Help desk
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December 18

Where can I report an editor who is posting abusive and threatening comments in edit summaries?

I was just looking at some nonsense that was added to an article by Special:Contributions/SteveBrookstein and noticed he's using edit summaries to throw insults and nasty comments at other editors, for example -

shoot yourself in the head. Idiot
Moronic use of commar...I hate the fact that some people are just really stupid.
Flipping heck, TWO stupid commars in the same sentence! Where the hell were idiots like you educated? Jesus... ("Commars" - I love the irony).
it sickens me. Get out
And don't you dare try changing it back

I'm only asking here because I don't know the best place to report him. In fact, is it even worth reporting this? It appears that he's been warned before, I don't understand why such hateful people are allowed to continue editing, this is worse than vandalism IMO. He is using threatening language to try and intimidate other people.172.189.116.40 00:24, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm...I wasn't sure about where to report this so I left a note on the administrator's talk page who blocked him a few days ago. Cheers! --Banana04131 04:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For future reference, it would be Wikipedia:Personal attack intervention noticeboard. Anchoress 06:16, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A Really Snappy User Page/Talk Page

I've noticed people have these really snazzy layouts on their user and talk pages. You know, shaded boxes, windows, tabs, things like that. Are those downloadable or do you have to make your own? If you have to make your own, is there a guide on how to do so? .V. 02:58, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The best way to get a cool userpage is to find a page you like, and layout over. Then you can modify to your tastes.--Mäx Talk (add) 04:25, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Please see Esperanza:Trading Spaces. Anchoress 06:17, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

As a note, most of that formatting is done with HTML, so if you're familiar with or want the challenge of learning HTML, you can create your own user page that way. —K e akealani 08:11, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A large number of lists of questionable validity

Special:Contributions/Torb37 is creating articles which are unwikified lists with no source attribution whatsoever. I've tagged most of them as needing to be wikified for now, but this is just creating a lot of possibly unnecessary work for the wikifing team. On Talk:List_of_Japanese_Army_Officers_(WW2), someone raises the point that this type of article is unverifiable... I'm looking for suggestions as to what to do next. Salad Days 04:00, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Start out by bringing it up on the editor's talk page. Unwikified articles aren't a problem; lack of wikifying isn't grounds for censure, there are lots of editors who like to go and clean up other editors' work (I'm one of them). Uploading a lot of unsourced articles that may not be accurate is a problem, however, and if s/he doesn't respond to comments, there are three courses of action: you can tag the articles with the appropriate templates indicating their lack of verifiability; you can propose the articles for deletion, or you can bring it up on the AN/I board and get input from administrators. At issue IMO is whether this editor is just not familiar with WP protocols, or if the articles are actually bad faith uploads. But at any rate, the first step should be to contact the editor and find out his/her willingness to engage in discussion about improvements. Anchoress 06:22, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Creating and editing maps

Is there a tutorail for creating and editing maps for wikipedia? How do i zoom in, paint countries with different collors and assign leyends. For example create a map like the the one here "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Death_Penalty_World_Map.png". . What software should i use. Is there a tutorial for doing it? How much detail can i get in terms of subnational divisions (states, provinces)? Estefan 04:15, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I am not aware of any guide that fits your purposes. Yo9u may find information at WP:MOS however. Viridae ^Talk 08:16, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Just a note to bear in mind: maps, like everything else, attract copyright, and a faithful copy of someone else's copyright map isn't acceptable for Wikipedia. You would have to seek a public domain or GPL licensed map as your starting point (or, of course, survey yourself, but this is impractical for a world map). Some commercial maps even include errors which can be used to catch copyists. Notinasnaid 08:25, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Have a look at Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps. The information you seek might be there, or at the very least if you ask your question on the Talk page there's more likely to be someone to discuss it. Confusing Manifestation 10:10, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

editing

Could you please explain how to add a feature film title to the "upcoming films" section...it's very ambiguous and not straight forward.

Thanks James

email removed —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Destinypictures (talk • contribs) 06:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

You will have to be more specific. What page/article do you mean? Remember that the film must pass wikipedia's Notability criteria. Viridae ^Talk 08:15, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also, please note that Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising, see Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:21, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Copyright problem: Junaid Jamshed

Is this the right place for questions concerning copyright? The article Junaid Jamshed seems to consist primarily out of this and this text. They both appear to be interviews (the former even contains the phrase "A portrait by Nadia Riaz", which has been deleted later), they both use direct quotations, and they both don't give a single source. On the discussion page, an unsigned contribution from 209.113.159.130 at 19:42, 28 June 2006 already pointed out:

==Copyvio?==

Aren't there Copyvio issues here? Large parts seem to be lifted from http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-395/i.html?PHPSESSID=5869 or http://hammadin.blogspot.com/2005/11/junaid-jamshed-and-his-change.html

Nothing seems to have changed since then. One of the pictures (:Image:JunaidJM.jpg) also seems to be at least questionnable unless the user who uploaded it also hosts said blog, but I haven't asked the user yet. In fact, I'll be traveling the next few days, so I'd appreciate any help or offers to take care of the issue... Thanks! --Ibn Battuta 07:47, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

{{copyvio}} has some information on how to tag possible (or definite) copyvios and deal with rewriting the article. Hopefully that will be a good start, anyway. —K e akealani 08:07, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. But as a matter of fact, we don't positively know that there was a copyright infringement, right? It's only extremely plausible. Does that change anything?--Ibn Battuta 08:28, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That only means that admins considering deleting the text should exercise more caution. If it uses large sections of the exact text from the interview it is a copyright infringement. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:57, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Help

Hi How can I use the Wikipedia? What doese it work for? Is it like a Email? I will be happy if you answer me these Questions. Thank you Jamal Sediqi

It's definitely not like Email. The best place to look first would be Wikipedia, although if you read Wiki and Encyclopedia and put the two together you should get a bit of an idea too. Confusing Manifestation 10:07, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, Wikipedia is nothing like email. You probably want to read the article we have on Wikipedia and the frequently asked questions to get an idea what we do. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:08, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You also might want to go through the Wikipedia:Introduction and Wikipedia:About. While Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not e-mail, you can send e-mails to users own email accounts through Wikipedia if both sender and recepient have added thier e-mail address to thier account. See here for the details on this.Hope this helps. --24.20.69.240 02:46, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Change in behavior in "expandable" navboxes

Until recently, templates (navboxes) based on {{Navigation}} were by default presented in "collapsed" state if any of adjacent templates was also based {{Navigation}}. Apparently, this ~~bug~~ feature was fixed recently, but I'd like the navboxes to be collapsed by default. The affected template is {{Municipalities of Serbia}}, which is very large and should be collapsed by default. What's the workaround? Duja► 11:27, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In looking at the pages associated with the template, the trigger for collapse appears to be a matter of page size/number of page elements. However, if you look at Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Archive68#Worrying_e-mail, in the code there is a passage that reads:

class="navbox collapsible collapsed"

The workaround might be to subst the template and manually set the class parameter to this value. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 14:34, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Alexis Bledel.jpg

I'm an wikipedian at the hebrew wiki. I would like to use the above image. Can I ? Gridge 14:19, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

No, we can't even use it. The image hasn't got any copyright or source information. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:36, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks anyway. Gridge 20:27, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

question about images

I would like to upload an image of the organization's logo, but I am unsure which copy tag to use, even after reading the section on copyright tags and looking through the list of possible ones to use... I am an ACYPL employee and am sure that it is fine for me to post this image. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Vszybala 15:14, 18 December 2006 (UTC)Vszybala[reply]

Images of company logos can be tagged with the {{logo}} template. Make sure the article you want to use it on meets WP:CORP criteria so it's not a mere advertisement. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:33, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Also bear in mind that you cannot give permission for Wikipedia only to use the image: you have to allow use by anyone, for any purpose including commercial. Notinasnaid 16:41, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
- To clarify Notinasnaid's comment, if the company wishes to give the logo out (which I doubt) it would need to be in a GFDL-compatible license. For us to claim fair use (this is what the {{logo}} tag does) we don't need the image to have any special license—fair use is possible even for an all-rights-reserved image. BigNate37_(T) 16:49, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How to continue an archived help desk thread?

If I asked a question several days ago, and it and any answers are now in the archive, and I want to keep asking questions about it, should I do that here in Help Desk by creating a new question that refers to the old one (and be better about checking back for answers)? Or should I edit the archived question-and-answer? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.22.127.96 (talk) 15:26, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Create a new question here in Help Desk. You may also give a link to the archive where is saved your previous question. Jacek Kendysz 16:19, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Continuing 12/13: "Sign-in confirmation email appears to work, then can't login"

I'm still having trouble with this issue, which I initially reported on 12/13:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help_desk/Archives/2006_December_13#Sign-in_confirmation_email_appears_to_work.2C_then_can.27t_login

Responding to the one answer there, I created my user name intentionally with the first letter in uppercase, so I don't think that's it.

There seem to be at least two issues here: 1) Wrong password: Even though I think I remember the password I created at the same time, the system is not accepting it. 2) No email address

About #1: are there certain characters not allowed in passwords? In particular, that the system wouldn't complain about during password creation; i.e., it would silently fail so that what I expected is my password isn't? This is why I mention "four permutations" -- I varied my attempts using one pattern on or off, while also trying it with a certain character (that might not be allowed) there or not there.

About #2: this is clearly wrong, since the initial signup confirmation email arrived. So, what does this mean? Has it become lost? Or was it never actually saved?

Bottom line: is there anyone with the system privileges to review my user account's "wellformedness?"

Or...could it just be deleted? I'd like to use the user name I created. If it means an admin deletes it and I try again would be fine, although I worry about why this is all happening in the first place.

Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.22.127.96 (talk) 16:50, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Check to see that the user exists at Special:Listusers. If not, you may try creating it again or creating a different name and then promptly going to change your username, citing technical difficulty as the reason for not creating it at the desired name. If you're current account is a new one, this shouldn't be a big issue for them. If the user already exists, I'm afraid I can't offer any advice besides trying out different variations of your password—as you have—at intervals long enough to prevent any temporary login blocking that may happen (I'm out on a limb here, I don't know if that happens). BigNate37_(T) 16:57, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

printer-friendly Wikipedia?

Is there a link for, or a way to make a selected Wikipedia entry's page printer friendly?155.70.39.45 17:01, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If you're using the default layout, underneath the search box on the left is a toolbox with a link "Printable version". BigNate37_(T) 17:17, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I just wrote a new article, "geologic preliminary investigations," and for some reason it has come out as a single long line instead of a formatted article. I have previously written "percolation testing" and it came out fine. What have I done wrong? Thanks.

I see no such article. Could you please be more specific, I looked for geologic preliminary investigations and saw nothing. BigNate37_(T) 18:02, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There might have been a space in front of the first line. This would cause the article not to format properly. User:Zoe|(talk) 19:01, 20 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Long lines, no formatting.

Hi, sorry, this may be the second posting.

I have previously written "percolation testing," which came out just fine.

Today, I wrote, "geologic preliminary investigation" but instead of coming out formatted as a paragraph or two, it was spit out as one very long single line. What can I do to fix this? Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.42.180.225 (talk) 17:36, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Make sure you never put a space at the start of a line. Notinasnaid 17:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

May have missed the FAQ answer

Hi, If i enter a topic/technology/term, what stops a competitor with a similar topic/technology/term from updating comments that could be detrimental to the topic/technology/term? Thanks, Carol Smith - General Dynamics —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.121.28.16 (talk) 18:00, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Hi Carol, Wikipedia adheres to the neutral point of view. So we write about anything from a neutral point of view ensuring that the topic gets a comprehensive coverage and valid criticism is also covered. And anything you write can be edited by anyone else so nothing to stop anyone from editing your edits. — Lost^(talk) 18:06, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

how to write a letter an hospitals adminstrators for help

I WANT TO A LETTER TO AS MANY HOSPITALS ADMINSTRATORS FOR HELP TO REBUILD THE HOSPITAL IN MY COUNTY FOR THE CHILDREN.WE HAVE WAR GOING ON AND THE HOSPITAL IS NOT WORK GOOD AND i WANT TO HELP MY PEOPLE. COUNTY IS LIBERIA IN WEST AFRICA. I READLY WANT TO HELP BY GOD GRACE . SO THAT WHILE i NEED IN WRITTING A LETTER TO SEEK HELP IN THAT FIELD. WITH ALL MY HEART. I LIVE IN MANASSAS VA GOING TO NURSING SCHOOL AND SOME DAY HOPING TO BECOME AN RN. BUT FOR NOW I NEED TO STRAT BY WRITTING TO PEOPLE FOR HELP. BECAUSE WORLD HAD FORGETTIN ABOUT MY COUNTY AND I LOVE MY COUNTY. I MADE NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO DO IT MYSELF BUT I HAVE FITH THE GOD WILL LEAD ME TO SOME ONE IN THE WORLD THAT HELP MY PEOPLE. I'M A 27 YEAR OLD. CAN HELP ME WRITE THIS BECAUSE IT FROM MY HEART AND FOR THE BEBEFIT OF MY COUNRY TO WHOM THE WORLD HAVE FORGETTING.

THANKS MASSA MORLU BRYANT <email removed> —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.243.28.50 (talk) 18:51, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

First off, turn off your CAPS LOCK key, and type in lowercase. Then it doesn't look like you're shouting. Secondly, I don't think that this is something that Wikipedia can help with. You can try looking at List of hospitals in Liberia, but aside from that, I don't think you'll find much here. Sorry we can't help. —P^urple ^RA^IN 20:00, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ultramarines Dreadnaught

Is Image:Ultramarines_Dreadnaught a fair use or a free use image as the licencing says it is both. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Henchman 2000 (talk • contribs) 19:53, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

I'm not sure, to be honest. Image:Ultramarines_Dreadnought.jpg is a photo (released to the public domain) of a copyrighted item, maybe someone else knows whether the image itself can be considered free. BigNate37_(T) 19:59, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

To the best of my knowledge (IANAL]), a photograph of a copyrighted or trademarked item falls under fair use so long as its intent is not to confuse consumers that it endorses a competitor or otherwise dilute the brand name. Given photos of miniatures are all over the web, taken by hobbyists and reporters worldwide with no legal repercussions I am aware of, I'd say this is fair use. -- Kesh 20:42, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Aye, the photograph is fair use only, as a derivative work made from the original "sculpture". The PD notice means that the photographers have waived their own rights to the image. So the photograph enters the public domain the moment that Games Workshop's copyright on the miniature design expires. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 15:56, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

As the uploader/author of the image, just a quick note to clarify my intentions somewhat: I'm perfectly happy for anyone to use and/or modify that image in any way, hence the PD tag. However, copyright law requires that any use you make of it can also be justified as a derivative work of the original miniature, so the fair use tag is there as well. Obviously, if anyone has any suggestions for any better ways to indicate this, please suggest them and I'll use them in future. Cheers --Pak21 16:20, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think you've covered all the bases. And my compliments to the painter! -- Kesh 16:42, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Destination path for uploaded image files

I have an image file on my PC. What should the destination path be for this filename, in order for a Wikipedia article to be able to access it?

Wikipedia can't read files off your hard disk. You have to upload the image file onto Wikipedia (make sure the copyright is suitable). Notinasnaid 20:11, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
See WP:Images.--NMajdan•talk 20:12, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

wikipedia

why do you have to use wikipedia —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.199.96.253 (talk) 21:08, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Wikipedia:Wikipedia#Theories as to why Wikipedia is popular. Patstuart^talk|edits 21:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

wikipedia

why do you have to use wikipedia

who made this site?

who made this site?72.68.202.41

We don't have to use Wikipedia. It's entirely optional. The site was made by lots and lots of people. You asked that twice. Notinasnaid 21:18, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

finding content of deleted pages

How do I find the content of a page that has been deleted some time ago? The documen tation tells me how to find that it was deleted, but I want to see the history of the page before deletion and do not know if it is still kept. Ray Tomes 21:23, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Deletion revisions and related history entries are only available to administrators. The whole point of it being deleted is so people can't see it any more. If you can provide a reason for wanting to see a specific article, most admins are happy to help you get a copy of deleted text. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:34, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The topic is "Cycle_studies" and I wish to review the page as it was before deletion so that I can consider whether a new article should be written with the same topic. The reasons for the original deletion were spurious to say the least. The talk page would be useful also. Ray Tomes 23:50, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Cycle studies. The article was deleted because it appears to have been original research with no reliable sources. User:Zoe|(talk) 19:03, 20 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Show/hide

I've found an image with a quite long yet useful caption, so I thought I'd use the show/hide collapsable menu code to automatically hide the caption unless show was clicked. The code works on my user subpages, put for some reason it's kept open in the article (it's used in a actor infobox). Any idea how to fix it? - Mgm|^(talk) 21:29, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Could you be more specific? Looking at Perry Millward, the show/hide functionality is there and... well, functioning. Are you trying to affect the default behaviour, or is it a caching issue? BigNate37_(T) 21:40, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Based on my userpage, the automatic behavior hides the content. In Perry Millward it fails to do so. The code is functioning as in the hide/show button works, but it doesn't hide as default like I expected. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:47, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What I've found is that if you reproduce the entire caption up to three times, the default is to be shown when the page is loaded. At four, it changes to be hidden when the page is loaded. This is why the stuff on your userpage defaults to hidden. I don't know if there is a way to override this behaviour or not. BigNate37_(T) 22:09, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There isn't, it's a global variable that can't be changed on a page by page basis as far as my understanding of the function goes (I've set it up on another wiki). Chris M. 20:11, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Please advise on this issue

Hello,

Sometimes newspapers on their websites report on an event regarding an organization, but this report then disappears as the news gets old (they don't all keep online archives)....how do you suggest that this issue be dealt with. For instance, I would like to report on an event that this organization has participated in, but without a webink it becomes an 'unsubstantiated report'...is it possible to for the organization to upload the news report to their own website and then link to this? Is there any other way to resolve this problem? Please advise,

Thx,

If the report exists as a hardcopy and you can get your hands on it, you could cite that. BigNate37_(T) 21:41, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

you can also try http://archive.org, a site that will automatically save a copy of your file as long as you specifically request it when it's online. -Patstuart^talk|edits 21:44, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Weblinks aren't required. If you can cite the information people require to find a paper copy, you can use that. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:52, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Search Toolbar

Dear Wikipedia,

I love this site. So much so that I would like to have a searchbar permanently installed on my web browser (i.e. Google Searchbar). How do I go about this? Thanks! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chris.horner (talk • contribs) 21:52, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

One thing you could do is under Firefox, right-click the Wikipedia search box and select "Add a keyword for this search" Name it "Wikipedia" and pick a shortcut such as "wp". Then if you type "wp kittens" in your address bar it will search wikipedia for "kittens". --Dgies 21:56, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Mainspace sandbox

I would like to test some of the more esoteric parser functions of templates so I can try operating on the namespace of the transcluding article. In order to do this, I need a sandbox which is in the main (encyclopedia) namespace. Is there a special sandbox for this? Or is this a big no-no? Or maybe I can make a new article and ask people to hold off speedying it while I experiment? Thoughts? --Dgies 21:53, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Why would you need it to be in the main namespace? Parserfunctions and other stuff like that works perfectly fine in other namespaces too. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:57, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
- Need to operate on {{PAGENAME}} in order to detect improperly including talk page templates into mainspace. --Dgies 21:59, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  - You mean {{FULLPAGENAME}}? And for what you seem to want, it would be easier to just use {{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}|{{ARTICLESPACE}}|text for being in mainspace improperly|text otherwise}}. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 22:09, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    - That's the ticket. Thanks. --Dgies 22:11, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
    - Say, with which version of MediaWiki came {{#ifeq}}, {{#if}} and such? BigNate37_(T) 22:14, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
      - m:ParserFunctions#Installation seems to say that, but I don't understand a word. Maybe you will. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 22:19, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
        I know a guy who'll know, but I can figure out enough to assume my answer lies in there. Thanks! BigNate37_(T) 22:22, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

needed script

i need a script for an when sending mail of an update files of linux. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 61.247.251.252 (talk) 22:18, 18 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

You might like to try that question on the reference desk, the help desk here is for questions about using Wikipedia. BigNate37_(T) 22:20, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Or are you asking how to set up getting an email when you get a message? I'm not sure you can, but I'm not sure what you're saying. Could you be more clear? -Amarkov ^blah_edits 22:22, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Old (dead) sources

I have come across many sources in articles that link to a non-existent webpage/article. Either a 404 error, or a "This page does not exist" message. What is the policy for these sources? Should they be removed (as the ability to check them is all but impossible)?Badfever 23:04, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You should try your best to see if the source exists somewhere else first. And with articles on living people, you have to be careful about that, because removing a source means you have to remove everything which cites that source. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 23:06, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also, there are lots of reasons why a link can return an error message; it might be something temporary. Anchoress 23:09, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Finally, you should try http://archive.org before removing anything. -Patstuart^talk|edits 23:43, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

And, no, it should not be removed even if it has gone away; that's the policy. However, an attempt should be made to find a replacement, and it should be dated. See WP:Cite#What to do when a reference link "goes dead" Notinasnaid 23:43, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds good. Thanks for the quick answers.Badfever 01:36, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Headline text

How to enter a discussion of an entry being considered for deletion

Hi, I've looked thru the FAQ and have browsed thru the basic introduction for using Wikipedia, and I must have missed the relevant section pertaining to my question. I want to enter the discussion on the entry Dewitt Finley, but I don't knowhow to enter it such that I can post my reasons for what I think should be done with the article. Please sexplain to me how to do this, or point me in the right direction so that I may figure it out myself.

Thank you. Summalogicae 23:40, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Just click the "edit this page" tab at the top of the screen, when you are on the discussion page, and add your comment at the bottom. -Amarkov ^blah_edits 23:41, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Or, if you can't even figure out how to get to the discussion, click the this article's entry link on the original page. Once you get to the discussion, making changes is just as easy as posting to the Help Desk. -Patstuart^talk|edits 23:42, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You should also bear in mind that the deletion discussion is not an argument, nor even a vote. The only point of contributions is to illuminate how this keeping or deleting this page fits in with Wikipedia guidelines and policies, and this is what the final administrator will use in making the decision. Notinasnaid 23:47, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi (inquiry about blocked user)

I told you guys before but you probly didn't get it.

My friend was banned for swearing.

She can't edit any more and can't write to me.

Will he acount be deleted?

When can she come back and Edit?

She is sorry I'm sorry to bother you. I just want to talk with her agian. I love you Site

What is the username you are inquiring about? --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 14:36, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]