Wikipedia:Help desk

[[:|WP:HD]]

NOTE: This is not a page about specific factual questions (i.e. Who was the first Pope?). For that type of question, see Wikipedia:Reference desk.

Welcome to the Help desk! This is a place to ask questions about Wikipedia and get help with editing problems. It's mainly for newcomers and users who don't yet have an account, but anyone is welcome to ask a question. Remember to check this page again (how about a bookmark?) to see if there have been any replies.

If your question has already been covered in one of the help pages, you could get the answer you're looking for more quickly by checking the topical index.

If your question is not specifically about the Wikipedia, you'll probably find the Reference desk a better place to ask; if you want to start a more detailed and inclusive discussion, try the Village pump.

For questions asked before June 2nd, please see the Archive 1

For questions asked from June 2nd, 2004 - June 18, 2004, please see Archive 2

Post a question here!

Some major problems with Wikipedia

There's too much information, too poorly organized. That's the root problem which leads to the following issues:

1) The server is too slow or fails on occasion, which means a) an unsaved edit can easily be lost when clicking the 'submit' button. b) the search facility is cumbersome and, I guess, not updated fast and efficiently enough, because some contributions never show up on even Google and Yahoo. Can't Wikipedia break down its contents over several servers distributed across the country or the world? Perhaps they've already tried, in which case one could at east focus on improving the search function.

2) There is no coherent, rational structure or index for the distribution of articles, and no specified protocol which makes this structure/ index possible; because the current distribution is not rational, access routes to information are not reversible. Sure, each article has links that lead to other links but that is not adequate; to illustrate with an example, 1) User A creates article on Famous Scientist. Famous Scientist belongs to Specific Science, and is citizen of Certain Country; however, clicking on link to "Specific Science" does not lead to a COMPREHENSIVE list of famous scientists which will lead back to the Famous Scientist in question; in some cases it does not even lead to a list, or a history, or any such thing; similarly, clicking on "Certain Country" does not lead to a comprehensive list of famous scientists, or even "Contributions to Science" subdivision which will lead back to the Famous Scientist in question. User A may make an effort to rectifying said links and lists, but there are too many articles, lists, links and so on to ensure the changes have much impact. It would be much simpler to encourage a protocol among article creators and editors that would give rise to indexing, and will make these "information access routes" smoother and rational.

3) There is no easy way to contact a single body of authority concerning issues which are not listed in Help and FAQ pages - and there are too many of the latter, in too many various subdivisions, that are not always linked to each other, which means you can easily waste too much time looking for help in the wrong places. You may have a list of administrators and bureacrats, but there is no easy way to judge a) which of them have been recently active and/or are b) likely to respond c) have enough competency or authority to deal with your problem; no easy to way to judge d) whom to turn to in case this administrator does not respond, which means e) go through the whole tortuous process of looking for help all over again, usually just to answer a simple question. It is frustrating, to put it mildly.

- Simonides 15:05, 18 Jun 2004

Well, as for your third problem, I think you've found the right place. That's what we're here for--we'll answer the questions we can, but even if we can't, we generally know where to go to get answers.

As for your first complaint, I agree, it's a problem. Apparently, the trouble isn't location, but simply the number of servers--we're going to have to buy a new one about every month to keep up. However, this is sure to improve as more donations come in.

With regards to the second complaint, you might want to look into Wikipedia:Categorization. This is a new feature, so people are still adapting to it, but it sounds like just what you're looking for. Hope this helps--you sound like an insightful contributor, and we'd hate to lose you. Best wishes, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 15:11, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response, Meelar. I posted a request here and a different one yesterday on the General complaints board, neither of which were answered. 1) I would like to know whether a user IP address can be deleted/ modified on a Page History list, for privacy reasons. 2) I have created three new articles recently; while the first one showed up immediately after a search, the second two never show up on search results either on Wikipedia or on Google & Yahoo! What's wrong? 3) I can't seem to move pages either. Though I did it for my first article, everytime I try to move a page now Wikipedia tells me I am not logged in, though I am and can still make edits. Please send me an email! - Simonides 15:53, 18 Jun 2004

As a Newbie, I'd like to back up Contributor Simonides. It's very difficult when you have to learn a new set of jargon, new system convetions etc. and to top it all off, things don't work properly. Now, I tend to be patient by nature and I'm stubborn enough to keep at it, but I can see where you might lose some clever contributors who might give up in frustration.

Issue 2 is a real problem for those of us who are academic. Thanks for the link Meelar, but this is a case in point; there seems to be a solution for Issue 2, but it's frustrated by Issue 1. Here I am, with some free time, ready to do some Wikipedia studying. Took me ages to even sign on to Wikipedia. Now it's taking an age for the system to respond to each click of my mouse button, and it seems as though it's hanging. Even if I'm willing to read through different DISCUSSION pages and sets of FAQs to get the answer to my stupid little question, I can't access the FAQs. I still want the answer to my question, however, because I'd like to fix it now, while I'm thinking about it and have time to do so, because otherwise I might forget, futher adding to Issue 2. Which brings me to issue 3--in the absence of being able to find the answer in a FAQ list, which Administrator do I bother with my stupid little question? My only recourse seems to be to ask it here, which I will do, below...Quill 00:52, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

In response to Simonides, take a look at Wikipedia:Changing attribution for an edit for the issue of IP addresses in page history. – Jrdioko (Talk) 01:57, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks jrdioko, Meelar sent me an email and cleared up that one issue. If you or anyone else is interested in the other issues, I have taken most of my questions there and a discussion is ongoing. Please drop in! Simonides 05:14, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Problems with templates

I was looking through the article Nirvana, refering to the religious belief, when some of the words in the article came out written as "Template:Nirvana". I had a look through the edit box, and although the first few uses of the templates came out OK, the rest of the templates did not do so, and came out mangled like that. This did not seem to occur for any other templates used, but only the actual Template:Nirvana. I tried changing it but couldn't figure out how to make it work. Any suggestions?

--Master Of Ninja 07:30, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Currently only up to five incarnations of the same Template work on a single page. It's being worked on and will be fixed soon. — Timwi 14:47, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Can't re-direct to category

This:

#REDIRECT[[Category:Places of interest in Birmingham, England]]

doesn't seem to work (see my recent edit to the now- redundant List of places of interest in Birmingham. Any work- arounds? Andy Mabbett 10:26, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

This is a known issue. I don't think there are. Dysprosia 10:28, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I've tried fiddling with it and couldn't get it to work either. However, I've improved it slightly. Morwen - Talk 10:29, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Redirect to Klingon Wikipedia

I've tried linking pages to the Klingon Wikipedia using the ISO 639 language codes, and all that happens is that a link to a page shows up on the article. Instead of a redirect to a Klingon Wikipedia page, there's a link to a blank English Wikipedia page entitled "tlh:XXX". I'm just a user, not an admin; so is there anything that can be done? thefamouseccles 12:28, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

No, sorry, we need to patch the installation slightly for this to be rendered. Put the pages on a private to-do list, so you can do this when they are enabled. There is currently an ongoing debate whether or not we should have Klingon langlinks, so it may take time, due to the controversial nature of constructed languages in Wikipedia. ✏ Sverdrup 14:36, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

You can't link to the Klingon Wikipedia. There was a compromise made on the mailing list that if a Klingon Wikipedia was going to be allowed to exist, it would have to remain hidden from the other Wikipedias, so the ability to link to it was disabled.

Admin attention required on Template:vfd

Can an admin please fix Template:vfd to match the new standard for vfd listings? I've explained the problem and a solution at Template talk:vfd. - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 14:21, Jun 18, 2004 (UTC)

Even better, can that page be unprotected? I don't really see that it's necessary for it to be protected. Template:delete, Template:stub and Template:copyvio are used just as often and they are unprotected. - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 14:24, Jun 18, 2004 (UTC)

Unprotected--I didn't make any changes besides that, since I wasn't entirely clear. Good luck with that. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 14:26, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks meelar! It works (see Esmeraldas for an example) - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 14:46, Jun 18, 2004 (UTC)

19th century immigration and Valparaiso databases

Question moved to Wikipedia:Reference desk. Good luck, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 16:58, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

My Own Wiki

I like the wiki mark up so much I might one day want to do my own little project using it. I'm assuming this would mean installing something on my machine and, if I wanted it to be online, on my ISPs server. What would I need to do to have my own wiki? I'm sure there's an article about this somewhere (on meta?) so feel free to answer with a link. --bodnotbod 00:27, Jun 19, 2004 (UTC)

read Mediawiki. You'll need apache, mysql, php -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:55, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

See also m:How to become a MediaWiki hacker. Angela . 01:07, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Regarding Disambuguity Pages

1. I recently created a stubby article for sterility, because I used the word in another article, and when I linked it, it went to infertility which only deals with human reproduction, and I was writing about animals. Was this the right thing to do? I did reference the infertility article with a brief definition and a link.

2. I then realized that ?sterility? has some other meanings as well, and I mentioned them, but now I?m a little uncertain, as Wikipedia is not a dictionary, after all. Having put more than one sense of the word ?sterility?, should this now be listed as a Disambiguity page? I wasn?t sure.

3. Should I continue to ask these types of questions here, or just continue along on my merry way and trust that some Administrator will fix the mistakes I make? Quill 00:56, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Welcome Quill, here are some unauthoritative thoughts: 1/2) if you believe your article is different enough from the Infertility article, do not redirect. Instead, just add a "See Also" section below, and explain the difference in content if you feel obliged to. 3) I can't predict which pages will move faster, but I am seeing activity at the Help Desk after a couple of days - the Village Pump was faster, but then again, it may have been slow yesterday at the same time too. Simonides 05:14, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

No, this question wasn't about redirecting, it's specifically about the use of the Disambiguity label or tag or whatever its called. My new page has definitions of sterility, and directs the user to "See Infertility" if what they wanted was information regarding human sterility. Doesn't Redirection mean that one bypasses another page altogether? Quill 08:32, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Why wasn't Derek Frigo's death listed? See email.

musicNEWS: Derek Frigo RIP - Enuff Z?nuff Guitarist Dead At Age 37

05-29-04 Keavin . Derek Frigo, former lead guitarist of Enuff Z?nuff was found dead on Friday. The cause of death is not known at this time. Frigo was reportedly found outside his girlfriend?s Beverly Hills home. Derek was the son of legendary Chicago violin virtuoso Johnny Frigo. He rose to fame in his own right as the lead guitarist of Enuff Z?nuff on their first three major label albums. Rolling Stone named Enuff Z'nuff best new band in 1991. During his time with the band, Derek was praised for his distinct tremolo infused guitar solos. He left Enuff Z?nuff in 1994 and played in a number of groups since, the latest projects included gigs with his fellow former Enuff Z'nuff bandmate Vik Fox in Los Angeles based rock band Logan?s Heroes and playing with punk icon Texas Terri.

Well, he's competing with bombings, hostage beheadings, massacres...we only have so much space. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 16:47, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Font question

This may sound trivial to some, but I couldn't find the appropriate category and am in a bit of a rush:

I want to create an article for "Dubravka Ugre?ić". So far I have managed to create Dubravka Ugresic and redirect "Dubravka Ugre?ic" there, but when I type "Ugre?ić", though it shows up accurately on an article page, clicking Edit This Article creates the Title "Ugre?iÄ?", and I just had to delete an article created under that heading. How can I create something for "Ugre?ić" which looks aesthetically inoffensive and will help direct those who search with the Croatian accents (typing "&#263" or "&cacute" doesn't help)? Simonides 05:29, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

The verdana font that the new wikipedia skin uses apparently has bugs showing diacritals. I believe a bug has already been files about that. In the meantime, switching to another skin (in preferences) should fix it for you (but not, of course, for casual visitors). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:16, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

This is not a font bug, but an encoding limitation. ć is not a latin-1 character, while ? is, and therefore ć can not be included in article titles. So, until the english wikipedia is transferred to unicode, we can only use latin-1 characters in article titles. Using unicode (any character) in article text is fine though. ✏ Sverdrup 01:15, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Is this not related to the fact the English Wikipedia is not in UTF8 rather than being a font issue. I don't think special characters like ? are supposed to be allowed in titles. Angela . 01:14, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

replacing pictures

I have uploaded an image file and would like to replace it with an up-dated version on the same image site. How can I do that? Yardcock 10:09, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Upload it with the same name as the old version, and it will replace it. The old version will be visible in the version history. ✏ Sverdrup 13:29, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks Yardcock 14:24, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

How do you find out your total number of edits?

Okay, I admit it, I'm a dummy. I know there must be some way of figuring out what your total number of edits is, but, erm, I can't get there. Help!

Thanks - --Puffy jacket 15:12, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Contributions&limit=50&offset=50&hideminor=0&target=Puffy_jacket

You have to count them, but there's a trick to doing it quickly. Go to that URL. Notice the bolded 50 there. Change that number higher to go further back into your contributions. That will let you count them. So if you think you've done 3,000 edits, you can count them quickly rather than paging through all of them.

I started out by putting in 500 and it was blank. That means you haven't made 500 yet. I started going back in incriments of 50 until I got to 150, where it listed 3. Therefore, you have 153 edits. →Raul654 15:59, Jun 19, 2004 (UTC)

- Thank you kindly! :) --Puffy jacket 16:01, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Economics

What are the Four Facotrs of Production? What are the economics systems and explain each detail? What does supply and demand mean and how do each work with each other? How are prices detemined? What is an entrepreneur and what does it tak to become one? What is Free Enterprise System?

See our articles on supply and demand, capitalism, economics, communism, socialism. 16:59, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Dead-end article list

I forgot what the list of dead-end articles is called and where it is. Can someone help by telling me?

JediMaster16 20:22, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

you're going to kick yourself! It's called Wikipedia:Deadend pages theresa knott 22:16, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Can't edit pages anymore...

As of this evening, whenever I try to submit changes when logged in as User:Dcfleck, the server returns a completely blank page, and no change to the article occurs. I don't think I've been banned - what could cause this behavior?

(I can submit changes successfully when not logged in.)

--12.216.14.105 03:45, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Hmmm, seems to be working OK this morning.

--dcf 11:35, 2004 Jun 22 (UTC)

Inactive link font color

What is the color code for the new red links in Monobook? Wikipedia:How to start a page has an example that still uses the old color. – Jrdioko (Talk) 20:46, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Looking at the monobook css, it would appear to be #ba0000. - 21:01, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC) Lee (talk)

Forgot about that page, thanks! – Jrdioko (Talk) 21:24, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Getting started

What is the advice that you would give to a person who just found Wikipedia? This website is so full of information and possibilities, that it's quite overwhelming. Is there a way to simplify the introductory process?

Getting started as a contributor? Well, there's the tutorial if you don't know wiki syntax yet. But my opinion is - just dive right in and write what you know. →Raul654 23:29, Jun 22, 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, if you're into that whole 'writing articles' thing. I just watch Special:recentchanges and see what catches my eye. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 23:36, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Howdy. I left a little welcome note on your talk page, which has some ideas (crazy ideas, sometimes, but ideas nonetheless). Wikipedia is always short of decent, GFDL licenced, photos. One very useful thing to search around for placenames near your home (towns, villages, cities, famous streets etc.) that have a wikipedia article but no photo. Or find landmarks (mountains, bridges, airports, rail systems, rivers, ancient site, important building, historical site, etc.). Then take some representative photos (digital is easiest, but whatever you can is fine) and upload them. They don't have to be technically or artistically outstanding (infact, very often the "arty" photo and the "encyclopedic" photo are opposites), just capture something of the feel of the place. Then upload those and link to them from the appropriate article. No matter how humdrum you thing your town is, I'm sure this would make a difference. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:51, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Moving Pages

I'm having a bit of trouble moving pages. When I try to move a page, I'm informed that I must be logged in to move it, which, of course, I am. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance, --Lafuerzasindical 09:42, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

My best suggestion is to clear your cache, log out, and log in again. Sorry. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 12:58, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

help using links in wiki tables

hi,

i am new to wiki and am having the following problem. i'm trying to use links inside a table, but wiki is getting the syntax confused. the syntax for a table is "||row1-col1|row1-col2||row2-col1|row2-col2||" and i'm trying to use a link like "Name" to do the following "||Name|row1-col2||row2-col1|row2-col2||". the result is a broken mailto link that displays "mailto:me@mail.com". the problem is the | in the mailto link. is there any syntax like escape characters to avoid this or should i just use html? i don't want to use html as the wiki style sheets will no longer apply. can anyone help?

thanks

Colin

Colin you shouldn't be using a | in your mailto link you should be using a space. Plus you need to space things out on separate lines theresa knott 11:58, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Colin	row 1 col 2
row 2 col 1	row2 col 2
is this the kind of thing you had in mind?

Images

Umm, No images are displaying for me right now. Is there a server issue or is my skin messed up somehow? Is anyone else seeing this problem? - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 16:17, Jun 23, 2004 (UTC)

Possibly Poisonous

In the article on Chloral hydrate, a detailed description of how to manufacture chloral hydrate using household products is included. Also included is recommended dosage and the phrase "drink up!". (Chloral hydrate is a strong sedative).

This seems possibly dangerous--for one, the original recipe may be erroneous. The ingredients include drain cleaner, gem cleaner, and sani-flush. While these may contain suluphuric acide, grain alcohol, and bleach, they may also contain other chemicals and are certainly not produced according to FDA standards for medicine consumed by humans. Secondly, it isnt a challenge for a user to go in there and adjust the ingredients and dosage listed to create a very toxic mixture.

Where other information being incorrect may stir up some emotions, this could actually lead to death, lawsuits, and perhaps even a shutdown of the wikipedia. Recipes of this sort, if included, seem like they should have some very high standard for edits.

How do I request arbitration?

WikiUser 20:30, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC) - I need to request arbitration as other users are refusing to consider any of the "pre-arbitration" steps Wikipedia recommends, and "ganging up" on me and acting as if I have no rights at all. i.e. refusing to allow me to use Wikipedia like any other user despite the fact that I have followed all guidlines carefully. The appropriate Wikipedia page is not clear HOW to request arbitration - so will someone tell me? Thankyou.

You want Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 20:37, Jun 23, 2004 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Help desk

Contents

Some major problems with Wikipedia

Problems with templates

Can't re-direct to category

Redirect to Klingon Wikipedia

Admin attention required on Template:vfd

19th century immigration and Valparaiso databases

My Own Wiki

Regarding Disambuguity Pages

Why wasn't Derek Frigo's death listed? See email.

Font question

replacing pictures

How do you find out your total number of edits?

More questions

Economics

Dead-end article list

Can't edit pages anymore...

Inactive link font color

Getting started

Moving Pages

help using links in wiki tables

Images

Possibly Poisonous

How do I request arbitration?

Navigation menu

Wikipedia:Help desk

Some major problems with Wikipedia

Problems with templates

Can't re-direct to category

Redirect to Klingon Wikipedia

Admin attention required on Template:vfd

19th century immigration and Valparaiso databases

My Own Wiki

Regarding Disambuguity Pages

Why wasn't Derek Frigo's death listed? See email.

Font question

replacing pictures

How do you find out your total number of edits?

More questions

Economics

Dead-end article list

Can't edit pages anymore...

Inactive link font color

Getting started

Moving Pages

help using links in wiki tables

Images

Possibly Poisonous

How do I request arbitration?

Navigation menu

Search