Help desk
< September 27	<< Aug \| September \| Oct >>	September 29 >

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.

September 28

difficulty setting up my wikipedia account

I tried to set up a wikipedia account for myself. I tried using two different e-mail addresses that I have for myself. I could not set up the account because it kept saying "there is no user by that name."YES,THERE ABSOLUTELY IS A USER FOR FOR THESE TWO E-MAIL ADDRESSES-ME!!!!I HAVE USED THESE TWO E-MAIL ADDRESSES TO SIGN UP FOR OTHER THINGS ON THE INTERNET, SO WHY DID IT SAY "THERE IS NO USER BY THAT NAME"??? PLEASE GIVE ME A SIMPLE AND EASY WAY TO SET UP A WIKIPEDIA ACCOUNT. I REALLY HATE ALL THIS CONFUSION 7 THINGS BEING COMPLICATED. I CALLED WIKIPEDIA & LEFT A MESSAGE BUT NO ONE CALLED ME BACK. I DONT EVEN KNOW IF I'M IN THE RIGHT PLACE TO BE TYPING MY PROBLEM TO WIKIPEDIA. pLEASE RESPOND ASAP. THANK YOU — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.142.170.38 (talk) 02:23, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please do not WP:SHOUT (all-caps is considered shouting). Your login name is not the same as the email address you enter. It is the username you entered into the "username" field. Do not expect, however, for Wikipedia to call you or email you - Wikipedia is not your typical website.Jasper Deng (talk) 02:39, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You asked a near identical question a few days ago and were answered (quite adequately in my opinion). Here is the link the the previous question and its responses.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:49, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Flag in the European Union article

While doing some research I found that the flag for the European Union is incorrect. It does not have a swastika. I've never tried to fix or have something corrected before so if this isn't quite the right way to post please accept my apologies and point me in the right direction. Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.3.79.239 (talk) 03:08, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This is actually a great place to tell us about problems you see like this. Thank you. I think what you probably saw was some vandalism. I only went back in the history of the article a few days and did not see the edit adding a swastika anywhere, but it could have been an edit to a template that's included on the page (I did check the flag, and it does not appear to have been vandalized). In any event, I don't see a swastika anywhere on the page now. It might be easier to figure out what happened if you said where exactly in the article you saw the swastika and when, but the problem seems to be resolved.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:21, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it was vandalism to Template:Infobox European Union, and it was reverted here. - David Biddulph (talk) 03:26, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It seems the images is being used to vandalise that template. I have requested that the image be deleted because I cannot see any purpose for it other than vandalism. Astronaut (talk) 16:30, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

flag question

Talk:World Chess Championship 1934 points out that the wrong flag is used in the main article. That edior doesn't know how to fix it and neither do I. How can it be fixed? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:04, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I couldn't modify the template correctly so I just manually changed it with different templates. Ryan Vesey Review me! 04:19, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks

Resolved

Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:21, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Operation Sea Signal casualties

Hello,

I logged onto this page wondering how many U.S. casualties were suffered during Operation Sea Signal, and found no answer. I know this to be false, as I deployed there from the git-go, and saw many servicemen beat near to death. Due to the many riots early on, I consider myself lucky not to be among them. Perhaps this should be noted, unless only current U.S. casualties matter. Thanks in advance of your corrected info, -- Josh Milner Former PFC, 300th MP co — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.228.11.143 (talk) 04:07, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A better place to bring this would be the talk page of Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history. I will refer them to your question. Ryan Vesey Review me! 04:21, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Or Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities. -- Obsidi♠n Soul 04:47, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The article says "During the riots, more than 200 US military personnel and 30 Cubans were injured and two Cuban migrants drowned...--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:19, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Creation of Information about our NPO- the ICeJHED-Int'l Centre for Justice,Health & Educational Dev.on Wikipedia.

Hello,Am an administrator of the facebook page of d ICeJHED-Int'l Centre for Justice,Health & Educational Dev.and we have read about other NPOs by means of the results of searches done on Wikipedia.We are interested in giving information about our NPO to Wikipedia so as make d reading public to search for information about us and get results from Wikipedia as an ENCYCLOPEDIA.Hence,we write to get help or guidiance as to how we can make our information about our NPO available to Wikipedia and the reading public.We hope that you would be kind enough to make a quick response to our question as submited.Thank u.CEA-ICeJHED. CEA-ICeJHED (talk) 07:00, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The first question is whether your organization is notable enough for an article. To verify that, please see WP:CORP. Dismas|^(talk) 07:02, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Punjabi Film CHANN PARDESEE

The year of release is incorrect. The film CHANN PARDESEE was released in 1981 and not in 1980 as mentioned. As producer of the film it is my duty to point out this error. J.S Cheema — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.99.201.244 (talk) 08:25, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, we can't just take your word for it. We need corroborating evidence. Is the 1981 date published somewhere? - 194.60.106.38 (talk) 11:32, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I actually did take this information, and in doing so was just exchanging one unsourced fact with another, but then deleted the article as a blatant copyright violation (persisting from its first revision through today).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:46, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Google search "Chann Pardesee" (1981 OR 1980) gives overwhelming evidence for 1980. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:46, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong information about me ;

Resolved

Hello

I m Oktay Karakus . I m the person on this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Oktay_Karaku%C5%9F and there was a wrong information about me . its says [defamatory accusation redacted by User:Dweller]. is there any way to know who make the change ? i delete this but maybe this person will write again .

Thank you for your help — Preceding unsigned comment added by Apache.tr1 (talk • contribs) 08:57, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This vandalism is the above user's only other edit to Wikipedia besides this Help Desk question. Dismas|^(talk) 10:24, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

An IP did remove this unsourced defamatory edit ([1]), which I'm going to hide. --Dweller (talk) 10:42, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Marking as resolved. ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 23:35, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

About Nodle officer

I am from a LEA from India. We have recieved a official complaint about some comment through you page on google map. Please give us the detail about you NODLE Officer who can assist us in this

Manish Sehgal — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.94.97.238 (talk) 10:23, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

We don't have a NODLE officer. You can pose complaints here for our volunteers to see what we can do or contact an administrator. - 194.60.106.38 (talk) 11:30, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think anybody has something called a NODLE officer. In India there is apparently something called a Nodal officer. I'm also unsure what LEA means here. I know it as Law enforcement agency but perhaps it can mean Local education authority in India. I wonder whether the poster is in the wrong place. Here is a standard message for that:

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 3.7 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:09, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I thought this was referring to a WP page linked on a Google Map, which is clearly not a mistake. If only the poster was more detailed about the complaint. =194.60.106.17 (talk) 13:37, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Pc sute

How to download a pc sute for samsung e250? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.102.186.30 (talk) 11:28, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried the Computing 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 is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:30, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Help

To whom it may concern,

I am a mother with a son who tried to commit suicide but instead, His esophagus, and his stomach together with his intestines connection to have a proper eating habit was burnt and so the doctors put a Jtube on his small intestine to continue his daily feeding of Alitraq and since it is very expensive we are now using Ensure and from then on his weight has been erratic. They have put NGT on his nose down to the stomach to avoid vomiting, to prevent his esophagus more damage. After 6 months we are hoping for another operation to connect the stomach and the intestines so that H e can start eating normally. Please may I know if you can help us in any way.We have been denied Help because they said My son's problem is self induced.

Thank You, In case you can not help me I thank You too for giving your time to read this letter of mine.

Sicerely Yours,

Mrs. Trinidad C. Ortiz ^{[details removed]} — Preceding unsigned comment added by 180.191.118.192 (talk) 11:49, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I am sorry to hear about this. However this is the help desk for the English Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia built by volunteers from all over the world via the internet. I fear no one here is qualified to help you with that. You should perhaps consider contacting a lawyer. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 12:03, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed your address to protect your privacy. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:19, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I cannot help you on your specific situation. However, I can suggest a list of articles that cover the subject and may be relevant to your current situation:

Suicide
Suicide attempt
Parasuicide
Self-defeating personality disorder
Feeding tube
Alitraq
Weight loss
Medulla oblongata (brain region)
Vomitting
Anorexia and bulimia
Also try the search bar: Health care in [your country]

Hope that some of this helps. Best wishes, ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 23:33, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Folks, I know we are all trying to be helpful, but I we shouldn't be replying further to this message, even just to point to possibly relevant articles. When it comes to anything that could even remotely be considered legal or medical advice, we should just link to the relevant policy and say no more. (Yes IAAL). – ukexpat (talk) 14:12, 29 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Error on the Barbary lion page

The references are messed up -- broken into two lists, esentially -- and I'm just a casual user who doesn't know how to fix them. I tracked it back pretty far, and I think that, apparently, the problem arose with the Revision of 08:49, 22 January 2008 by Betacommand regarding "m (fix refs)". Hope that helps someone else correct things! :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.216.87.252 (talk)

After my edit all the references are using the <ref>...</ref> syntax. The reference section looks more consistent now, I think. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:51, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Remove vandalism notice from Talkpage and how to deal with similar issues

I've been recently accused of "vandalism", "blatant lie" (accusation than edited while I was answering him to his talk page) and "repeated vandalism". The editor decided to move part (but not all) of the discussion for my talk page to the talk page of the article. Just to explain my perspective, in the reference I removed is shown a cover and I looked for the same in amazon.com (it seems I can't post the link here, than just please search there for "The Cheese Companion"). Now even a third opinion confirmed that there was no vandalism.

- Now I'd like to have the notices removed from my talk page AND from the history page. I know I can remove edits from my talk page, but the history remains.
- Is there any policies for removing texts from someone else's talk page?
- How should I best in the future react to accusations like "blatant lie"? (I'd like an apology for that accusation and vandalism and have to read absurdities like here but I doubt that I ever get one since even after a third opinion was still convinced to be right). Thanks. --Dia^ (talk) 14:24, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Could please someone tell me to whom or where should I ask to get an answer to my questions? Thanks.--Dia^ (talk) 10:01, 29 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The criteria for revision deletion are at WP:CRD. Inter alia it says "This includes slurs, smears, and grossly offensive material of little or no encyclopedic value, but not mere factual statements, and not "ordinary" incivility, personal attacks or conduct accusations." I can see nothing in the messages on your talk page which fall into the criteria for revdel. You made a mistake with your original removal of the reference. You unwisely got into an edit war over it. You were accused of vandalism, and the WP:3O response said that the use of the word vandalism was unjustified, but also that "both the participants here should consider re-reading WP:AGF and WP:CIVIL", so you should forget it and move on. - David Biddulph (talk) 11:26, 29 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the information. I'll surely move on.--Dia^ (talk) 17:07, 29 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Is it possible to remove my IP address

Hi there can someone remove my IP address from this edit please[[2]] the most current one I wasnt logged on when I made it. thanksUthican (talk) 14:43, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Done GB fan 14:55, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Want to contact facebook

I want to contsct facebook, to change phone number so I can get security cod to sign in to facebook. What is the telephone number for facebook so I can contact them? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.241.160.227 (talk) 14:57, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Check facebook. This is Wikipedia. There is no relationship between Wikipedia and Facebook. -- kainaw ™ 14:59, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You could try asking at the

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. GB fan 15:24, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Problems Fixing this article

I am having problems fixing this article.

Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Gail_Albert_Halaban

My sources are all reliable: Nytimes, a gallery website, etc.

Can someone help me fix the problem? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.167.46.66 (talk) 15:49, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Just resubmit it in the AFC process by adding {{subst:AFC submission/submit}} to the top of the draft, as per the instructions. – ukexpat (talk) 16:31, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ukexpat, please check first the references and the history before giving such advises. I declined this article since it has only primary or secondary sources in and no third party sources. The NYTimes may publish works of this person, but this indicates only that this person has a job and getting paid for it. This is no indication of notability. The articles/references don't talk about that person! mabdul 17:24, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked account (maybe?)

my name is yemi salokun my account to check my post ume result has been block .what i my going to do. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.255.164.8 (talk) 16:09, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

my name is yemi salokun my account to check my post ume result has been block .what i my going to do.

Your question is not clear. Please explain your problem in a way that we can understand it. Thanks. – ukexpat (talk) 16:31, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I am also unsure what your question is. Neither of the accounts User:Yemi salokun or User:Yemi Salokun is registered here at Wikipedia. Are you perhaps talking about this page? If that is the case, please note that Wikipedia has no connection with Facebook and you have to contact someone at Facebook if there are issues with that account. If I misunderstood you, can you perhaps clarify your question? Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 17:00, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. For help on blocked accounts on Wikipedia, please use a {{user}} tag, and find the exact username. The computing refdesk may help in the case of other websites' accounts. ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 23:25, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for Policies/Essays/best practices about contacting Wikipedians

I'm a member of the meta:Research:Committee and I'm trying to reason about the best ways to have researchers (both WMF sponsored and Academics) contact editors to take surveys, participate in studies, try new user interfaces, etc. Are there any policies, guidelines, essays or best practices that go beyond the talk page guideline to discuss how someone should reason about contacting a non-trivial amount of editors (e.g > 10)? Thanks! --EpochFail^(talk|work) 18:22, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing as far as I know, chummer. WP:Canvassing may be of interest, however, and you may also, if it's vital, consider the benefits of a watchlist notice. —Jeremy v^_^v ^{Components:V S M} 18:42, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I saw WP:CANVASS, but it didn't really seem to apply. Does a watchlist notice only appear when a user visits their watchlist? ...as opposed to "new message" notices that appear on every page load. --128.101.35.242 (talk) 21:38, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. As another idea you could try a sitewide notice, which appears at the top of every page but will torque off uninterested parties. —Jeremy v^_^v ^{Components:V S M} 21:43, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You could also contact WP:AN for specific Wikipedians of interest. ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 23:21, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Islam's view on the big bang theory.

Islam is a religion, so where is the Islamic point of view of the big bang theory?

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

Please do not be racist, Thanks, Raed Oweisi — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.193.3.156 (talk) 20:30, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It is right there in the article you cited, under the section titled "View of Islam". --Jayron32 20:39, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And come to that, Muslims aren't a race, or an ethnic group. AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:49, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia...error for the length of the Las Vegas Strip.....

Dear Sirs:

I do not live in Las Vegas but there is a major error when you said the length of Las Strip is 4.2 miles. This is incorrect.

I run my training runs on the strip when I visit Las Vagas every year. I also run the Las Vegas Marathon down the strip too in December.

The "Las Vegas Strip" is longer than 4.2 miles. It is about 6.2 miles long from Ogden Street where the Gold Spike is at the end of "Old Las Vegas" to the end of Mandalay Bay where Four Seasons starts. So it is about 6.2 miles in length. Whoever gave you the other information (even if they live there) is incorrect about the 4.2 miles. Knowing the length of my runs is important (since I am a serious runner) and the Las Vegas Strip goes from Mandalay Bay to Ogden Street in the "Old part" of Las Vegas.

Yours sincerely, (Personal information removed)— Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.150.188.130 (talk) 21:56, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The article Las Vegas Strip says "In the strictest sense, "the Strip" refers only to the stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard that is roughly between Sahara Avenue and Russell Road, a distance of 4.2 miles (6.8 km)", with two references which appear to be to reliable sources. It then goes on to explain how the phrase is used to cover different ranges by different people. If you have a reliable source which says, for example, that some Athletics Society uses "Las Vegas Strip" to mean the 6.2 mile stretch you mention, you could add that information to the section; but one of the guiding principles of Wikipedia is that all information should be referenced: personal knowledge or research is not acceptable. --ColinFine (talk) 22:14, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A primary source for this article would be Google Earth, or perhaps a local tourism resource, though you would need to measure a specific length. In addition, since Wikipedia is free for anyone to edit, please do not use "dear sirs" in the future. Thanks. ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 23:20, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Userpage box broken

Hi. Please help fix the box on my userpage. Thanks. ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 23:17, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed ^Avic _ennasis @ 02:38, 1 Tishrei 5772 / 02:38, 29 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Registering as opposed to editing with an IP

i have quite a few edits under my (fixed) IP address .. I was gonna register an account but then discovered I had already done so back in 2007 but I 'd forgotten I'd already done this (Doh!)

Question: can I link my IP edits to my registered account? Or transfer them?

Acct is: g6cid and IP is as 87-194-130-89 — Preceding unsigned comment added by G6cid (talk • contribs) 23:23, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think Wikipedia has any technical way to merge account contributions (what we call the edits of an account), unfortunately.Jasper Deng (talk) 23:26, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This is a common question; the bottom line is: no. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 23:51, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The number of edits at Special:Contributions/87.194.130.89 is actually considered quite small by Wikipedia standards. I have 21617 edits and some have a lot more. You can manually post messages at User:G6cid and User talk:87.194.130.89 saying the user and IP are the same, but it is optional whether to do so. The IP edits cannot be merged into the account. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:25, 29 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Just out of interest, why do you care? Tonywalton ^Talk 00:30, 29 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

how to purchase

Would like to purchase. One. Where to find one like this at retail or online – — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.181.2.37 (talk) 23:33, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't understand what you're trying to get here, and unfortunately this help desk is for help with using Wikipedia, not product decisions, if that's what you wanted.Jasper Deng (talk) 23:36, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]