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Tip of the moment... Good article nominations Wikipedia articles improved to C-class, and then B-class status may be submitted to the peer review process to receive ideas and feedback from other editors. Upon successful completion of the peer review, an article can be nominated for GA-Class (Good Article) status. A good article is... 1. Well written: Prose and layout are clear, and comply with certain aspects of the Manual of Style (MOS); in particular, the lead is a concise summary of the article. 2. Accurate and verifiable: Reliable sources are provided, and cited where necessary. 3. Broad: It covers the main aspects of the topic without going into unnecessary detail. It is encyclopedic. 4. Neutral: It represents viewpoints fairly and without bias. 5. Stable: It does not change significantly from day-to-day. 6. Illustrated: if possible and relevant, by images with acceptable copyright status, fair use rationales where necessary, and succinct captions. In turn, good articles are eligible for being submitted as candidates for FA-Class (Featured Article) status. Prior tip – Tips library – Next tip Read more: Compare criteria: Good v. Featured article   Wikipedia:Good articles   Wikipedia:Featured articles   Become a Wikipedia tipster To add this auto-randomizing template to your user page, use {{totd-random}}

July 4

Copying text

Is it ok to copy and modify text from one Wikipedia article and put it into another unrelated Wikipedia article? 70.97.110.38 00:11, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

That seems fine. Just be sure to cite the article just like you would any other source. -- Psy guy ^Talk 00:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

You can never cite Wikipedia as a source of information in Wikipedia. Ideally every piece of information in Wikipedia should come from reliable sources (this excludes Wikipedia itself). From a copyright standpoint is fine to copy and modify text from a Wikipedia article, as long as it is backed up with sources. In reality things do get copied across without citation, that's ok. Wikipedia:Citing sources, Wikipedia:Reliable sources, Wikipedia:Verifiability.--Commander Keane 00:51, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

How about if I cite the source in the Edit Summary? -- 70.97.110.38 01:32, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Agreeing with Commander Keane, yes, it is ideal to go to the original source. Their should be no orginial research at Wikipedia. Secondly, citing source source in the Edit Summary is not a good idea because it is difficult for another user to find the it. The user would have to anticipate that you placed the source in the summary and go edit by edit to find the source. It should be in some kind of reference section at the bottom of the article. Not knowing what article you are discussion, I can't specific. However, I would suggest putting the related article in a == See also == section. -- Psy guy ^Talk 02:06, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Given that we credit authors, and our main tool is the history, how will cutting and pasting text do that? The edit history is lost. That's our primary reason for not doing cut and paste page moves, and I don't see why it doesn't apply here as well. Plus, I don't understand why copying from one article to another is likely to be a good thing to do anyway. If there is really some text in one article that is equally good and relevant to another article, and new text can't be written for the new article--and I'm skeptical about both of those premises--that seems like an ideal use of hyperlinks, as Psy guy suggests. · rodii · 03:41, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Category deletion

Is there anyway to suggest the deletion of a category and all of the articles in it? (specifically Category:Onomastics) Mo-Al 04:47, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Categories for discussion has all the information you'll need. --Hetar 05:49, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Straight Vertical Line

In Wikipedia, in order hyperlink a word or phrase to an article whose title is not that word or phrase, you need to type a character, that is a straight verticle line, between that word or phrase and the article's title.But the problem is that in my computer's keyboard, there's no key that has the character of a straight verticle line.60.241.147.187 06:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Are you talking about this -> | <-? On a US keyboard it is SHIFT + \ (forward slash) WP 06:47, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I guess you mean a vertical bar (also called a pipe) - this character: | ? I may appear on your keyboard as a broken bar (this character: ¦ ). If not, it appears in the edit toolbox - just edit a page, and while editing, scroll to the bottom of the screen, where you'll find a whole host of symbols you can use, including the pipe (under "symbols", second from left). Click on it to insert it into the edit window. Hope that helps! — QuantumEleven 06:48, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Just for clarity's sake, the "\" character WP cites above is actually a backslash. "Forward" slash (really just garden-variety slash) is "/". · rodii · 14:22, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

This is an extremely common question from new users (including, a few months ago, myself), inasmuch as the "|" (vertical line) character lacks other common uses and was not found on standard keyboards until recently. Suggest consideration of adding this explanation of how to generate this character to the tutorial and FAQ pages. Newyorkbrad 15:44, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

how to use wikipedia on a pda

hi, wikipedia makes an excellent mobile reference solution, for internet-enabled pdas. however, i can't read it very well on my pocket pc. if i display it as normal in pocket ie, i am forever having to scroll horizontally and if i choose 'fit to screen', it displays the content almost a word per line - not Nice!

is there a way (stylesheet?) to optimise wikipedia for pocket pc displays?

thanks in advance.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.71.7.219 (talk • contribs) 06:44, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

What help there is about this is at Wikipedia:Browser notes#PDA & cell phone browsers. If you can add anything that might be useful for others, please do so. -- Rick Block (talk) 13:01, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

The Pocket PC version of Opera works very well with Wikipedia in my experience, but it costs US$24. —David Wahler (talk) 01:02, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Userpage help - forgot about a link

I was browsing the userpage project last week (Wikipedia:WikiProject_User_Page_Help) and in the process, either directly or indirectly I came across a userpace that had two external links coded in the top right corner above the title bar. One pointed to the now defunct edit counter by Interiot and the other had a useful tool of which I can remember very little, but I would still like to find it again. Does this ring a bell with anyone? - Mgm|^(talk) 10:15, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

User:My Cat inn, perhaps? fetofs ^Hello! 22:31, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I can't log in!

I'm RobbieG, but I've been busy over the past few days and haven't actually logged in in a while. Today I tried to log in, but was unable to because the site claimed my cookies are disabled. I didn't disable my cookies and I don't know how to. I don't know how to enable them either, and I've tried using all sorts of reference books and websites which were no help at all. Please help, as this is actually pretty distressing. 88.105.147.99 13:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

What browser do you use? -- Psy guy ^Talk 14:13, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I've no idea. Can you tell me how I can find out, please? By the way, I just noticed that my user number (I mean the number that shows up when I'm not logged in; don't know what it's called) has been changing over time. I've been 80.42.110.162, 80.42.98.247, 80.42.102.188, 80.42.105.151, 80.42.101.218, 80.43.236.24 and 80.42.97.189, and many more besides. Do you think that's anything to do with this? 88.105.147.99 14:27, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

What's the name of the application that you use to explore Wikipedia (it's probably written on the top of your screen; probably it's Internet Explorer, Opera or Firefox)? These numbers are called IP addresses. Jacek Kendysz 14:34, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, et cetera? -- Psy guy ^Talk 14:35, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

(edit conflict city) No, that just means you have a dynamic IP address, one that's assigned by your internet provider when you connect each time. It looks like you're connecting from the Netherlands, right? Look at the top of your browser window--does it say Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Netscape, AOL? If you still can't tell, try this: are you connecting via AOL? Do you use a Macintosh? If not, and you are (most likely) using Windows, you probably are using Internet Explorer. · rodii · 14:39, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Oh, Internet Explorer. Sorry. Sorry about the edit conflict, too! 88.105.147.99 14:41, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

If you are using Internet Explorer, check Tools->Internet Options->Privacy tab and then the settings area, check if the level is set to at least medium or below. --WinHunter ^(talk) 14:49, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

It's already set to low, but it still says I have my cookies disabled. 88.105.147.99 14:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Look in the bottom right of the internet explorer window, on the grey bar. There is a box; mine says "Internet" and has a little world symbol. What do you see? Notinasnaid 15:02, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Exactly the same. 88.105.147.99 15:07, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Ok, in Privacy settings.... Click the Sites button. I see an empty list, nothing in it. You? Now click the Advanced button. Is "Override automatic cookie handling" off, and everything else grey? Notinasnaid 15:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes 88.105.147.99 15:25, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Ok, here's one more thing to try. Sometimes when Internet Explorer fills up its part of the disk, it stops working properly. Open Internet Options on the "General" tab. Click the "Delete files" button then click OK. This will free up some space and might mend things. Notinasnaid 15:34, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll try that. Can I just say, I'm really surprised and grateful to all the people who responded so quickly. Thanks a lot! 88.105.147.99 15:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you all! RobbieG 16:01, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Converting Redirect page to Disambiguation page

As discussed above, yesterday I created Peter J. Hamilton, thus requiring disambiguation of Peter Hamilton, which currently redirects to Peter F. Hamilton. My thanks to user: Jacek Kendysz who confirmed yesterday (via this help desk) my instinct that this is necessary. However, although I have located that tutorial on how to create a Disambiguation page, I am not certain how to convert an existing Redirect page into a Disambiguation. Is there a tutorial on how this is done, or can someone explain (or does doing this require Admin privileges?). Thank you. Newyorkbrad 15:54, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

When you go to Peter Hamilton and get redirected to Peter F. Hamilton the top of the article (right below the title) will have a note saying "(redirected from Peter Hamilton)". Click that link and you can edit the Peter Hamilton page directly. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:11, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Done, at least as a first version. Should article title of Peter Hamilton be changed to "Peter Hamilton (Disambiguation)"? Newyorkbrad 16:30, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

No. Jacek Kendysz 16:37, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Noted, and thank you for adding template. Newyorkbrad 17:07, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

• You only need a separate disambiguation page if one subject is obviously more common. In this case none of the Peters appear to be more famous than any of the others. By the way, the modifiers (the stuff between the brackets) usually should not start with a capital letter. It's "disambiguation" not "Disambiguation". - Mgm|^(talk) 18:31, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually I would say Peter F. is very much more well-known than Peter J., as the author of a number of recent best-selling novels. No disrespect to Peter J., but I think people searching for "Peter Hamilton" are overwhelmingly likely to want Peter F., for what it's worth. · rodii · 19:51, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Despite being the initiator of Peter J. Hamilton I have no reason to disagree with the above. I proceeded in accordance with advice from experienced users on this help page but have no objection to any modification deemed sensible. Newyorkbrad 00:31, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

UserPage or UserTalk Difference

I am confused as to the difference between UserPage and UserTalk. Brainiacoutcast 21:37, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Your user page is a page you own, which you can use pretty much as you'd like (information about yourself you don't mind other people being able to see, pages you're interested in, ...). Your talk page is where other people can communicate with you. This is the same difference between a regular article and its talk page (the talk page is for discussion about the article). Please see Wikipedia:User page for more details. -- Rick Block (talk) 17:31, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Rick Block Brainiacoutcast 21:36, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

SVG Support

I recently uploaded an image in SVG format: Image:Discworld-unseen-university-amoswolfe.svg which is the same as Image:Discworld-unseen-university-amoswolfe.png only in SVG format instean of PNG. The source is a vector drawing done by me.

The program I used to draw the image does not directly support SVG so I used "SVG Factory" (found in SVG tools). Viewing the image in the sandbox at a high resolution (2000px), I noticed that the enlarged image is pixellated, much as a bitmap/raster image would be if so enlarged.

I should add that the image has some drop shadows which are automatically created by the program. Could this mean that the SVG contains some kind of embedded bitmap within the file (as is possible in WMF)?

Any thoughts on the matter appreciated. -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 18:59, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

You may want to ask this in Village Pump: Technical --WinHunter ^(talk) 19:31, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, your SVG file is just an SVG wrapper around a PNG bitmap image. If you look at the source you can see it clearly. Converting from raster to vector format is not something that can be done automatically, at least not well, despite the claims of various programs with "tracing" facilities. · rodii · 19:48, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I will try re-saving the file without the drop shadows and re-uploading. The original image is a vector, but I think it is the shadows that are causing the problem. -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 20:03, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Removal of Links

Hi I am the admin of [1] a forum for the support/education/advice of skin allergy sufferoes similar to another site - skincell.org. Some of my Moderating team put some links to our site in various entries to help people find information and support for the conditions described. We then recived the following message

skincity.org.uk Please do not add commercial links or links to your own private websites to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising or a mere collection of external links. You are, however, encouraged to add content instead of links to the encyclopedia. If you feel the link should be added to the article please discuss it on the article's talk page rather than re-adding it. See the welcome page to learn more about Wikipedia. Thanks. --Clawed 08:40, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I take exception to being called a profit website then our link removed while a similar site is left up (see [2] the link for our forum was taken down but skincell is still up. Skincell is a forum similar to our in content but different in style and age I recommend that your admins investigate the links before you take them down.

regards Webmaster (email removed to prevent spam) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 172.189.132.126 (talk • contribs) 19:43, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Note: Clawed's edit was to User talk:86.128.234.78. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

• Dear webmaster. Forums are generally not considered suitable links in Wikipedia. Your particular forum appears to have just 47 members at the time of my checking, so while you may not be a for-profit website, you did engage in promotion of your forum which is expressly disallowed in WP:NOT. Exceptions are sometimes made for especially well-known forums or ones with lots of members, but yours doesn't seem to fit either category. Wikipedia:Spam and Wikipedia:External links should give you an idea of what is and isn't acceptable. In the mean time, if you can point out the specific similar URL you complained about remaining up, I can take a look at it. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
• Skincell appears to be a forum with a lot of activity (20 times as many posts as your forum, 200 times as many members). Even though you've been running for similar amounts of time, their forum simply has more information (which is the main quality external links are judged by). - Mgm|^(talk) 21:02, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

quick note we as a website have only been running for 4 months and that is why we have less members but we are growing. Admin Skincity etc

Citations

I'm having an issue with another editor, who seems to like removing cited statements, whenever he feels like it. Is there a policy or guideline that requires discussion first? Or is he allowed to remove cited material from any article he sees fit? Just so there is no confusion, any statements he has removed, were pertaining to that article, and only discussed it after it was reverted. He feels this is good way to handle it, and says its good faith! Zos 20:45, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

It can be a good way to provoke discussion. In some articles, I've found it the only way. If the consensus is to keep the item, then it would not be polite to remove it. And where the talk page is doing a good job, it seems unnecessary to start with a removal, but remember that "BE BOLD" is one of Wikipedia's tenets. Notinasnaid 20:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

• Sure. "Be bold" is a good rule of thumb, but I don't think sourced statements can be removed that easily. Only unsourced material can be removed without any sort of discussion. They should at least give people a chance to fix things if you think something's wrong with it. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:04, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply. Although hes saying that he'd like me to quote policy, and I simply cannot seem to find where it says he cant. I see his point of view, I may sound like I own the article in saying that I just dont want a cited statement removed, especially if its germane to the article. I'm at a loss as to why there is no policy for the removal of sourced, cited, and basic historic facts. Zos 21:06, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

One more question that pertains to this...How would I go about asking for a policy to be made? I assume I would have to put it up for a survey, and let consensus decide right? But where? Should I post it to Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines? Or a different page? Zos 21:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I think there are valid reasons for removing sourced information, though of course discussing it on the talk page is always good. But concerns about relevance, POV, spam, lack of balance, undue weight or triviality might cause someone to decide an article would be better off with some information removed, even if it's fully sourced. Just because something is sourced doesn't mean it's sacrosanct. And in some articles, at least, discussing every removal is just a waste of time--spammers and drive-by POV pushers add passages with "citations" all the time. Zos, it seems like you're looking for a general rule you can use as ammunition here, but I feel like there's a need to consider the context. What's the other editor's position on these links? · rodii · 01:51, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree there are valid reasons for removing sources statements, but these would be exceptions as many policies and guidelines have exceptions. I'm just in awe that there is no rule or policy for removal of relevant cited statements. And I'm not trying to look for amunition for a debate, just needing some general consensus for this issue. If this would be the case, then whats stopping me from removing cited statements from any article I see fit, saying "theres no policy that says I cannot do it". I feel this is wrong, and something might need to be added to a guideline/policy page, describing the nature of such. The other editors position on the matter was that it was irrelevant, and that it was my opinion to put it in, and his opinion to take it out. So we reached a point where no policy or guideline has touched yet, I suppose. So how would I ask for a survey, and on which page would you think? Zos 05:41, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

It sounds to me like you might want to read Wikipedia:Resolving disputes, which is the policy by which "I think this" vs. "you think that" disputes should be resolved. In general, if somone deletes something from an article (sourced or not), and you add it back, and they delete it again and you feel it should be added back you're in dispute territory. There is no absolute or even general policy about deleting sourced statements and there likely never will be. If you'd like to pursue creating one (and I strongly caution that this will almost assuredly be a complete waste of your time and anyone else you get to participate in the process), please see Wikipedia:How to create policy. -- Rick Block (talk) 13:57, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

You may also like to read Wikipedia:Reliable sources -- Lost 14:03, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

article on Guraura

Hello, I wrote a short note to David Newton about my article on Guraura, a village near Lucknow, India. I don't know much about Wikipedia and I don't know how to do the basic tasks it seems. How does my article (unfinished) get to be a regular article ? I started looking through all the directions but my head gets dizzy there are so many options, so many things to click which lead you to other things. If you could write a short note that would be much appreciated. I am well aware--having been an academic for many decades--that one does not copy, cut and paste, etc. other people's work. Everything that I wrote or will write, will be strictly my own. I am unlikely to be editing other people's work, though adding something would not be out of the question. I think the idea of Wikipedia is great, so spoiling it would not be very consistent with my support.

Bob Newman--Bobnewman 22:21, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Hiya Bob! I refactored your message for clarity, I hope you don't mind. Anyway, I found your article, Guraura, and would point out that since it's listed as an article currently... well, it is, by definition, an article.

What I'd probably suggest you do, first of all, is find sources for your content. While it's great that you've got hands-on experience with Guraura, it'd help quite a bit if we could find verifiable sources. I've tacked a "welcome template" onto your page, filled to the brim with useful links to various policy pages on Wikipedia that you should find useful. Click on "my talk" at the top to access this.

I'd also suggest browsing similar Wikipedia articles and view them (click "edit source" and just don't change anything) to determine how the editors of that article put it together and made it look nice. If you still have questions, just respond here. :) ~Kylu (u|t) 23:28, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

(conflict)First, don't use paragraphs – they're handled by the software in a strange way. Instead, put a blank line between both blocks of text. I'm afraid only a single note is not enough to explain everything there is to writing an article. A good short description is to make a lead section not putting any headers, with a brief overview (bold the first occurance of the title and make it the subject of the first sentence). Then, use headers to go into deeper information on particular subjects. Link extensively to other articles (relevant to the subject of the article) inside your text by using Wiki syntax. This particular internal linking syntax is [[Link destination]]. Set up a External links section to cite sources and provide useful links (Guidelines at Wikipedia:External links) that add to what's already in your text (alternatively, to cite, you could use footnotes). Any questions you may have, you can ask them at my talk page. fetofs ^Hello! 23:45, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

• You made a slight mistake there Fetofs. Sources should not be in the external links section, but instead in a references or sources section of their own. External links are useful and related material, but material that hasn't been used in the creation of the article. - Mgm|^(talk) 04:56, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
  • Yes, but sometimes there is a mix between sources and additional material in the links. But anyway, we should explicitly cite sources when possible. fetofs ^Hello! 11:55, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
    • If the references section is done in footnote style - as it should be - then there's rarely any overlap. For example, if the references section points to a website, it will generally be pointing to individual pages. The external links section, however, can contain a link to the website as a whole. There's also no confusion over which sources have been used to write the article and which haven't. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 14:26, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Copyright, photos and photoshop

Hi - what's the situation where someone takes a copyright photo, photoshops it with a filter and then puts it up - does that still breach the copyright?

--Charlesknight 22:45, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes. ~Kylu (u|t) 22:52, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Right - what's the procedure for removal?

--Charlesknight 22:57, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Check with WP:CSD. Zos 23:03, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Bloody hell that's complex! (thanks for the tip anyway) --Charlesknight 23:09, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Try template: {{PUInonfree}} ? ~Kylu (u|t) 23:33, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Edit by unknown party

Hello - I refer to article Trooping the Colour on which I have contributed quite a bit. I do not know who 62.56.98.120 is, but on 2 July they went through the article substituting the expressing Saluting Dais for Saluting Base.

"Base" is correct, as per the program for the event, which I atttended.

I have rectified the error and put a note about it on the article's discussion page.

However, is there anything else I can do to contact 62.56.98.120 ? (whoever they may be?)

Or can we protect the word Base and base throughout the article in any way?

Thanks for advice. I have also contacted the very helpful user called Phaedriel on this.

-- FClef 22:44, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

It appears you've done everything that you could do, I do recommend leaving the IP a little note. Just because they are an anon, does not mean they are any less of a user. But, good work. Yanksox 22:46, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

How do you "give the IP a little note"? (i.e., what does that mean and how do you do it?) Sorry for further question , but am a Wikivirgin. (or as close as dammit... :o) -- FClef 22:55, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

This refers to leaving a message on the Talk page - in this case User talk:62.56.98.120 When somebody makes an edit without creating an account or logging in to an existing one, all edits are attributed to their IP address. ---=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 23:03, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I have done so. Can you please give me the format for, e.g. Trooping the Colour Talk Page? I mean if I want to say "please reply to teh Trooping the Colour Talk page - how do I put it in Wikilingo? Gramercy. -- FClef 23:08, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I recommend just saying something along the lines of, "Thank you for your edits to Trooping the Colour, however, I have reverted your edits. For a further explanation please see the talk page." Add you username. Feel free to copy the code if you want to paraphrase that. Yanksox 23:12, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks - v. helpful, especially cool neutral tone. -- FClef 23:18, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

You can also use {{talkheader}}. FellowWikipedian 01:59, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

What is a talkheader? And thanks to everyone for help - the user actually wrote back to me and we sorted out the errors. -- FClef 23:07, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

July 5

PDF/EPS to SVG?

Is there a free software/freeware program for Windows that can convert EPS or PDF to SVG? Thanks WP 02:52, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

The help desk is for questions on how to use Wikipedia. For general knowledge questions, such as yours, please use the reference desk. -- Reinyday, 03:26, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

IP address

Is there a link on wikipedia that can tell me my ip address without having to make a contribution somewhere? -- 216.143.142.68 06:52, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

It's not on Wikipedia, but see http://whatismyipaddress.com/. Notinasnaid 07:39, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

• Er, you just made a contribution... Anyway, remember that you can have a dynamic IP address (meaning it changes) especially when you connect through AOL. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:38, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

yeah, the reason was I wanted to check my ip :)... thanks for the help...216.143.142.68 09:28, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Email confirmation

I created two accounts on two wikipedias - English and Vietnamese. I could confirm my email for the English account but could not for the Vietnamese account. There was an email sent to ask for confirmation but when I clicked the link, it says "there is not yet an article with this name, you can start one" ???--lhagiang 06:53, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

There may not be a page at your username space since they start as an empty page. This blank page does not necessarily mean your account wasn't created: are links to your user pages (Userpage, "my talk", "my preferences" etc) displayed in the top right of your screen, or is there just a "Log in/register" link?. EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 11:47, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply. My account has been created. The problem is I could not confirm the email address under which I registered my account. Perhaps it would not matter much anyways, but I would not be able to receive news from Wiki/emails from other users?--lhagiang 15:49, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

• What link are you pointed to when you try to confirm? - Mgm|^(talk) 18:03, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay in a response: you should, if you are able to enter your Vietnamese account, be able to change the email address in my preferences (top-right corner). Hope this helps. EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 18:51, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Problem solved! :) I copied and pasted the link in a separate window instead of directly clicking on it and it worked! Thank you for your help :)--lhagiang 09:06, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Information technology Wiki 159.52.64.118 07:15, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Hello,

I was wondering if there is a specific Wiki, either a feature of this one or other wikis, that cover the subject of Information Technology/Computers etc

I would be very greatful to know of whats out there.

Many thanks David

You could start by looking at Category: Information technology and Information technology. --Hetar 07:17, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Lack of congruence symbol (mathematics)

When editing my first contribution, I couldn't find the congruence symbol (three dashes vertically aligned) and was forced to use the equivalence (equal) symbol. Although I have no doubt that readers will understand my contribution, would it not be a good idea to make the congruence symbol available to editors? --Duke Dudley 13:57, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Where you searching for this? "$\equiv$" --J B 13:35, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Indeed! But it isn't in the "Insert" list of characters and symbols. --Duke Dudley 13:57, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Many mathematical are not. If you are unsure try the LaTeX command. Often it works nice :-) --J B 14:02, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Right, this worked for me, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Germain_prime. A thousand thanks for your prompt and helpful advice! --Duke Dudley 14:14, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

A few problems and suggestions:

• Don't sign your name inside articles.
• Use edit summaries when you edit articles.
• To make links to Wikipedia pages, use double brackets: [[Sophie Germain prime]] becomes Sophie Germain prime.
• It's not a very good idea to use a math tag just for a single symbol. Instead, use ≡ (to obtain it, write an ampersand (&), followed by the name of the symbol (equiv), followed by a semicolon (;).)
• KSmrq has a useful list of characters you can insert this way in User:KSmrq/Chars.
• For cases where the math tag is necessary, Help:Formula is a useful reference.
• For all-around help on wikimarkup, see Wikipedia:How to edit a page. This also includes the names of some common characters.

-- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 15:24, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Okay, duly noted although this is a lot to keep an eye on IMHO. Nevertheless I'll do my best to maintain Wikipedia's excellent quality. --Duke Dudley 18:48, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

2 Edit or Not 2

I looked up Critical Success Factors.

I found a stub.

One or two sentences in it are good/useful/scholastic.

One paragraph of it is nonsensical (has no logical grammatic / semantic structure, so no meaning can be ascribed to it).

Another paragraph provides a link to an external site advertising Executive Coaching!!! The following paragraph to that seems to be made up of key words rather than providing any illumination or erudition on the subject.

What should I do about this if anything? Who out there reads this, if anyone? Hello? Should I for instance simply dfelete the offending material? That seems a little unilateral even to me!!!

If this sort of thing proliferates surely the truly wonderful resource that Wikipedia is, a source of reference, will slowly rot away, a sort of entropic process of exponential aggregation?

Apart from noble hope, what stands in the path of this decay process?

Can I help?

Will this message in a bottle ever be read and if so will I receive a reply? How could such a thing ever happen?

Err . . . bye then. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.249.211.240 (talk • contribs) .

You could try expanding it yourself: take a peek at the introduction and tutorial! EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 16:05, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Is this the article you're talking about- Critical Success Factors doesn't exist as an article? EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 16:08, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Be bold! If you see anything in the article Critical success factor which you don't like, feel free to edit it (in order for the article to improve, someone has to edit it, right?). You should also consider creating a user account (click here to learn about the benefits). And don't worry about the future of Wikipedia - Although there will always be several articles of lower quality, there are very good reasons to believe that the overall quality of Wikipedia will only improve with time. And you can help! -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:41, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

2004 World Series Picture

How can I take an image I have on my PC an embed it onto the article, 2004 World Series?

The most important thing to deal with first is copyright. Is it a photograph that you, personally, took and are willing to release? If not, what is the copyright status? Notinasnaid 18:34, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

how do you add a page in wikipedia

How do I add a page —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kljklj (talk • contribs) 19:31, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

You should read Help:Starting a new page. Jacek Kendysz 19:41, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Archving Warnings

If you left an NPA warning on someone's talk page, and they archived it shortly there after, would you revert even though technically its still there but in an archive? --Crossmr 19:32, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

• I wouldn't if their archive is readily available, but that could easily change if they have a history of archiving such warnings without heeding them. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:53, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Questionable articles

Can somebody look at Francis Lee (comic book creator) and Boneville. The first one looks like a bad advertisement and the second's content is messy.

Both of these have been nominated for deletion. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 20:50, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Image provider incentive?

Hello. Concerning the need for more images in the surfing article, I was wondering what could be offered to the owner of an image in the way of exposure. Is there a policy restricting the information that can be included in the caption accompanying such an image, e.g. could it include the name of the surfer, the photographer or perhaps a statement like "image courtesy of" or "screen shot from (the movie title)", etc? Any suggestions? Thanks. --Maradja 20:57, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

The name of the surfer is generally accepted to describe the picture (as long as there aren't any copyright issues). As from the last two options, you would get the image page, (like Image:Example.jpg) edit it and put it there, that is the place for general information about licensing. fetofs ^Hello! 21:24, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Generally, you shouldn't need to give copyright attributions for images in articles, as licensing information on the image page should be sufficient. However, there are exceptions (see, for example, the photo in The Falling Man article). Andrew (My talk · World Cup) 21:33, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Three Laws of Robotics

Hi,

Just out of interest I was wondering wether what people lok a has any bearing on the daily featured article. I ask you this because I looked up the Three Laws of robotics Yesterday and today it's the featured article. Is it something to do with me or a huge coincidence?

Harry Case (email removed)

Well, yes. The featured article director, User:Raul654, chooses one of the 1000 odd featured articles to appear for one day on the main page. More or less, everything gets a shot. Highway ^Batman! 23:17, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I think what Harry is asking is whether we operate some sort of statistics on the numbers of page views (or hits) that articles get and decide the featured articles based on that. To that, the answer is no: Wikipedia has no way of keeping track on how many hits each individual article gets. The FAs are decided through a special process (WP:FA). - ulayiti (talk) 23:46, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, it is possible for Wikimedia to add hit counters to articles. However, the idea was never implemented due to the extra server load it'd cause. See Wikipedia:Technical FAQ GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 07:18, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

How to add an article to those boxes of links at the bottom of articles

How do you add another article to those link boxes at the bottom of some pages? For example, NYU has a box at the bottom with links to other schools in the University Athletic Association. If another school were to join that, how would I add it to that box? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dell1212 (talk • contribs)

Those boxes are in what is called the template namespace. The particular one you are interested in is found at Template:University Athletic Association. Just edit that page in the same way you would a normal article. Evil Monkey - Hello 02:19, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

(After edit conflict:) You've just asked about templates. If you click on "edit" in the "External links" section (or if you edit the whole page) you will see a list of templates that are used in the article, below the edit box, at the bottom of the page.

That list is made of clickable links. You can follow the links and edit the templates as you would edit an article. --Kjoonlee 02:24, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

New user... confused.

I've been using wikipedia for information for a while, but today I finally registered and created a couple of articles... there's a little bit of trouble I'm having understanding policy.

Main issue: I've long been irritated at the vast number of independent bands in the south who do extremely well regionally and are influential in underground circles, that go relatively undocumented. I created an article on a southern cult band Late Night Killers... this thing played out as follows... it got flagged for speedy deletion based on copyrighted material... i contested, plead my case that this was not copyrighted material just because it appeared on myspace... it was from the band's official bio, was not copyright protected, and they gave me the go ahead to use it... i was going to append my own material as soon as i could draft it up, but i thought their bio was a good starting point... so they changed it from a copyright flag to not notable band flag... i contested this and told them i was working on appending it to show how they were notable... within 5 minutes i go back to check the discussion to make sure nothing else has transpired... someone has just asked (in rather snide wording) whether the band had a record deal... i was editing the discussion to answer that question that, no they were currently unsigned but were negotiating a deal and were being produced by a member of a "notable" band that exists here on wikipedia... i make my edit only to find the whole damn thing has already vanished and been "protected" so that nobody will ever post that band again.... maybe i did a sloppy job ... i'm sort of new at this... but i think the impatience and bad attitude towards me were rather uncalled for and someone could have attempted to be helpful instead of rush-deleting my entire article and making it to where i could not rework it. am i wrong? what did i miss?

minor issue: another article i created has been flagged for clean up (Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt)... what does this mean, and how do i "clean it up"?

You might find WP:MUSIC and Wikipedia:Cleanup helpful. Dismas|^(talk) 03:42, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• It's probably best to not post an article to the main article space until you've added the notability in. In the mean time, you can work on the article in a Wikipedia:Subpage of your userspace. Also, the band's official bio is copyrighted unless otherwise noted. Not because it's on MySpace but because anything is automatically copyrighted to whoever wrote it. If they gave you permission to use it, have them send an email stating this to permissions AT wikimedia DOT org from an email address that's recognizably theirs so we can confirm this is the case. Finally, make sure it follows WP:MUSIC guidelines. - 131.211.210.16 07:37, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

July 6

Design For an Atomic Bomb

Dear Helper, I know i might sound like a terrorist but really i'm not,i had to join Wikipedia to source for material for my project. I'm a final year student of the Physics Department in the University of Calabar,Cross river state in Nigeria and i'im writing on the project topic "Physics in the millitary". Quite a wide topic isn't it?, Well my supervisor has advised me to downsize the topic to "Uncontrolled fission". Hence, I have to talk about radioactivity, uranium, it's history, the isotope used in building the bomb etc, and a design for the bomb (which is my main problem); to get a design and how it would work! All these would be in theory, i'm not actually building it(God knows i would'nt even want to come near anything radioactive) talkless of me being a mile near it. I need help to get a design, please help me, thanks yours sincerely, Emmanuel Ntia (email removed)— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimmynuel (talk • contribs)

A good place to start would probably be Nuclear weapon design. This question however really belongs on Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science as this page is designed for questions about Wikipedia. Evil Monkey - Hello 02:53, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Let's help the Nigerian avoid Nigerian scams by removing his email.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 03:18, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Citation needed?

Hi. I am a newcomer here. A few weeks ago, I edited the Jacques Brel entry in several spots, notably with:

>Sadly, with the exception of the Eric Blau-Mort Shuman translations used in "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris," the English translations of Brel's songs often strip them of their brilliance. For example, "Ne Me Quitte Pas" evocatively mentions pearls of rain that come from countries where rain never falls. However, Rod McKuen’s insipid English translation replaces that imagery with a day like no other, past and future, stealing Brel’s magical lyricism from English-speaking music lovers.<

I just returned to the entry and found [citation needed] at the end of the above paragraph. Truth is, I wanted to cite a bit of Brel's lyric and a bit of McKuen's translation to illustrate my point, i.e., Brel's "Moi, je t'offrirai / Des perles de pluie / Venues de pays / Où il ne pleut pas" versus McKuen's "But if you stay/I'll make you a day / Like no day has been / or will be again."

Question is: Can I cite these snippets on your site? And is this what you meant by "citation needed"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Primerib (talk • contribs) 03:29, July 6, 2006 (UTC)

Thanks.

You should certainly provide some examples of translations that have been "stripped of brilliance." Including the original text would be a start and you can use small "snippets" on Wikipedia for this purpose. The citation needed tag was probably referring to your use of "often." I also question your use of "insipid" as it violates our policy of maintaining a neutral point of view. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 03:40, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I think what is really needed is a citation to someone who expresses the sentiments that you have. You are presenting facts that can easily be checked (though citing a printed or other legal reference is good), but words like "sadly" and "insipid" cannot be used unless they are an accurate reflection of an accepted citation. Notinasnaid 08:01, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Mapmaking, or Cartography...

I want to make a map for this article, similar to those used in the various London Underground line articles. (example) How and where do I start? Pacific Coast Highway ^{(blah • lol, internet)} 04:40, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

That map was "Generated as part of the London Underground geographic maps project by software written by ed g2s • talk and James D. Forrester utilising GPS data." according to the image description. I would suggest asking one of them how to do it. You can link to their user pages from the image derscription page.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 05:09, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Pacific Coast Highway ^{(blah • lol, internet)} 05:14, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Multiple Language Log-Ons

Hi, I've been using and contributing to the English language wiki for a while now and, when I have time, thoroughly enjoy trying to improve it for everybody.

However, I also have knowledge of some other languages, such as French, German, Spanish and Simple English. However, if I try to edit pages in those languages, I am asked to create a whole new account as it doesn't recognise my log on.

When I notice something that I can contribute in another language, I don't want to have to log out, and log in under another i.d. each time.

Is there anyway my user id can gain me access to multiple language wikis? Any help gratefully accepted. Duncshine 09:47, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I am afraid that's not possible, you have to register another account in another language's wiki. However, since both site's cookie can concurrently exist so you only need to login once and ask the site to save your login. That way, you won't have to login each time you switch to another wiki. --WinHunter ^(talk) 09:52, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Tarn (disambiguation) and Tarn

Hello. Tarn has different meanings, see Tarn (disambiguation), but if you type Tarn you are straight directed to the French department Tarn instead of the Tarn (disambiguation) page. Should it not be the other way round? Tarn should direct you to the disambiguation page. But this means Tarn (meaning French department) should be renamed. I know some things you can do by your self, but these changes seem rather complicated to me! Guss2 09:59, 6 July 2006 (UTC) (copied from Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous)

• I don't think this move is needed. If you look at the whatlinkshere for Tarn, you see that most articles that link to Tarn are aimed at the French department. That's why the disambiguation note is at the top of the article. It could potentially be moved, but that would require fixing all the articles that will point to the disambiguation if you do that. That is a lot of work for a minimal return. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:29, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I guess the point here is that if you type a word into the search box and click Go, it is sensible that you are taken straight to the most common use of that word. I just typed Genesis into the search box, looking for info on the band, and was taken to the page about the opening book of the Bible instead, which actually seems logical to me. It's no biggie; I got to the band page with just two more clicks, via the disambig page. --Richardrj 10:36, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

My point exactly. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:47, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi Seems logical. Thanks for the answer and also for the speed in answering. Guss2 11:16, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

how

how to go to cookies—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.65.159.61 (talk • contribs) 11:36, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• Please be more specific about what you want. Do you want to locate your cookies on your hard drive? Do you want to remove them? What browser are you using? Do you use a Windows or Mac system? Without any of that information it's very hard to answer you. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:00, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
• I would suggest asking an expert cookie consumer where to find them. The Cookie Monster probably has a big stash somewhere. If you're nice he might share. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 18:55, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Skeeter J

<snipped submission>

• This is not the page to submit new article. Please try WP:AFC instead and make sure you read the instructions at the top. Especially those regarding WP:BIO, WP:MUSIC, Wikipedia:Vanity and Wikipedia:Reliable sources. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:57, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

female-african american pornstars

please can you show me pictures of female african american porn stars —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ibox (talk • contribs) .

Maybe a Google search would present suitable results... EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 18:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Or you could browse Category:African American porn stars. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 07:19, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

User:Dickbauch

Would an admin please do his job, tanks. Dickbauch 17:17, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• It's easier if you tell what exactly needs to be done... - Mgm|^(talk) 19:18, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Lune Fiction

Lune Fiction

Lune Fiction is one of Britain’s premier literary magazines and the world’s only journal dedicated to first class flash fiction (plus the occasional short story, minute novella and poetry). The magazine is named after the city of its origin: Lancaster, a city on the banks of the Lune in the North West of England; a town from which Lancashire derives its name and from which England derives its Red Rose. The Monarch of Great Britain is ultimately the Duke Of Lancaster. Lune Fiction is written by Lancaster writers such as Jomar de Vrind, Hendryk Korzeniowski, Mollie Baxter, Jane Scargill and Herschel Waters plus anyone of discernible talent from the Palatine Of Lancaster, Britain, the Commonwealth and the rest of the world. LF, as we call it in the Biz, is produced on a futuristic type-writer/ television hybrid machine, based on the findings of Alan Turing and his involvement with calculating devices during WW II. Lune Fiction is produced every four weeks in Lancaster. Give or take the odd day. It all depends on fortune and other circumstances. And the mood of the editorial collective that is Humble Sam, JM de Vrind and the ghost of Herschel Waters. The magazine is produced to further the cause of flash fiction, a newish form of literature which has come to destroy the manacles of excess that exist within conventional literature (Death to streams of consciousness and all that. Minimalists of the world unite: you have nothing to lose but your chains of plenty!). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.150.177.9 (talk • contribs) .

Ok. What is your question? Notinasnaid 17:42, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Linking to Redirects

I have a question about making wikilinks to redirects. So, for example puppy, puppies, and dogs all redirect to dog. Here are a few related questions:

• If I wanted to have the following sentence in an article, "George Washington owned a puppy", with "puppy" hyperlinked. Should I have it as just [[puppy]] or [[dog|puppy]]?

• Alternatively, if the sentence is "George Washington owned many puppies", should I have just [[puppies]] or [[puppy|puppies]] or [[dog|puppies]]?

• And finally, if the sentence is "George Washington owned many dogs", should I have just [[dogs]] or [[dog|dogs]] or [[dog]]s?

• If you have any other variations on the theme, feel free to add them

Thanks JianLi 18:22, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

You can leave it as [[puppy]]. That's what redirects are for. Ditto for the second case, i.e. [[puppies]]. In the last case, you would want [[dog]]s. There are some people who think that redirects shouldn't be linked to if possible and will go around piping everything, but AFAIK this is a minority POV. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 18:43, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

In fact, "fixing" redirects is explicitly discouraged - see Wikipedia:Redirect#Don't fix links to redirects that aren't broken. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:35, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Ok, I get it now. Thanks! JianLi 01:31, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I would say that if you are constructing the sentence, and you know the link will redirect, then you should pipe the link to avoid a redirect. However, as the above user mentioned, making an edit just to fix a redirect isn't considered helpful. -- Reinyday, 02:59, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

adding articles

how do i add an article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by James soad rule (talk • contribs) 18:26, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

You should read Help:Starting a new page. Jacek Kendysz 18:39, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

MP3 to OGG

Does anyone know of any sort of software that can convert MP3 format files to OGG files? It would help in uploading classical music to Wikipedia. --Mr. Lefty _{Talk to me!} 20:02, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Check this out. You will surely find some good software. Jacek Kendysz 20:23, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I believe Audacity will do it. See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spoken_Wikipedia/Recording_guidelines#Recommended_tools. Wikibofh_(talk) 21:56, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Yep, that's the editor recommended at Wikipedia:Media. Just a few quick notes though:

1. While the sheet music for classical pieces is usually in the public domain, individual recordings may not be. Unless you have a statement releasing rights, don't assume that the piece is free to upload.
2. Remember to check Wikipedia:Sound/list to see if we already have a free copy of the music before uploading.
3. If the recording is public domain (or at least released under a free licence), consider uploading to our media database Wikimedia Commons instead. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 07:03, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Using content for a book

I would like to publish a book (not ebook) using content taken from 100 Wikipedia articles. I have several questions:

1/. I can't possibly cite every author so if I put a URL of the original online article at the bottom of each article in the book is that enough to keep everyone happy? :o)

2/. I have put the copyright notice after the title page and the GNU Free Documentation License as an appendix. Does that meet requirements?

3/. I would like to make some small alterations such as leaving out certain blocks of text and photographs. Is there anything I need to be aware of here?

Thanks for your assistance

--84.66.2.148 20:48, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• See: citing wikipedia. Wikibofh_(talk) 21:55, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
  • Actually, Wikipedia:Requests for publication is more relevant. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 22:34, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

• • • Neither of those web pages really answer the initial question. The most relevant pages I could find are Wikipedia:Verbatim copying#Printed Copies and Wikipedia:Copyrights. --Mathew5000 18:48, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Searching for my article...

Hi, I recently started an article, Versatile Toroidal Facility, about a laboratory at MIT. Because i was sort of bored, i tried searching for my article (via the "search" rather than "go" button) using different keywords, but i can't make it come up on a search! I tried "toroidal" and "versatile" and "versatile toroidal", even "versatile toroidal facility", and the only page that comes up is about a department that contains the VTF lab. Did I do something wrong? Should I add keywords or something? Thanks, --Bmk 21:50, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

You don't need to do anything, the search index isn't updated very often (for weeks, months etc). So you just have to be patient. Also, there isn't fuzzy matching (for mispellings etc). Google et al will probably index the page first (and they have fuzzy matching).--Commander Keane 21:56, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! I'll try to restrain myself and be patient :) --Bmk 22:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

help with vandal

i don't keep watch pages, but can you see how the latest change here Structure of the Sun serves to blind people? I think this is very dangerous (and therefore made the second-to-last edit. We don't want people staring at solar eclipses. Thank you very much. 82.131.188.84 22:05, 6 July 2006 (UTC).

I agree, so i changed it. The article structure of the Sun doesn't need to contain medical information relating to looking at the sun, especially misleading info. FYI, it is true that during total eclipse, the sun is probably safe to look at, but not everyone knows how to distinguish between total eclipse and 99% eclipse, and according to NASA (see the solar eclipse links - too lazy to copy), viewing a 99% eclipse can still damage your eyes. Although i don't think it's fair to call it vandalism; just not the best addition. Also, feel free to change it yourself...this is wikipedia after all --Bmk 22:22, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Question re: legitimate use of biographies

I would like to know if citing a biography is acceptable at Wikipedia. When I attempted to address an issue at the Barry Manilow page about not having any information on personal life, I had cited that three biographies on this celebrities had been written, and that the 3d biography was considered the most controversial of the three. I had also mentioned the fact that he had been married once, and had a long term cohabitational relationship. However, a person took out the paragraph in its entirety, and accused me of having a "personal" agenda for putting it in. Another Wikipedia re-instated the paragraph, only to have the individual who originally removed it to do it again, and accuse the person of slander! When one reviews other celebrity profiles here at Wikipedia,for example Jim Morrison there is extensive discussion on the celebrities interpersonal relationships. Some of the information is not necessarily flattering or verifiable but apparently there are some who have a mission of keeping the Manilow page completely free of any kind of personal information. I suspect overprotective fans are behind this. I am not happy about being accused of the stuff this person is accusing me of because it simply isn't so. So, is the use of biographies a legitimate citation or not and is there any recourse that can be taken if a person falsely accuses another Wikipedian of slander? Ladycascadia 22:16, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Reliable sources for your first sentence. The rest of your comments appear to be a content dispute, see Wikipedia:Resolving disputes.--Commander Keane 23:17, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Copyrights and Featured Picture eligiblilty

Are images with copyright status "Some Rights Reserved" under the Creative Commons license eligible for featured picture status? Specifically, is the image Image:Maps-sodor-railways-amoswolfe.png eligible for Featured Picture? I would have nominated it already if not for the copyright concerns. C. M. Harris 23:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes I think so. The requirements say "Have a free license", and that image's licence is listed as free on Wikipedia:Image copyright tags. To help its run to be featured, I think ideally the image would be .svg format and without the CreativeCommons watermark.--Commander Keane 23:22, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I tried downloading the image into Photoshop. I managed to get the watermark out, but I can't save it in .svg– it's not a format option. C. M. Harris 22:57, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

lost my foxfire

when I click on my foxfire icon..it tells me that it is working offline. I have been using foxfire for two years and this the first time I have had a problem with it..can you help me Please? I do not know what to do to correct this. (personal details removed to protect from spam) Hope to hear for you soon.--68.171.29.54 23:16, 6 July 2006 (UTC)Beverly Caron

What you need to do is open Firefox, press the 'file' button at the top, and click the 'work offline' button, and it should cancel the working off line. GeorgeMoney ^(talk) 23:21, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

July 7

About Stocks

Hi,

My name is Dipankar Chauhan and I want to invest money in the stock market. I don't really have a good enough idea so that I may invest without anybody's guidance as I am totally new to this, please help me in understanding stocks, i.e., how it works, what is the profile & responsibilities of a stock broker and what are the follow ups done for thier work and by whom.

I would be highly obliged if you can provide me some help on the same, my contact info is : info redacted to avoid spam Kind Regards,

Dipankar Chauhan.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 61.246.203.116 (talk • contribs) 01:28, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

The help desk is for questions on how to use Wikipedia. For general knowledge questions, such as yours, please use the reference desk. -- Reinyday, 03:24, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

• THat said, I wouldn't recommend taking advice from complete strangers where your savings are involved. - Mgm|^(talk) 04:56, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I think the user is trying to understand more about the functions of stock related stuffs rather than seeking for investment advises. I'd suggest s/he to read Stock (and things in the see also section), Stock broker, Stock market. --WinHunter ^(talk) 07:33, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

using other html elements

on a couple of occasion, I've wanted to use elements from HTML that don't seem to be supported on wiki. Is there any way to force the system to includes these elements. I've tried <nowiki> without any luck. I'd like to be able to use the ABBR, ACRONYM, and DFN elements.. Also I'm working on a proposal essay where I'd like to create a mock up with dumb (they won't actually work) html form or control elements like SELECT and INPUT. If anyone knows a way to use these elements, I'd greatly appreciate the help. My alternative on the form mockup is to just use an image, but the form mockup would be less taxing on resources and be much more illustrative of what I hope to accomplish. Thanks for the help. --Cplot 05:48, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

• The Wikimedia software is not made to use HTML, even though some tags still work. I didn't even know of most of the tags you mentioned, but if any of them are formatting related like DFN, perhaps you can use div-tags to format instead. WP:AFC and my talk page use a very simple form. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:29, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortuantely none of them are formatting related. They're all semantic in nature. I read conflicting things in the documentation and help: for example that html tags are all supported in addition to the wiki markup,. Unfortuantely for me that's not the case. Thanks for the rreply though. --Cplot 08:13, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

• What are those tags supposed to accomplish when they work? - Mgm|^(talk) 08:24, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, the first three I mentioned (ABBR, ACRONYM, and DFN) are very similar in nature. They're meant to contain abbreviations, acronyms and defining terms respectively. They don't necessarily effect the presentation of their contents, but obviously with style sheet edint they could. Typically the markup would include use ot the title attribute so the ABBR might work like this (USA). Allow your curors to hover over the abbreviation and the full text of the abbrevaition displays. The DFN is for the introduction of a new term at the place it's being defined. The wiki manual of stsyle calls for special treatment in this case and rather than remembering what that treatment is, an editor would simply wrap the term in the dfn tags and the stylesheet would hanlde the rest.

The SELECT and INPUT elemetns are used in forms. As I said I wnated to make a mock up of a web user interface for an essay proposal I'm working on. Button, pop-up menus, checkboxes, and input fields wouldn't actually do anything except give the reader a sense of the user interface and a bit of a sense of the structural relations i propose to lie behind the user interface.

I can actually understand the WikiMedia software leaving out these form fields, but the semantic ABBR, ACRONYM and DFN elements would be quite useful for an encylopedia. I could even imagine the server software automatically building ABBR and ACRONYM elements from the approved list or if someone placed something like: In the United States of America (USA), ... Then everytime this a reader encountered this abbreviation in the article or if they began skimmed the article too quickly they could still see what the abbreviation meant from a curor hover. --Cplot 09:47, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

The list of html tags that are supported is at Help:HTML in wikitext. Adding more requires a software change. Feel free to make a feature request, see Wikipedia:Bugzilla. -- Rick Block (talk) 16:51, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I recommend consulting the Manual of Style to replicate the functions of those tags using Wiki markup. Wikipedia aims to keep a consistent style throughout its articles and the MOS defines that style. --Ginkgo100 ^{talk · contribs} 17:05, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

pt:Carlos Krystal

Seeing as the article was deleted over here, perhaps it should be on other languages too for being completely unverifiable (which is very uncommon for porn actors). Could someone drop a line to the Puortoguese Wikipedia to inform them? I can't find their AFD or help desk equivalents. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:23, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

If you go to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion, you can follow the interwiki link on the left to ptWiki's Wikipedia:Páginas para eliminar. I've tried to nominate the article, hopefully I've followed the process correctly - they seem to list articles by date of eligibility for deletion, which is apparently 15 days after nomination, which took me a few goes to get right. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 17:32, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I've translated it for you Sam. fetofs ^Hello! 17:57, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Obrigado :-) --Sam Blanning^(talk) 18:12, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

• Thanks to the both of you. I thought I was linked to the policy page instead of the nomination page. Shows how much my puertoguese language skills suck... - Mgm|^(talk) 18:35, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Auto fill search field deletion

Where does the file that automatically fills the 'search' field reside? - you know where you start to type text into the search field and Wiki tries to auto fill from previous searchs - can i edit it to add search items and can i delete it to remove searched items? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.142.104.242 (talk • contribs) 08:32, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I think you are referring to the browser's auto-complete function. To my knoweledge, it is not possible to edit those results. --WinHunter ^(talk) 08:35, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia doesn't store those items for you, your browser does. Items are added when you put the words in and hit either of the two buttons. To delete them, depends on which browser you are using. Usually some form of delete and another key will remove items from that list such as ctrl+del. Dismas|^(talk) 08:36, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Changed Username...Old userpage?

I recently changed my username from Aaron teh tennisman, and I was wondering if I should delete my old userpage or if there was some way I could change it to my current username. -Teh tennisman 15:19, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Move the old userpage to your current one. --WinHunter ^(talk) 15:30, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Just move your old user page/talk page to the new location. If you need your current user page/talk pages to be deleted to make way for this move, simply list your pages up for speedy deletion, specifiying that you are moving over to a new account name. (You can alternatively leave a message on my talk page if you wish). Cheers, Tangotango 15:31, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

This sounds stupid: How do I move it? Teh tennisman 15:33, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

You'll need to get your current user page/talk page deleted before moving your old ones over. Please contact me on my talk page if you want this to be done. - Tangotango 15:37, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Well you can't, since you created a userpage for your new name. Normally you would click the "move" tab at the top of the page you want to move, however users who are not administrators can not move pages to a title that already exists. I can delete your new userpage for you, and then you can move your old page to it if you would like. Do you want me to do that? Prodego ^talk 15:37, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Oups... I should have make one more click before I make that answer. Anyways, if you have help from the administrator, that's relatively easy, though if you don't, you can still tag your current userpage and talk pages with speedy deletion tag and move the page in after the page is deleted. --WinHunter ^(talk) 15:43, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

About Vegito & Gogeta in Dragon Ball Z & Dragon Ball GT

1. The potara fusion between Goku & Vegeta. Elder Kai says it is better. No requirements like the ones used in the Dance (identical power levels and physical build) are necessary for the earrings. When using this method, the name of the dominant individual begins the blended name of the fused being.

How does Vegeta have more characteristics such as hair and personality and more dominant role in Vegito then Goku? Vegito wears Vegeta's gloves and boots and his hair resembles Vegeta's. Goku only have a little role in Vegito, the rest belongs to Vegeta. Also Vegito uses Vegeta's attacks more then Goku's example: Vegito uses the "Big Bang Attack".

2. Goku & Vegeta fuse using the fusion dance and formed Super Saiyan 2 Gogeta in Dragon Ball Z: Movie 12 and Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta in Dragon Ball GT. The facts are Gogeta never said his name was Gogeta. When asked by Janemba he said "i'm neither Goku or Vegeta, i'm the one who will destroy you". He said the same thing in Dragon Ball GT. How did Gogeta get his name, when Gogeta himself never said he was called Gogeta? Vegito made it official that his name was Vegito.

3. In the game Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 does it require to put the capsules of Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2, Super Saiyan 3, Super Saiyan 4 to keep using Goku at Super Saiyan 4? Example: like the previous games when Goku reaches Super Saiyan 4 you have to put all the other capsules to make Super Saiyan 4 Goku or does each level have its own move sets example: Super Saiyan 4 Goku has its own move sets like 10 x Kamehameha? Also with the fusion i read it somewhere in the Dragon Ball sites that you can do fusion while playing? If so does it require for you to put capsules as well or the fuse warrior have its own move sets example: Gogeta has its own moves sets?

Also when you teleport in the game do you need to put a capsule? And can you teleport anytime or just teleport a blast? Can you use someone else's attacks example: Goku using Vegeta's "final flash"

4. Does anyone know why didn't the author Akira Toriyama have much to do with Dragon Ball Z Movies and Dragon Ball GT? Urdabomb 514

Have you tried the Miscellaneous section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. Tangotango 15:36, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Is Image:Perry.png a copyvio?

The summary says, "self-made scan from page 142" of a book, but under licensing there is a fair-use claim as if it were the cover of a book. The image is not very attractive anyway (too orange). --Mathew5000 18:54, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

• Technically it is a copyvio, but it can be used because he has a fair use claim. He mae the scan of a book, so it needs a book template (even though it's not a cover image). The fact you can scan a copyrighted image, doesn't mean you can alter its copyright.- Mgm|^(talk) 20:42, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

How could it be fair use? The image does not seem to be a publicity still, but a portrait taken for a specific book. --Mathew5000 23:51, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

In general, "fair use" means you can use an image (any image) for educational, non-commercial purposes. The image is too orange, as you mention. You can nominate it for deletion. — Reinyday, 05:33, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

You may also add Template:Fair use disputed to the image to dispute "the assertion that the use of this image qualifies as fair use" by pasting {{fair use disputed|~~~|reason}} on the image page. — Reinyday, 05:39, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Done. Thanks. I don't agree with your statement that fair use means you can use any image for educational non-commercial purposes. For example, see Wikipedia:Fair Use#Images. Under "Counterexamples", that article says it is not fair use to use an image of a Barry Bonds baseball card to illustrate the article on Barry Bonds. I think that's exactly analogous to the fair-use claim in respect of this photo of Matthew Perry. --Mathew5000 07:10, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Article

How to I write/creat a new article?

I have left a few links on your talk page. They will help you start. Please take a moment to read them. All the best -- Lost 19:04, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Large Image Placement

Where can I place ....

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   *% %######%/ / /%#####%|  |#* % |  |%###%|  |# \  \*#%/    \*%###%#**
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....... on the Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons page? User:Qho

• You could place it on the talk page and have a discussion about it there. — Reinyday, 20:30, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
  • I can tell you now that the answer will probably be 'you can't'. Wikipedia articles are not ASCII art galleries. Nice though. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 21:37, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

How do I get a table that lists: This user is...

I've seen tables on many users homepages that has a large table and swuared into boxes. In each box there is a sentence that alsways starts with, "This user is...." For example, I've seen, "This user is South Korean" "This user is a Jedi."

How can I make my own????

I believe you are looking for Wikipedia:Userboxes. Just click the link to find out more. -- Lost 19:35, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

My Paragraphs are Somehow Wrong.

The couple of entries of mine in the discussion section have all come out as one long sentence. Can someone advise me as to what I'm doing wrong? BigDon 12:21, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

• Just as in your question, you started the line with a space, which is wikicoding for a box with a broken line around it and one long sentence. Just use blank lines to separate paragraphs. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:34, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Picture Copyright Policy Question

On the site http://opguide.bravehost.com/, it is said (on the bottom of the page) that the pictures from the site can be used elsewhere. This probably a stupid question, but can I use pictures off of that site on Wikipedia because of that? And, so, could I use any pictures on Wikipedia off of any site, as long as I got permission from the site maker?

The images in question are screenshots from an animé, right? So no, because the copyright doesn't belong to the site maker, it probably belongs to the producers of the animé. He doesn't have the right to give that permission. However, you might still be able to use the pictures in articles about the animé under a fair use claim.

Generally, you cannot use images on Wikipedia only with permission from the site maker. The pictures must be released under the GFDL or a similar free use licence - if they give Wikipedia permission, or only give permission for non-commercial use, then the content can't be redistributed under the terms of the GFDL (for examples of sites that do this, see mirrors and forks). --Sam Blanning^(talk) 21:36, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

• As the site owner states, these are screen caps and those images are owned by the company that made the show that's being captured. He's granting permission, so you don't need to ask if you can use his caps, but you need a fair use rationale to be able to use a screen cap. They can only be used in a limited amount on articles describing what's being shown. If you want to use images from websites always ask permission unless the owner has already given permission for images to be distributed freely (with no exceptions for commercial use) and make sure the webmaster owns the images to begin with. Too many people on the internet are completely clueless about copyright and think anything without a copyright notice can be used for free which is incorrect. Everything is automatically copyrighted unless the original creator states otherwise. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:41, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

How do I make a redirecting page?

I have tried to make the page Agent Desmond redirect the viewer to Chester Desmond but all that appears is a blank page. Am I using incorrect mark-up?

Sixfoottallrabbit 21:26, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Looks fine to me. Try clearing your cache - press Ctrl-F5 if you're using Internet Explorer, Ctrl-Shift-R in Firefox. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 21:31, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Electrical encyclopedia and dictionary

I am trying to create an electrical dictionary and encyclopedia and perhaps a patent library. I tried to copy your files on electricity but I dont want the hyperlinks. Is there a way to save the files without the underlined words. Maybe my computer is to old.

Thanks for your help,

Chris Olivier <removed email>

• Please don't post your email address here. You don't want to be spammed. Try the "printable version" in the toolbox on the far left of your screen. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:44, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

redirect function

Anyone know why the redirect I placed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaenserndorf isn't working? It seems to interpret the # char as a number. I followed the examples so it has me baffled! Thanks. Fmgazette 23:16, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Fixeth. Dunno what was wrong with it, could be to do with the way the weird characters were written, but I dunno. --JD[^{don't talk}|_email] 23:22, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

July 8

Deleting User Pages

Can we delete user pages or only articles? I'm asking because I found one (User:Taj international) that seems to just be an advert for a head shop. Smart194 18:53, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

This is discussed at Wikipedia:Deletion policy. The first line of action is to discuss the problem with the user as they may be willing to correct any problems once you explain your view point. If after discussing the situation the problem isn't resolved, you can list the page at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion. Road Wizard 19:37, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

How to suggest articles to merge

I was wondering how to merge articles. I was just surfing through and noticed that there are pages for Conte Forum and Kelley Rink. The problem being, it's the same building. Not only that, but it looks like the text is an exact copy in both articles. So how do I tag these pages for the "suggest a merger" line? ToddC4176

Please consult WP:MM for more information. --WinHunter ^(talk) 01:08, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

They actually are separate, and different, articles. Kelley Rink is a redirect to Conte Forum, so any time you load the page Kelley Rink you automaticly go to Conte Forum. To see the real content of Kelley Rink go here. The way you would suggest articles to be merged is adding {{mergeto|article to merge to}} or {{mergefrom|article to merge from}} to the top of the articles, or just merge them yourself. You should generally bring the merge up on the talk page before you merge the pages however. In the instance of Conte Forum and Kelley Rink there is no need for any action. Prodego ^talk 01:09, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

tennis player top 200 ranking by year

I WANT TO SEE THE TOP 200 TENNIS PLAYERS RANKED BY YEAR FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS

• Please feel free to create this article. — Reinyday, 05:12, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
  • Your capitals come over as SHOUTING (and a Please would have been nice!) - Adrian Pingstone 18:21, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Are Wikipedia usage explanations bundled anywhere?

I would like to read the main Wikipedia site info offline. I do not have internet at home right now, and there are more pages of Editing instructions and FAQs and so on than I have time to go through at any one time on-line.

Can these main pages be bundled (e.g. zipped) and placed somewhere easy for users in my predicament to trip over and download? (If such exists already, sorry I haven't tripped over it yet--maybe because I haven't much time online?) Thanks. 70.173.184.136 01:12, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

There are static versions of Wikipedia. For article content only (images, templates, and articles as of June 19 2006) you can download this. Note however this file is extremely large, 1.4 gigabites compressed. Also, the history is not included, so if an article happened to be vandalized when dumped, you are out of luck. You can download it with history, but that is an understandably huge file, so I would not recommend doing that. Prodego ^talk 01:19, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Wait, do you want the Help and Wikipedia namespaces, not the articles? I can't quite tell from your question. Prodego ^talk 01:25, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, (s)he would like to read the help files ("Editing instructions and FAQs") offline. I don't know if they are available for download, but it's a great idea. — Reinyday, 05:13, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Copyright issue on website photo

Hi, I've been helping a newbie contribute to the page Ioka, there is a transcript of the discussion on the talk page. I think that he/she is genuine in their attempts to improve the article that they have made. They have uploaded a photo [3] to illustrate the article, which they have taken from the website of the subject of the article (a nightclub) but have not asked permission. It is my understanding that we generally assume that photos from websites are covered by copyright unless explicitly stated otherwise - the user has put the uncertain copyright tag onto the photo as a stopgap. Please could somebody have a look at the discussion and make sure that I have been passing on corrct information? I also don't know how to tag the photo in its current condition (this is the first time that I have had to deal with a photo copyright and i would appreciate some help/links the help me better deal with these problems in future. Many thanx Mammal4 09:17, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

• Left note on user's talk and one on the license section of the image in question. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:16, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Newb with one more question

Thanks for the reply above, MGM. I honestly looked and could not find how to reply to one of these discussion sections so it comes out all nice and nested and such. After you hit the edit button what do you do? (I did find out about the four tilda thing while looking for it though) BigDon 12:31, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

• Just click the edit link of the section you want to edit (it's at the top of the section) and tag your comment to the end. To make them bulletted or indented, use * or : respectively. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:40, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Adding fansite

Hello,

I want to add my website to The Sims 2 page, fansites part. When i add, its become deleted later. How can i add my www.simaniac.com website to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sims_2

Gurkan Ezerce www.simaniac.com

Thanks.

Adding your own sites to wikipedia is generally considered WP:Spam. The best way to gain acceptance for your site is to go to the discussion page for the relevant topic and propose it there. If accepted as having useful content, the site will be added by other editors -- Lost 12:36, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

• Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and we do not aim to link every single fansite on articles. Please see Wikipedia:External links and WP:SPAM for guidance. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:38, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Mysterious category appearance

Hi. I've been working on cleaning up Category:Geography. It has several articles related to Ontario that should be only in subcategories, not the main category. But when I open the articles to edit, I can't see any "Category:Geography" to delete. I considered asking about this at a category page, but there seems to be more traffic here. Maurreen 17:17, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

I took a look at the Clarington, Ontario page and spotted the category had been added during this edit. It appears to be a side effect of using the {{Location grid}} template, which was created by Raccoon Fox. You might want to check with that editor as to why they have included the category in the template. It is possible they just forgot to use the <noinclude> and </noinclude> tags. Road Wizard 17:40, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. Maurreen 17:48, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Tim Hayes

Listened this AM and would like to know what times he is on!!! Thanks,

This desk focuses mostly on answering questions about Wikipedia. You'll probably have more luck if you repost this question over on the Reference Desk. You may also want to specify what country you're in, and what station you were listening to (if you can remember.) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 15:46, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

• Made a slight adjustment in your answer. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:57, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Rotating barnstar

How did Trainspotter get that barnstar to spin? GangstaEB 15:55, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Could you specify which barnstar you are referring to? Thanks. Road Wizard 17:43, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

• Probably the tireless contributor's barnstar. It's a gif animation. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:51, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Wiki-linking dates

What is current policy/consensus on linking dates that are mentioned in an article? Suppose I am creating a new biographical article with birth and death dates: "John Smith (January 22, 1900 - December 10, 1980)". Should I create a link for "1900" and "1980? How about for "January 22" and "December 10". The argument I can think of in favor of these links is that everything is connected to everything else and that one should be able to hop all over the place easily, especially to the year, which is probably a more substantive link to the article-content that the month/day date. The argument against these links would be that they aren't likely to bring a reader to anything relevant to the subject of the article and unnecessary links can be distracting. I've seen similar articles created both with and without this type of links. To this point I have been including all the links but I will creating some new bios in the next few days and want to get it right. What is the present community thinking on this? Newyorkbrad 17:28, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you should. Jacek Kendysz 17:54, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Read more: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)#Dates of birth and death

Loose years should rarely be wikified (unless the year is particularly relevant). Full dates should be wikified by wikifying the date and the year separately. This allows the preferences with regard to the date's format for users to kick in. So you should do this: "John Smith (January 22, 1900 - December 10, 1980)." - Mgm|^(talk) 17:56, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, that's consistent with how I've been handling, your quick confirmations appreciated.

British IDBD equivalent.

Occasionally, I've tried finding information on British theatre actors, but neither IMDB nor IBDB is really helpful in that regard. Can anyone recommend a source that is the British equivalent of IBDB? - Mgm|^(talk) 17:49, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

You might get a better answer at the reference desk, but two places that you could try are the British Actors & Actresses Webring and Theatre, Musicals & Actors (UK webpage). Road Wizard 19:28, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

• I figured it was a referencing question... Anyway, I'll give those a try. Thanks. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:55, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
• Hmmm, not exactly the big database I was hoping for. Any other ideas? - Mgm|^(talk) 20:10, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I am not aware of any big database sites. However, someone at Wikipedia:WikiProject Theatre may be able to help. Road Wizard 22:34, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

• Good idea. I've dropped them a note. - Mgm|^(talk) 23:23, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Images and line spacing

Can anyone give me any tips on how I can prevent the increased spacing between lines when I include inline images? Please look at the introduction on my user talk page if you want an example. I know about HTML and simple CSS. Andrew (My talk · World Cup) 21:32, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Never mind ... I've done a workaround. Andrew (My talk · World Cup) 22:50, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

How can I end an edit war I'm not "fighting" in?

I’ve been witnessing an edit war in Firebender, and I’m not sure what to do at this point. Specifically, the war is over in what episode the first use of “Blue Fire” in Avatar: The Last Airbender took place. Parties keep changing the episode given. At first, I asked on the talk page that the war stop and a source of information on the subject be consulted. This was ignored, so I suggested dispute resolution, which one side ignored and the other declared he would not peruse. I then added the Disputed Assertion template, which was subsequently removed by one of the parties.

Since the parties will not engage in resolution at all, I’m at a loss as to what action to take to end the war. I’ve considered asking for page protection, but seems like such a large step that I’d like to know if there is anything else I can do.--Fyre2387 23:36, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Taking a quick look at the article history, there has been at least one breach of the 3 revert rule by 24.205.79.223 (talk · contribs) (over 2nd and 3rd July) and the other editors are definitely walking on the edge of a breach if they haven't yet broken it. As suggested on the 3RR page you should take the breach by 24.205.79.223 to the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/3RR page and at the same time ask the administrators to look at the other editors' history. Hopefully administrator intervention will make them see reason and agree a consensus. Road Wizard 23:55, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

A small correction, the editor switched to 24.205.142.210 (talk · contribs) before carrying out the 4th edit. Road Wizard 23:59, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm not an official help-desker or anything, and I don't know if other users are supposed to post comments here, so someone delete this if it doesn't belong. But without superseding any "quasi-official" advice, if you are knowledgeable about the subject of the dispute, it seems to me the thing to do is to post the correct answer with a specific citation to an authoritative reference work on Firebender, if there is one. Newyorkbrad 00:14, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to the help desk team! We don't have any rules about who can post an answer, so your comment is welcome. If you feel you can help someone else, just post away. :) Road Wizard 00:22, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

July 9

forgot password

Iforgot my password, and the e-mail address that I originally used is no longer active. Is the e any way to change my registered e-mail address? My username is MikeF

Thank-you

You will need to create a new account. --Hetar 00:44, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Main Page Toolbox

What is the purpose of the "Permanent Link" selection in the main page toolbox. It apparently does nothing when I click on it.--70.175.29.112 00:25, 9 July 2006 (UTC)Ron

When you click on this link you should notice that the URL in your browser changes. The Permanent Link feature is normally used for people who are using Wikipedia for research purposes, and want to cite a specific version of an article. That way, when people reading their papers come along and follow their references, they will get the exact same version of the article that the original researcher referenced. --Hetar 00:42, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

How to make narrow columns in tables?

I'm not sure if Village Pump: Technical would be a better place to ask, but here goes...

I'm trying to make a table with narrow columns, on the order of 30-60 pixels wide. There seems to be a minimum width of around 100px. I've tried the tricks I can think of, like setting a width for the whole table, using width="*" or width="auto" on the columns I want to narrow, removing the width specs entirely for those columns. No way could I get below about 100px.

I've checked the help pages, especially Help:table, and looked at the FAQs. No answers there. I guess it's time to escalate.

TIA. --Chris 04:03, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Like this?

A b c d e f g	a b c d e f g
1 2 3 4 5 6	0 9 8 7 7 7

--Max Talk (add) 04:14, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

???

How do I view messages that I left other people on their talk pages? Rawisrob 04:12, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

I would suggest visiting the respective talk pages. If you don't remember the users, you could try looking over your contributions (click on the link that says "my contributions" on the top right of the page. --Hetar 04:16, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

edit conflict:An easy way to do so would be to click "my contributions" at the top right of the page. Then click on the relevant contribution. You should reach there. Normally, if you are conversting with a user, its better to add him/her to your watchlist, so that you know if he/she answers on that page instead of yours -- Lost 04:18, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

EDIT: Thanks but I think I did that before with no luck.

I checked your contributions. You dont seem to have left any message to any user -- Lost 04:29, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

• You probably did that when you weren't logged in. Try tracking down the IP address you used and visit the contributions of that IP. Or if you remember the name of one of the users, try if you can find your IP in their history. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:27, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Corbis Stock Images and Wikipedia

I am a reasonably experience Wikipedian and recently I came across http://pro.corbis.com/ which i am sure you are all familiar with. It is a stock image resource so to speak. Does, and if not; why doesn't, Wikipedia have a subscription to this site and their stock images. If this was possible on a technical and legal basis then Corbis would surely be an indespensable resource for Wikipedia articles. I'm sure there are a number of reasons why there has not been a partnership between Wikipedia and Corbis but could someone, everyone, please message me back about this.

I posted this because I thought that maybe this has just gone as an unnoticed opportunity. :) --Alexbonaro 05:01, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

It would make absolutely no sense for us to pay for a subscription to Corbis while we have hundreds of users around the world who constantly provide us with "royalty free" (ie pd or no rights reserved) images on a regular basis. Some of these photographers are very good too (such as Fir0002 and Nilington). It's kind of part of the Wikipedia philosophy, we rely on volunteer contributors to create all of our material, pictures, articles, and even the software that our Wiki runs on. --Hetar 05:45, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

I would add that all images on Wikipedia are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, or so I understand, and thus available for free reuse in compliance with that license. If Wikipedia licensed images from Corbis, that license would be for Wikipedia to use Corbis' copyrighted material, but since Wikipedia wouldn't own the license but simply be a licensee, it could not, in turn, grant free distribution to users, so I don't see how it could work. There have been discussion in the past of whether Corbis has the right to the copyright of some of the images it claims ownership over. You might find the following discussions interesting: here and here (go to the section titled "Use of pre-1923 "copyrighted" stock images" in the latter one; I couldn't link directly).--Fuhghettaboutit 05:57, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Funniest vandalised page wiki?

there was a wiki page on the funniest vandalised pages once, but I can't for the life of me find it. is it still around?

You might be thinking of WP:BJAODN. For some simillar stuff check out m:Category:Humor and Uncyclopedia. --Hetar 05:39, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

How do I create a new page?

Thanks.

See: Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article. You might also take a run through the Wikipedia:Tutorial which will answer many questions about editing on Wikipedia.--Fuhghettaboutit 06:18, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Moon craters.

Are all the craters on the moon ancient or is the moon still subject to recent bombardment? If so, do astronomers see such 'strikes' taking place and how frequently? Are new craters being formed and mapped?

Sabaco 07:30, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Reference desk would be the right place to ask such questions. This helpdesk is for questions regarding wikipedia only -- Lost 07:35, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

translation and communication

I've been around a while but am still a little confused about talk pages. I've made some posts and had no replies and was wondering how to get attention. I want to request a translation from another language article similar to one I've created in wiki to put into english (eg. http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Lockman), and want to know if I'm on the right track with List of web development companies - I think it's been deleted before and am unsure of the article worthyness. I've put comments on discussion and talk pages but dont seem to be getting too much response. Is there some kind of help or respond tag that I can write to get attention? Peter 10:08, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Regarding the list, I just went through it and its a rather indiscriminate collection of websites. If such a list were to be made comprehensive, it would consist of more than thousands of entries from all over the world. Thats the reason, it keeps getting deleted. It would be better to create a category and add the category to companies that are notable enough to merit an article on wikipedia. In my opinion, this list is likely to get WP:PRODDED again, unless you can give a good argument on why it should be considered encyclopedic. Also see here for more info -- Lost 10:27, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

... and, directly answering your question, if you put {{helpme}}, followed by a question, on your talk page someone will likely drop by and respond. -- Rick Block (talk) 15:06, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Also, you can request Translations Into English via WP:TIE. --Mathew5000 07:23, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Schools

Is there a notability guideline similar to WP:BIO for middle schools, high schools, etc? If so, I can't find it. --Brian G 12:31, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, read WP:SCHOOL. Jacek Kendysz 12:34, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Question about article disambiguation

Articles about things named "uniq" are getting hard to manage. Currently we have uniq about the Unix command, UNIQ about the nightclub in Helsinki, and UniQ about the New Zealand LGBT students' association. We also have ugli fruit about the uniq fruit. How should these be organised? JIP | Talk 16:14, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

• The dab notices on the articles work for me. They really are "unique" and the people that don't capitalize properly are easily redirected to the proper article. I would keep things as is unless more articles with the name drop in. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:57, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Hmm... it does seem appropriate for a disambiguation page, though. Disambiguation pages cover all capitalizations, so it would work out fine. I don't mind making it, unless there is some disagreement. The disambiguation links do work, but they should really only link to one article. -- Natalya 17:26, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't disagree, as long as it is just one disambiguation at Uniq (disambiguation). - Mgm|^(talk) 18:47, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Page History

If you are logged on and have set your time zone to a different zone than UTC/GMT, then will the times in history pages be displayed be in your time zone or in UTC/GMT? --Yanwen 18:22, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Its showing in the local time zone for me -- Lost 18:25, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Per Help:Preferences#Time zone, your time zone is used for the "last modified" time (shown on every page) as well as a variety of other contexts, including history pages. One place your time zone is not used is on pages where the time is created from your signature (using ~~~~), like this one. -- Rick Block (talk) 22:05, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Starting a new page

How do I start a new page? I would like to write a piece on a singer, Mat Tanner. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tedbull2002 (talk • contribs) 22:36, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

You should read Help:Starting a new page. See also Wikipedia:How to write a great article. Jacek Kendysz 22:41, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

July 10

With whom should I discuss an important copyright question?

I have an important copyright question whose answer I have not encountered in any of the vast documentation that Wikipedia has on copyright issues. This question is rather important and general so, once it is answered, it should somehow be put into Wikipedia's copyright documentation.

With whom should I discuss this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Vincent Ree (talk • contribs) 00:13, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, you can try here :-) --Sam Blanning^(talk) 00:18, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

OK. I'll state the question hypothetically:

Suppose some material is copyrighted by an entity (person, company, nation, etc.) which no longer exists. More to the point, that entity cannot give nor deny permission to use their copyrighted material. In that case, it is not possible to solicit permission to use the copyrighted material. Does that material fall into the public domain? Can that material still be used in Wikipedia?

I realize sometimes copyright ownerships may be transferred - for instance, some artists work then becomes property of their estate. However, there may be other cases when either there is no transfer of copyright ownership or new copyright ownership is unknown.

Here's an example: Suppose you wish to use an image in an Wikipedia article and that the copyright for that image originally belonged to a magazine or newspaper that has ceased publication. In that case, it may not be possible (or, at least, it may be very difficult) to track down the new owner of the copyright (assuming one even exists!) to ask permission to use the image. Can that image be used in Wikipedia?

Unfortunately the answer is no, that image would be an example of orphaned works. See also here for a recent discussion on that. Garion96 (talk) 01:30, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Orphaned Pages

I trying to find the definition of Wikipedia "Orphaned Pages". I haven't had any luck in my search so far... so I thought I would ask here. Wouldn't it be simpler to add a brief explanation to the heading of the Orphaned Pages list..? Thanks in advance--Dogfish 01:43, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

"A page with no links from other pages." See also Wikipedia:Orphan. Garion96 (talk) 01:53, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

date of a ballgame between the clevelad indians and the st louis browns going about 19 inings in the early 1950s

what was the date of the ball game. e-mail removed --67.38.250.174 02:46, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

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). For your convenience, here's the link: Reference Desk (when you get there, just select the relevant section, and ask away). I hope this helps. Garion96 (talk) 02:56, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

List of copy-editors

Is there a list of people who volunteer as copy-editors?

I would like to contribute to Wikipedia, but I am not much good for adding content, however I have experience in proof-reading and editing and would like to help. I have been doing so randomly as I access pages but I was wondering if there is a list or some other feature where you can put your name down as a volunteer copy-editor for articles that really need help, or that are nominated for feature article, or part of a WikiProject etc. JenLouise 03:04, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

The first thing which comes to mind is Category:Articles that need to be wikified which has a huge backlog. Although they are probably more projects needing copy editors. Garion96 (talk) 03:09, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Cleanup is another good place to start. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 03:15, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Or if you want to work on articles that are already a bit more polished, but that need just a little extra, try Wikipedia:Peer review. There's a need for a lot of good editors there. Titoxd^(?!?) 07:09, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

You can also look at the lists on Category:Wikipedia articles needing copy edit - there are hundreds to choose from. Intensify 12:34, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

nomination for deletion snafu?

I am fairly new to Wikipedia, but today decided that I understand it well enough to nominate an article for deletion. I began to follow the process as described on Wikipedia:Articles for deletion, but encountered a problem. When I went to edit the deletion discussion page, I found that it had already been created. The article had been previously nominated for deletion, and the result was DELETE. Apparently someone recreated the page, possibly with some new content, but the deletion discussion page still exists, with a note instructing me not to edit it. My question is, should I ignore the note and begin to edit the deletion discussion page as instructed in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion, or leave it as is? The article in question is Michael Lorenzen. Rlitwin 04:21, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

• Use the "Move" button at the top of the page, to move whatever discussion there is to something like Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Michael Lorenzen (first nomination) and then continue with your nomination as usual. Add a link pointing to the first nomination in the new discussion. - Mgm|^(talk) 04:40, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I think you are looking at an archived discussion. You would need to nominate an article for deletion on the article page itself, not on the talk page. Please let me know if you need more clarity -- Lost 04:41, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Update: The article in question was created in July 2005. Can you give a link for where it has already been decided to be deleted- Lost 04:47, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Mgm. I moved the prior discussion to a new location as you suggested and linked to it from the deletion discussion page, and created a new deletion discussion page based on the new nomination. Rlitwin 04:56, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

My preferred method is to use {{afdx|second}}, which uses {{afdx}} to create the nomination at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wherever (second nomination). You can replace 'second' with 'third', 'fourth' etc. as needed. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 09:34, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Advertisements or not?

Hi! Sorry...I'm not too knowledgeable on Wikipedia procedures, but I noticed that user Gigmasters has been essentially adding advertisement for itself and its founder to several articles this evening. I'm not sure how this should be handled, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks! WildCowboy 04:27, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia has a guideline about WP:SPAM. You may like to go through it -- Lost 04:42, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

• Try if it fitst speedy deletion criteria and tag his new articles if they fit, or submit them to WP:AFD. Any ads in existing articles should be reverted. - Mgm|^(talk) 04:44, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Images from IMDB

Hello. I was looking at the article for Hans Zimmer and I noticed that an image was requested. I look on the Internet Movie Database and there is a picture of him there. I was wondering if anyone knew if there are any copyrights on that. I wanted to use it for the article, but I don't want to break any rules. Thank you. --kralahome 05:50, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

• Unless stated otherwise, any picture has copyright. If it has no notice to inform you of that fact, it is still copyrighted. - 131.211.210.10 07:43, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Vacation for my parents

I am just wondering what ferry or bus I take from maine to get there. I want my parents to have a wonderful vacation. Please let me know if this is the wrong part of nova schochia. Sorry if spelled wrong. I live in New Bedford Ma.Please let me know. <contact info removed>

Sincerely Kendra

Sorry, this help desk is for questions pertaining to wikipedia only. Normally, other questions may be answered at WP:Reference desk. You may try there -- Lost 07:07, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Name conflict for image between wikipedia & commons

I want to use a file from the Commons named "Image:Arbelos.png" [4]. However, when I attempt it, I get instead a different image on Wikipedia with the same name, "Image:Arbelos.png" [5]. Obviously I could just copy the Commons image onto Wikipedia with a different name, or I could duplicate it on the Commons with a different name. But is there some more elegant solution? I have searched through various FAQs and tutorials but have not found an answer. Thanks!--Mathew5000 08:46, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

No, there is no way to access it if an indentically named file exists locally (which is one of the reasons uploaders are encouraged to use specific filenames). I'd recommend re-uploading it to Commons with a unique filename. — Knowledge Seeker দ 08:57, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I will. --Mathew5000 09:16, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Trace a user

Hi there,

Somebody has written a scandalous information (obviously wrong information) about my website.

I was wondering if there is a way to trace that user's id and IP address or other details.

Thanks a lot. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tta013 (talk • contribs) 10:27, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

What's the name of the article? --Sam Blanning^(talk) 11:59, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

i want to listen to the musiiiiiiic

hello, is it possible to listen to the music here and how shall i do it?

• There's a list of uploaded music files to Wikipedia:Sound/list/playlist, but remember that Wikipedia's main aim is to write an encyclopedia. Recent music is copyrighted, so for any music created after 1923, we can only give you short clips. If you want classical music, though, that list should have some nice songs on it. - 131.211.210.10 12:23, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

naniko

does anybody see me? if so please answer my question abovee plzzzzzzzzzzzz

• Please be patient. Questions aren't answered immediately. A real person has to see it and be willing (and knowing enough) to answer. - 131.211.210.10 12:21, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Kalidas Roy

I have edited the page on Kalids Roy. This includes correction of the year of his death from 1960 to 1975. This article has been said to be a stub. In case it is felt that the additions made now are adequate, please remove the word stub -Biswa roop 13:20, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

In my opinion Kalidas Roy should remain with stubs templates. Jacek Kendysz 13:24, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

• The name stub has nothing to do with the quality of the information. Stubs are small articles which lack basic content. See WP:STUB. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:39, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

pledgerism

how can I seek feedback on my content?--Mimilk 14:37, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

• What kind of content would that be and what is pledgerism? You might mean plagiarism, but I'm not sure how that has anything to do with your question. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:37, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

world

DEAR SIR OR MADAM: I am here by asking my question is that how many countries do make up awhole world? thanx 4 ure answer--81.199.17.19 14:41, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

It depends on how and who is doing the defining. Numbers vary between 189 -194 with 192 apparently being the number most commonly assigned by word almanacs. By the way, this page is for asking question about Wikipedia. For future knowldge question pleae consult the Reference desk.--Fuhghettaboutit 14:55, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Read List of countries. In the future, remember that knowledge questions should be asked on Reference Desk. Jacek Kendysz 14:53, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Rubbish with big size

There're lots of vandals submiting rubbish in new articles or in existing ones. Their actions are reverted or deleted, by they still remain in database, don't they? I assume so, because admins can undelete pages and browse deleted pages and they must be saved somewhere! It's really easy to paste several megabytes of rubbish and fill space of Wikimedia memory, so that servers work badly. How can we manage with that? Paweł ze Szczecina 14:44, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

It's certainly the case that all the rubbish is kept, and that the database gets bigger. But why do you believe that this makes the servers work badly? Notinasnaid 16:28, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

• I think that keeping it around, means we can track such vandals more easily. Imagine how hard it would be to investigate a vandal's history if those edits were not saved. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:35, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

China

Management of organizations

There is no question here. Do you have a question? Note that this help desk is for questions about using Wikipedia. If your question is a knowledge question, please consult the Reference Desk.--Fuhghettaboutit 14:58, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

CONSTRUCTION OF COW MILK

SIR/MADAM I'M TRYING TO FIND-OUT Re: " CONSTRUCTION OR CONTENTS OF COW MILK" ? PLEASE ADVISE ME : e MAIL:- (email removed to prevent spam) THANKS, FURY. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.35.74.198 (talk • contribs) 15:26, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

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). For your convenience, here's the link: Reference Desk (when you get there, just select the relevant section, and ask away). I hope this helps. Jacek Kendysz 15:28, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Or just go read Milk? —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 15:32, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Changing an entry

HI I work at Elephant and Castle and have seen that the entry (although very good) is somewhat out of date. How can we edit it, if at all please? Thanks

Farnaz

<email removed>

Hi and welcome to wikipedia. Just look for the edit button at the top of the page and start off. Though its not necessary to have a login id, you can do many more useful things if you have one. Please also see the welcome message on your ip's talk page -- Lost 16:14, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

• While you edit, please make sure you do not WP:SPAM and DO adhere to the NPOV policy. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:34, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Metoprolol

I understand this drug given for high blood pressure works on the lower blood pressure number. I also take lisinopril for the upper blood pressure number. Is there any possibility that Metoprolol affects the lisinopril, e.g. causing the lisinopril to have a lesser affect on the upper number? Likewise, since I've been using metoprolol my cholesterol count has gone up. Could this in any way be caused by the metoprolol? For example, I also take lipitor for cholesterol control; could the metoprolol affect the lipitor? Lastly, I am diabetic, and since I've been using metoprolol it seems my blood sugars have been higher than usual. Any possibility metoprolol is affecting my blood sugars?--4.240.27.51 16:09, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

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). For your convenience, here's the link: Reference Desk (when you get there, just select the relevant section, and ask away). I hope this helps. -- Lost 16:29, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

• That said, Wikipedia is not the best place to ask medical advice. It's best to ask your doctor who knows all there is to know about your health. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:27, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Making Articles Come up with Searches

Hi,

I am a new user of Wikipedia and I recently submitted what I think is a worthwhile contribution to the database, partly as a test of how submitting articles works. I intend to expand the article and create others once I have a mastery of the system, but first Ihave encountereda few problems:

1.) I recently submitted an article entitled "Jerome Silbergeld," about one of the foremost scholars of Chinese painting in the U.S. While this article comes up under searches for "Jerome silbergeld," it does not come up under searches for "Silbergeld." Yet many other biographies do come up when one searches just for the last name of the individual...How can I make this article easier to find?

A second question:

2.) Writings by Jerome Silbergeld are referenced on several other pages, including on the page about Chinese artist Gong Xian. I tried to create links from these references to the Jerome SIlbergeld article, but wikipedia claims there is no article with that name...I think this is because on the Gong Xian page he is called "Silbergeld, Jerome"...how do I create a link so Wikipedia can direct people to the Silbergeld page if they are interested after looking at his work on Gong Xian?

Thanks for all your help.

Chironares 16:44, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

• The search index the Wikipedia search system uses is not updated immediately, so it'll take some time for the article to show up in searches. If you want to link the name in the other article, try using piped links. I'm guessing the name is written as "Silbergeld, Jerome" because it is a requirement for the reference format used. Piped links mean you can show different text to show instead of the title of the article you're linking to. In your case that would be [[Jerome Silbergeld|Silbergeld, Jerome]]. Hope that helps. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:32, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

The following was mistakenly placed at Making Articles Come Up On More Searches, which I have now deleted. I think it belongs here – Gurch 18:10, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi MGM, thanks for your help on my questions earlier. You have fully clarified the issue of how to get other pages to link to articles with different titles by using piped links, and that is extremely helpful. However, I still am a little unclear on searching. My article is now visible on Wikipedia when I search for "Jerome Silbergeld." Therefore, it doesn't seem that the problem is that the databse hasn't been updated. When I search for "Silbergeld" on the other hand, the article does not come up, though several articles on Chinese painters that refer to him do come up. Moreover, when I type "wiki silbergeld" into google, or even "wiki jerome silbergeld," articles on Chinese painters that reference silbergeld come up, but my article about him does not...do you have advise on making this more accessible to searches, both internal searches on wikipedia, and external searches where people type “wiki” and a key word?

Thanks again

Chironares 17:59, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

submitting information

Greetings --

I would like to submit to Wikipedia the biography of Mr. Charles N. Kahn III, President of the Federation of American Hospitals. Would you provide me with a link or URL to do so? Thanks.

                            -- Richard Coorsh
                               Federation of American Hospitals
                               rcoorsh@fah.org
                               (202) 624-1527