This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
AMONG THE MANY PROBLEMS OF THIS USELESS SITE -- LACK OF ACRONYMS
LACK OF ACRONYMS (and immense wordiness, but we wont talk about that one) makes the articles UNREADABLE -- this needs to be fixed
i want to know HOW -- HOW DO I FIX THIS EASY SIMPLE PROBLEM OF LACK OF ACRONYMS
if this cannot be fixed easiely, i and others that are actually intelligent will continue to ignore wikipedia's trash -- and use ACTUALLY WORTHWHILE SITES
Coginsys, welcome to the Teahouse. I apologize if you're upset at the readability of Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an 'encyclopedia, and thus is written in formalized prose. If you're looking for acronyms, perhaps you should look elsewhere for information. As for this specific instance, "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)" should be used the first time with "EPA" used in all subsequent references to the agency. Thanks. GoPhightins! 03:47, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
How can I be famous ?
I Love to sing, to dance, but I'm kind of shy, I can't show the world but as well I want to be famous, I live in morocco the invisible country of the world, ... so please somebody tell me what to do ... Jalal1994 (talk) 23:13, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi Jalal1994! While I have no doubt you have lots of talent, Wikipedia is not a social network. If you'd like to learn about editing Wikipedia, we can help you with that here, or you can be adopted through Wikipedia's adopt-a-user program. Thanks. GoPhightins! 23:16, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi Jalal. We can't help you become famous - as the boy in the film said, this is where they make you read, not where they make you real. But, maybe the problem is just that your country is sometimes a bit shy too? The articles Culture of Morocco and Moroccan cuisine are both marked as needing more citations to independent sources, as well as other problems, and Music of Morocco looks like it could do with some work and expansion too. Perhaps start slowly by reading WP:REFB and then trying to add some sourced information mentioned in newspapers or magazines to those articles?
If you're asking when your country will be different to how it is now, then it is worth mentioning that the Arab Spring has changed some North African Muslim countries quite radically, and that some influence of that change may reach Morocco. Whether that is a good thing or not, I do not know.
Do be careful with your web browser history, and with discussing radical ideas with other people or within the hearing of other people, as you explore these ideas. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 23:57, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
process of posting
Hi I just posted a page but am new at this and wondering once I save a page how does it get included in Wiki? ThanksGPG123 (talk) 22:48, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi GPG123 and welcome to both Wikipedia and the Teahouse! Thanks for stopping by. As soon as you post your article, it becomes an accessible part of Wikipedia for the whole world to see. You may either post it yourself, or send it to Articles for creation, where a reviewer will check it prior to moving it to mainspace. Though fair warning, there's a significant backlog over there...it may take a few weeks before your article is reviewed. If you'd like, you can post a draft of your article in your sandbox and post a link to it here, and I'll take a quick look. Or, if you'd rather, you can just post it. Happy editing, GoPhightins! 22:53, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Protected/Semi-protected pages
Hey guys. I keep seeing people talking about protecting or semi-protecting their talk pages (or other pages). I have no interest or perceived need to do so on my page or any I work on, but I am curious as to what it entails. What's being protected, how does it happen, etc? RunnerOnIce (talk) 22:18, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
RunnerOnIce, hi and welcome to the Teahouse. Wikipedia is built on the principle that anyone can edit, however on occasion it can be necessary to prevent some or most editors from editing certain pages. The normal reason is to protect pages, especially high profile ones, from vandalism or edit warring. Pages can be semi-protected so that only editors with registered accounts can edit or fully-protected in which case only administrators can edit the page. Protection can be temporary or permanent. Because of the 'anyone can edit' princple page protection isn't granted lightly and should you ever need to request it you need to make the application at Wikipedia:Requests for page protection. Hope this helps. NtheP (talk) 22:27, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Oh, ok, that makes sense. Thank you so much! RunnerOnIce (talk) 22:30, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Userboxes
Hello Teahousers,
How do I add userboxes to my user page? Kuba.greenland (talk) 17:03, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hey Kuba, welcome to The Teahouse. You can find userboxen of all sorts here. Next to all of the listings there are code for each userbox, which you can simply copy and paste onto your userpage. There are lots of ways to organize userboxen, so let us know if there's a particular way you'd like to arrange them. I, Jethrobotdrop me a line (note: not a bot!) 19:02, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
uploading a photo to an existing article?
Im new here..but I have a photo of a train wreck from the 1913 tyrone,pa train station crash.It's not copyrighted and free to upload to help the article.Im not the writer of the article, is that the reason i can't seem to find a way to upload the image?4barners (talk) 16:47, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi, 4barners! The reason is that you are a new user, not that you are not the author of the article. Wikipedia is a collective project and anyone is welcome to edit any article. However, you must be a confirmed user to upload images. Once you have completed 10 edits, you will be able to upload an image. You question here was your first. If you reply that will be your second and you are well on the way. If you need any help, please come back! Gtwfan52 (talk) 17:01, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hello 4barners, great to hear you have access to a useful photo, and one free of copyright too. If I may suggest, the best place to put non-copyright photos is at our sister-project, WikiCommons. WikiCommons images can be coded into Wikipedia articles just as though they were uploaded to en.wiki anyway, but are much more accessible and better-filed at Commons than they would be on Wikipedia proper. The main reason to upload directly to Wikipedia, vice Commons, is when you have a non-Free image such as a logo which can only be used in very limited ways in articles. The Commons has a decently intuitive Upload tool, but if you get stuck, definitely come back here and ask for advice. Thanks for sharing your images! MatthewVanitas (talk) 20:16, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
retrieval of deleted editing
Can I get my deleted editing back, so I can put it in the talk page, where it belongs? Koechlyruestow (talk) 15:35, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi Koechlyruestow, welcome to the Teahouse. Click "Contributions" at the top of any page to see your edits, or use the page history. Click the "diff" link to see the content of the edit. Edits to deleted pages are only visible to administrators but you have no such edits. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:52, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
No no no, I am not looking for my edits on deleted pages, I am looking for my deleted edits on still existing pages, in this case, on the falcata. Most I could find on the history tab, but not all of it.(Koechlyruestow (talk) 16:12, 27 November 2012 (UTC))
Help, I cannot even add my response!Koechlyruestow (talk) 16:12, 27 November 2012 (UTC) moved to correct section Writ Keeper⚇♔ 16:22, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
The page history [1] shows 10 edits by you. If an edit is not shown there then it was not saved. Click the "edit" link to the right of the section heading and not the below section heading. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:28, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
I have completed my first article successfully but have lost links to the chat room
When I was working on my first article I had an APC page which had links to the Wiki Chat room now my article has been placed in wiki I no longer have these links can someone post them for me please?FOSWMT (talk) 09:23, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi FOSWMT and welcome to the Teahouse. The only thing I can think of that would be linked from the AFC draft and that might be called a chat room would be the AFC Help desk. Is that what you want? Your post there is at this. —teb728tc 10:05, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
No thats not the same
Its on the submission page that you get when you first submit your article that appears at the bottom of the article whilst its awaiting review. — Preceding unsigned comment added by FOSWMT (talk • contribs) 11:09, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi there! Might you talking about {{AfC submission}} (give it a click and check)? —Theopolisme 12:16, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Um thats the problem i dont have the AFC submission page any more
Let me answer you directly. Your question is presumably about the article, Speckled Wood, Hastings. You say on your user page that you are associated with the subject. There is apparently a dispute with another editor also associated with the subject, User:Ore CLT about various matters, including the exact status of the reserve. I've posted some comments on your user talk page. The place to discuss the article though is on the article talk page. Any excellent and experienced user, User:Anna Frodesiak has been working with you already, and you can rely on her advice. Since both of you have a WP:Conflict of Interest, it is necessary that you not keep reversing each other on the article, but discuss it on the talk pager first. I'll notify her about this so she can help you further. I will also be available, but you will find she understands the situation very well. DGG ( talk ) 00:28, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Need Help Trimming the Fat - Conflicting Comments and Other Jazz
Hey Teahousers,
Been working on this The Art of War bit on and off and I've gotten assorted feedback from multiple sources that I've tried to satisfy, however I also have conflicting comments that I'm not quite sure how to address. Some say mention of reviews are ok while others have mentioned the section should be removed entirely. I'm just looking for some more feedback before I resubmit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kingofbreaker/sandbox
Hi there Kingofbreakers, and welcome back. I'm not an expert on notability, but I think the 'Reception' section should be retained, but tweaked a bit. First off, the second and thirds sentences need citations: for example, if someone compared the comic to the works of Philip K. Dick, that's a major factual claim, and the source should be cited. You don't need the sentence "Reviews have been mostly positive", either. If the reviews are positive, that should be reflected in the substance of the reviews themselves, or in the facts/quotes you pull from them. Lastly, I would remove the Comic Book Resources quote, since it's not descriptive at all. Quotes, when used, should help flesh out the content of the article, not just say whether the subject matter is a good read or not. Good work though, and good luck! - J-MoTalk to MeEmail Me 06:09, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
Hey J-Mo thanks a ton for the feedback. This stuff makes a lot of sense! I think I understand what I can do to tweak this bad boy. Thanks again.Kingofbreaker (talk) 16:41, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
WP: Something or other
I've looked and looked and cant find the appropriate tag.
I came across an article with numerous errors, but mainly:
a)Incomplete citations: "Smith, 2006; p5" ...there is no complete cite to which it might be referring, so is there a "{.{tag}.}" for this? I think the ref is listed in the Biblio, but ought not the first cite ref include all the details?
b) I am pretty sure I know the source, and basically the wiki text is citing an old conclusion which the author discards in the next para. Is there a "{.{tag}.}" for this?
Finally, if an article/entry tries to deal with every fringe idea and pet theory ever raised regarding the subject, the article looses cohesion, rambles far and wide and inevitably jumbles opposing theories together. Is there an article tag for this kind of thing? THX
Plutonix (talk) 23:12, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Welcome to the Teahouse, Plutonix! Allow me to answer your questions. To answer your first question, you do not need to include all the details if the book is listed in the bibliography. All you need to put down is the author, the year if there are multiple books by this author, and the page. To answer your second and third questions, I believe that {{Contradict}} is what you are looking for. öBrambleberry_ meow _ watch me in action 23:35, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Alternative to sandboxes
Hi, I made an entire history section for an article. The article currently has a history section and there was a discussion about changing it drastically. I volunteered to reorganize it. I want to present my version of the History section (which is in my user sanbox) to the talk page by linking it there. However, two questions:
Can I link to my sandbox and can other editors see it?
Is there an alternative to linking to my user sandbox?
Many thanks, Fordx12 (talk) 21:50, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Welcome to the Teahouse, User:Fordx12! You can link to your user sandbox by placing [[User:Fordx12/sandbox]] in the talk page section. I'm afraid that I don't quite understand what you mean when you ask if there is an alternative to linking to your user sandbox. Could you elaborate on that? öBrambleberry_ meow _ watch me in action 21:53, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Welcome back Fordx12! I think the easiest way would be to simply link to your sandbox. If you wanted, you could transclude, or copy, your sandbox over to the article's talk page and allow editors to play with it there. Either would work, personally I'd just link it to my sandbox. GoPhightins! 21:54, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
I want to make a photo image free and fair use - if I don't article will be deleted Help!
Hi, I uploaded this image File:Ajit Gupta Aryaka Founder.jpg
for the article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Gupta and mistakenly described it as not free for fair use. It should be free and for fair use but I do not know how to do that. I see that if I fail to comply that the article will be deleted within two days.
Hey, Jay, welcome back. There's actually a difference between "free" and "fair use". The difference is this: we want all the images we use to be free, as in freely licensed with the CC-BY-SA license that Wikipedia uses. But, sometimes it's impossible for a free image to exist, in which case we might be able to use an image under "fair use." Whether we need to or not depends on this: where did you get this photograph? If you took it yourself (i.e. you were the photographer), then you actually own the copyright to the image, and you can release it under the terms of CC-BY-SA, making it "free". Then, there will be no problem. However, if you got it from somewhere else, then you can't make it "free". Furthermore, as it's a picture of a person, it can't be used as fair use. This is because there is always a chance that someone could take a picture of the person later and release their image freely. So, if you didn't take the picture yourself, it will have to be deleted. Writ Keeper⚇♔ 19:39, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi Writkeeper. Yes, I own the copyright and wish to make it free. How do I do that?
JayMejiaJayMejia (talk) 22:04, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Upload it here, using a different filename to the one you used previously (this is important). Make sure you choose the options during the upload process that you own the image and wish to give it a free use licence (this is also important). Then add {{subst:rfu}} to the page File:Ajit Gupta Aryaka Founder.jpg. This will create a deletion request for the file you originally uploaded, so that there are not two copies on the servers. Hope that helps. Formerip (talk) 22:15, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
removing comment at top of article
Hi. I was asked to create sections for an article and complied. How do I get wikipedia to remove the request to create sections now that I have complied?
JayMejia (talk) 18:13, 28 November 2012 (UTC)JayMejiaJayMejia (talk) 18:13, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Hey, Jay, welcome to the Teahouse! You can actually remove those tags yourself. When you're in edit mode on the article, they show up at the top of the editing window as a few words surrounded by curly braces. In this case, it looks like {{sections|date=November 2012}}. If you remove that, then the tag will disappear. I went ahead and did this for you, but if you want to see what changed, you can look here. That should give you an idea of what to look for. Hope this helps! Writ Keeper⚇♔ 18:18, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
can I have more than one draft in sandbox?
Hello,
A question from a newbie here (I tried searching archives briefly but could not find an answer). I am interested in creating a few pages, can I work on more than one draft at once using sandbox?
I've already committed a faux pas of accidentally creating a live page when I was trying to save it as a draft. It has of course been deleted immediately. I'm hoping this doesn't compromise my wikipedia reputation?
Also I'm a little confused about the difference between creating a page in my sandbox then requesting review, vs. creating a page immediately by searching for the page then clicking the red title when the page does not exist...
Apologies for inevitable redundancies in questioning!
Checa985 (talk) 16:56, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Hey, Checa, welcome to the Teahouse! No worries about duplicate questions; even if it is, it just means that we know how to answer it. :) Anyway, yes, it's perfectly fine to use multiple sandboxes! You can just create a new one by going to User:Checa985/sandbox2 and starting your draft there. You can have as many sandboxes as you want! The key thing to remember is that the page title has to start with that "User:Checa985/" part, which is what makes it a userspace draft, rather than an article. After that, you can put anything you want.
And don't worry: accidental page creations won't hurt your reputation! Wikipedia is a complicated place, both technically and (for lack of a better word) "socially"; nobody will hold it against you if you make mistakes. It's all a learning experience.
Finally, there's not that much difference between creating your page as a draft first or moving it immediately into an article. The benefits are that, while it's a draft, you can spend as much time as you like working on it without any pressure of deletion. You also get another person to give you an outside opinion on the article, to catch any problems you might be too close to see. But other than that, there's really not much difference, so it's not required or anything. Still probably a good idea, but it's up to you. :) Writ Keeper⚇♔ 17:05, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Thank you very much :) Checa985 (talk) 17:11, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Some clarification about sandboxes: you can't actually write anything you want. It can't be copyright infringement (see WP:COPYRIGHTS), or unreferenced derogatory biographies of living people (see WP:BLP) or promoting yourself (see WP:SPAM). Good luck.— Vchimpanzee· talk·contributions· 19:00, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Does Wikipedia have a section on how SME's aid NGOs in emerging economies?
Hi my name is Tom, and I would like to find out if Wikipedia focuses on any small businesses that aid NGOs etc and if any articles are dedicated to this?
The reason I ask is because it would be beneficial highlighting the work of Third sector organisations and their link to small and medium business enterprises in the developed world, as this could bolster Wikipedia's own fundraising efforts, rather than focusing on notability that is constrained to large scale media structures.
Hey, Tom, welcome to the Teahouse! I'm sure we have articles about these kinds of things, but the rules about notability apply to them just as they would to any other article. The question I would ask in response to yours is: "beneficial to whom?" The only benefit we really need to be concerned with on Wikipedia is the encyclopedia's; not even the good of the WMF (which is the organization that hosts Wikipedia and receives the donations) trumps the good of the encyclopedia in situations like this. We as a community have decided that verifiability, notability, etc. are in the best interests of the encyclopedia, even though they aren't perfect, and so they need to be followed. The slope of doing content things to drive up donations is a slippery one indeed, and it's best to avoid it as much as possible. Writ Keeper⚇♔ 16:19, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Article
How do I write my own Wikipedia article?A Japour (talk) 15:48, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Hey, A Japour, welcome to Wikipedia and the Teahouse! That's a pretty big question. I guess it depends on what you want to write it about! If you're trying to write an article about yourself, then you probably shouldn't: writing autobiographical articles is almost always a bad idea, due to the inherent conflict of interest.
If it's about something else, though, then great! The first step for me is to look for reliable sources that discuss the article; you need these to guide you on what to write. You see, Wikipedia can only include information that is verifiable, meaning that it can be referenced to a reliable source. So, it's pretty important that you gather the reliable sources first, so that you know what you can write about.
Once you feel like you have enough material (though there's never too many sources), you should probably start writing the article as a draft in your userspace. Basically, this means writing it at User:A Japour/sandbox at first; this way, you have all the time you need to work on it without pressure. Look at other articles with a similar subject to get an idea of the general shape of your article, like what sections you need. As you write, be sure to use citations as you go. Once you're satisfied with the result, you can submit it for review at Articles for creation if you like, but be patient, as the review can take a long time! Once your article passes muster, it'll be moved into mainspace, and your article will be made!
I hope that helps! Feel free to come back here if you have any more questions. :) Writ Keeper⚇♔ 16:04, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Sorry !!
OK !! I thought it was a tea house !! then OK !! I WANNA KNOW HOW TO upload a picture ! :D Jalal1994 (talk) 23:56, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Welcome back and sorry for your misperception. The easiest way to upload a picture is over at Wikimedia Commons. There's directions over there as to how to do so. GoPhightins! 00:00, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
That assumes that the image is freely licensed. If it is not, it is rather more complicated. Generally speaking one should not assume that an image you have found on the internet is usable on Wikipedia--ukexpat (talk) 16:16, 28 November 2012 (UTC).
why are people battling about interracial mixing when china and africa and india are something
Summary is the question in this case and not a court case like you are supposedly wanting.174.58.141.227 (talk) 16:50, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi....this is a forum for asking questions about editing on Wikipedia! Gtwfan52 (talk) 16:57, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi Nahid, welcome to the Teahouse. Many different messages can be placed on articles to ask for help. I don't know one saying exactly "help to improve this article". Can you give an example of an article with the message you want? If you mean "Help improve this page" as at the bottom of for example Google then it's part of a test for a limited number of mostly random articles. Badhan (A voluntary blood donors' organization) does not seem suitable for this. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:07, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Should references be used in the lead section of articles? (In context with BLPs.) Thanks. BonkersThe Clown(Nonsensical Babble) 05:24, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Welcome to the teahouse! It depends. If it's trivial information and redundant with citations already in the body, it may not be needed. Like stating that Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. But if it's controversial material that's likely to be contested, or a direct quote, a citation is needed, especially if it's a BLP. What's the name of the BLP article and what's being cited?--xanchester(t) 05:44, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
There's not page in particular. I was wondering about the date of birth, to be specific, actually. If it's not "controversial", do you need to cite that? Thanks BonkersThe Clown(Nonsensical Babble) 05:49, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Date of birth should be cited somewhere. Dates of birth can be controversial, and its the kind of data that needs a citation, if not in the lead section than in the body somewhere. If there is no citation, it shouldn't be in the article. --Jayron32 05:54, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Seconding what Jayron32 has said. Also, the date of birth usually isn't included in the lead. The lead should be an overview of the article, details like the person's date of birth are better suited for the article's body and infobox. Cheers,--xanchester(t) 05:55, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Actually, I'm going to disagree with that. DOB is often included in the lead, pulling 3 random bios, it's there in George Washington, Eric Clapton, and Linus Pauling. The DOB doesn't always have a footnoted cite in the lead, but it DOES (or should) have a footnoted cite somewhere in the article, usually in the "early life" section of the biography. --Jayron32 06:03, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
Yes, I generally put in the lede right after the name, in parentheses. It is generally also repeated in the infobox. It's usual to add the cite for it there also. DGG ( talk ) 00:37, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
My mistake, I completely forgot about the dates in parentheses indicating the date of birth and death included in most articles.--xanchester(t) 03:32, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
On a lot of articles I've worked on, there's been a consensus to not use footnotes in the lede, since everything in the lede should be stated and in greater detail in the main body anyway, so better to footnote the longer, detailed explanation below, and also visually that makes the lede look less cluttered. My understanding is that's not binding policy, but a common recommendation, and generally there should not be (much) info in the lede that isn't covered in depth below, since the whole point of a lede is to summarise the key points of a topic. MatthewVanitas (talk) 15:38, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Deleting an improperly prepared image of a logo
Hi. I uploaded a corporate logo from Google Images that should be free. Somehow I got mixed up and labeled it Fair use. I worked for the company Speedera Networks and its Founder Ajit Gupta.
Hi, JayMejia, and welcome to the Teahouse! Please re-upload the image with a free license at this link – I have marked the other one for deletion since it will be replaced.
Also, since you seem to seem to be affiliated with the subject, you must be extremely careful to maintain a neutral point of view and refrain from adding promotional content. See this guide on conflict of interest for more information.
I hope you are enjoying Wikipedia, and feel free to ask here or on my talk page if you have any other questions. The Anonymouse (talk • contribs) 01:37, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Thank you WritKeeper. Yes, I am being extremely careful to be neutral, objective and factual - no promotional or marketing hype content. I was trained as a journalist so I completely understand the need to separate fact from value - especially on Wikipedia. :)
Could you please specify a tag for the file on Commons? If you don't, the file may be deleted. Please check this page for a list of tags. Also my name is not WritKeeper The Anonymouse (talk • contribs) 02:10, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Also, I only mentioned the conflict of interest/advertising thing because, sadly, many users come to Wikipedia just to promote their company, band, etc. Since you seem to be doing a good job of maintaining a neutral point of view, I think your good to go. The Anonymouse (talk • contribs) 02:16, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
This image is most likely not free, as it is probably copyrighted by the company that it represents. You can't upload it free unless the company will release the copyright under a CC-BY-SA lisence. Otherwise, it will have to be uploaded under fair use, which is only on Wikipedia, not Commons. gwickwire | Leave a message 02:17, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Thank you for bringing that up – I had mindlessly assumed that the company had released the file under the right license (which still could be the case). The Anonymouse (talk • contribs) 02:25, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Infobox loop detected: HELP!!
I am trying to add an article to Wikipedia. Started all today. Have been stuck for a while in a loop detected message with my infobox and I can't seem to understand what's going on. Probably something really easy, but...
Do I have to create a new template?
Hi Tauli and welcome to the Teahouse. May I ask why you are writing a Portugese article on English Wikipedia rather than Portuguese Wikipedia? English Wikipedia is only for English content. It looks like you have copied the problem template from Portugese Wikipedia; is that right? I would be surprised if a copied non-simple template did work. —teb728tc 09:48, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
If your article is targeted for English Wikipedia, you should translate it to English, including using the {{infobox writer}} template. If it is targeted for Portuguese Wikipedia, you should draft it there. —teb728tc 10:15, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
Looking closer at your template I see that you did not copy the the Portuguese template but only its signature. So using it does in fact create a loop. —teb728tc 10:37, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
Thank you SO much! I think I started it all in English, which I will eventually have to do, but decided to start with the Portuguese for some reason. And as I said, I am totally new to this, pretty lost and very confused. So I was not aware of the fact that I could have that problem. So I should do it all in the Portuguese Wikipedia? I will try that and get back here if I get stuck again.
Still, thank you so much, I know this is very basic and I should probably know. :-) Tauli 23:25, 29 November 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tauli79 (talk • contribs)
Article suggestions?
Is there somewhere I can suggest an article that is missing from Wikipedia if I don't have the time to create a page at the moment? Thanks. Error9900 (talk) 16:09, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Please be aware, though, that most requested articles are either never written, or may not be written for several years. In that long, you may find time yourself! --Demiurge1000 (talk) 19:55, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Another way, though also not foolproof, is to go to the WP:WikiProject for a given topic and request. For example, if you want to suggest an article about a famous 17th century Scottish politician, you can go to WP:WikiProject Scotland, go to its Talk page, and post there explaining why you think there should be an article about him. Again, no guarantees anyone will jump on it, but getting the attention of an interested Wiki project at least gets you directly to a target audience. MatthewVanitas (talk) 14:45, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
Bad edits
What would happen if an article I post on Wikipedia is edited by someone who posts unhelpful sentences on it? Will it be deleted?
What ought to happen in such a case is that other editors would revert the unhelpful content or change it into helpful content. But if the unhelpful content was blatently promotional or blatently false and it seemed like the whole article was promotional or false, there is a possibility that an admin might delete the article, not noticing that there was good content behind the vandalism. —teb728tc 10:56, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
Question about how to interpret the meaning of a word written in RED on a page
I was reading the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_abbreviations and a few words in the tables are written in RED. Also blue is used in non-hyperlink words, so maybe it's both red AND blue I need to understand.
Is there a site-universal standard for that text color-coding, or was it simply at the discretion of the person who originally posted the page ?
The meaning of the words in different colors, at least on this page, is definitely not intuitive - iow, there's nothing obvious about them that would set them apart to explain their being differently-colored. Th68.205.213.52 (talk) 22:59, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi, welcome to the Teahouse. Words in red indicate a link to a non-existing page. This is often done on purpose. Blue indicates a link to an existing page. See more at Help:Link color and Wikipedia:Red link. Where in List of Latin abbreviations do you see blue non-hyperlinked words? PrimeHunter (talk) 23:33, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
where did uploaded images go?
Hi, I'm creating an article in my Sandbox. I want to include 3 images of theoretical models.
Yesterday I uploaded two of them, but they don't appear in my article. I don't know where they are. Additional details: When uploading the files, I checked "in the pubic domain" They are not copyrighted and I accessed them online. I have given full credit to the authour both in the text of my document and in a title of each figure.
Thanks for your help.
129.237.222.1 (talk) 16:26, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi and welcome to the Teahouse. Unregistered users can't upload images so I'm guessing you have created an account but have asked this question without logging in. If you log into your account at the top of the screen you'll see these buttons at the top of the page
Click on the one called contributions and you will see a list of all your edits including any images you have uploaded. To link your images to your article you need to add [[File:filename]] to your article.
You say the images are of theoretical models and are available online and that you have credited the author. Just because they are available online doesn't put them into the public domain and it's very likely that the copyright does belong to the author. I'm afraid the onus is on you to establish positively that any images you upload are in the public domain. A lack of a notice saying they are copyright isn't enough. NtheP (talk) 18:10, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
You may have uploaded them at commons: or they may have been deleted as suspected copyright violations. In either case the above wouldn't show what happened. Please tell your username so we can examine all possibilities. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:45, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi and welcome to the Teahouse. Files can only be uploaded by logged in users and we can only examine your uploads if you tell us your username. You were not logged in when you posted here so we can only see your IP address and not your username. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:53, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
How can a new user search for all past editing contributions by using IP address?
Hi, I just signed up for Wikipedia editing privileges. In the past few years, I've made occasional edits -- usually just one or two phrases, when the grammar in an existing article seemed to be crying out for improvement. I signed up today after making one of these edits, and when I clicked the "Contributions" link, I imagined that ALL my past edits would appear. In other words, I thought that the system would search for ALL my past edits, by using my IP address, including the handful of edits made before today (when I finally got an official user name).
But as it turned out, the past edits did not appear. Only today's contribution appeared. // So, is there any quick way that I can have the system search for all the past edits, including those made before I got a username?
RichM969RichM969 (talk) 16:20, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Hello RichM969, Welcome to Teahouse. You can check the edits by typing the IP address in the text box next to 'User' at this page: Special:Contributions. If you are not aware of your IP address, you can check the same at this link: Wikimedia Geoiplookup. Please note that if you were using a dynamic IP modem, its difficult to track the edits. --Anbu121 (talk me) 17:31, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
For privacy reasons, only checkusers can see the IP address used by an account. If you log out and click Special:MyContributions then you can see edits made by your current IP address by users who were not logged in at the time. There might be others than you, and there might be none if your IP address is dynamic. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:48, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
@PrimeHunter, what does checkuser has to do with in the context of this question? I guess, even checkuser cant help with the dynamic ip issue. --Anbu121 (talk me) 19:42, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
I was commenting on the original post and not you. I explained why we could not help more directly and for example not say whether IP contributions would show anything. RichM969 also asked for a quick way and I gave a quicker way than looking up your IP address elsewhere and copying it to a form. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:22, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Woman with many surnames
Hi I need a bit of advice. In a bio article about a woman who has had three husbands, and who took each of their surnames in turn, I need to know, when referring to her in bio-style by her surname, which of the four (including maiden name) I should use. Eff Won (talk) 07:32, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Hi Eff Won. The usual approach, as per the Manual of Style and the naming conventions, would be to use whichever name is most commonly used to refer to her. Without knowing which article you're looking at it's hard to make a recommendation, but I'd suggest checking what the sources call her and going with the most popular surname. If that's unclear (or if they simply refer to her by whatever name she was using at the time the source was written), I would recommend using the most recent name she used; presumably that of her last husband. Yunshui雲水 12:54, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Good call; in which case, use "Hawkes" (per such sources as [2], [3], [4]). Yunshui雲水 13:26, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for the advice. Yes, it is Gwenda Hawkes, who was notable, for a variety of achievements, under each of her four surnames. I'll try it using just "Hawkes" and see how it goes. Eff Won (talk) 16:49, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Deleting an uncreated article
Hello Wikipedia!
So I have enjoyed making my first article. The problem was that it got rejected twice due to referencing problems. It is still in the "creation stage." However, I recently got in contact with the individual whom the article is about. She would like the unpublished article to be removed because her manager, a more experienced Wikipedian, is busy creating her an article that is more accurate and factual. I would have removed it myself, but I have no idea how to do that. If someone could please remove it and then tell me they did, I would greatly appreciate that! Thanks, -Mallen22 (talk) 23:59, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
Hey, and welcome! Could you give us the name of the person? Also, could you give us the username of the "more experienced" manager? That way, I can go in and look at your article, their article, and see what we think? There's nothing that stops you from working on yours though! gwickwire | Leave a message 00:01, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
I honestly have no idea what her manager's name or Wikipedia username is. Fay just told me (through email) about her manager creating her article and how she wants my draft deleted. Can you still help? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mallen22 (talk • contribs) 00:06, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Neither her or her manager has any say over what can and cannot be created at Wikipedia. They should be directed to Wikipedia:Ownership of articles, which explains that no one owns the content at Wikipedia. Also, they should be directed to Wikipedia:Conflict of interest which explains that neither her nor her manager should be creating or editing articles about her. If you do genuinely still wish to delete that AFC page, you can do so by tagging the top of the page with {{db-author}}, but you should feel absolutely NO need to do so based on the requests you have received. --Jayron32 00:37, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
It's okay that you didn't know her name. I looked around quickly, and I couldn't find any saved articles on Fay Wolf that aren't your AfC draft. I think you should keep going on your article, and find more sources from independent newspapers or other news outlets (cnn.com, foxnews.com, etc.) and then resubmit it. I don't think you should delete it, as I think it will become a great article with time. Thanks! gwickwire | Leave a message 00:42, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Further, I think it's better to retain this version of the article and move it into the history of the new article being created by her manager. This will preserve a complete history of the article(s) about her on Wikipedia, especially since you've interacted with the subject, and thus indirectly with her manager. —C.Fred (talk) 13:52, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
C.Fred, I'm not sure the manager's version will be one that will be kept. More than likely it will either get CSD'ed as too promotional, or PRODed, or AfDed. I'm going to help the user to get his version ready for articlespace, so that that article will be up (hopefully) before the manager's version, so we can avoid having to delete the managers version, then move this one, etc. etc. gwickwire | Leave a message 19:05, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
way to see total page views for "online community" ?
i want to see the total page views for "online community" article.. right now, i can see views at the link below, but only in 90 day durations and only by months. I am hoping to find the total views between January 11, 2010, and now. (This is for a research project involving Wikipedia and how Wikipedians define "online community")
Hi, Mollygk, and welcome to the Teahouse! Unfortunately, I don't believe (but I could be wrong) that there is a easy way to find the total amount of page views from a certain date until now.
You could find the count for all the months from that date until now and add them up. The statistics page also has some interesting links at the bottom with options to raw data and JSON data, if you want to dig down deep.
It does not in the least matter whether it was paywalled or not, as long as it was not under a free license (which essentially no ordinary newspaper is). What was posted was an entire article, and there is no conceivable way that this is permissible. Brief quotations are another matter, and come under fair use. it is also possible for someone with legitimate access to the text to mail it to another editor off wiki--indeed, most newspapers have facilities for it, & even if they don't, it's probably acceptable use & is at any rate no concern of ours. (I note that it is technically impossible to add attachments to WP email.) But that text on the p. must be immediately removed. DGG ( talk ) 00:02, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
I have added a comment to the talk page and removed the material. It can be restored later if the copyright permission issue can be clarified, but it is best to err on the side of caution in cases like this and remove such material on sight. Road Wizard (talk) 00:35, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Oops - sorry. It's a good job I asked! I've replied there. Thanks. -- Trevj (talk) 07:15, 28 November 2012 (UTC)
Whataboutpbamasunreleaseddocuments & My Secret Angel and Me, LLC. I believe these user name aren't not right. What do you think? pratyya (talk) 05:05, 2 December 2012 (UTC)
Hi Pratyya and welcome to the Teahouse! You would be correct that those usernames are probably a violation of Wikipedia's policy on usernames. You can report them to WP:UAA, if you'd like. Thanks! GoPhightins! 05:08, 2 December 2012 (UTC)
uploading my picture onto my user profile
Hi, can someone please help. I've created a user profile "Jack Dikian" recently. I have made at least 10 edits. I was successful in uploading a picture to go along my user page but the image was a little small. Today I believe I have uploaded a large image (I think into commons. Not really sure what that is. The new image is not being displayed on my user page. Does it take time? Should I just wait? Any advice? C 03:16, 2 December 2012 (UTC)
When editing my user page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Fuschiabriefs), I have two tables 2nd to last and 3rd to last from the bottom, which from what I can see are identical, apart from the individual data in them. However, in the top one, there are 2 boxes "jury votes" to the right which I can't explain why they are there, or how to get rid of them. Also, each column doesn't appear to be of equal width, whereas in the bottom table they do. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Hello and welcome Frederic! You need to put a colon in front of it, like this: [[:fr:animal]] which prints fr:animal. NOTE, however, that this is not a reference, merely a link to an article at another language's Wikipedia. You cannot use another Wikipedia article, in any language, to verify text at Wikipedia. Does that help? --Jayron32 20:24, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
OK, thanks much. It works, although it's not very pretty.
I am having trouble changing my main title from User:MyName to Alice Lloyd Hall. By main title I mean what the entire page is centered around and I can't figure out how to change that!Katiereiner (talk) 19:41, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
If you wanted to move a page, you would do this. I don't think you want to do this, however. The article needs a lot of work Hello Katiereiner, and welcome to the Teahouse. Your article is currently located on your user page which is fine, because user pages are frequently used as a "sandbox" to create a "draft version" of the article. If you wanted to move the article to the main article space, you would use the "move" function as is shown in the picture I just provided. However, you do not want to do this right now. Trust me. As it stands now, the article would likely be deleted very quickly if you moved it to the main article space. Instead, you really should work on the article in your sandbox until it is acceptable. Perfection is not required, but there are still some minimum standards, and the text you have written is fairly below it right now. Here's some things that need to be fixed before the text is moved to an article title:
There are no good references in the article. Wikipedia requires that all text is connected to reliable and independent sources (that is, really good well respected sources that are unconnected to the subject itself, like books, newspapers, journals, etc, which have no affiliation with the University of Michigan) before an article can exist. In the state it is right now, that is the main reason the article would be deleted. You need to remedy this first before anything else can be done. Not every thing in the world has been written about in this way, but in order to exist as an article at Wikipedia, those sources need to exist.
The text is of an inappropriate tone for an encyclopedia article. Your writing needs to describe the subject in dispassionate terms, that is phrases like "one of the many amazing dorms..." really aren't appropriate for Wikipedia. You're job as a Wikipedia writer is to tell us about the subject, not to tell us how to feel about the subject.
If you could fix those two problems, the article would be ready to move. Does that help you? --Jayron32 20:12, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
How can an image be transferred from ones profile to an article?
hi there, I wanted to upload this image on Sabyasachi Mukherjee article however after filling the form its showing on the main page of my profile. How can I transfer the image to the article??? thanks Callousfreak (talk) 18:49, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
I am sorry...am really lost..I can't even locate the image i uploaded...itss lost....while uploading- I simply went on the upload file box at the toolbox & followed the instructions & it got uploaded too...but now I cant find it...please help Callousfreak (talk) 18:57, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
Callousfreak, according to your contributions, which you can see by clicking the contributions link at the top of the page, you have only uploaded one image File:Sabhyasachi Mukherjee at the launch of Zoya Banaras collection by Taj Khazana.jpg. You can attach this to the article on Mukherjee article by adding [[File:Sabhyasachi Mukherjee at the launch of Zoya Banaras collection by Taj Khazana.jpg]] at the at the appropriate point in the article - probably at the top. Looking at the image file you have uploaded it with a licence tag saying that it is licenced under a Creativecommons licence. On the bollywoodhungama.com site I don't see anything that indicates that this image is licenced in this way and therefore I have tagged the image for deletion from wikipedia unless in the next seven days you can supply an appropriate licence and permission. It is your responsibility to show that the image is in the public domain not for me or anyone else to disprove it ,just being available on the internet is not an indication that a photo is in the public domain. NtheP (talk) 19:14, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
Hi peeps. The image is now on Wikimedia Commons at [[File:Sabyasachi Mukherjee.jpg]]. I've tagged the original for deletion as a duplicate of the Commons image. Keri (talk) 20:19, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
edit references
I tried to edit some links of references on the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pommel_horse. But when I click the "edit" button of the References section I only get the text:
"References Reflist"
But not the References List itself, how can I reach the references themselves??
Xela46 (talk) 17:52, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
Hi Xela46, welcome to the teahouse! The references are inline citations, so they are in the body of the article itself, between <ref> and </ref> tags. Click Edit at the very top of the page, not on the right, and you'll see them. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 17:54, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
(edit conflict)(kind of) Hello! Welcome to the teahouse! If you cite the references inline with <ref> </ref> and {{citeweb}} <nowiki>, then just go to the bottom, type <nowiki> ==References== and then {{reflist}} to produce all of the references in order. If you provide a link, I'd be glad to go take a look! gwickwire | Leave a message 17:58, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
Articles
can you not delete my articles?Ferrari Enzo 2 (talk) 23:03, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Thank you for asking the Teahouse your question! I'm not aware of your situation, but your articles were probably deleted by an administrator for a valid reason, such as notability, or an articles for deletion discussion. Check on the article's red link and see the reasoning for deletion. TBrandley 01:18, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
Hello Ferrari Enzo! Just a tip for you. I am an administrator, so I can check to see what articles you created have been deleted. It would be helpful, if you don't want your articles deleted, if you didn't create gibberish or nonsense articles. The only article deleted from the account you are using now was an article titled "Hfsdffftttttttrr" and it was basically some made-up baloney. This is a serious academic project, and we welcome serious contributions to it, but if you going to ask questions about why things get deleted, "because it was a joke you did just to be funny" is very high on the list of reasons. --Jayron32 16:01, 1 December 2012 (UTC)
The Anonymouse (talk • contribs) 02:10, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
