can find.

edit

A few days ago I wrote an article about the song “Ciribiribin.” Google can find no article of that name in Wikipedia until I type Wikipedia first. But there was one, a very brief stub created on a “microformat/hcard” template. Whatever the benefits of “microformats,” if the result is an article that an ordinary search does not find, what use is it? I hope you folks at Wikipedia can put this article into a form where Google knows it exists. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Robert Worthing (talkcontribs) 00:07, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what you mean by “microformat/hcard” template. Ciribiribin is the 10th Google result on Ciribiribin for me. Clicking on Google's "Cached" link currently shows that they cached it 2 June 2010. Googlebot will automatically visit the page again at some time outside Wikipedia's control. Then the version with your edits will be cached. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:23, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Microformats refers to Wikipedia:WikiProject Microformats. As noted, it does come up high on Google's list; it was the tenth item in the list for me as well.--SPhilbrickT 00:39, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Category:LGBT people of Puerto Rican descent

edit

I posted a comment concerning the merging of this category, and I saved it after previewing it a few times, but it is not appearing under the discussion or topic. Help? Does it take some time before the comments appear? Thanks, Bronco —Preceding unsigned comment added by Broncocastro (talkcontribs) 01:24, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Edits become visible immediately when they are saved. Special:Contributions/Broncocastro shows your post here is the only saved edit by your account, and Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2010 June 16#Category:LGBT people of Puerto Rican descent has no edits by users not logged in, so I guess something went wrong with your attempt to save. Check if an error message is displayed when you click "Save page". PrimeHunter (talk) 01:43, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong photo

edit

Hi, The photo on the wikipedia page about William King of The Commodores is not him. I've been trying to se how to get it taken down but with no success - how do we go about it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lbottle (talkcontribs) 02:41, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Removing it from the article would be easy after clicking the "edit" tab at top. Replacing it may be a little harder. William King (singer) currently displays File:William King of the Commodores.jpg which is the second man from the right at File:CommodoresPerformingUpClose.jpg. Is William King actually farthest to the right? PrimeHunter (talk) 03:20, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sharing my journals/blogs..

edit

Dear Wikipedia support.. Pleased to meet you. Requesting to share my blogs. I am requesting to add them in my page, please. As well as in our community. Requesting a link, please. Thank you for your time, have a great weekend to all. letsbefriends —Preceding unsigned comment added by Letsbefrienz (talkcontribs) 03:02, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Letsbefrienz. Your blog material is unlikely to contain information or be written in a manner that is suitable for an encyclopedia article. Please read Wikipedia:Introduction. Please also see WP:NOTBLOG. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:33, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

IP Address inadvertent use

edit

Can inadvertent use of my IP address be reversed? If I edit an article without logging in, or the system logs me out, the IP address appears instead of the user name. 03:39, 18 June 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Riverfield (talkcontribs)

We can remove your IP address from the history if you'd like, but we can't transfer the edit to your username, if that's what you want. Prodego talk 04:38, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
As Prodego and Wikipedia:Oversight#Policy says, the IP address can be hidden. See Wikipedia:Requests for oversight for how to make a request without revealing the IP address in public. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:53, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Removing the IP address is fine! Thank you so much for the prompt support. 16:21, 18 June 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Riverfield (talkcontribs)

edit
  Resolved

What order are pages listed in the What Links Here link? – Kerαunoςcopiagalaxies 06:58, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Looking at "What links here" for this page, it seems to be age-related. I'm guessing, but it could be by the date on which the link was added. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:44, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's by order of page creation, newest pages at the end of the list. BencherliteTalk 10:52, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Ah yes, that's confirmed by Help:What links here. It doesn't quite work for the first few entries that link to this page, though, so perhaps the rules were different back in 2002. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:48, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's by page id which should usually be in order of creation but some things were different back in 2002. The first 3 pages at Special:WhatLinksHere/Wikipedia:Help desk are sorted by page id for me: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=info&titles=Talk:Afghanistan/Archive%206, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=info&titles=Talk:Augusto%20Pinochet, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=info&titles=Talk:Afterlife. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:14, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Great, thank you. I tend to find the lists alphabetical for a short while, but then random and (I was hoping) in chronological order. Very helpful, thanks. – Kerαunoςcopiagalaxies 18:19, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How to find coordinates

edit

Hello, does anybody know how to find the coordinates of a place? If yes, could you please find the coordinates at 200 Nguyen Son Street, Long Bien, Hanoi, Vietnam? It's the HQ of Vietnam Airlines. Thank you Sp33dyphil (Talk) (Contributions) 07:25, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You could plug it into Google Earth. Doing so gave me 21° 02' 44.14"N 105° 52' 50.56"E -- Dismas|(talk) 07:32, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sp33dyphil (talkcontribs) 07:55, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

a readable map

edit

PLEASE HELP ME TO HAVE A BIGGER AND READABLE MAP OF "THE GEAT WAR IN EAST AFRICA"ie TANGANYIKA OR DUTCH OST AFRICA. Thank you. Mr ROBERT ROSSI <address removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.43.74.137 (talk) 11:29, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over three million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:47, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I wonder whether the OP is referring to the image File:African_theatre_of_World_War_I_ja.svg, which appears in the article African theatre of World War I? It's certainly not a very useful image here, as the captions are all in Japanese. There's a toolserver utility here that can translate it into an English language version, and it would be a good idea, but I'm having trouble getting it to work for me. Perhaps someone more technically ept could have a go? Karenjc 19:05, 20 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Editor abuse

edit

I recently created a page for my US Army unit and our mascot for which our nickname was derived. After many additions, a user-editor (user RP459) deleted much of what I had created, stating the page "Fails WP:N insufficient coverage found for this mascot to pass." In summary of his edits, this user-editor also cites "peacock terms" for the use of the word "pusillanimous" as well as claiming "section about leadership of a platoon, irrelevant to this page which is about the mascot." I feel this user-editors opinion is incorrect, and may be biased by the influence of pacifism in the Canadian nation. The page is for my Infantry Platoon currently deployed to Iraq. I am not too well-versed with wikipedia codes, so my construction of this page has been slow-growing and in need of work. Rather than provide assistance as to how this page could be formatted with the proper codes, the user-editor submitted this page for deletion, and began deleting much of the work I created already. I asked this user-editor why he felt the need to destruct so much of my work rather than assist me with the creation using proper codes. Their response to me:

  • RP459: "I understand your frustration I have posted some advice on your talk page. I understand that you are new but please understand that articles on Wikipedia need to pass WP:NOTABILITY. Please do not take that to mean what you and your platoon is not notable. Of course you guys are! Every soldier deserves respect and recognition but unfortunately there is a minimum threshold for encyclopedia inclusion. Wikipedia has a ton of rules, I learn new ones almost every day and I have been editing for years do please do not take this experience the wrong way, start slow learn the process that we have here"

My response to RP459 was concise and clear, but no reply has been given yet:

  • bullmoosebell: "Where in the rules does it state this platoon does not fit the 'threshold for encyclopedia inclusion?' Who is the governing factor to say this platoon is not notable? Our history stretches back from the pivotal battles of the Civil War to the valor of Audie Murphy in WWII to spearheading Operation Thunder Run into Iraq in 2002-2003. 3rd Platoon Baker Company has been featured in many movies (To Hell And Back, Patton, Baker Boys), many books, countless news and magazine articles (I, personally, was featured in Armor magazine and Soldier of Fortune magazine), received many awards and citations, and we have gained international notoriety (again) in-part to our mascot and moniker. How does that not fit the criteria? Simply because our page is a work in progress and all information necessary to satisfy your criteria has not been included yet does not warrant deletion. Whom can I speak with in regard to keeping this page from deletion?"

I feel that simply because this user-editor has been editing for years does not warrant them to conduct themselves in this manner. I have not finished creating this page, yet this user-editor feels the need to discount all we have done. I also checked this user-editors other comments on their usertalk page and noticed I am not the only user whom feels PR459 is abusing their powers.

Please let me know what I need to do in order to keep this page from being deleted. Also, can you please provide me with information necessary to update this page so it can provide the maximum information possible? Thank you, Bullmoosebell (talk) 13:15, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

First of all, you need to read our notability policy at WP:NOTABILITY and our Wikipedia:Articles for deletion procedure. Then go to the AfD discussion page Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Teddy the War God and explain, calmly and politely, why you believe the article meets the requirements of that policy and should not be deleted. If the article is a work-in-progress then you should ask for it to be moved to a sub-page within your user space, so that you can work on it in private outside of the main Wikipedia area. Gandalf61 (talk) 13:53, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Are we referring to Teddy the War God here? It is unhelpful to fling wild accusations of abuse and bias around - it's better to focus on the material. RP459's messages to you were courteous and informative; he gave explanations and links to the policies he was following. Other editors have offered you guidance, useful links (including a link to the article wizard) and the opportunity to move your material into a user sandbox space to work on it in draft form. RP459 is not "abusing any powers". He's just as entitled as any other user to add cleanup tags, nominate an article for deletion if he feels it qualifies, and express an opinion in the article's deletion discussion here. You are welcome to comment there too and I would encourage you to do so.
As RP459 said, the crux is Wikipedia's policy on notability. If you haven't read it yet, please do. When you ask "where in the rules does it state" what is notable, that's the answer. You seem to be confusing the notability of the mascot with the notability of the platoon, which is not at issue here. The title of this article is "Teddy the War God". It's not a "page for your platoon"; it's an "encyclopaedia article about" a doll's head, being used as a mascot by a US Army platoon. In order to be notable enough for an article, then the head itself (not the platoon, or the soldiers in it, or its history and the action it has seen, but the head itself) has to have had significant coverage in reliable independent sources, i.e. news media or similar. Does such coverage exist? If so, it needs to be cited within the article. Otherwise the head is not notable enough for a separate article and would be best covered in a wider article about the platoon which, if its history is as long and distinguished as you suggest, should be more than notable.
I know you've been given a lot of links to follow, but you would do well to read WP:OWN and WP:COI. I note from your user page that you're intent on "achieving notoriety" for the units you have served with. Notability on Wikipedia is inherent - either something meets the criteria or it doesn't - and it can't be created by a single editor with an agenda. A deleted article is not an insult; it just means that the subject or the content wasn't shown to meet the requirements on that occasion. Karenjc 14:36, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]


How to change title of article?

edit

User:StarryEyedFilms1/Template movie

to

White Paint


Thanks StarryEyedFilms1 —Preceding unsigned comment added by StarryEyedFilms1 (talkcontribs) 14:32, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, and thankyou for contributing to Wikipedia. Before you commence any further with your article, please take a look at this; Wikipedia:Notability (films). It won't take you long. I think there is some question of notability regarding your article. Judging by your username, it appears to be a case a self promotion of a non-notable film. I'll post a welcome template on your talkpage, which should assist you further, but feel free to ask any questions. Orphan Wiki 14:38, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikibreak Enforcer

edit

Why isn't this working: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Noloop/monobook.js&diff=prev&oldid=368744647 Noloop (talk) 14:44, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

First, bypass your cache to make sure the script has been loaded. If you have and it's still not working, there are two reasons I know of for this. One is that you don't have JavaScript enabled on your browser, which is necessary for it to work. The second is that the date on the computer you're using is wrong. Check both of those. --Mysdaao talk 14:49, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And are you using the MonoBook skin? You may have been switched to Vector with everyone else. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:53, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, thanks for the reply. Javascript is on and I refreshed the page, which is supposed to take care of the cache. I don't know what MonoBook skin and Vector mean. Noloop (talk) 19:29, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Skins are different layout styles you can use, and each one has their own javascript page. Goto "My preferences", then "Appearance"; what skin is shown? If it's MonoBook, then the script should work and I don't know why it didn't. If it's Vector (the new default, as of a month or so ago), then you should put that code in User:Noloop/vector.js instead of User:Noloop/monobook.js. If it works, have a good break. --Floquenbeam (talk) 19:44, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That works. Thanks. Noloop (talk) 01:25, 20 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Submitting an article on a subject that has been protected

edit

The subject of my article, unfortunately, has been fodder for spammers. As a result, the very name has been protected, and cannot be created.

Personally, I think it's a good thing that this subject be restricted to administrator access, as it is the only thing keeping the spammers from doing this more. However, I would like to see a real, impartial article on the subject. How do I go about either submitting a piece on this, or getting the assistance of an administrator in getting this article posted?

Isagenix

As I say, I fully acknowledge the nefarious attempts to post articles on this in the past. I only want to get a legitimate article posted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Danzigland (talkcontribs) 16:26, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What you will need to do is write a draft article in your userspace. Make sure it's up to snuff (this guide may help) and then ask the protecting admin (Pascal.Tesson (talk · contribs)) if they would be willing to consider moving the article to the mainspace. TNXMan 16:29, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How do i tag a section of an article to highlight that it needs references

edit

How do i tag just a single of an article to highlight that it needs references. The article has references, but there is one section that is completely unreferenced. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Berone (talkcontribs) 17:23, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can add {{unreferenced|section}} to the section. That will add a specific template to the section. TNXMan 17:26, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Loss of Log In ID

edit

Some time ago I created an account on Wikipedia, but I have lost any notes I made about what ID I used, so now I can't log in. My e-mail address is <blanked>. Can you help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.132.130.215 (talk) 17:40, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, we cannot recover your password for you. If you entered an email address when you registered, you can have a new password sent there. If you did not enter an email address, then your password is unrecoverable. TNXMan 17:54, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Reverting edits

edit

I worked very hard to reorganize an article, and then someone changed what I did. I tried to revert for a second time, but it wouldn't let me do so, stated that the edit must be "reverted manually". I'm assuming that an administrator may be able to help here? MR. PreZ 17:57, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You probably tried to revert a revision that wasn't the current one...an administrator can't automatically revert that kind of thing. You'll have to manually remove the parts you want reverted. Alternatively, you could load the old revision you want restored, then edit the page and save. See Help:Revert for more information. Robert Skyhawk (T C B) 18:07, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Please also read our info on the three-revert rule. You and NightFight are coming close to breaking the rules, and could run in to trouble for doing so. TNXMan 18:11, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I think that Night Flight already has broken that rule. Also, I was trying to edit a current revision of List of Victorious episodes. MR. PreZ 12:15, 20 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Question

edit

Hello, my name is Jacqueline Hunter Irvin,mailing adress: <blanked> please send to me or inform me on how i can obtain a free Wikipedia encyclopedia. thank you in advance for your speedy reply. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.254.156.25 (talk) 18:43, 18 June 2010 (UTC) [reply]

You can always access it here, at our site. You can also download database dumps of Wikipedia—see Wikipedia:Database download for more information. Please note that downloading those files will severely consume Wikipedia's bandwidth. MC10 (TCGBL) 20:21, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And eat up your computer's memory. The database dumps can reach several terabytes of material. TNXMan 20:23, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikifood

edit

There needs to be a section/companion/subsite that deals with just food. Definitions, recipes, origins, variations, competitions, etc. I had a lot of trouble finding out what "Texas Sheet Cake" was, I had never heard of it and was surprised to see that Wiki had nothing to say. Or a country fried vs chicken fried steak debate. Or a good place to learn about cheese or wine. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 167.176.6.8 (talk) 18:56, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

We do have articles on cheese, wine, chicken fried steak, and sheet cake. You may also be interested in the food wikiproject, where editors that share an interest in food collaborate to improve related articles. TNXMan 19:03, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Also the Food Portal. --Mysdaao talk 19:05, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia:WikiProject Food and Drink already deals with such topics, and articles under their scope include such things as Texas Sheet Cake, cheese, and wine. I would bring your Texas Sheet Cake idea to them and see if any of them could create an article on the topic so that wiki does have something to say for future people who want to find out what it is. Ks0stm (TCG) 19:05, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Although Wikipedia is a good starting point to learn about "Definitions, ... origins, variations, competitions", for recipes you will have better luck at the Wikibooks Cookbook. How-to content, such as recipes, is outside the scope of Wikipedia. Intelligentsium 20:30, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
edit

I am creating a page for my employer who told me to cut and paste from her website. i received a message explaining that i need to get permission and i followed the links included but i don't understand exactly what i need to do or fill out to let you know that I have permission to post the material. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nschilit (talkcontribs) 19:39, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry, but I've deleted your page as advertising. Please also note that if you have a conflict of interest with a subject, you are highly discouraged from editing/creating articles about the subject. TNXMan 19:45, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Log In ID

edit

I do not remember my log in ID. Please send log in details to <blanked>. {{adminhelp}} 41.132.130.215 (talk) 19:57, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As mentioned above, we cannot provide that to you. Do you remember the name of your account at all? TNXMan 20:02, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) Unfortunately, we cannot help you if you have forgotten your username. If you have forgotten your password, please go to Special:UserLogin and enter your username in the username field and click "E-mail new password", if you provided an email address when you registered your account. If not, you can create a new account, optionally leaving a note on both accounts' userpages that they are operated by the same person. Intelligentsium 20:08, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If you remember any of the pages you edited on Wikipedia with your account, you may be able to figure out your username by looking at the history of that page and find the edit(s) you made, which will give you the username you used. --Mysdaao talk 21:08, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Weird image problem

edit

I uploaded this image to Wikipedia a bit less than an year ago but in the place where it says who uploaded it, it says User:Shannon1 (usurped3) instead of User:Shannon1. Can anybody figure out why? Shannontalk contribs 23:32, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A bunch of your images were uploaded under that name: [1]. But looks like you moved your userspace as well. – Kerαunoςcopiagalaxies 23:38, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) It looks like a lot of your edits have not been re-attributed to your new name; I'm guessing logs, such as upload logs, are similarly lagged or otherwise not updating properly. From here the correct course of action would probably be to bother a developer to re-attribute edits manually. Intelligentsium 23:39, 18 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In fact, I believe about 12,000 edits were not attributed to me (according to the edit counter in Preferences). But the other edit counter shows me with 13,000 edits. Shannontalk contribs 18:07, 19 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]