Help desk
< February 6	<< Jan \| February \| Mar >>	February 8 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

February 7

Arabic translation

I have a question concerning the accuracy of English to Arabic translation in an article. I'm fairly sure there are editors fluent in Arabic on the English Wikipedia. Could anyone offer me advice on how to find one? Joefromrandb (talk) 01:53, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

We have categories of the form Category:User lang [optional proficiency code] (where lang is the appropriate language code). The one in particular that you want is Category:User ar, specifically the subcategories Category:User ar-5 and Category:User ar-N. Intelligentsium 01:59, 7 February 2011 (UTC)][reply]

(ec) Perhaps the WikiProject Arab world may also be a good place to ask. Rehevkor ✉ 02:00, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Much obliged. Joefromrandb (talk) 02:32, 9 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting user config subpages

Is there any way I can delete User:Voyaging/huggle.css? I do not use Huggle any longer and as a minimalist have no use for the page. Likewise, I was wondering about User:Voyaging/monobook.js. Is this a page all users have, or is it possible to delete? Thanks. Voyaging^(talk) 02:40, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I imagine tagging them with {{db-u1}} would be the easiest way. Rehevkor ✉ 02:46, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Except templates do not transclude on .css and .js pages. It seems .css and .js pages can be added to categories; you can add [[Category:Candidates for speedy deletion by user]] to the page and it will be added to the category. You may wish to include a confirming note in the edit summary. Intelligentsium 02:58, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Did so, thanks! Voyaging^(talk) 03:14, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

For future reference, WT:Criteria for speedy deletion#Deletion of css and js user pages indicates that db-u1 does add the speedy category. Flatscan (talk) 05:19, 15 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Strangely broken AfD

I was reading the February 4th AfD log, and directly under this entry: Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Log/2011_February_4#Martin_Joseph_Sheehan there is a very strange AfD page, since it has only a single comment on it. It is here Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Homicide Prevention, and was somehow created and included in the log by a user trying to state his rationale for removing a PROD, but it was done in such a way that the log page is broken, I think. It may have eaten another entry entirely, and it is badly misformatted. However, I don't know enough about how the log page includes individual pages to try to fix it without breaking something else.

As an aside, I was also planning on taking the page in question to AfD, but I typically do that with a script, and I imagine it would choke horribly on the mess that has been left behind here. Can anyone help? gnfnrf (talk) 02:46, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Taken care of. Page deleted as housekeeping since the prod was removed by user, and I've removed its entry from the AfD log. There should be no trouble with nominating it for a real AfD discussion now. However, are you sure this is a good AfD target? Have you read WP:BEFORE? Right now I agree that the page reads more like an essay as the prod said, but it might be turned into an article easily by a person with some knowledge in the subject area.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:00, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the help with the cleanup. As for the article, I did consider if there were any good alternatives to deletion, and my conclusion was that it was a hopeless synthesis of source information, and not salvageable. However, I'm in no rush, so I'll tag it and watch it for a while before taking any other action. gnfnrf (talk) 04:41, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Followup note: page deleted as a G7 at request of creator.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:17, 9 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Help with Citing sources and the message "This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism"

Hello, I am a new user to Wikipedia and have been trying to update an article that shows the message below in the reference section of the article: "This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php". I have read through numerous Wiki FAQs and tutorials on citing sources, but can't seem to find the answers to the questions below. Can someone please assist? Thanks... 1) Upon following the link to cite.php, it redirects me to Mediawiki. It looks like I should install the software, configure it etc... Is there way to properly cite a source in an article that uses cite.php without having to install and configure software? 2) If there is a manual way to update a footnote/citation that falls in the middle of the citation numbering list? In other words, if there are 5 citations listed in the references of the existing article; how do I add one that may fall in as number 3, and automatically change the citation numbers (in a cite.php scenario, so that number 4 becomes number 5 automatically etc...) I don't want to install any new software if I can help it.

Please help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.113.195.187 (talk) 05:04, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What article are you talking about? —teb728 t c 05:17, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think cite.php is the ordinary footnote mechanism, using <ref>,</ref>, and <references /> described at Help:Footnotes. —teb728 t c 05:42, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you wanted to help and update some Wikipedia articles, then you don't need to install anything! Use your reference and add it in the article text there it belongs to the ref - tags. mabdul 11:58, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please provide the article name. The link to cite.php is not useful for normal editors. See Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:27, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the help. The article is for: patent. There is also another one under: Provisional application —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.113.195.187 (talk) 16:16, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

OK— those are simply hidden comments. They aren't useful and I am removing them. Let us know if you need more help. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 19:00, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.113.195.187 (talk) 21:09, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

St. Louis Rams

I tried to edit the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams Hall of Fame members and I messed it up. I tried to add Les Richter who was a Line Backer/Kicker for the Rams. He played from 1954 t0 1962 and was inducted into the pro football hall of fame on 2/5/2011. Maybe someone can fix it. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.120.136.68 (talk) 05:35, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Is this what you intended? —teb728 t c 05:57, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

John Reid. Baron Reid of Cardowan. Sec of State for Defence 2005-2006

When he was Sec of State for Defence and our troops were sent to Afghanistan. John Reid stated and I quote, 'that they would be in and out without a shot being fired' 5 years and 300 plus deaths later we are still there. I can find no reference to his 'in and out' statement anywhere in the Wiki report and I would suggest that it is included. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.109.93.203 (talk) 11:07, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Find a WP:RS for that statement, and you can then include it in the article. - David Biddulph (talk) 11:12, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Though do keep in mind that an article "should strive to treat each aspect with a weight appropriate to its significance to the subject" (per our policy on due weight) - Reid's biographical article should cover his involvement in the Afghanistan war proportionately to his wider career. It might be that this kind of material is better off in the article on the War in Afghanistan (2001–present). (You might get input from editors more knowledgeable on the subject if you raised the question at that article's talk page. Gonzonoir (talk) 11:20, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

not availability of language

Hi there! I was trying some info, of course, I could get that but to my surprise, I could get the same info in Hindi language. How come wikipedia does not have hindi or tamil language support?

Pl. tell me?

Balaji Canchi Sistla Hyderabad, India — Preceding unsigned comment added by Balaji690 (talk • contribs) 11:21, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia does have versions available in many languages including Hindi and Tamil. However the English Wikipedia has by far the most articles, so the information you seek might not yet be available in Hindi or Tamil. Roger (talk) 11:34, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Problem of external links in body of articles

Resolved

– Courtesy of Chzz and Jayron32. Thanks! – OhioStandard (talk) 19:32, 8 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, all! As I'm sure you all know, WP:EL prohibits inline external links from being added to the body of articles; they're supposed to be used only in the "External links" section of an article and, of course, in references properly enclosed between <ref> and </ref> tags. I assume the rationale for this is that readers have the right to know for sure when they're about to click on a link that will take them offsite. When I see inline external links I've been converting them to refs, usually; but does anyone know of a script or (semi?) automated tool for finding inline external links and converting them to proper refs? I just saw our Xkcd article, especially this section. The article as a whole must have 30 or more inline external links. Anyway, if there's no such tool, does anyone at least know of a cleanup-needed template one could appropriately post at the top of such an article, to at least alert folks who contribute to it or have it watchlisted about WP:EL policy? Thanks, – OhioStandard (talk) 12:19, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"Prohibited" is not quite right; there are rare exceptional cases when it makes sense. The policy doesn't say "never", it says "not normally".

I think the reason we avoid them, mostly, are because it's an Encyc, not a directory, and such links are often an excuse to get in a non-reliable source, or something that does not add to encyclopædic understanding of the subject (mostly, spam). Also, we want to build the web of articles, with wikilinks; if Bob worked at [http://www.example.com Example.com] then that company may or may not be notable. If it is very likely to be notable, then Bob worked at [[Example.com]] could indicate a "needed article", and encourage people to make it.

The most common cleanup template would be {{External links}}, but there is also {{Cleanup-spam}}.

I don't know of any tools that help; I've always fixed them by hand - checking them, moving them to == External links == when appropriate, or changing to refs, or removing altogether as appropriate.

You might want to check out Wikipedia:WikiProject External links. Chzz ► 12:36, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, good points all, Chzz. It hadn't occurred to me that our external links policy might act as a kind of defacto linkspam filter, i.e. a sort of built-in notability checker. Nice. Also, I will look into the project you mention. Thanks. If you don't mind I'll not mark this "resolved" just yet, to see whether anyone else will have any additional light to shed on the question. Best, – OhioStandard (talk) 16:30, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

When I come across this problem, I always just strip them out by hand, converting relevent links into either references or moving them to the external links section, but most of them I just convert to either plain text or remove entirely. It's especially problematic for the "List of XXXX products" type of lists, where the list practically begs people to spam it with links to websites to buy their products. Its pretty clear that these lists should be restricted to products which are notable enough for Wikipedia articles, but it is a rampant problem. It takes time, but AFAIK, the only way to do it is to get your hands dirty and just clean it up. --Jayron32 16:38, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Jayron. That's what I've been doing so far, too, in a small way. But when I came across the Xkcd article with its huge number of improper inline links to offsite pages, I felt a bit overwhelmed: It's hard to even find them all (in edit mode), amid all the formatting that typically surrounds them... Or maybe that's because of the editor I'm using, wikEd. I'll have to look into that more carefully. But it does seem to me that this would be a fairly easy process to automate or (better, I think) semi-automate. Just use a regular expression to find all the places in the text (i.e. in the markedup/wikicode) where there's an "http" that isn't surrounded by a beginning and ending ref tag, and that are outside the external links section, then give (via, what, python? or some other scripting language?) the operator a choice of what to do.... Well, okay, maybe it would be more involved than I thought, but certainly not an especially difficult little programming task, for someone who knew the WikiMedia programming context. Any takers? :-) Best, – OhioStandard (talk) 10:23, 8 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Post-resolution linkage: Some continued discussion on User_talk:Ohiostandard#Wikipedia:Help_desk.23Problem_of_external_links_in_body_of_articles. Chzz ► 07:49, 10 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Two accounts

Having two accounts, in English and in Persian wiki, has a problem? How can I edit in Persian Wiki with this account? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.165.25.255 (talk) 12:39, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See m:Help:Unified login; also when you are posting on a discussion page such as this, please remember to sign your messages, either using 4 tildes ~~~~ or the signature button above the edit pane. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:51, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)

If you do not already have a user account, and you make one, it will work on all language Wikipedias, and wikibooks, wikinews, and other Sister projects.

I can just go to my page on Persian wikipedia, fa:کاربر:Chzz, and edit it as "Chzz" [1].

If you already have an account, try Special:MergeAccount.

See meta:Help:Unified login. Chzz ► 12:53, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Now-Commons date formatting

Many imags that were tagged for the commons and have duplicates lack dates, and what I've found as I've added them manually, is that some of them actually do have dates, but they're still stuck in the Category:Wikipedia files with the same name on Wikimedia Commons as of unknown date. Let me give you two recent examples with the example File:Sandidge 1858.jpg; When the date is written out like this (|month=January|day=14|year=2011), the category shows as being on an unknown date. However, when it's done like this (|date=2011-01-14), the category date shows up. I suspect this may be a glitch in the tag. Can somebody fix this? ----DanTD (talk) 13:40, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The template hasn't supported the day/month/year parameters since August 2008, so all the files in the category that are newer than 2008 are merely wrong. I could edit them all? -- John of Reading (talk) 14:10, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know about them all being wrong, because I've submitted my share to the commons myself, and have added dates to them, once I was aware of the use of dates in Now Commons tags. In any case, if you'd like to load up dates to these tags, go ahead. ----DanTD (talk) 00:37, 8 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

All the files currently in the category have {{NowCommons}} with no date. Does a bot stick the date in? -- John of Reading (talk) 10:03, 8 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I doubt it. I've used the NowCommons tag, and I've always had to add the dates manually. ----DanTD 14:28, 8 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

n Box Media Pvt Ltd

nbox media — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nboxmedia (talk • contribs) 14:13, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a question about using Wikipedia? -- John of Reading (talk) 14:21, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your page Nbox media Pvt Ltd has been tagged for speedy deletion, so may have vanished by the time you read this. Please read WP:SOAP, WP:CORP, and also WP:CORPNAME and WP:COI, and more generally WP:1st and also your talk page. - David Biddulph (talk) 14:31, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The advertising page was created after 14:21, honest! -- John of Reading (talk) 16:45, 7 February 2011 (UTC) [reply]

Yes, we believe you, John! I did notice that the article was created after the help desk question. I do find it frustrating that when a page is deleted its history disappears too, and the record from the user's contribution history, so we can't see what happened when. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:50, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Editing TCNJ School of Engineering Page

Dear Wikipedia, I have been instructed by the Chair of Technological Studies for the School of Engineering at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) to request a change to this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCNJ_School_of_Engineering This page incorrectly states that Tech Studies offers a BA in technological education and a BA in math, science and technology. It should say that the department offers a Bachelor of Science in both degrees. For proof of this assertion please visit this page http://www.tcnj.edu/~engsci/tstudies/programs.htm

Thanks for your time,

````` Peter Szafranski Web Media Specialist Armstrong 165 School of Engineering The College of New Jersey —Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.91.207.126 (talk) 15:32, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the correction and the source to verify it. I have made the change, and fixed the broken formatting on the page. I have also removed a section of text describing one of the departments, as it was a word-for-word copyright violation of some of the college's own material, which Wikipedia cannot accept. Ka renjc 16:17, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

editing problem

I edited a section of "Art as Experience," Chapter 1. I clicked on the "save page" but my revision does not appear, yet my revisions can be seen when viewing my contributions.

What am I doing incorrectly? Marshallginsburg (talk) 17:17, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your revision appears for me. It is put into a box because you have indented each line. The wiki software doesn't like that; paragraphs are separated by an empty line. --Danger (talk) 17:24, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Short answer - Never start a line with a space. Roger (talk) 18:00, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Error when adding to a talk page?

Resolved

– by John of Reading.

I'm a bit stumped by thing one. I tried adding a note to a bot's talk page, and it seems to erase half the page and merge two comments together. I am trying to leave this note, however if you look at the page after that comment was left, it's all messed up. Am I doing something wrong here? ^Avic _ennasis @ 18:27, 3 Adar I 5771 / 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Fixed - an earlier post was missing two curly brackets. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:45, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Awesome! Thanks! ^Avic _ennasis @ 18:58, 3 Adar I 5771 / 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Facebook Community Pages

My business has a Community Page on Facebook. Facebook says the page is run by Wikipedia. I would like to add more information to the page but I don't know how to do so. I cant find my business on Wikipedia and I cant edit the page through Facebook.

18:27, 7 February 2011 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.126.30.115 (talk)

Facebook does mirror some Wikipedia content, but not all content on Facebook is mirrored from Wikipedia. Which Facebook page are you referring to? Also, before you think about writing about your company on Wikipedia, please read WP:COI and WP:CORP. – ukexpat (talk) 18:30, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, please link the page in question before we could help you. Diego Grez (talk) 18:38, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I am referring to a Community Page. It is a type of page created by Facebook. Mine in specific is: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sin-in-Linen/109100775786268

I looked through the Facebook help pages and it said on there: "Community pages display Wikipedia articles about the topics they represent when this information is available, as well as related posts from people on Facebook in real time."

19:10, 10 February 2011 (UTC)19:10, 10 February 2011 (UTC)97.126.30.115 (talk) 19:10, 10 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Remove link in "Normandie_Hotel"

I recommend that someone with authority to do so remove the REFERENCES section link to http://www.puertadetierra.com from the "Normandie_Hotel" page. That link is a domain owned by RegistrarAds, Inc., and appears to be a domain page designed solely to earn revenue by getting people to click on links. I did remove the a link to www.normandiepr.com from the EXTERNAL LINKS section for the same reason. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tmdnc (talk • contribs) 19:33, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed using the Wayback Machine. Jarkeld (talk) 19:43, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, Tmdnc, anybody has the authority to do so. I'm guessing that you just couldn't find the right place to remove it from: references are in the body of the text, not in the section where they are displayed. See WP:Referencing for beginners. Also worth a look at WP:LINKROT for a discussion of how external links can go bad, and what you can do about it. But thanks for bringing it to our attention. --ColinFine (talk) 22:46, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Trying to find out who wrote the artical on Tobias Wong?

Hello

im Trying to find out who wrote the artical on Tobias Wong?

I dont understand the FAQ section to see.

It says the editor but i want to know how that is.

thank you for your time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.180.40.3 (talk) 20:51, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

At the top of the article on the right side you should see a tab that says history. If you click on it you can see everyone who has ever contributed to the article. ~~ GB fan ~~ 20:57, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And at the top of the History page, you will see a link for Contributors. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 20:59, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Many people want author information in order to cite an article. If that is your goal then see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:54, 8 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Attribution

I'm working on a not-for-profit book and I would like to use a picture from wikicommons, but the only author listed on the photo is MeegsC. He/she doesn't seem to have their email enabled. I tried posting a message on his/her discussion page, but haven't received an answer. Is there some other way I could contact him/her to find out how to attribute the picture? Byronlovesme (talk) 21:23, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

All pictures uploaded to Wikimedia Commons must be free (as in beer) for others to use, but the user uploading the picture must include more specific licensing terms (i.e., if attribution is required, if derivative works must use the same license) when doing the upload, or else the picture is deleted. If you post the name of the picture, someone here can tell you what to do. Xenon54 (talk) 21:31, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Your request to MeegsC appears at the bottom of Commons:User talk:MeegsC. When you add a new comment to a user talk page on Commons, click the "+comment" tab at the top of the page to open an edit window with a separate Subject: field. Type a descriptive subject name, and your comment or question below. Click the signature button with the cursor at the end of your post. However, you might not need to get permission from MeegsC, permission may already be granted. His/her contributions include photos that are dual-licensed under {{GFDL}} and {{CC-by-sa-3.0}} (for example see File:Grus canadensis flying at Bitter Lake Nov 2010.jpg). You are free to republish any such licensed images according to the terms of either license. Neither one requires getting separate permission from the author. See Commons:COM:REUSE for more information. If you tell us the title of the photo you have in mind, we can check the licensing for you, to make sure it is not some weird special case. --Teratornis (talk) 22:17, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia users that have me on their watchlist

Is there some way to see what Wikipedia users that have me on their watchlist? --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 22:42, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Developers may have access to this type of information because they can dig around in the servers that hold the Wikipedia database, but neither users nor administrators have this ability. There would be serious privacy concerns implicated if people could view others' watchlists.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:48, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Nobody can have you on their watchlist, because you are not a Wikipedia page. I guess you mean people watching your user page. Wikipedia:New_contributors' help page/questions#Who Is Watching? suggests that there are no tools for this. --ColinFine (talk) 22:53, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think that's a helpful response. When you have a user's talk page on your watchlist, you will also see log entries related to the user, even though they don't affect either page. Hans Adler 22:57, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I believe watchlists are considered so private that not even checkusers have access to them. Not sure about that, though. As you probably know everybody can see how many users have you on their watchlist by following a link from your user or talk page's history. Hans Adler 22:57, 7 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]