Wikipedia:Help desk

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Archives before October 2006
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1 December 8
2 December 9
3 December 10

[edit] December 8

[edit] Author?

Who is the author of this encyclopedia —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.116.118.10 (talk • contribs).

Anyone who helps by clicking the "Edit this page" button on the top of any page. For more information see Wikipedia:About. Prodego ^talk 00:59, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

If you're looking to cite Wikipedia as a source, go to Special:Cite and type in the article name. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 01:00, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lower and Upper Case

How do I make a page universal so that the case of the letters don't matter? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Arrashju (talk • contribs) 01:37, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

I'm not sure what you mean, exactly. In general, create an article at the proper spelling and capitalisation, then create redirects to it from the reasonable mis-capitalisations. Recall that the various search engines will find the page regardless of case, so the only need for wrong-case redirects is in the case of wrong-case links. For instance, an article about Tom Hanks filmography should have redirects from tom hanks filmography, Tom Hanks Filmography, and maybe TOM HANKS FILMOGRAPHY as legitimate {{R from other capitalisation}}s, but ToM hAnKs FilmOgraphY is pretty useless. BigNate37_(T) 02:05, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

It's actually a little easier than this if the goal is to make the article available using the "go" button. Redirects for "go" usage are generally not needed (see Wikipedia:Go button for the details), but when they are needed only one is necessary. In the example above, Tom Hanks Filmography covers all capitalizations including ToM hAnKs FilmOgraphY. If the goal is to be able to wikilink to the article using other capitalizations, each specific form you want to be able to be used as the link target has to exist as a redirect. -- Rick Block (talk) 03:01, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cochin estuary

How to get a map of Cochin estuary, India ?

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 03:32, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] nothing to edit in "edit this page"

I want to edit "Category:Regional mammals lists" because the alphabetical order needs fixing.

But when I open "edit this page" there's nothing in there to edit. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mollwollfumble (talk • contribs) 03:53, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

The only thing you can edit at the category page is the category description (you can also add the category to categories there). The entries for a category appear because the articles have links in them to the category. For instance, if I put [[Category:Wikipedians in Canada]] on my userpage, the link won't appear on my userpage. The userpage will be listed in the category as User:BigNate37, sorted under 'U'. If I want to be sorted by my username without the User: in front, I pipe a sort key in the category link on my userpage. In other words, I change the link to [[Category:Wikipedians in Canada|BigNate37]], which puts me under 'B'. BigNate37_(T) 04:09, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] DELETING IMAGES

How do you delete an image posted on Wikipeida?

HOW CAN I DELETE AN IMAGE FROM WIKIPEDIA? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lachiny (talk • contribs) 04:08, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

If the image qualifies for one of the speedy deletion criteria for images and media, place the appropriate speedy delete tag on the image's page in the form {{db-i?}}, where I? corresponds to the criterion. {{db-i3}}, for example, for improper license. If the image does not qualify for speedy deletion, you'll want to list it at Wikipedia:Images for deletion. BigNate37_(T) 04:15, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Edit the Size of the Edit-Pane

Hello, I am wondering how you change the height of the pane that you type into when you are editing a page. I find that the default height is far to small, especially for editing longer sections. I have searched high and low but have found no information on how to do this! Thank you very much. Pro Grape 04:45, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Go to My preferences, click on the "Editing" tab, and you'll see that you can adjust the dimensions of the edit box there. Hope that helps, Tito xd^(?!?) 04:47, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you! That is exactly what I needed. Pro Grape 04:54, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing: Keyboard Shortcuts?

Hello again. Are there shortcuts that can be used when editing which allow speedy saves or previews of page? Pro Grape 04:54, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Sure, for saving, you can use [alt+s] (or something equivalent in your browser), and for preview, it is [alt+p]. A full list of these shortcuts is available at Wikipedia:Keyboard shortcuts. Tito xd^(?!?) 04:57, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Excellent. Thanks again! Pro Grape 05:07, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "I'm busy in real life" template

Hi, Where can I find the template that says "I'm busy in real life, yada yada"? Thanks,NinaEliza 05:52, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't think that's an 'official' template. Try hitting 'edit' and copy it from wherever you saw it.- 131.211.210.17 09:35, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

{{busy}} works ;) -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 09:36, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks!NinaEliza 04:27, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Upload

Hello, I attempted to upload the company logo to the following page without success:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamonts

The following link is to the picture of the official logo for Lamonts, and I would like to add it to the Lamonts page, can someone please do it for me?...as I'm not very computer savvy:

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r58/madelineseattle2/ef_1_b-1.jpg

-Sincerely, Madeline Marrero

You can't show images in articles by linking to another website. That would give too much possibilities to vandals for linking shocking images. Try following the instructions at Special:Upload and Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. - 131.211.210.17 09:34, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] changing my password

how do i change my paassword????????????????????? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ns2max (talk • contribs) 07:02, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

Question answered on user's talk page.NinaEliza 07:15, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] taking songs from ipod to computor

can you take songs from your ipod and put them on your computor, like you can put songs on your ipod from your computor. and how would you do that ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.68.172.73 (talk) 07:20, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

It's not possible to do so with iTunes, as far as I know. For a more in-depth answer to this question, you might consider posting to the appropriate section of the reference desk. Hope that helps! Luna Santin 07:38, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I think in one instance you can (check http://www.itunes.com to be sure): that is when you have authorized another computer with the same account as the computer that is synching with the iPod - I believe it brings the music down to the newly authorized computer. Now, what this has to do with help with Wikipedia, I don't really know. ;o) --Jay 16:13, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Contractions

Is it true that contractions (such as didn't, hadn't etc) are not permitted in the articles of Wikipedia?

Ordinary Person 08:19, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Manual of Style is silent on this (though vaguely disapproving of "e.g." and "i.e.") but it is likely that visiting editors will change these at some point, perhaps to make the article more formal, encyclopedia style. I know I would tend to rewrite these if I was editing that part of an article for another reason. Notinasnaid 09:24, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Abbreviations and contractions are different things. Personally, I don't care about contractions. They sound natural and make an article easy to read. As far as I know such a restriction doesn't exist. - 131.211.210.17 09:37, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spell Checker?

Is there any way (& if so, what is it?) to run a Spell Checker on pages we're editing? Thanks! --Mpwrmnt 09:57, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Firefox 2.0+ has it built-in. There are plugins for other browers. And, of course, you can just copy / paste it into your favorite word processor, then copy it back. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 10:11, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Cool! Looks like I need to update my Firefox! (Pasting it into a word processor sounds too much like WORK!) <g> Ahhh, but it's ALL fun - why else would we spend so many HOURS doing this??? :-) New Wikiaholic --Mpwrmnt 10:19, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The naming of disambiguation pages

Is there some reason why some disambiguation pages are labeled as such (in the page name) (see Wrong (disambiguation)) and some are not? (see Real Life) Thanks! --Mpwrmnt 10:14, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

When one use of a term is dominant, that article is placed at the title with the disaombiguation at its own page. However, if all are used almost equally, the dab page is placed there to aid people in finding what they are looking for. See Wikipedia:Disambiguation. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:09, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Figures of Light Entry

Dear Wikipedia:

In the Wikipedia article on the band Figures of Light, the hyperlink for "Figures of Light" doesn't seem to work, although all the other links do.

Could you see what the problem is, and perhaps correct it?

Thanks much! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.93.54.82 (talk) 14:35, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

You can't link an article to itself. The first occurrence of an article's name in the article should be in bold (place three apostrophes either side of its name) and not linked; future occurrences shouldn't be linked either. Links are case-sensitive; the link there at the moment doesn't link to the article because the article's name is incorrect (Figures of light rather than the correct Figures of Light). (You can't fix this without an account, so I'll go and fix it for you now). --ais523 14:41, 8 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] German picture into English lemma

Hello Wikipedia, I have recently enlarged and improved the lemma Gammaspektroskopie in German. Now I am trying to enlarge the stub Gamma spectroscopy in English. I want to insert the first picture from the German version Bild:Spektrogramm.png|300px|right into the English, but I cannot do it. Can you do it for me please? HPaul 14:45, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

The only wiki apart from the English Wikipedia that can be used on the English Wikipedia for images is the Wikimedia Commons. You'll have to copy the picture there or find someone else to copy it there to be able to use it here. --ais523 14:47, 8 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] After several tries, I can't get the email confirmation to work Chris Follows 15:24, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

After several tries, I can't get the email confirmation to work Chris Follows 15:24, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ORIGINS OF WIKIPEDIA

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I AM VERY INTERESTED IN KNOWING THE "NATIONALITY" OF WIKIPEDIA: WHERE WAS IT BORN?

TANKS A LOT!!!

SARA —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 189.148.16.48 (talk) 16:03, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

Take a look at the article on Wikipedia. It started from Nupedia, if I recall. BigNate37_(T) 16:26, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Could you do us a favor, please, also, and type in lowercase? Patstuart^talk|edits 17:04, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

(Caps key JAMMED?)martianlostinspace 19:06, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Adding <a name=> Tag (ANSWERED)

I can't find documentation on how to do it. I'd greatly appreciate your telling me. Thanks! --Jay 16:08, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Anchors are useful for page-section shortcuts, like WP:CSD#I3. There's no section entitled I3, but there is a <span id="I3" /> tag there, which catches the reference. I think an <a id="I3" /> or <div id="I3" /> would work, too. W3Schools has great tutorials for web development, and they have information here specific to using named anchors. BigNate37_(T) 16:24, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm sorry, BigNate37, I don't think I was specific: what I meant was, how do I add an <a name=> tag in a wiki article without making it a heading so that I can jump to it with a [[#example]] tag? Sorry for the confusion. --Jay 16:43, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

I'd suggest the span tag, which I took from WP:CSD. Here's how you should use it:

<span id="example" />For instance, blah blah blah...
.
.
.

== Some other part of the article ==

As in the [[#example|example]] above, etc...

== Some other article ==

As in the [[The first article#example|example]] from [[the first article]], etc...

I hope that's easy enough to understand—it's hard to tell if it makes sense when you're the one who wrote it. I think you can replace <span id="example" /> with <a name="example" /> and have the same functionality, but you'd have to consult W3Schools or a more knowledgeable editor to be sure. BigNate37_(T) 18:13, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

This may be a bit simple, but why don't you try using <a name=> Patstuart 18:14, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Aha. That worked perfectly, BigNate37. You gave me the answer the first time, but with your comments about W3Schools it seemed like you thought I was asking about learning HTML, which I know pretty well. :) Thanks for your patience and information.

Pat, I tried that first, but as you can see, the tag gets converted to text: <a name="name"> (<a name="name">). And I appreciate the suggestions.
--Jay 18:44, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, it looks like there was an edit conflict: I didn't see your example before I responded. Patstuart^talk|edits 18:45, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I was just putting in a plug for the site I like to refer to for web development topics. BigNate37_(T) 19:01, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Whoops, sorry

I am a general interest editor. I don't have anything against Xlibris except that it has been identified as a vanity press by many reputable sources in and out of the science fiction community (see, for example http://www.answers.com/topic/vanity-press ).

Twice now I have added the vanity press information to its Wikipedia entry, with citation. Both times, not only has the information has been removed but the history has been erased as if it had never been! The first time I thought I had been absent-minded and had not actually changed what I thought I had; but the second time I made sure.

How is this possible? They are keeping important information out of their article and not even allowing a record of its having ever existed. This seems to go against all Wikipedia principles of balance and is suspiciously close to turning their article into nothing more than an advertisement. Please, what is going on?

(Just a minute later): Okay, now I feel like an idiot, because when I just checked again, the history was back. I must have done something wrong. I am sorry.Artemis-Arethusa 16:29, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes people make mistakes. And sometimes technical glitches happen. Don't worry about it. Newyorkbrad 16:42, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Uhh, the reference to Xlibris at the link you gave to answers.com is only there because the content was taken from Wikipedia. That doesn't hold up as a reference here, since this is where that bit of information seems to have started. To put it another way, answers.com is a Wikipedia mirror as far as this case is concerned, so that can't be used as a reference in our articles. BigNate37_(T) 18:52, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lang Michener LLP Posting

Good afternoon:

I have a question about a posting I submitted on behalf on Lang Michener LLP. I keep getting a pink box labelling the posting as an advertisement. There is nothing in the posting I submitted that is any different from other any Canadian law firms that are present on Wikipedia.

Please let me know what I can do to rememdy this.

Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sswartz (talk • contribs) 19:05, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

It is being marked for speedy deletion under CSD G11. First thing to do is put a {{hangon}} tag there so it's not deleted while you present your case on the article's talk page. BigNate37_(T) 19:09, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

After you do that, study the G11 criterion and explain on the article's talk page, Talk:Lang Michener LLP, why it shouldn't be deleted under the criterion—then remove the {{hangon}} tag. You may wish to write with a Wikipedia administrator in mind as your audience, since an admin will eventually view the article tagged for speedy deletion (CSD) and decide whether the article warrants speedy deletion. CSD is quite stringent, so pay attention to the letter of the criterion. I've actually got some similar instructions written up here, if those help. BigNate37_(T) 19:14, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, it looks like that didn't happen quite fast enough to avoid deletion. A new article can be written, or you can request an administrator to restore the old one for rewriting, so it's more neutral and doesn't fall afoul of the guidelines discussed above. Lang Michener is a major firm and well worthy of an article, although pursuant to the conflict-of-interest policy it really shouldn't be written by someone "submitt[ing] on behalf of" the firm. Newyorkbrad 01:20, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

What conflict of interest policy? Anchoress 01:38, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I should have written conflict of interest "guideline": see WP:COI. I'm aware it's not a formally binding policy, which is why I said "really shouldn't" instead of "mustn't be." The important thing, of course, is that the article has to be written in a neutral, encyclopedic manner, and a representative of the subject will often have trouble doing so. By the way, to the law firm's representative, this discussion itself may be seen by anyone who Googles the name of your firm, so you might want to do additional research by other means. Newyorkbrad 01:43, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah sorry to say it was deleted, if you want to know it was deleted by User:Alex Bakharev. If you have any questions or want it restored you will have to ask him. — Seadog 01:22, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hmm

How doi create a template? Because {{help me}} is a little out of date I was thinking of one that said,{{Helpme|My reason here}} Without the,

use helpme on your talk page and ask yure q below.

A little help please? --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 19:55, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

I would advise looking at some of the other templates and seeing how they work. But, for reference, there is Help:Template. Patstuart^talk|edits 20:00, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] fix it

Someone needs to go in and clean up the Wike page:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 152.132.10.196 (talk) 20:43, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

Looks like a Vandal bot already cleaned it up. For the record, you can revert vandal edits youself, when it's noticed. Kesh 21:17, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Um

Where doi add {{User:_}} to the "magic" words page? --Darkest Hour ^$_$^$_$ 20:47, 8 December 2006 (UTC) See the little red $ sign.

Well that isn't a magic word, or do you mean you want to add that to your signature? Please clarify. Thanks, Prodego ^talk 20:51, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article

I would life to type an article and I'm wondering how to do it, so can you tell me where to type stuff so please show me where.

Just search for the subject you want. If it doesn't exist, you'll see a red link for it at the top of the search page. Click on that, and you'll get a new article page under that name. Kesh 00:27, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] geek

the geek page is all geeked up —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.154.240.187 (talk) 22:24, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] how will I know my page is approved?

I recently created a public domain page for Wikipedia and to be honest, not sure I did it correctly. How will I know my page is uploaded correctly and will I receive an e-mail confirmation? Please advise. KwameTLaing 22:35, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

You will know the page uploaded correctly by typing the name of the page into the "search" box at the left of the screen and making sure it's there. Note that sometimes the database takes a little while to update so this might not happen instantaneously, but it will be there soon enough. If you provide the name of the page, someone here can take a look at it and tell you if it looks okay.

Please note that pages do not need to be "approved" to be posted on Wikipedia. Although, if they do not meet our guidelines, there is a procedure for them to be deleted ... but that is the exception, not the default. Hope this is helpful. Newyorkbrad 22:38, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

AS said above, you add pages yourself by going to the page you want to add, and inserting content into the edit box. Then you click save, and it is immediately added to Wikipedia, and licenced under the GFDL. Are you talking about the content here? Prodego ^talk 22:39, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] December 9

[edit] sign in

I have created an account with Wikepedia last month and responded to the verification email.

When I wish to edit an entry I sign in easily. But, when I go to the entry to edit suddenly I am no longer signed in. This cycle repeats endlessly.

How can I remaind signed in?

66.82.9.49 01:15, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Hmm...Have you tried checking the "remember me" box. This helps me usually. — Seadog 01:18, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

See this section above. Prodego ^talk 01:48, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] James bond parodies

I made some additions to the "James Bond parodies" article. I added the movies "Deadlier Than the Male" (1966) and "Some Girls Do" (1969)to the list of parodies. I then accessed the entries for both these movies, and tried to make them redirect to the "James Bond parodies" page through the category link. Instead a new page for "James Bond parodies" has opened rather than redirecting to the existing page.

Why does this happen, and what have I done wrong?

--Mrodowicz 01:37, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

There's no actual "James Bond parodies" category. What you probably want is a See Also section instead, and a link to James Bond parodies in there. -- Kesh 02:12, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your help. I've rectified the problem - much appreciated!

--Mrodowicz 16:30, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] why delete?

I have created a page but it has recently been deleted. Why did one of your administrators do that? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Soraboy280 (talk • contribs) 01:42, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

Can you let us know the page that got deleted. 9/10 there is a a good reason why. If you can't don't let us know there is nothing anybody can do. — Seadog 01:46, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, seadog, i wrote a page, BUT it was about a friend named "Leo Munda" Is it because it would not benefit to Wikipedia or anything like that? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Soraboy280 (talk • contribs) 02:25, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

Thank you for your civility but basically it was probably deleted due to the fact that the person was not notable. Basically what that means is that articles are only allowed to be about notable people. — Seadog 02:28, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My Upload

I wrote a Wikipedia page, and when I type in the Title in SEARCH, it isn't there. Does it take some amount of time, for I saved it and uploaded it, so shouldn't it be there? When will it be there? When I go back , I see my work, but not when I put the subject into SEARCH. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Leahbeez (talk • contribs) 03:49, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

It takes a wile sometimes. The server is being a little slow today, just be patient. If it doesn't show up for like a while, click on the page where you created yoru article (it doesn't exist but still click on it). You'll get a bunch of stuff written down and a box for you to type in your changes. In the bunch of written stuff, you'll see "deletion log", click on that and see if it was deleted. If it was, then see why it was and if you need to, contact the user (admin) who deleted it. If there is nothing in the log, you must have not created it (probably didn't hit "save"). Cbrown1023 03:53, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Your article exists, it will be deleted, though, unless you can prove it is notable enough. See the page you created for more information. Cbrown1023 03:54, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I need help

I need help with my signature. I have been trying to come up with a cool one ever since I had my username changed. I have a really cool one, but the Preferences won't save it right. It says to check the HTML tags, however I am quite sure the HTML tags are right. This is what I want it to look like: C J King. This is the source code, bolded:[[User:CJ_King|<font color=red face=Tahoma>C</font>]][[User talk:CJ_King|<font color=blue face=Tahoma>J</font>]] [[Martin Luther King, Jr.|<font color=darkgoldenrod face=Tahoma>King</font>]]. Please reply on my talk page, as I will be looking there first. Thank you very much for your help, and please have a nice day.--CJ King 04:40, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Make sure you have the Raw Signature button clicked. Also, I would advise you to try to cut down some on the length of that sigunature, is it currently spans over 4 lines (see WP:SIG, which hopefully has information on that). Good luck. -Patstuart^talk|edits 05:23, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Four lines? For me it's barely longer than one line. Remember not everyone has the same screen resolution. Whatever you do, just don't put bold text in your signature—it's sooo tacky. BigNate37_(T) 05:30, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

It's just under one line for me :S but if it is too long, it won't be appreciated on talk pages because it takes up lots of room. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 12:00, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] usa patriot

how do i get to usapatriot act controversy free speech zone —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.141.78.164 (talk) 05:17, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

I think you're looking for Free speech zone.--Kchase T 05:26, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Categories

I know that you can user __NOTOC__ to suppress the table of contents, but is there some handy code to suppress categories from appearing? --Daniel Olsen 05:25, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't think so. That has the potential to be misleading. BigNate37_(T) 05:28, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Or minimalist, which is the desired effect (it's in userspace). --Daniel Olsen 05:32, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I see. Userbox categories, is it? I'm afraid I don't know anything better than substitution and manual removal of categories, if they're coming in from templates, and that doesn't always work. Either way, to my knowledge such a magic word doesn't exist although I wouldn't be very surprised if there was something I didn't know about for it. BigNate37_(T) 05:45, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

The thing is I still want to be included in the categories, not not have the big (somewhat ugly) box at the bottom of the page. --Daniel Olsen 06:52, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

IF you "Really", really dislike them you can make your own userboxes if you know how. That way you won't have any categorys. IF you have questions about that let me know. — Seadog 14:07, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I already know how to create and edit userboxes and such, but that doesn't solve the problem. When someone browses through Category:Example, I want to be included in that category, but not have all the categories I'm in show up at the bottom of the page. --Daniel Olsen 18:06, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A Page Full of External Links

I recently expanded an article about the Colton Joint Unified School District. My original intention was just to create a list of schools. I ended up getting ambitious and created external links for all the schools I listed (which I have since edited when I discovered one of the high schools has a Wikipedia article about it). I would like to know if it is considered bad form to create a page with that many external links. Should I leave the list but remove the external links and replace them with a list of links from the school district homepage at the bottom of the article? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by ColTony (talk • contribs) 09:25, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

Normally I would say yes, though in this case it looks like it may be relevant. You could also consider creatinga category called Category:Colton Joint Unified School District. Patstuart^talk|edits 09:49, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't want to sound negative or as though I'm being hostile but it is actually against policy (see Wikipedia is not a repository of links) and it may lead to your article getting deleted. You may also want to move it to List of schools in Colton Joint District or something similar as a list. I think the list has been well made but lists on Wikipedia are usually for listing Wikipedia articles so check if the schools have articles (all of them) and if not you could create articles for them. If you have any questions about this or anything, feel free to contact me on my talk page. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 12:11, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Getting full (rather than subset) of category contents on single page

Hello. Thanks in advance to all those people who take time to monitor this page and help other users, it must be a fairly thankless task!

My query is that when I visit a category page that contains links to hundreds of articles, such as Category:Cleanup_from_December_2006, the initial page presented only presents a subset of the total articles, with links to the "next 200" etc. This is obviously a useful feature to stop a user's browser having to try and print 10,000 articles if you are viewing a huge category. However, is it possible to override this behaviour and get a list of all articles in a category on a single page, no matter how many there are? (perhaps by sending an argument in the URL such as "&showall=true") The reason I ask is that I have a bot that needs to fetch a list of all articles in a category and it would obviously be a lot easier if it could do this from a single page. Many thanks - PocklingtonDan 10:14, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

My guess is no, but you might ask any of the folks who run CFD cleanup bots, see Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Working. The reason the search result is limited is because unlimited category listings for large categories were causing server performance problems, not because of any client side (browser) issues. If there were a way to defeat the limit, it would provide a denial of service opportunity. -- Rick Block (talk) 16:35, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

darnit, the thing is ironically the bot is going to cause MORE server load if it has to cycle through 200 pages of results than if it could access a single page. Thanks, I will post this query at the page you listed. - PocklingtonDan 16:59, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spam, spyware in Wiki Link.

While using wikipedia, I hit on a like to a website www.jt.org that was suppossed to have Saturday Night Live clips. This caused either a virus or spyware to come onto my computer. According to Internic Whois, the owner of this websitre is anonymous and undicosed. In addition to displaying copyrighted content, it appears this web site is placing links on Wiki to promote questionable purposes. I then did a search for other links from this website on Wiki and found several. How should this be dealt with? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.153.133.115 (talk) 11:32, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

I suggest that if the site is malicious, you remove any links to that site. But make sure that in your edit summary you make it clear that the website is dangerous otherwise people might undo your edits suspecting you're vandalising or just deleting randomly. I found 190 pages [1] that contain a link to jt.org which means that it might be too overwhelming to remove them all. I couldn't find any discussion of what to do in this situation so I will create a discussion at WP:EL. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 11:47, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I've posted to m:Talk:Spam blacklist on Meta. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:12, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wiki syntax

I have been studying HTML and understand that Wiki is an abeviated HTML. I have yet to find a section on the actual elements and syntax used. The only thing I found is the Cheatsheet. Isn't there a more extensive Cheatsheet that I can study that I can edit some articles. --Jack 12:20, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Try the tutorial at Wikipedia:Tutorial - PocklingtonDan 12:41, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I found I had a similar problem. Usually if you know what you want to do, you can find a page that tells you how to do that, not a big list of code. Try Wikipedia:How to edit a page which has a bit more. I learnt by editing a sandbox and testing things out, copying the code of something interesting and messing with variables and such. If you have questions feel free to ask me. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 12:48, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] info

hi in the steroid skeleton what does the a, b, c, and d rings mean email at [email removed] —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.164.117.234 (talk) 12:30, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

Based on my own knowledge I would guess that they are highlighting the alicyclic rings of carbon. I'm not entirely sure however. If you can't find out, I suggest asking the uploader (who made the image), User:Shaddack. Just edit his talk page to give him a message. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 12:38, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Blocking Malicious Spammers

There is a person (I suspect it's just one unless they are converging on this article) using several IP addresses who has been making frequent malicious edits (and just generally fueling controversy) with little or no explanation. I researched their IP history here and have found a history of these edits, reverts and warnings against them. I place these links here in case the info is deleted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mary_Kay#Three_Revert_Rule

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mary_Kay#Spamming_Wikipedia

I am not an adminstrator, can he/she be blocked? 4.246.207.14 14:06, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Using Wikipedia/Commons images?

Can images from Commons and Wikipedia be used on other websites providing that there is a link back to Wikipedia? 0L1 Talk Contribs 14:24 9/12/2006 (UTC)

I reccomend asking at Commons help desk. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 14:31, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] nternet connectivity Gprs

I want to know gprs fecility in Tata mIndicom Kindly reply to <e-mail removed> —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 61.2.194.100 (talk) 14:40, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] editing already posted text

Hello,

I have added text to one of the entries and would like to edit it. How do I get back to the text itself? Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Pf7875 (talk • contribs) 14:42, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

If you are talking about reverting all you have to do is click the history tab and then click the version you would like to edit. — Seadog 15:00, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Log-in Issues Related to Satellite Modem

I explained the problems I've been having a few months ago and somebody had said they'd heard of others who connect via satellite modems encountering similar difficulties, but had no idea what the cause might be or if there was a solution.

I connect using Firefox on a PC running Windows 2000 Professional. I have cookies enabled and I always check the "Remember Me" box when I sign in. But every time I sign in to WP, I get the "Log-in successful" page, but when I click a link or run a search, it inexplicably signs me out. Occasionally, it'll let me view one or two pages before it boots me, but never more than that. It's impossible to edit a page under my account.

There was a time when, on the same satellite connection, I was able to log-in and stay logged in just fine, but one day, for no apparent reason, this started happening. Since then, there have been occasions when it started working correctly again, but those occasions have always been short-lived.

If anybody has any idea why this is happening and what I can do to fix it, please let me know on my talk page. I would really appreciate any advice anybody can give me. Thanks. 67.142.130.12 14:59, 9 December 2006 (UTC) (My user name is Raoul-Duke)

Log in to the secure server, and it should work fine. There have been several messages from people using your ISP (Hughes Network Systems), and this will fix the problem. Prodego ^talk 15:07, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a million. I wish somebody had been able to tell me to do that four months ago. I really appreciate your help. Raoul Duke 04:12, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] author

who is the author of wikipedia —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.253.162.78 (talk) 16:00, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

everyone. Cbrown1023 16:02, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

See also this. Jacek Kendysz 16:10, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

And, if you're asking because you want to cite an article, please see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. -- Rick Block (talk) 16:21, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] how do you create pages?

i don't understand how to use wikipedia --cat 16:34, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

See: Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article. WODUP 16:54, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Every time i edit a Moderator will change it back

All i am doing is trying to add my knowledge but every time i do, one of you lot change it back :(Stefish23 17:01, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Hmm it depends on what you were adding. Wikipedia is very strict on the Manual of style guidelines, and Original research will always be deleted. Can you give us some examples. — Seadog 17:04, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Also there is no such things as "moderators" on wikipedia as this is a collaborative project and every editor can revert others contributions. You may be thinking about Admins however. They have the ability to delete pages if that is what you were thinking. — Seadog 17:17, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Can you give a specific example. To ensure your edits aren't deleted, make sure you cite your sources, apply neutral point of view and don't insert too much granular/trivial details. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:54, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
- Some user is reverting his actions that totally mess up a page. His edit summaries state he needs help but he keeps making changes anyway. He needs some help. Check out his contributions to this post for more information. (Special:Contributions/Stefish23). Cbrown1023 22:15, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article contributors/administrators

Hello,

Can anyone please tell me if there is a way to find out which user has contributed and who has edited a particular article a the list of administrators managing that article/category ?

Best Regards, NS

Namesniper 17:34, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

At the top of any article page, click the history tab to see the complete list of all the people who have edited that article. Wikipedia doesn't assign specific administrators to each article or category page, though many admins have very long Watchlists—lists of articles on which they informally monitor changes. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 17:44, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] username

hi i have a wikipedIA ACCOUNT AND CAN remember my password and email but unfortunately can't remember my username! please help me soon 86.136.252.82 17:47, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I would suggest you think of any articles that you might have contributed to, and then look in the history of contributions for that article and you should surely remember your username when you see it - PocklingtonDan 18:29, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes that would be my suggestion also, also if you have 0 edits it might be easier to just create a new one. — Seadog 18:32, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] who has final oversight over edits?

I have a nagging doubt regarding the structure of Wikipedia that apparently affects many people. There was no answer in the "Very FAQ's" or elsewhere - not that I could find.

I am a fan of Wikipedia and feel it delivers truthiness I can trust - albeit with some reservation. And friends of mine say "anyone can write whatever they want in it so it's meaningless". Common sense tells me this can't really be the case. I've read too many well-researched topics to dismiss Wikipedia's veracity. So how can I respond to my friends or to my own doubts? What kind of oversight is in place to insure that entries are reliable?

Sincerely thank you, Bruce Brashear —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.188.124.193 (talk) 18:01, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

Well what your friends said that "anyone can write whatever they want in it so it's meaningless" is not exactly true. See there are many, many people who monitor something called "recent changes" and doing so potentially malicious and unreferenced statements are reverted. — Seadog 18:12, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

The best answer is: check the sources. Wikipedia is editable by anyone, which generally means that bad data gets replaced with better data as people read the articles. But, there's no guarantee. So, if you see something on Wikipedia, follow the sources cited to read for yourself. The articles here are a great place to summarize a subject and learn where to start, but the most important thing is that you can always verify what's written elsewhere. Don't rely on this site as your sole source of information, just like you shouldn't rely on a single book, or TV show as your only source. -- Kesh 18:33, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

You're probably interested in Wikipedia:Replies to common objections too. Plus: tell your friends that no source at all should be blindly trusted. And you can look up that test Nature did comparing articles of Wikipedia to those in Britannica. That will shut them up. :) - Mgm|^(talk) 21:51, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Broken bot?

I don't know if this is the right place to mention this, if in fact there is anything to report, or even if I have a right to be as steamed about this as I am. ;-) this edit, which I made on December 1, was immediately reverted as vandalism (attributed to a different user), which no-one noticed or corrected for 9 days. The extent of the problem solving for this issue seems to be apologising for erroneous warning templates; but what about other erroneous edits by the bot? Are they being reverted? I've already posted to the editor's talk page (as you can see), but I wonder if something else needs to be done? Or maybe it already is being done? But if so, why did my edit sit uncorrected for 9 days until I corrected it? Anchoress 18:07, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

VP2 isn't a bot, it's an antivandal program that requires human intervention. Sometimes loading lags and a user will click vandalism, even though the computer thinks it is displaying something else. ST47Talk 18:18, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the explanation, but perhaps you have missed my concern. There is an obvious bug with the program, as you can see from the userpage I linked to. The response to my query has confirmed that, also. My concern is that there are other instances where the program, or person, or whatever has mistakenly reverted good faith edits (as happened to me) that have gone un-noticed. Anchoress 18:21, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

You should report any bugs in detail to the author of the program. Also, if you make an edit to an article, you share as much reponsibility as any other editor for watching that article and ensuring any further edits or reversions of your edit are positive, correct and in good faith - PocklingtonDan 18:27, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, but I disagree with you on two points. First, the primary goal of every bot is to first, do no harm. It should not be the responsibility of good faith editors to ensure that their edits are not removed erroneously by a vandal fighting program with a bug. Second, my edit was not to an article, it was to a talk page. And it was reverted with a deceptive edit summary. I'm not saying the deception was purposeful, but it was nothing I could have used from the talk page history to discern that my contribution had been removed. Further, I don't think it's so much every editor's responsibility to ensure their good faith, on topic talk page contributions remain, as much as it is the responsibility of other editors to ensure they don't remove them. And finally, I think you are also missing the point of my post. I am not posting here to castigate the person who reverted my edit; I am posting here because I am concerned that other such mistakes are going uncorrected. I have already posted to the user's page, but the person's response did not reassure me that steps are being taken to check other edits. Anchoress 18:42, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure exactly what you are after if not castigation. If you have found a specific problem with a specific bot, you should advise its author, giving details of the problem, and ask him to take steps to correct if. If he does so, fine. If not, you should perhaps report it at the bot owner's noticeboard. But you seem to be asking for something more general to be done - the fact is, wikipedia is a very open framework and there isn't anything that can be done to prevent all human errors in editing articles (as seems to be the problem in this case) - as I suggest the only real method is to add every edit you make to your watchlist and monitor it yourself, any edit you make on any page on wikipedia has the potential to be edit usefully or worthlessely, purposefully or accidentally - this is funadmental tot he nature of wikipedia and not something that needs to be "corrected". Cheers- PocklingtonDan 19:06, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm sorry if my goals have not been clear up to now. I assure you I am not after castigation, in any way, shape or form. I'm asking for guidance from the community as to whether or not I should be taking any action beyond advising the editor on her/his talk page, because (if you check all the pages I linked to), it does not seem clear that any action is being taken to ensure that other mistakes that have been made besides the one to the page I posted to have been corrected. I'm trying to be as clear as I can be; the mistaken reversion to my edit happened nine days ago, and I myself caught it. The editor who was responsible for the mistaken reversion has been aware of the problem since December 5, and yet had not checked to ensure that the program, which has a bug, had not caused him/her to make erroneous reversions. It seems logical to me that there are more. The editor's response to my original query also did not lead me to believe that any checks were being made. I am asking if there is anything else I should do. Post here? Post to AN? AN/I? Do nothing? I am asking for guidance. Have I been more clear now? Apologies for any confusion. Anchoress 19:18, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

You seem to be asking for the bot creator to go back and undo the changes the bot has made erroneously. Unfortunately, that's not practical. Best thing you can do is work with the bot's creator to help ensure mistakes are less frequent, and let people watching the pages that have been edited fix the erroneous changes. It sounds like the page you were editing doesn't have a lot of traffic, or people simply weren't aware the mistake was made. There's not much that can be done about that aside from correcting such a mistake when you see it. -- Kesh 21:11, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] start medicare

Where do I sign up to start on medicare? William respond to <e-mail removed>—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.158.118.98 (talk) 18:17, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

You should probably ask at the reference desk. This page is for questions about Wikipedia itself. -- Kesh 18:35, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suggesting a merge

There are two articles that I think should be merged as they deal with almost exactly the same thing. What's the most efficient way to suggest a merger? Thanks. --Mr Beale 19:56, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Check out WP:MERGE. -Royalguard11(Talk·Desk·Review Me!) 20:12, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] your NSDAP page

You might want to check out your page on the NSDAP. Someone has written an expletive that stands out pretty well in the middle of the text. Just thought I would let you know. I couldn't find any contact or webmaster email addresses.

Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 204.96.144.232 (talk) 20:11, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

It was just some petty vandalism, which anyone can revert on Wikipedia (and someone already has). -Royalguard11(Talk·Desk·Review Me!) 20:15, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Two IP edit warriors

I'm having a problem with two IPs warring over content in the Take Along Thomas and Friends. The article survived an AfD, but nothing there is sourced, and both IPs keep adding and removing material in back and forth edit wars. I've tried to resolve this by telling them to source any new additions, but I have been ignored. What do you think I should do? Go to WP:RFC? --W o o ty Woot? contribs 20:35, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

It is likely that none of the IPs editing the article are reading the talk page. They are likely unaware that you posted anything. You could try posting a message to each of their talk pages letting them know about your post and requesting comment. An RfC couldn't hurt, either.

My personal advice would be to nominate it again at WP:AfD. The reason for the failure of the last AfD was that people may have been influenced by the "adcruft" on the page. Since that is no longer there, another AfD may be in order. This article as it stands has very little helpful information aside from the introductory paragraph. If all the lists were expanded to actually explain a little about the characters, it would be a better article, but an article consisting of just a list is not helpful.

—P^urple ^RA^IN 21:19, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mysterious Template for Deletion

On the right hand side of my user page, where the user boxes can be found, there is a green box indicating that this page has been nominated for deletion. I think the box is there in error. The only two people who have edited my user page are myself and my wife (ginkgo100) and I can't find the code that is causing this box to appear. There is no page to discuss keeping the page, so somehow I suspect this warning arrived there in error. Could somebody help me understand what is going on???Balloonman 20:50, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

One of the userboxes that you have on your page (User Republican) has been nominated for deletion. It shows up on all the pages where that user box is. Cbrown1023 21:03, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes it is, if you feel that it should be kept or deleted say so here. — Seadog 21:05, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

You have to be kidding me... somebody is that petty to think identifying oneself with a political party is "partisan politics." Good grief.Balloonman 21:21, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

I added a noinclude tag around the MfD. --W o o ty Woot? contribs 22:17, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Isn't there a special *FD notice for templates/pages used as templates, so that those who use them will be more easily notified of the *FD? (I think it's because most people don't put all the templates they use on thier watchlist, but are certainly interested in the discussion.) Essjay (Talk) 02:34, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NASA

wiki nasa shows a graphic what appears to be a penis. please fix.

Not seeing any vandalism at NASA. Did you mean a different page? -- Kesh 01:31, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

No it was there, or more specifically Template:Spoken Wikipedia. There has been vandalism to some fairly high use templates recently, and this template was transcluded on to the NASA page. The vandalism has been reverted. Prodego ^talk 01:58, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Ah, okay. That's why I didn't see it in the edit history on NASA. Thanks for catching that! -- Kesh 02:11, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] December 10

[edit] Remove Picture

How do I remove a page and Picture I created? the page is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Copy_of_RM_Logo.jpg

WCJohnston 00:21, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Simply place {{db-author}} on the page you would like to be deleted. — Seadog 00:24, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I have deleted it for you. In answer to your original question, only administrators can delete pages (and images), but you can request a page be deleted by adding {{db-author}} to the page as described above. Happy editing! Prodego ^talk 01:03, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Changing an Article Name

How do I change the Name of an Article from Envision high school to Envision High Schools? MacDude415 03:33, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

You can click on the move button at the top of the page. However, you will need to have been registered for at least 4 days in order to complete this function, and you have only been registered for a day in a half. Someone can complete this for you, if you'd like. You want the article at Envision High Schools? Patstuart^talk|edits 03:34, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Done. -Patstuart^talk|edits 03:46, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Parameter values through nested templates

Hi, i'm testing a template A which uses a parameter M to specify a value Z. Inside this template A, I also use a parameter N through which I call a template B. Inside this second template, i specify other parameters but also the same parameter M from the parent template. But i don't know how or if it's possible to "pass" the parameter M's value Z, in the parent template (A), to this child template (B). Have i made myself clear? I hope so... Could anyone help me? Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 03:44, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I think you are refering to your template experiments in your sandbox. You could try subst: which copies the code across (though you may not want that). I'm going to point you to Category:User template coder which is full of people who can code templates well. Sorry that you're getting told to go all over the place. :S James086^{Talk | Contribs} 04:02, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Not at all! Thank you for redirecting me. I just want to solve this. Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 04:13, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Hmm... you forgot to point me to where i could find help, after all, lol. Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 05:04, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

For some reason, it didn't display when he tried to link to "Category:User template coder". Just search for that and see if it helps. -- Kesh 06:07, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

That's because he used [[Category:User template coder]], which added the Help desk to that category (now fixed by making the link [[:Category:User template coder]]). Confusing Manifestation 12:04, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Oops, I thought I had put the colon in there. Sorry for the inconvenience. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 12:07, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Funny enough, i noticed and found strange that category link on the bottom of the page and i thought it would be the easiest way: to ask a pro on the subject. Thanks again, people! I'll be visiting this page more often ;) Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 19:32, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New article

I'm attempting to write a new article (linked from my userpage), and have found multiple sources concerning the company in question. One is a "local" newspaper article, while two others qualify as a national newspaper. There's also two other references in a pay-for database, which I have identified (but I don't yet have access to their article.)

These articles are unique. However, the primary focus is around a current event involving the company's bankruptcy and it's impending buy-out - there is notability asserted by stating that the company is large and significant (i.e. third largest).

I still think that something is missing from my sources, even though it can survive a speedy or prod - can you think of anything offhand? --Sigma 7 04:15, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Turning URLs into sources

Hi. I'm working on an article and I need to start sourcing it. I'm crap at links, and the tutorials (which I'm sure are great, it's my problem) make my head swim.

What I need to do specifically is take a URL and have it appear as "PBS article on subject", and so on with three URLS.

Also, I'm still a little confused about citation. Currently there isn't anything in there that I believe would be controversial, but doesn't it lend credibility to the article to through in some citations?

Thanks for your time, NinaEliza 04:22, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi, as for the links part, if I understood well, you want this – PBS article on subject – correct? Then, all you have to do is this:

[http://URL PBS article on subject]

Don't forget to leave a blank space between the URL and name). Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 04:34, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

But if you are doing these for references, sometimes when you try for an FA or GA the reviewers will get picky and ask them to be made using Template:Cite web. Cbrown1023 04:36, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Great thanks to you both. This could be an featured article or a good article someday, so I'm going to try the Template:Cite web. Pray for me.

NinaEliza 05:27, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Success! I did five of them, and the look too cool for school. Thanks again!NinaEliza 06:57, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] This sounds nuts but???

I just checked my contributions and an edit of the John T. Scopes article appears for 16:52, 7 December 2006. that I did not do. This is a problem as this article I'm sure is controversial and I do not wish to associated with this edit. --Droll 05:30, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Try WP:RFO. Cbrown1023 05:36, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Oh yeah. HELP!!! --Droll 05:36, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, you managed to revert a year's worth of work too. D'oh! (I've reverted) Patstuart^talk|edits 05:38, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

The point is that I did not do it!!!!!!!!!!!! I think some on spoofed --Droll 05:45, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Maybe you want to change your password. It's a possibility, I guess. More likely, it was a server hiccup, or you accidentally did it. The fact that it has an accurate edit summary makes it look like you did it. Do you use any software like VandalProof? One of those might have goofed. Patstuart^talk|edits 05:47, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a I took it to WP:RFO--Droll 05:55, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I would have thought this would be for the Check Users so they could see if more than one IP was logging in as him. Of course the people with Oversight often have Check User Priviliges aswell so they would likely help anyway. If you want to try the Check Users go here: Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser. Hope it helps. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 06:07, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What Does <br/> & <br/> Do?

Danke.100110100 05:32, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Well you can basically see. It breaks your sentences/edits. — Seadog 05:34, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

It is HTML code that forces a new line. In a wiki it is not usually used but it comes in handy for poetry where you do not want a list or a new paragraph. For example:

This is line one.
This is line two.

Notice that the preferred syntax is <br /> --Droll 05:42, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] div

What exactly does </div> do? I only seem to use it when adding references down the bottom of a page.

†he Bread 06:15, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

To put it bluntly; it ends certain codes. The fact that it contains the "/" means it is closing the tag so there will be a <div> (though it may be <div class> or <div style>) further up the page. You are probable using it to "close" references like this

<div class="references-small"><references/></div>

You can also create boxes and things with <div></div> tags such as the decoration of my user page (edit it and have a look). To create boxes and things you use code like this:

<div style=""></div>

I'm not great with these tags but I'm ok. They are used extensively in templates and for making the references section of an article. If you want to know more feel free to ask. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 06:28, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Technical answer: it's a block-level element for Cascading Style Sheet declarations.

Non-technical answer: it allows you to make paragraph-wide (or page-wide) changes to whatever is within the div tags. Tito xd^(?!?) 06:48, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Ahh, allways wondered what it did, thanks

†he Bread 21:21, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reverting a Image that has been changed

I found an Image that has been changed to something irrelevant but Everytime I try to use the revision button it seems to work. Now the image page shows the right picture but the article shows a streched out version of the old one. The page is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_OS and the image is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Newton_logo.gif

I tried to get on the IRC channel but it seems to be blocked from my college, the java app equally fails to connect on both mac and pc. ThanksMicrll 06:17, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Weird. -Patstuart^talk|edits 06:26, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Which Part? Micrll 06:33, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I really wish there was a faster way I could contact an admin or moderator if I have questions.Micrll 06:34, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

In Internet Explorer 7 it appears fine (with a lightbulb), however in Firefox 2 it has the other image stretched. It is indeed strange. I can only suggest force refreshing your browser (press Ctrl + F5) and it will refresh loading the page fully as opposed to a normal refresh. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 06:35, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

On my end, there's a totally different image displayed on Apple Newton OS. When I click the image, i get a light bulb, but what displayed on the page is [2]. Patstuart^talk|edits 06:38, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

The bad image lives here but I don't know how to purge it. --Droll 06:41, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Also Sorry about all the extra reverts...I was confused...I tried to totally refresh it, didn't work also tired it in IE 7 and safari for the mac, still no luck. The lightbulb is the proper image.Micrll 06:47, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

The First aid image may need to be deleted by an admin. You could try listing it at WP:IFD with a clear message of why you want to have the 2 old versions deleted (maybe a link here) and hope the admin gets it right (asking them to contact you for further explanation if it sounds confusing). Though it runs the risk of it being deleted outright. Still, if it's playing up it might be worth it. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 06:56, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Got it. I purged the image page and it created a now thumb.--Droll 07:00, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Cool I see it fixed, Thanks, Now if only I could get onto the IRC channelMicrll 07:03, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] giving credits for information

is giving credits to the information provided allowed? example Mayuko_Aoki#Sources —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Smashwiki (talk • contribs) 06:44, 10 December 2006 (UTC).

It would be better if it were in citation format. -Patstuart^talk|edits 06:49, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What percentage of users (roughly speaking) register with their real names?

I'm curious about the general consensus on this issue. Although no doubt it's been discussed before, I was unable to find references to previous discussions. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 141.154.220.74 (talk) 06:49, 10 December 2006 (UTC).

I'm looking through the List of administrators, and it looks to be about 50% either way. users that only edit once or twice and then leave probably do it less, but admins are a good gauge for regular users. -Patstuart^talk|edits 07:59, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Hold on - you've made an assumption there. Charles Knight is my pen name, it's not my real name. With explictly asking people all you can say is that 50% of the administrators use real sounding names not that they use real name --Charlesknight 13:29, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your replies. I also found some additional discussion of this at [[3]]. 141.154.220.74 17:14, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What Does <tt> & <tt/> Do?

Thanks.100110100 07:17, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

See below. -Patstuart^talk|edits 07:21, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

This is what tt does! — Seadog 17:16, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What Does <br> & <br/> Do?

Danke.100110100 07:19, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you'd like to check out http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/reference/html_cheatsheet/ for HTML related questions. -Patstuart^talk|edits 07:20, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

We also already answered your question above. Please check previous answers before asking the same question twice. -Patstuart^talk|edits 07:20, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] IPA Pronunciation instruction on article pg

How do i go about adding the above to my article? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mattbray (talk • contribs) 07:32, 10 December 2006 (UTC).

You might like to try the {{IPA}} template, as in {{IPA|['keːɹəˌɭɐ]}} -Patstuart^talk|edits 07:56, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image Use

I read the rules about image use, but I'm not quite sure I understand them, so I'll simply ask this here. I have an image on a site that requires permission from an administator to use the image elsewhere, and I got it. Can I use it in Wikipedia, or no? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Narcotics faerie (talk • contribs) 07:39, 10 December 2006 (UTC).

See Wikipedia:Example requests for permission and Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission particularly the top of Example requests for permission. That will explain the process. You may need them to release the image under GFDL. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 07:48, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] sending

Hi. I'm a first-time user. I tried asking a question but could not find a method of sending it. Pretty basic, but I only need to be told once. Thanks for help and for the great site.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Marg37 (talk • contribs).

Um, what's your question? I'm not understanding.-Patstuart^talk|edits 07:55, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Well you came to the right place. Just ask your question on this page. Edit this page and someone will reply underneath (like I have). If you want to ask a particular user a question, edit their talk page (it will be called discussion at the top). James086^{Talk | Contribs} 07:58, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV and AfD

I remember seeing somewhere recently that POV was not, in and of itself, considered to be a strong reason for AfD, because the article could instead be improved to be more NPOV. Now I can't find this statement again. Can anyone help me track this down? — coelacan talk — 08:19, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

*Cha-king* - Patstuart^talk|edits 08:22, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks so far. That's in the spirit of it, but it's referring to use of certain texts in an article. What I saw (and what I need to deal with) was about article deletion policy, AfD, and what were considered valid reasons and what weren't. — coelacan talk — 08:54, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Oh! I found it. It was really obvious too but I overlooked it. Right there on Wikipedia:Articles for deletion where it says "The argument "non-neutral point of view" (violates WP:NPOV) is often used, but often such articles can be salvaged, so this is not a very strong reason for deletion either." And at the top of the page it also says "For problems that do not require deletion, including ... POV problems, be bold and fix the problem or tag the article appropriately." Cool. — coelacan talk — 09:03, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Maybe this? Or even part of the rest of the page? It says that if the article is biased, it should be tagged with {{npov}} or {{POV check}} and listed on Wikipedia:Pages needing attention. Hope it helps. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 09:04, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Ahh, good, that too. Now I'm well armed. Thanks! — coelacan talk — 09:06, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] External links to blogs

I encountered a few times that articles were linked to blogs. Personally, I feel that blogs should not be linked to, but is there an official Wikipedia policy regarding this? Thanks. --Joshua C hi e w 10:57, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

There is External Links which is the policy on external links, it does say that links to blogs should be avoided, here so yes. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 11:13, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks again.--Joshua C hi e w 11:18, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Uploading

In trying to upload an article I am told that "." is not a suitable file format. I cannot see the "." to which this error message occurs. Please adviseKeithredfern 13:47, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

You don't upload articles. Uploading is for images. — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 15:56, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] User Page as Sandbox?

Is it permissible to use your User Page as sort of a personal Sandbox? Say that you want to try something out, then show it to someone to see if it looks or reads correctly. If you do it in the regular Sandbox, it likely won't be there for long. But if you experiment on your User Page, it will be there to show, and when it is OK, you can move it to where you want it. (Or might it be better to create a subpage, like User Page/Personal Sandbox?) — Michael J 13:47, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Both are permissible, the latter idea smarter. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 13:48, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes I would hate to see your pretty userpage being turned into a sandbox...but it is your call. Try Creating User:Michael J/Sandbox That would be even better. — Seadog 13:50, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

My "pretty userpage"? You obviously haven't looked at it lately — it's a mess! ... Anyway, thank you both. I think I will create a personal Sandbox subpage. (But I will let anyone play in it!) — Michael J 14:09, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] logging in

I have tried to set up an account. This is the first time I have tried. It keeps coming up incorrect password. I would like to join . Please help. beverly donandbev4315@alltel.net —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 162.40.23.3 (talk) 15:49, 10 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Keyboard Thingy

Hi,

which key(s) on the keyboard is this: | (its used when you do a internal link but you want to display the link as a different name as the page its linking to, amoungst other things).

Thanks, --William dady 16:04, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

It's a vertical bar. On US keyboards it's usually shift-backslash. -- Rick Block (talk) 16:33, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

On UK keyboards too. It can also be inserted from the 'Wiki markup' section of the symbols below the edit box. --ais523 10:25, 11 December 2006 (U T C)

It's also sometimes call a 'pipe', which I believe stems from Unix/Linux use of it to "pipe" the output from one program into another (and is used in the phrase Piped links. Confusing Manifestation 10:04, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] creating a biography

I'd like to submit a name and create a biography for that name. Please tell me the steps?

Thank you

Scott Sobel

Scott Sobel, President and cofounder of Media & Communications Strategies LLC in Washington, DC (www.macstrategies.com) has an extensive background in national and international crisis, litigation, government, corporate and news media communications; and is an award-winning former journalist at the major market and network levels. Additionally, Scott Sobel was a team leader and the senior vice president at an international agency winning a recent Holmes Report - Crisis Agency of the Year award. In the past, he has represented major corporations or led award-winning public relations teams that had as clients such companies as: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc., Aviation Division, AT&T and AT&T Broadband, Tele-communications, Inc., many of the world’s premier law firms, a major order of the Catholic Church, HVB Bank, Farr Miller & Washington financial managers, a national wind farm issue client, entertainment and sports celebrities, various former US congressmen and the head of a major US political party … plus many more significant clients.

Sobel has received a long list of journalism and public relations awards including national cable industry Beacon awards, EMMYs, AP, Sigma Delta Chi and various state broadcasters association awards and community service awards and commendations ranging from local police departments, Special Olympics and mayors, to the US Army National Guard to US governors and congresspersons.

Born in New York City in 1951 and raised in Port Washington, LI, he is the father of five. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Scott sobel (talk • contribs) 16:13, 10 December 2006 (UTC).

Creating an article about yourself is strongly discouraged, please see Wikipedia:Autobiography. -- Rick Block (talk) 17:45, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ALSO

Also on a different topic, kinda, if you know the name of an image that is definately uploaded to wikipedia how do you find it? Iv tried typeing it in to the "search" box on the left hand side of the page, ive tried doing the same on wiki commons and iv eventried typing it in the adress bar but i cant find it. It definately exists!

thanks, --William dady 16:17, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

There are a few things you can try.

If you're using the "search" box, you need to include the "Image:" prefix. So if you know that your image was called WilliamsPhoto.jpg, you'd type Image:WilliamsPhoto.jpg into the search box.
If you know that you uploaded it, you can look at your contributions list. Depending on your settings, there is probably a link to this list labeled as "my contributions" at the top right of your screen when you are using Wikipedia. You can also look at just the images you have contributed. These contributions lists will provide links to the images you have uploaded.
If you know that someone else uploaded it, but you know who, you can look through his contributions list. Just type http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/XXX in the address bar of your browser, but replace XXX with his user name.
If none of these gets you the image you want, try Special:Prefixindex. Set the dropdown to look at the Image namespace, then type the first few letters of the name of the image you are looking for into the box that says "Display pages with prefix:". That way, if you made a small mistake in the image name, you could still find it.

Hope this helps! FreplySpang 19:46, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Add Jackpin to Wikipedia

I need to know if you can add David "Jackpin" Jackson to Wikipedia?

He is the man who started the Woman's Combatative Sports Association (WCSA) and hosted 3 international Women's Wrestling Conventons (WWC) 98-2000. These Conventions drew Combatants, Companies, and Fans from all over the world to see the only true Women's Wrestling Convention. Amatures to Professional attended and made "Herstory". Jackpin is known world wide for this event and for his work to open the doors for women who compete in combatative sports.Jackpin 16:51, 10 December 2006 (UTC)Jackpin

Anyone can create an article, so you can too! Just search for the name you want the article under, and click on the red link that comes up on the search page. However, make sure the person is notable. You need to find sources to cite which show this person is well-known enough to include in an encyclopedia.

Also, it's very bad form to create an article about oneself. Noting your username, if you are David Jackson, it'd be a bad idea to create your own article. Instead, just put all your personal information on your own userpage. Hope that's helpful. -- Kesh 17:14, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

It would be a WP:COI if you created it yourself. Cbrown1023 17:15, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ongoing problems with wikipedia?

I'm interested in reading about ongoing technical, administrative, and philosophical concerns within the Wikipedia community.

For example, the current discussion mechanism, i.e., users leaving messages on each others talk pages, is quite awkward and makes conversations difficult to follow, particularly if more than two people are involved. I think it needs to be replaced with something that streamlines communication and surely these types of issues (as well as many others) have been examined before.

Can someone point to the right place to look for such discussions? 141.154.220.74 18:19, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

You're looking for the Village Pump. — Dark Shikari ^talk/_contribs 18:26, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Help Me My Template Doesn't Work

I made a template but it won't show up on my page. (More info - User_talk:Jake95#Help) Jake95 18:54, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I've looked at it, and the template you're referring to, template:user crgs, doesn't seem to exist. Do you have a naming problem, perhaps? Patstuart^talk|edits 19:02, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it was a typo that I corrected for the user. The template is actually located at cgrs, not crgs like the user was pointing to on the user page. Metros232 19:33, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Weird redirect problem

I recently changed the following redirect article. Israel-Palestinian conflict (Recent history). previously, it pointed to Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but I changed it to point to History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, for about 12 hours, it contiued redirecting to Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even though i rechecked the code several times, and the redirect tag was still pointing at History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This seems bizarre in the extreme. how can a computer do something which it is not programmed to do? I just tested it, and now it does point to the "History of the..." article. So maybe this is all moot. However, I am still puzzled by this whole thing, and would like to ask about this. has anyone else encountered this problem? What causes it? Does it have to do with something like the memory cache? I did make sure to refresh all the pages repeatedly, when i encountered this problem. i would be grateful for any help or answers which you could provide. Thanks. --Sm8900 19:28, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

This is often a caching problem - your web browser has saved the older version of the page, so when you go back to it the browser doesn't notice that the page has changed, and so shows the old version. See Wikipedia:Bypass your cache for a little more information. Confusing Manifestation 10:01, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] moving

i made a biorgraphy on someone on wikimedia(META), but how do i put that on on to WIKIpiedia?

[edit] math rendering in Firefox

I have realized that recent versions of Firefox 1.5 (currently 1.5.0.8) display wikipedia pages containing math written in latex code just as that code. Ie not as png or mathml, etc, even when I log in and set any of those options in my preferences page.

No problem like this one eg with IE 6.

Should I go to Firefox 2? Any pointer?

Regards, Alejandro

Alejandro, in which articles are you seeing this. Using ff1.5.0.8 I'm looking at Hermitian matrix, Discrete Fourier transform, and Elliptic curve, all of which have a fair amount of math markup, and all of which render fine (as PNGs) for me. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:03, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

For example:

Fresnel_diffraction

Here, the svg image at the upper right (Diffraction geometry,...) does not show either. Only a box with the caption is shown.

The same problem with math rendering occurs with the pages that you mention.

On the other hand no problem occurs with Mozilla 1.7.12

Whether it is a configuration issue in ff, I do not have any idea. I do not see any other problem regarding the display of images (I am replying with ff and the wikipedia logo in this editing page shows fine, etc).

As you know, Firefox is updating automatically in the late times. And I do not look at wikipedia so often. So I do not know for certain when and for what version of ff this problem arose. For sure, there was no problem some months ago.

Alejandro

That SVG works fine for me. I think your problem is probably one of:

You're unlucky enough to have some bad images in your image cache (or in one of the caches between you and the image server). Try clearing your cache using the method described at Wikipedia:Bypass your cache
Your Firefox installation (or, if your on Linux/MacOS, some library it depends on) is broken. A reinstall might fix that.

-- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:41, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I will look at the cache. However, I would exclude the second possibility as the previous report was for Firefox 1.5.0.8 under Windows XP and now I have booted to Debian Sarge, and here, with version Debian-1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.5-0bpo1 I observe exactly the same problem. While no problem occurs, with Mozilla 1.7.8-1sarge3, or Konqueror 3.3.2. It would be very hard to belieive that these two completely independent installations could be broken.

I have bypassed the cache, cleaned the cache and disabled the cache, both in Debian Sarge and Windows XP without any improvement. I think that I will try installing Firefox 2.0

[edit] Tagalog

Do you have a wikipedia in Tagalog?

Sure, at http://tl.wikipedia.org/ -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:03, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] FILM article

Hey I'm not a regular user, and I am not registered (and HELL, its taken me 20 minutes to find a single way of contacting someone directly - how AKWARD you guys are!!!) but on your article about film, a vandal has been messing around with the facts and I was hoping to use the article as a resource for my essay. I'm sure I'm messaging the wrong department, but if you made it easier I'd email the right people. is there any way you can restore the "proper factual" content for your article on Film?

Each article has different volunteer editors. To read them, just click the "Discussion" page at the top of the article, then the "+" button to add a comment. That's it! Notinasnaid 20:59, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

To answer the user's question, the article on film was vandalised, but the changes were reverted very quickly - you must have viewed the article at just the wrong time. In future, if you find vandalism you can revert it yourself, see reverting vandalism for instructions on how to do this. Hope that helps! — QuantumEleven 09:23, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing article on sister

My sister is a celebrity, with her own article on Wikipedia. From the content and the profiles of the writers of this article I assume it has been created by well-meaning fans. The text is fine, absolutely fine, but short and convoluted. I would like to tidy it up, expand it and add a couple of photographs. My question regards Wikipedia:No original research and Wikipedia:Verifiability. Part of the text I would like to add relates to my sister's professional beginnings. She has spoken about these in interviews over the years, so I have some references, but I will be citing facts for which I have no source to quote. May I proceed? Are there any caveats?

I would also like your opinion on the user name I should use if you allow me to go ahead. I was thinking of creating one with my real name solely for this purpose, in order to give credence to the edit, but I realize it will be unverifiable and could have the reverse effect. What do you suggest?

Grateful in advance. Dennywuh 21:06, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, everything has to have a verifiable source (which means that in 10 years time some future wikipedia editor can go back and check a source out, and confirm that it really says what the original person added to wikipedia). So we do need everything to come from a reliable, verifyable source. For the stuff that's in interviews (print, magazine, radio interviews are fine, as long as you can cite the publication with specific precision that a future fack-checker will be able to verify it without pulling all their hair out). For stuff you know, but can't cite, that's more of a problem. In that case I'd recommend you author some kind of press release, interview, or something like that - and release that in the usual way your sister releases info to the media. So if your sister has an official professional website (most celebs do) then you can add it to there. Then you (or ideally someone else) can use that as a reliable, verifiable source for the article. I must, however, caution you that editing the article of someone you know (as with articles about yourself, your company, etc.) is inevitably something of a conflict of interest, which is (with the very best will in the world) going to hamper your ability to write objectively on the subject. Personally I'd recommend you add your comments, citations, suggestions etc. to the article's talk page, but not edit the article yourself. You'll generally find that, with reasonable supporting citations, the editors of that article will be very keen to improve the article with your help. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:15, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Aside: I thought to myself "hmm, I wonder who Dennywuh's sister is? I'll check his contribs". From that I've concluded that your sister is Keith Richards (although I confess my methodology may be somewhat flawed). I for one look forward to seeing many photos of Keith Richards as a little girl :) -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:17, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Excellent! No, I've been careful never to edit her page. And now I'm not going to/don't have to. I will follow your suggestions, for which I'm grateful. Thanks a lot. Dennywuh 21:25, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Current discussion at Virtual classroom

At the Virtual classroom, we've moved on to assignment number three, which is a question and answer session on fighting vandalism on Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome to participate.

Virtual classroom assignments
3. Budgiekiller, on vandalism
2. Grutness's guide to stubbing
1. Compare your user interfaces with what others use
.
.
.
.

 The Transhumanist   22:24, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] See How the people who stalk me on line will not let me search your site?

Dear Wikipedia;

I believe I have been the victim of some idiots hired by the Government to slander and lie about me. They would call me the Anit-Christ, John the Apostle, John The Baptist and other things and rewrite the history to reflect me. John Anthony Yost the man who writes, "Your Life in Print." Only liars hide the content and will not let the victim in on the content they write. To the victors history can be written, well they lost and they cannot rewrite history. We all want the truth and the news reports how vandals on your site rewrite history at will and you have no expert oversight. You should not allow ameteurs to rewrite history it hurts people. You should have pages where your thoughts on the subject can be heard, not edited. Please tell me what Ceif means, they are stupid and drug addicts of the Governmet. I am a vitim of "directed energy weapons being used on me 24/7.

                                  Signed Editor and Chief,
                                    John Anthony Yost

A fascinating case study. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 23:38, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What is the approximate size of the entire wikipedia database?

Is it possible to locally mirror it and receive regular updates? 141.154.220.74 23:52, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

You can get them from http://download.wikimedia.org/enwiki/latest/ The zipped text of just the current state of each article comes to over 3 Gb - I don't know how big it is once you unzip that and load it into MySQL, but the last time I tried it took about a day to import. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:56, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Note that the 3 GB does not include images, just the text. While it's possible to locally mirror Wikipedia, you'd need a webserver running MediaWiki, which is not a trivial requirement. If you're looking for an offline version of Wikipedia, there isn't a complete one, but there are various CD versions out there (see [4]). — QuantumEleven 09:18, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Icon

Why does Wikipedia (and other websites) automatically download it's icon to my desktop and how can I stop it? 66.232.210.219 00:44, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

We don't. It sounds to me like you have some spyware installed. Try downloading and running Ad-Aware and SpyBot, both excellent anti-spyware programs. If that doesn't help, try asking the Computing Reference Desk. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 00:54, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Posting Pics On The Top Of The Page

I'm having trouble putting images on Wikipedia. I already have the file downloaded as a PNG, but I don't know how to add it to the right of the screen. (It should go on top).

Generally the code for adding an image to the right of the screen would be [[Image:Example.jpg|thumb|200px|caption]] (replacing '200px' with your preferred size, in pixel width, and 'caption' with a caption). Add this code at whichever point you want the image to appear. For more information, try the picture tutorial. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 00:52, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Audio files on wikipedia

I have tried to access a few audio files and it comes up with a box telling me to save it - which I do, but I'm unable to view the file either through the internet or windows media/realplayer. I know It's pbably something really obvious but I'm not exactly a techno wiz! 82.3.249.255 00:49, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia audio files are in the Ogg Vorbis format, which is rather unusual (rather than the WAV and MP3 formats you're probably more used to). Help on listening to these files is at Wikipedia:Media help. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:51, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Media help (Ogg) specifically. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:52, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Icon

Why does Wikipedia and other websites automatically download it's icon to my desktop and how can I stop it? Using IE 7.0. Thanks St107st 00:54, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

See three sections above. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 00:56, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My Uploaded Files Not Recognized?

After I download a file, it goes to the screen where it shows the picture you just uploaded, and underneath, it has a link, where is shows the name of the file, and then what type of file it is. (Ex. Monkey.JPG) So, I simply copy and paste that link to the page I want to do it on. (Ex.

Image:Monkey.jpg

caption

) But when I copy and paste that link to the page I am editing, it still does not show the picture.

Am I doing something wrong?

From the output it seems it wasn't uploaded at all. But if you saw it uploaded, then it might be a linking problem. Try to use the image's pagename instead of that link underneath it. Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 02:24, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

If your file is Monkey.JPG then I don't think it was uploaded because your logs indicate you have uploaded 3 images, one has been deleted and the other 2 are Image:Johnny Christ.PNG and Image:Johnny Christ.JPG. Just upload it again, though make sure it has correct copyright status! See WP:UPIMAGE. 03:44, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Make sure the name can be distinguished from other images. With a title like "monkey.jpg" there's too much chance of an accidental override. I usually include my name in images I upload. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:47, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Writing articles about your own site

I am a webmaster of a site that I consider to be fairly professional. (in nature, of course, since we are just a fansite) I was wondering if I am allowed to write a Wikipedia article about my site, Ani-Gamers! (anigamers.ms11.net) I would obviouly write it in NPOV, but am I not allowed to write it at all since there is a potential for bias? If I am not permitted to write this article, is it possible that another volunteer could write one for me?

Also, when writing an article like this, am I allowed to use information from my own knowledge, since it is my website and I know the most about it?

I'm sorry if this whole thing sounds like an advertisement, but I think any site with any sort of force on the internet deserves an article, even if it is not neccessarily well-known.

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Check out WP:COI. Cbrown1023 02:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, is it possible then that another volunteer could write this article? I read an above post, and it seems that all information put on it would have to come from a veritable source, even if I know it is true. Would posting it on a "site history" page on Ani-Gamers! count as a veritable source? -Vampt Vo

You could always try to list it at Wikipedia:Requested articles, but the site still has to pass the various notability requirements. If an article is written, and the site isn't regarded as notable by Wikipedia's standards, the article is likely to be deleted. Bjelleklang - talk 03:02, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

That, and your forums have exactly 5 members. Of course, that's not the only notability criterion, but irregardless, your site doesm't meet WP:WEB, sorry. --W o o ty Woot? contribs 03:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Display issue

On the page USS Missouri (BB-63) there is a template at the bottom for the Iowa class battleships, which she is a part of; however it wont display right. Could some one take a look at it see if they can fix it, because I am getting tired of trying and failing. TomStar81 (Talk) 03:24, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

I think you have an unclosed tag somewhere. Cbrown1023 03:31, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Weirdly enough, when one clicks the references section edit button it previews the template correctly. Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 03:34, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

I fixed your problem, you didn't have a terminating }} somewhere. Cbrown1023 03:35, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

I noticed that as well, that is how I knew it was a coding problem further up in the article. :) But it doesn't matter anymore. Cbrown1023 03:36, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank You very much, that looks a lot better than it did. TomStar81 (Talk) 04:43, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] links to dates

Hello. I'm very new to editing Wikipedia, but am trying to find some small things to do to try out my technical skills. I've noticed that a lot of dates are linked - meaning that the phrase "March 13" is linked to another page describing things that happened on March 13. This seems a little trivial to me in the context of most articles. Is this a Wikipedia standard? If so, it would be good to know before removing such links. In addition, I notice that sometimes the date is linked and sometimes it's not. If it's supposed to be one way over the other, than I don't mind going with the Wikipedia standard. Thanks, Trigari 04:29, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

You want to look at the Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers).—WAvegetarian•(talk) 04:35, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Perfect - exactly what I was looking for - I better go back and "undo" a few changes I've made to dates now... Thanks. Trigari 04:55, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Multiple uploads

Is there an easy way to upload multiple photos? I'm hoping to add over 100 photos under the same license. -- CoolGuy 04:33, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

If you want you can upload them to the Wikimedia Commons so that people can use them on any language wikipedia and other projects such as wikibooks. There is a question like this in the Commons FAQ and it says you can. If you still want to upload them to only wikipedia, I'm not sure you can upload many at once. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 05:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I just wrote my first article

It's a teensy-weensy stubby-stub, but the sources are rich and it will continue to grow as I have time. How do I list it? Isn't there a place I'm supposed to announce it somewhere? Thank you NinaEliza 05:30, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

What you can do is insert the article in certain categories to which the subject might relate to (i.e. sports, politics, and more specific categories) and people can see it when they browse those categories. You can do that by tagging the article with the [[Category:"Category name"]] tag. But here it explains better - WP:CAT and FAQ. Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 05:37, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Provided you made the article in the namespace it should be fine. Simply wikilink (place 2 square brackets around it [[the article]]) the title of the article and it should be there. Or you can search it on the sidebar. There's no need to announce a new article, but if you want help with a new article (feedback) then try Requests for feedback. I hope this helped as I'm not entirely sure what you meant. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 05:44, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks both. Parutakupiu, you were right on the money. Thanks again to both of you. NinaEliza 05:54, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] pronunciation

How is "Wikipedia" pronounced?

"Wee-kee-pee-dee-uh" or you can see the Wiki article. James086^{Talk | Contribs} 05:44, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Depends on dialect, though.martianlostinspace 22:47, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Transsexual

Is there a policy on how articles about transsexual persons should be written? I'm looking for info specifically on which pronouns should be used to refer to the post-op person. Dismas|^(talk) 08:01, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Nevermind. Found it. Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Identity. Dismas|^(talk) 08:06, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Translate Article

How can I translate a current article into the other languages and publish it?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.175.144.3 (talk • contribs).

Most translation is into English for posting here, but you seem to be suggesting the opposite. We do have translators at Wikipedia:Translators available who might help you.--Kchase T 08:56, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gmail

how can i transfer the articles from wikipedia to my gmail account—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Nprakash434 (talk • contribs).

I suppose you could copy and paste (select what you want to transfer, press "Ctrl" + "C" then go to write an email and press "Ctrl" + "V"). Alternatively you could link the article (copy and paste the address from the address bar at the top of the page). I hope I've answered your question, it threw me a little :) James086^{Talk | Contribs} 09:10, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deleting an entry

Hi, I'm a new user of Wikipedia and want to submit an article (which I have not finished writing yet!) I submitted the subject this morning by accident and cannot delete it, the article won't be finished untill after Christmas. Basically I'm wondering will I be blocked for submitting a subject title with an empty body. Can you delete an entry and resubmit it again when the article is finished? Thanks! Mary Marywalsh80 12:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

No, you won't be blocked. Someone already proposed its deletion and I did it since you requested it. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:21, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for fixing my problem!!

[edit] Problem with images

Hi,

I just set up my wiki, but can't upload any images. If I upload a JPG I get the following error: Could not copy file "/tmp/phpC04gNi" to "/images/temp/20061211123453!CBeumio.jpg". If I upload a PNG file I get the error "The file is corrupt or has an incorrect extension. Please check the file and upload again." Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,

Steven

I think you may have multiple dots in the filename causing the software to think it has an extension longer than 3 or 4 characters when in fact it's not the extension. Do you have any other non-standard characters in the filename. Try renaming it to something easier. If you are using a Mac, you need to rename the file explicitly to mention the extension as Mac format doesn't always show it. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:48, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
- I have no special characters in my filenames, just normal caps and non caps A-Z letters :S Cheers, Steven
  - Are you really trying to store your Wikipedia images into a folder /images at the filesystem level (rather than the web server level)? If so, have you precreated /images/temp? Notinasnaid 16:27, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
    - What I basically did is trying to move my Wiki from one server to another. I made a SQL DB dump, and took all the files from the server to my HD. I did a clean install of the same version on my new server, did a restore of the SQL dump and tried uploading the images back on. Which is also why my images don't work at all. Isn't there some kind of guide out there on how to decently change your wiki onto another server?? When I mean upload I mean through the wiki site itself, and no there is no temp directory in the images directory.

[edit] Missing edit/How to "talk" on a page

On the "Monoclonal antibodies" page, I tried adding simpled sentence about "Herceptin", because it is am important clinical monoclonal (fragment) approved and in use. The upload seemed to take, that is the page finished loading, and there were no error messages. This was Sunday evening, EST. However, the edit is not there. Any clue as to what happened.

I wanted to post this question using the "talk tab", but I did not see a link to add a question.

I amusing FireFox, do I need to be using IE?

TIA

Karl

According to your contributions list, you've never edited any page but the Help Desk. It's possible that you clicked 'show preview' rather than 'save page' and forgot to save. As for Talk-page discussions, they're just like any other page; Wikipedia:Tutorial has a section on Talk page editing (read the Introduction first if you haven't already). --ais523 12:59, 11 December 2006 (U T C)

[edit] How to I add myself to various categories of wikipedian?

I think it's cool that wikipedian user pages shpw what categories they are in and what languages they are proficient in. How do I do this ? Johncmullen1960 14:26, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

You can add yourself to a category simply by adding its name to your userpage in double square brackets, e.g. [[Category:User en-N]] will add you to the category for native speakers of English. However, many of these categories are also added by Userboxes, particularly the language templates, which are covered more thoroughly at Wikipedia:Babel. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 14:47, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Articles with similar names to existing articles

So I'm thinking about writing an article on Positive Selection in the context of the immune system.

The thing is, "positive selection" is also an evolutionary term, and this usage is probably more common.

So a search for positive selection is redirected to directional selection

Once I made my article, how would I go about linking to it?

Wedgeoli 15:30, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

You probably want Wikipedia:Disambiguation. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:18, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Category link not working

I've been trying to add 'Lung volumes' category to Peter Reed (rower). I have done it but the link does not work. Peter Reed is cited on the lung volume page as having the largest reported lung volume but i can't put a link his page to that one. Please may you help me?

There is no Category:Lung volumes (hence the red link). Are you sure that such a category exists? It would be a strange topic for a category. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 16:56, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suggestion

I do not know how else to contact you, but since this is a reference site and many people probably refer to it for research papers it would be great if you could cite yourselves at the end of the articles. That would increase the publics ablility to cite because no one knows how to cite a website correctly as it is and seeing it done correctly would be awesome.

Have you tried the "Cite this article" link in the toolbox that's on the left-hand side of every article? I think that provides the functionality you want. Cheers, Tangot a ngo 16:09, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Incidently, it also has a "Contact Wikipedia" link too. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:19, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unsourced article tagged by SmackBot has beeen repaired. What happens next?

A bot tagged an article I wrote for not having sources. (Blockhead!) I went back and cited sources for the article, but the tags are still there. Does someone come by and remove the tags? Or do I do that myself? Knulclunk 16:43, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

You can remove them yourself. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 16:53, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Creating a page

how do you create a page or article about something —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tomsigsworth (talk • contribs) 16:54, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Your first article and then Help:Starting a new page. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 17:07, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Portal:Spaceflight

Something is wrong with this pages layout. I can't find the problem though. Could someone take a look? Rmhermen 18:25, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

I got it. The problem was vandalism on Portal:Spaceflight/Selected picture. I've also begun updating the portal. It doesn't look like it was being actively maintained Thanks for noticing the formatting issue. Canderson7 ^(talk) 20:56, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] hair problem

Hello Tyra,

i like your show very much.i saw your last beauty emegency show,it was amazing.

i have some question.can you help me about my hair problem?

my hair is very thin and don,t growing up.i have dandruffe also.so what should i do?

i want thick hair.sometime i don't other hair style. please give me some information about hair product .i always still suffer on this problem.

HELP ME! Thank you. sheetal removed email address for submitter's safety

I do believe you've posted this to the wrong place. If you have a general question, try the Reference desk. -- Kesh 19:32, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deleting My Account

How do i delete my account? Chesterman247 19:03, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

This is not possible, but you can simply stop using it at any time. Notinasnaid 19:07, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Finance question: Which reference disk?

I've got a theoretical question about stock options. Which reference disk should I pose this to? Humanities, Science, Mathematics, Misc.?

I would say Humanities - "law" and "society" are probably closest to the subject. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 19:50, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Add an edit to my Watchlist

I was apparently not logged in when I made an edit to a page. How do I "claim" this and have it added to my watchlist of changes?--Attorneykid 20:58, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

If you mean you want to add the page to your contributions list of edits you made, unfortunately there is no way to do this. However, what is important is not the number of your edits but how much you can contribute to our project.

If you mean you want to watch the page for future changes, you can click on the "watch" tab in the upper right hand corner of any page. Welcome aboard! Newyorkbrad 21:02, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! I appreciate the information. Yes, I did mean that I wanted to add the page to my contributions list of edits I have made. I'll just watch the page, however, to keep tabs on the changes. --Attorneykid 21:05, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] mecury messenger of the gods logo

Where can I find an mercury (messenger of the gods)image? Also looking for advertising pictures of signs. Thanx. 20:49, 11 December 2006 (UTC)~gregory20:49, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Mercury (mythology) and Advertisements. Cbrown1023 21:14, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Guidance in contacting our Congressman

        I am not sure where I am suppose to go to write a letter to our Congressman.

I have a problem in Reno, nevada with out of control Social Workers. I could not find out who to contact with my situation. I was told that I have to write my Congressman. Is this true? I've never had to deal with situations like this before. But enough is enough. There has to be a way to fight back when you get an out-of-control Social Worker that is playing God. Please help or guide me in the right direction. Thank you very much, and I'm sorry if I'm in the wrong department, Kathy GrayTookrazy4u 21:28, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi, welcome to Wikipedia. I suggest you take your question here [5]. The Ref Desk are better for answering these questions. And don't worry if you've got the wrong department... anyone who hasn't got patience with the new kids on the block shouldn't really be here. No worries. martianlostinspace 22:43, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Problem logging in

I'm positive that I have an account (Jil) in en.wikipedia.org as I have it in commons.* and fi.*. The problem is that I cannot log in to en.* site. I tried to email me the password for the account in en.*, but at least so far haven't got the email. It might be that I didn't supply the email address way back when I created the account. This is not the place to argue how stupid it is to demand a separate account and login for each wikimedia project, there are reasons for that, I understand. I just need to find a way to get ahold of the account here now that I finally found an inspiration to contribute, starting from the fi.* site. What is it that I need to do to make it happen? Just creating a new account isn't an option -- I want to have a consistent account name on every site. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.197.9.123 (talk) 21:49, 11 December 2006 (UTC).

Sorry, but if you look here [6], the account "Jil" apparently doesn't exist. I apologise for suggesting this (you've already ruled it out), but if you do create a new account, then you can still change you signiature to anything - even if it isn't your account name. (Just keep it reasonable.) Have you made many edits? If you are successful in re-locating your old account (even if you can't access it), then you could leave a message on your user-page, saying you're the same person - you just forgot you password. Have you checked your junkmail? You need to get it exactly right.martianlostinspace 22:38, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

And no, the old account can't be deleted, and then re-created for you... sorry.martianlostinspace 22:39, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually, that account does exits. Cbrown1023 22:46, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sourcing a modified image

Hello all,

I am currently doing an essay on the breakup of the Soviet Union, and I would like to include a map that I got from the Wikipedia Commons (Image:Soviet_Union_Map.png). I have modified the map, so I am wondering how I would state my source. Should I give the address of the original map, and mention that I have modified it? Or do I need to name a source at all?

Thanks very much for your help! (Moonbeast 22:49, 11 December 2006 (UTC))

I would list the previous image just in case. Cbrown1023 22:56, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Incorrect Information

Dear Sirs: Truly I have looked to the Wikipedia for information on health issues, history, and so on, finding information thinking it was accurate. Until I looked up the information that you have linking the Jehovah's Witnesses with the MILLERITES? And to highlight especially that Charles Taze Russell was a MILLERITE is insulting, because what he was, was a BIBLE STUDENT. He was constantly, as hopefully your business is, updating and refining any theological study he did. If your inaccurate information links Russell with the Millerites, then why does it not contain the fact that Sir Isaac Newton(1642-1727)wrote that he too thought that Christ would return and reign, and it would be "invisible to mortals." Couldn't Russell also be linked to NEWTONITES? Or would that give him some credibility to Russell's Bible search? As in the days of Jesus Christ when the people were looking for the Messiah, so were the Theologians or Bible Students of the mid 1800's, (Seiss, Wilson, Keith, Storrs,Wendell) not necessarily, were MILLERITES, but were looking for the Invisible Second Coming of the Christ. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.229.219.26 (talk) 23:08, 11 December 2006 (UTC).

I think that, if you assumed Wikipedia was always 100% accurate, you missed the point that this is the encyclopedia that anyone can edit. You are welcome to join us in our task: Wikipedia has an objective to report all significant points of view, with appropriate sources. Notinasnaid 23:55, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bogota Clumbia

I am trying to find a picture of Bogota Columbia for my daughter for school.I am having no luck at finding it.All she needs is a picture of the state so I can print it for her to take to school.Please can someone help me find this.She needs this tomorrow 12/12/06.Thank you so much. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.247.21.101 (talk) 23:23, 11 December 2006 (UTC).

Here you have a map of the Bogotá, D.C. state (Image:Mapa_administrativa_Bogota.png) which is included in its article page (Bogotá). Parutakupiu ^{talk || contribs} 23:50, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

What kind of picture? A map? A panorama? Anchoress 23:57, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cant reply

how do i reply to another persons post?

Just click 'edit this page', or the 'edit' button next to the relevant section heading, and type your reply. Sign your post by putting ~~~~ at the end. For example, to reply to this post, click 'edit' at the right of where it says 'How?' in large text. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 00:20, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) If you mean on a user talk page, all you have to do is click the + tab you see up at the top and fill it out with what you want to say. If you mean on a regular article talk page all you have to do is to either start a new section (+) or just reply underneath someone else's comment. See WP:TALK for more info. — Seadog 00:21, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to find the number of articles in a category

How can I find out how many articles there are in a category? I want Category:Orphaned articles to have a progress graph like Category:Category needed, but I can't just add one without knowing the article counts in the monthly subcategories. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Derlay (talk • contribs) 00:20, 12 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Template

How do i add and artical to a template? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Noneboy (talk • contribs) 00:31, 12 December 2006 (UTC).

Articles aren't added to templates, it's the other way around. Templates are put in articles. To use a template in an article, simply put {{templatename}} in the article where you want the template to appear. Dismas|^(talk) 01:34, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] new category

i've "created" a new category by inserting it on the relevant pages but the category's not been created.

when I go to edit, it lists the pages that link to the category. how do i turn this list into the actual category page?

or is this just a matter of waiting until the database updates

cheers

Ashlar 00:55, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Click on that category in one of the pages that links to it. When the edit box comes up, put in a description of the category similar to "This category is a listing of people/places/etc who... blah blah blah". Then save the page. It will then be blue instead of red. Dismas|^(talk) 01:33, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Last Approved Revision

Hey, not sure where to ask this... Oh well.

I'm looking for a feature or assistive software of some sort to make Wikipedia easier to use. I have all these articles on my watchlist and I sort of "approve" those revisions in my head... Then, I want to walk away from Wikipedia weeks at a time and all I want to know is the differences between the revision I last approved and the current revision. I realize that if I edit the page, I can just press curr, but sometimes, I approve edits that I don't make. How far back into do I need to go? Sometimes I can't remember. I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about... Does an answer to this dilemma already exist?

It'd be similar to a "last read" function on a message board or forums reader. --Htmlism 01:08, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Web TV

A friend of mine uses Web TV and is having trouble getting Wikipedia pages onscreen. He can view the main page, but whenever he looks up an article, only the top of the page and the left side appear. He cannot view the articles. Is there anything he (or you) can do to help.

User: Fredstang Fredstang 02:41, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps it's a layout fluke. Did he try to scroll down to below the left menu bar. - Mgm|^(talk) 05:45, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] (top)

In my contributions, I noticed that on many of my edits, (top) was listed next to it. I'd just like to know what this means- thanks in advance, CattleGirl ^{talk | e@} 02:54, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

It means that it was the most recent edit to that particular page. Cbrown1023 02:56, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How hard is it to get someone to second my complaint about an admin?

Please see my complaint. The admin who abused his power doesn't even bother responding to any of my concerns, and the overwhelming majority of his peers disagree with his decision, but it doesn't look like anything's gonna be done about it. Xiner 03:30, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Have you posted anything at deletion review on the matter? That may be a more appropriate forum, unless I'm missing a greater trend. Luna Santin 03:46, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

There is actually a deletion review on this matter open right now. Newyorkbrad 03:49, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Redirect

I need to know how to do a re-direct, but I'm afraid if I go through the help pages are start wandering around (like I usually do) and lose focus. Can someone give me a quick tutorial? Thanks!NinaEliza 03:32, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Simply type #REDIRECT [[The page you want to re-direct]] — Seadog 03:36, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Seadog (and for the note on my talk - very helpful).

I realize now where I went wrong in asking this question. I want (a) to redirect to (b) where (a) doesn't exist. So I think I need to actually create a page, but I...hmmm...I think I might know how, but I'll what for the answer.NinaEliza 03:47, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I think you can redirect to a non-existent page, I wouldn't see why you would want to however. I am understanding this correctly. — Seadog 03:49, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

It's the other way around - the society I'm writing about has another name, and I want that name to redirect to the article. NinaEliza 04:05, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I created a page with the alternate named, put the code you gave me on it with the main article title, and that worked. Thanks and sorry I didn't get it.NinaEliza 04:41, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proofreaders needed

I'm creating a tools page at User:The Transhumanist/Tools on the most useful tools and techniques for getting stuff done on Wikipedia. I'd like to make sure that it is easy to understand, even for new users. Please proofread it and leave comments for me on its discussion page pointing out anything you didn't understand. Then I will do my best to make it clearer. I'd really appreciate it. Thank you. The Transhumanist 05:27, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../h/e/l/Wikipedia%7EHelp_desk_5342.html"

Categories: Wikipedia help forums | Non-talk pages automatically signed by HagermanBot