Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2015 February 24

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February 24

creating or transferring figures for an article

I would like to transfer or copy figures from Excel. Is that possible. If not, how do I create such figures for an article. Hikenstuff (talk) 00:04, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

information about table formatting is WP:MOSTABLE and Help:Table. You can jigger something approaching appropriate markup by inserting columns into your spreadsheet and copying a column of || or |-. Note that any content from your speadsheet must meet the general content requirements such as WP:V and WP:OR -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 01:08, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

You could try this utility: Noyster (talk), 08:54, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

I don't understand. Are you saying that I copy the Excel spreadsheet, not the figure it created??Hikenstuff (talk) 16:21, 24 February 2015 (UTC) Hikenstuff (talk) 16:28, 24 February 2015 (UTC) Why can I not just copy a plot of y vs x from Excel and paste it into the sandbox?Hikenstuff (talk) 19:58, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Dear Hikenstuff,

Where I grew up, when people said "figures" and "spreadsheet", they meant numerical values like "5.7" and "3.125".

The best way to put such values into Wikipedia is to copy the numbers "as text" (digits) into the page, where either you or someone else can format them nicely with "table formatting", as described in Help:Table; the utility Noyster mentions also looks helpful for large grids of such numbers.

My understanding is that in other parts of the world, people say "figures" when they mean charts and graphs and other illustrations.

One way to put such illustrations into Wikipedia is to use the "Print Screen" button on the keyboard, then use Paint or your favorite image editor to crop it to the right size, save as image in the ".png" file format, then use the Commons Upload Wizard to put it on Wikimedia Commons, and then use that image in a Wikipedia article using Help:Introduction to uploading images/5.

The ".svg" file format is arguably better for such illustrations, but alas, I don't know an easy way to convert an Excel x vs y plot into a file in ".svg" format.

Good luck. --DavidCary (talk) 02:44, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

Finding original page location in Redirects vs. Deletions

I cannot find the original page that was titled: Ivan J. Parron

This title has been redirected to the page titled: Ritmoteca.com

I am assuming that I cannot find the original page as a result of a redirect instead of a deletion (since I cannot find any deletion log) making the original page unviewable, although not necessarily deleted. How can I find the location of the original page? MiamiPrivate (talk) 00:06, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

The original page is here. The way to get there that I took was to put Ivan J. Parron into the search box and go to that article. It, as you know, redirects to Ritmoteca.com. But at the top of the page, in small type, just under the title you can see where it says "Redirected from...". If you click on that, it will take you to the redirect page. Once there, click on View History and go to the earliest entry. Dismas|^(talk) 00:16, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

The archived deletion discussion is here. --Guy Macon (talk) 01:01, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

William Witrock

My name is William Witrock. I have tried to reach you people for weeks without success. Whoever designed your system to actually reach the volunteer editors at Wikipedia surely was driven to make it the most complex, difficult process possible.

I worked in the Adult Entertainment Industry for 20 years from 1985 through 2005. I was never a performer, but rather a skilled producer/director. Since I never allowed any photos of me or appeared on camera, I have been largely dismissed. That is not really a problem for me. But Wikipedia is the one place where people like myself should have some kind of recognition.

For the record, I produced and created, with my partner at the time, John T. Bone, "THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GANG BANG", which is in fact the largest grossing Adult film in history. In addition, I discovered it's famous star, Annabel Chong (Grace Queck). Then I went on to create and shoot maybe the best Amateur/ProAm series ever, REAL SEX MAGAZINE. 63 editions, 250 scenes. Many first time girls, like Tera Patrick (Linda Hopkins) got their start with me. Beyond that, I also produced the cult R rated film, 1997s DARK SECRETS with Julie Strange.

I won the XRCO award for best Amateur/ProAm series in 1998 1nd 1999. The fact that I have been completely ignored by Wikipedia is a huge error. Just Google "William Witrock Real Sex Magazine" Contact me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bwitrock (talk • contribs) 01:36, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Hello, Bwitrock. You've found the right place - sorry it took you a while. As you know, Wikipedia is edited by thousands of volunteers. There is no "editorial board" which decides what topics will be covered: it's down to whether somebody happens to decide to write an article. But Wikipedia is not about "recognition": it is an encyclopaedia, not a professional directory or advertising medium (I'm aware that some people treat it so, but that is their problem, not ours). The criterion for an article to be allowed in Wikipedia is whether reliable sources unconnected with the subject have written about the subject. Are there substantial articles about you, published in reliable sources, unconnected with you? If so, there can be an article. Generally you are discouraged from writing it yourself, because of your conflict of interest. You could post a request at requested articles, but there is quite a backlog - the more solid sources you link to, the easier it would be for somebody to pick up the request. Another approach might be to enlist the help of interested people at WikiProject Pornography. --ColinFine (talk) 11:13, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

wrong picture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichromorpha_viridis

The picture associated with Dichromorpha viridis is really a specimen of Chorthophaga viridifasciata https://www.flickr.com/photos/38730918@N05/3969008479/

See images of D. viridis on http://www.americaninsects.net/o/dichromorpha-viridis.html male and http://greglasley.com/nonBirds/shortwingedgreen.html female to verify the mistake.

I don't know how to edit pictures. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Orchelimum (talk • contribs) 02:00, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

It's not my field. The photo at commons:File:Short-winged Green Grasshopper.jpg was uploaded in 2010 by User:Dger with a file description saying "Short-winged Green Grasshopper (Dichromorpha viridis)". He is still active and will get a notification so maybe he will comment. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:19, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

I agree. I will remove and retitle the image from the article. Thanks for noticing. Dger (talk) 18:55, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

@Dger: commons:File:Green-striped Grasshopper.jpg#globalusage shows four other languages with uses. The file name has already been changed to the new name in those wikis but I guess the image should be removed if we don't have an image of Dichromorpha viridis. I sometimes make simple edits with English edit summary in wikis where I don't know the language. I can do it if you agree but are uncomfortable doing it. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:56, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Done. Dger (talk) 10:28, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

Help:Cite errors/Cite error ref no input in Dr. Strangelove

I wish to change the incorrect pronoun "his" to the correct "her" in entry for Stanley Kubrick. My source is me as I wrote the letter being referenced. I cannot figure out how to do this.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by LeGrace Benson (talk • contribs)

 Done Hello @LeGrace Benson: I have moved most of your post out of the header to improve readability, hope you don't mind the formatting. In the article, I removed the broken reference tags and simply changed to "the interpretation" to avoid any future confusion. Thank you for pointing out this error. GermanJoe (talk) 03:40, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

I wonder if the earlier "his" in the same paragraph also needs changing? Maproom (talk) 08:02, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Agree and rephrased this one too, thanks. The grammar of the second phrase was a bit ambiguous (for a German). GermanJoe (talk) 08:50, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Help Adding an Article

Hello. I just joined Wikipedia, although I've used it for years for research.

The reason I joined is to add an article about my wife, Abigail Miller, who is a Christian music singer and songwriter. When I searched Wikipedia for her name there is no direct article about anyone named "Abigail Miller." There is a redirect for that name, however, that takes the user to an article about the 2005 film "Elektra": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektra_(2005_film) Apparently, there was a character in that movie named "Abby Miller." If you word search the Elektra Wiki page there is no reference to the name "Abigail" or "Abby" Miller found in the content.

I would like to create a Wikipedia page for my wife and her music. I'd like to use the URL https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_Miller. Is it possible to remove the redirect for that URL to Elektra and allow me to use it for my wife's page? Thanks for your help.

Paul Miller www.abigailmiller.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ampm12 (talk • contribs) 13:28, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Hello, Paul. You are discouraged from writing an article about your wife, for reasons explained in An article about yourself isn't necessarily a good thing and Conflict of interest; but if you wish to go ahead anyway, please read Your first article, and use the Article wizard to create it in a draft space where you can work on it. When you eventually submit it for review, the reviewer who accepts it will move it to a suitable name, and sort out the redirection and disambiguation. --ColinFine (talk) 15:02, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

copying or transferring images or figures from Excel

I have done a little editing in the past and have recently reviewed the tutorial again. I would like to start an article. I have written it in Word. It includes x,y type curves drawn by Excel. I can copy the words and paste them in a sandbox, but I can't copy the figures and paste them in a sandbox. How do I transfer Excel figures to a sandbox. Thank you.Hikenstuff (talk) 15:53, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

You would need to save the figure from Excel as an image, and upload that to Wikipedia (or to Commons). I hope that you are not falling into the trap of writing an article based on original research? Your subject needs to be one which has already been the subject of significant coverage in multiple published reliable sources independent of the subject, and the article needs to reference those sources. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:01, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

I am assuming that by a "figure" in this context you mean a chart or picture, not a number? - David Biddulph (talk) 16:25, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Thank you. Yes, by "figure" I mean a plot of y vs x created by Excel. How or where do I save the figure as an image? Yes, this article is based on publications in a technical journal and a radar conference. I understand the issue of primary sources. Thanks.Hikenstuff (talk) 16:56, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Select your chart in Excel, copy, go to MS Paint, paste your chart, then save as JPG. - David Biddulph (talk) 20:27, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Thank you, David. Worked well. Now, how do I get it into a sandbox. I tried copying the pic and pasting it into the sandbox. That doesn't work. Second question: There is old stuff on my talk page. How do I delete that; in other words, clear my talk page? Thanks for helping a novice trying to learn.209.33.242.32 (talk) 16:21, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

To editor Hikenstuff: Adding images to Wikipedia is a two-step process: The first step is uploading, and the second step is adding to a page. You can read about that in the introduction to uploading images. (In this case, the image is your own work.)

You can clear your talk page by editing it and removing the old messages (if you have the time, you can also consider archiving). Anon126 (notify me of responses! / talk / contribs) 16:44, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

(edit conflict) You can't paste an image into your sandbox. As I said in my first reply, you need to upload it to Wikipedia (or to Commons). If you don't know how to do that, look at WP:Uploading images. If you don't know how to use the image once it is uploaded, look at WP:Images and you'll find various useful links there. As far as tidying up your user talk page is concerned, look at WP:OWNTALK, whch (inter alia) includes a link to tell you about archiving. --David Biddulph (talk) 16:51, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

St John's Catholic School for the Deaf- amendment to entry

Hi My name is Lisa Robinson and I am the Marketing & Promotions Co-ordinator at St John's School for the Deaf. I have just created an account Boston 1869 to update our wikipedia entry and it gave me an error message saying my edit was potentially unconstructive, it asked me to resave (which I did) and report this error, which I am doing now. My changes were a discrepancy in a date where 1987 was typed instead of 1980, and a comment about fundraising targets not being met, which they were, as the EAR was opened in 2012. I also added "New drama studio" instead of the word building as that is what we call it. Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by Boston1869 (talk • contribs) 16:10, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

The antivandalism software noted that you were a new editor modifying controversial content about a living person. If the date that you changed in the section about the pedophilia is supported by reliably published sources there is not actually any issue. But thank you for following up!-- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 16:28, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

The filter actually appears to have been triggered by removal of a reference about fundraising. If the reference was obsolete (in addition to being dead) then it's OK to remove it. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:45, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Deleted Contributions

Hi

several months ago I submitted edited, notated, autobiographies for publication. They were the result of several months work, with copyright corrections that were made. I have never heard why they were deleted or unacceptable. Would someone work closely with me to get them into acceptable order so they can be published on Wiki?

Thank you

Chris — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wrightachris1 (talk • contribs) 16:38, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

your history [1] doesn't show any creations. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 16:41, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

The closest thing to this I see in your edit history is a few unsuccessful efforts to add an obscure naval chaplain to List of United States Naval Academy alumni and to articles about ships on which he served. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:50, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

That's because they were deleted, Red Pen (see the heading). See Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/Files uploaded by Wrightachris1 for what's happened here. File:Captain USN Chaplain, Carroll Quinn Wright.pdf was uploaded locally then transferred to Commons - I can't see the Commons version as I'm not a Commons admin, but the local version is a 54MB 225-page book purporting to be the autobiography of someone who died in 1924, with various charts and photographs. The comments in the Commons deletion discussion suggest the same there. Chris's comment that "I have never heard why they were deleted or unacceptable" doesn't sit well with his participation and comments at the Commons deletion discussion. Basically, Chris, you seem to be trying to use Wikipedia / Commons to publish your family history research in the form of a pseudo-autobiography but that's not what Wikipedia/Commons are for, particularly when you use uncredited Wikipedia text and images to do so. Bencherlite^Talk 16:49, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

UK English

As UK English is an official language of the European Union and American English is not can you please write all information about European Union members in UK English and not American English! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Endriksohn (talk • contribs) 16:43, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

That is not how we work. WP:TIES. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 16:49, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

(e/c) @Endriksohn: "All information" is rather broad and amorphous but we already have policy addressing the issue. See WP:ENGVAR. To be clear, this would mean that, for example, an article on a British person would normally be written in UK English (though of course quotations would retain the original form), but it does not mean that in an article on some other subject where a British person is mentioned, we would feel the need to switch some word in the same sentence to UK English spelling, if it was otherwise. Was there some specific item that sparked your post and if so, what was it?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:52, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

There is no good reason to only use British English about 27 other countries just because they belong to the same organization as the UK. Articles about the UK should use British English. Not other countries. See MOS:ENGVAR which says: "An article on a topic that has strong ties to a particular English-speaking nation should use the English of that nation". For example, an article about a Bulgarian weightlifter wouldn't have strong ties to the UK. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:03, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Assistance with table formatting

I have attempted to fix the formatting of the table in the following link without success. [2]

But it's still a mess and I'm not sure how to solve it. For the Africa section, the data year content is misaligned and placed under the percentage row. Also the blue colored row beneath each section heading does not fully extend to the last column.

Can anyone help me fix these issues? Thanks.

Eaglewolfspirit (talk) 17:17, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

I'm making changes one at a time with an edit summary. See the article history. I'm doing just a bit and leaving the rest to you. --  Gadget850 ^talk 17:29, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Looks like you got it. --  Gadget850 ^talk 23:28, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Edwin Battistella

The article on Edwin Battistella (Edwin Battistella) contains the notes “This biographical article needs additional citations for verification.” and “This article uses bare URLs for citations, which may be threatened by link rot.” Both from June 2014. It appears that those issues have been corrected (as of September 2014). I wondering if there is a process to review and remove the notes now that the issues have been resolved. Thank you. Maureen Flanagan — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.241.75.111 (talk) 17:32, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

I have changed the urls in your question to wikilinks, as those are the preferred method of linking to a Wikipedia article. If you are happy that the tags are no longer valid, please feel free to remove them, but please use an edit summary to explain why you are doing it. - David Biddulph (talk) 17:37, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Need help editing the title of an article

Hello,

I am a Web Applications Business Analyst at Golden 1 Credit Union. I need assistance editing the title of the article about our company. The title lists us as "The Golden 1 Credit Union" when it should simply read "Golden 1 Credit Union".

From what I've gathered, editing the title isn't as simple as editing the content of the page itself. I have never edited a page before and would very much appreciate any help I can get. The URL for our page is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_1_Credit_Union

Thank you very much in advance! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jdlyons81 (talk • contribs) 17:38, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

@Jdlyons81:  Done Mlpearc (open channel) 18:00, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Watchlist

Is there a way to keep track of changes made by others in a particular page? If I check the Watchlist box when saving a page I have edited, will that allow me to be notified by Wikipedia if subsequent changes are made in that page? If so, how? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Whistler49 (talk • contribs) 19:00, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Changes to that page will now show up on your Special:Watchlist page. You can be notified of changes via your watchlist through other methods as well. Take a look at Help:Watching pages for more info. Scarce2 (talk) 19:06, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

@Whistler49: - (e/c) See WP:WATCHLIST for a very comprehensive guide to the watchlist feature and information about how to receive notifications. If you have further specific questions, please feel free to ask. CaptRik (talk) 19:08, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Suggested updates to Tom Graves

Hi there, about 4 weeks ago I posted a message at Talk:Tom Graves, suggesting some changes to two sections lacking some easily verified relevant information and lacking verification for some existing information. Being a consultant to Rep. Graves, I'm following Jimbo's advisory to not edit directly, and so I've been looking for an unconflicted editor to assist. However, having included a {{request edit}} template, reached out to all four wikiprojects the article falls under, as well as to a couple of editors who'd previously worked on it, I haven't had a single response. Would someone here be willing to review these requests and make these updates if they seem appropriate? Best, WWB Too (Talk · COI) 19:43, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

 Done Apologies for the non-action here, especially as the conflict-of-interest editor has acted correctly, found credible references, and included all the markup. I have implemented the requested changes (with a few extra wikilinks) - anyone well up in US politics please check, but looks OK to me: Noyster (talk), 12:31, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Noyster for making the changes, and no apologies necessary. Also, thanks Orangemike for adding the connected contributor template; I should have done that sooner. Cheers, WWB Too (Talk · COI) 16:08, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Background color on Wiki tables?

Hello, is the background color on tables (like the one below) colored #FAFAFA? I believe that is either it (or close to) the right color.

Created	Disestablished	Puppet State	Flag	Country/territory	Notes
1921-08-14	1944-10-11	Tuvan People's Republic Tuvan: Tьвa Arat Respuвlik Russian: Урянхайский край		Tannu Uriankhai, part of China	Also known as "Tuva," Russia had been sending people (mainly farmers and fishermen) in to Tuva since 1860. In 1921, Russian-backed Bolsheviks stormed Tuva, after recently having declared its independence during the Mongolian Revolution of 1921. It was later annexed into the Tuvan Autonomous Oblast, per request of the "Little Khural," the executive committee of the Great Khural.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Cnd474747 (talk • contribs)

You refer to the wikitable class. Wikipedia:Catalogue of CSS classes says it is defined in http://svn.wikimedia.org/viewvc/mediawiki/trunk/phase3/skins/common/shared.css?view=markup which says "background-color: #f9f9f9;". PrimeHunter (talk) 23:12, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

I think that is out of date. This is now in the mediawiki.skinning.interface; I don't know which repository this is in.

Tables using class wikitable have the background set to white.[3] --  Gadget850 ^talk 23:15, 24 February 2015 (UTC)]

At the time I tried using a tool to identify it (based off of a screenshot), and it would also identify it as #f9f9f9, but when I put what came up as f9f9f9 next to it on MSPaint, I could see the difference between the two colors, however, when I got a chart of colors with their codes next to them, it looked most like that. Thanks for the speedy responses!Cnd474747 (talk) 23:22, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

See User:Gadget850/wikitable. One of these days I need to do a help page for this. --  Gadget850 ^talk 23:26, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

User:Gadget850Thanks for the page, but I'm not too code-savvy. Could you just tell me what the background color was? Because if I read it correctly, I saw it was "white," but I'm almost sure it's a gray-ish color. Also, I just realized that the top says questions like this should be referred to the reference desk--should I re-ask there? Thannk, Cnd474747 (talk) 23:35, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Go figure. It is defined twice: the first time as white and the second time as #f9f9f9; the second overrides the first. I need to find out what that is about. --  Gadget850 ^talk 23:49, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

First is under @media print and applies to print, second is @media screen and applies to display. --  Gadget850 ^talk 15:29, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Image Deletion

Hello!

I'll be frank, when I was much younger I thought it would be fun to create a wikipedia page about myself. I uploaded a photo to that page at some point and then forgot about it for about 8 years. Now whenever my name is googled, that dumb image pops up. I'd like to be able to delete it, is this possible?

Thanks for your help Shaun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SBhow.JPG — Preceding unsigned comment added by SBhow (talk • contribs) 23:36, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Go to edit it by clicking "edit (source)", and paste this at the bottom of the page: {{Db-userreq}} Nevermind Cnd474747 (talk) 23:42, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

@SBhow: I have deleted File:SBhow.JPG on author request. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:45, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

Note that we have no control over what google picks up, and if the image is out on the wild web (given the mass number of Wikipedia scrapers it probably is), it is still likely to be picked up by google's indexing. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 23:47, 24 February 2015 (UTC)