Wikipedia:New contributors' help page/Archive/2008/December

how do I send http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Aftermath_chicago live

I want to include my article on the legendary Chicago thrash band from the 80s on Wikipedia. I wrote the article and now I am confused. The band is not only legendary for its incredible speed, but also for its famous lawsuit against Dr. Dre Aftermath chicago (talk) 23:10, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

In its current form, the article would probably be speedily deleted per WP:CSD#A7. In an event, the band does not appear to be notable per WP:MUSIC. – ukexpat (talk) 02:10, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

The band claims to be signed to Interscope, so it isn't CSD material (at least notability wise). — neuro^{IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!} 15:27, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Finished?

I have a scanned image here of a diagram from a Scientific journal for the Scientific evidence for Creationism article I want to complete. Can I upload it without getting in trouble about copyright material? Refreshments (talk) 16:26, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

I doubt it - it sounds like copyrighted material to me. See Wikipedia:Non-free content#Text 2. – ukexpat (talk) 16:49, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

I thought so., I can't do anything. I'm trying to get images and I'm having to draw everything myself. Surely ther's an easier way than this.! Refreshments (talk) 17:06, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, there is. Get permission from the copyright holder to release it under an appropriate Creative Commons or GNU license. :) — neuro^{IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!} 18:19, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Reliability

Is wikipedia a reliable website?--Accdude92 (talk) 17:52, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

It's as reliable as the sources on which the articles are based. Which is to say, it varies wildly. Before trusting an article on Wikipedia, I recommend checking the sources listed at the bottom. That will give you some indication of reliability. TN‑X-Man 18:13, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

That depends. As for being a reliable source, some would disagree, but no. No encyclopaedia is a reliable source as such, due to the nature of them being an encyclopaedia (that goes for Britannica too!)

As for it being reliable, as long as you aren't looking at something controversial, most of the stuff on here is accurate. — neuro^{IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!} 18:14, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

See also Reliability of Wikipedia. Wikipedia articles are not allowed to use other Wikipedia articles as sources. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:17, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

My userbox

I've just created a userbox.

But... I don't know how to add colour to it! Can someone help me please? Wikiert (talk) 18:32, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

You may want to take a look at WP:Userbox Maker. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:48, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

I've done it. This is what it looks like now:

This user ends up on Wikipedia every time they are on the computer.

Wikiert (talk) 19:38, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

i want to enroll as a civil engineering student

Please fill in the subject box above, then REPLACE ALL OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS with your question, and don't forget to sign by leaving the following four tildes (~'s) in place which automatically formats to your signature once you click "save page" below. 81.199.189.30 (talk) 18:39, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Did you forget to delete all the instructions? Wikiert (talk) 18:42, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over two million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the left hand side of your screen. If that is not fruitful, we have a reference desk, divided into various subjects areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. TN‑X-Man 18:45, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

How do I edit a feature on Diamonds, when it appears to be a protected page?

I spotted an obvious error in this article (Diamonds) and as a first time user, read all the FAQ's etc. but can't see how to edit the article as the Edit this Page, TAB is not preset.

Any help gratefully Rx.

Regards, Goldpan (talk) 05:48, 2 December 2008 (UTC)goldpan

Hey there. Diamond is semi-protected due to long-running vandalism; because your account is brand new, you won't be able to edit any semi-protected articles until you are autoconfirmed. But, you can always go to Talk:Diamond and discuss any changes you wish to make, so that other editors can make them for you until such time as your account is confirmed. Tony Fox (arf!) 06:11, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

You will be autoconfirmed when your account is four days old and when you have made at least 10 edits. – RyanCross (talk) 06:14, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

New Guy

What is the best way I could contribute to Wikipedia? AbsoluteZero459 (talk) 03:34, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Contributing to articles. – RyanCross (talk) 05:17, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:21, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Notability

Hey I am wondering how to make my page qualify as being a notable subject. Do I just need to add more citations?

Overseer1113 (talk) 00:41, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

See WP:N, citations do not by themselves make a subject notable. — neuro^(talk) 16:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Curious about timestamp differences

Hi everybody, just take a look at this edit here and see whether you can see anything funny about the time in the sig and the time at the top. Yes, they are different by one minute. How is this so? Do you think this is a regular occurence? I hope to have any advice about this irregularity 137.154.73.31 (talk) 01:48, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

I once noticed the same in one of my edits.[1] If an edit is very close to the change of minute on the server then signature and edit can apparently list times one minute apart. Your diff is to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=255395350. The preceding edit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=255395349 is registered one minute earlier (same time as the signature on the first edit). I guess the edit time is pulled from the same clock a fraction of a second after the signature time. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:50, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Sometimes there is server lag, too. — neuro^(talk) 16:02, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Joining a portal

A couple of my articles have been added to portals. For instance, my article on the Argentina Wine Route was added to the Portal on Argentina. I have some other articles that should also be included in the Argentina portal, but do they need to be added by a third party? Or is a portal something that I can add an article to on my own?

Heysuk (talk)

Portals are usually maintained by a project group. Check the talk page of a portal to find the project, if it isn't shown on the portal page. You can join a project and get involved in the selection process. By the way, it's not considered good form to call articles "yours"; articles you created have probably been edited by others, and do not belong to anyone. I know you probably aren't asserting you have control over these articles, but others might presume that. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 19:49, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

See also WP:OWN. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 22:07, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Questions about creating a disambiguation page and notes not showing up

I am creating a new wikipage about Musée Mecaniqué (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_M%C3%A9canique_(band) and I want to figure out how to make a disambiguation page. I have created a hatnote, but cannot figure out how to reroute Musée Mecaniqué to a disambiguation page. For the time being I have put (band) in the title help with confusion.

Also, I have seven footnotes in my article and cannot figure out how to get the references to show up in the notes section after I save it. Recordstorejerk (talk) 19:59, 3 December 2008 (UTC)recordstorejerk

To answer your second question, you had a malformed ref tag in your last reference. I have corrected it and the rest of the page should display normally. TN‑X-Man 20:03, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

As for your first question, I think a hatnote should be sufficient. If there are only two items with the same name, I would think a hatnote on both pages should cover it. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 20:06, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

I have deleted some of the external links that were masquerading as references and have done some other clean up. I have also changed the hatnote to {{About}} which I think is preferred to {{Dablink}}. – ukexpat (talk) 21:09, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Creating an article about a scientific society

I am a graduate student that would like to start an article about about a conference I recently attended. There was a group of students that would like to keep in touch about upcoming events and research that many of us are doing. I would like the creation of this article to be collaborative. That way we all can have input and allow us to keep in touch. is this the right place for such a creation? MEEGID Students (talk) 21:16, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Sorry but no. It sounds like you need a networking site, which Wikipedia most definitely is not. Another option may be to do it on one of the many wiki farms or download and install the MediaWiki software on a private server to which you all have access. Take a look at alternative outlets for more suggestions. However, if you are a member of a scientific society that is notable, that society may meet the requirements for an article. See the welcome message I just posted on your talk page for links to relevant policies and guidelines. – ukexpat (talk) 21:33, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

• • • • Question has been removed by poster due to him finding the answer.***

Suspected vandalism...

I found a load of weird symbols on Glow In The Dark Ninja's user page. I don't want to delete it because it might be sonething they've put there, and I have also told this to GlowITDN on their talk page... Wikiert (talk) 20:09, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

The symbols appear to be ASCII art. I wouldn't worry about it, as the user does not appear to have been active since last year. TN‑X-Man 20:17, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, definitely ASCII art, and placed by the user.[2] ASCII art is often made with a fixed width font but this is apparently not, so the result depends on how it's viewed. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:13, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

This time, I REALLY DID find some REAL vandalism. (on the article for the current series of I'm a Celebrity...) It was cleaned up before I had a chance to though because I don't know how to revert. How do I revert? Wikiert (talk) 21:43, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

There are a couple of ways to deal with vandalism. You can manually edit the article to correct the issues. You can also view the page history and click "undo" beside the edit you wish to change. There are also tools like Twinkle and Huggle that automate some of those tasks. TN‑X-Man 21:49, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

ROXANNE (the song by Sting)

How can I add another group to Covers fo this song. There is a great version done by the British Reggae group ASWAD circa: 1997. It needs to be referrenced here. Cavacamite (talk) 19:12, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Aswad (band) already has an article on WP, and appears to be notable, so that takes care of the main concern. The band's name is not in caps, and according to the article, it is Arabic for "black". The article does not mention "Roxanne", and their discography does not link to articles for their 1997 albums (so I presume the articles don't exist), nor any singles, so we should have an external cite for stating which album the song appeared on, or if it was a single. If it was a single, its chart position (if any) should be noted (and that probably should be in the group's article, moreso than in Roxanne (song)). --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 21:14, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

How to

how make gobelin

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 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. TN‑X-Man 20:03, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Pelle Pelle wikipedia

Resolved

 – Article re-created as a valid stub  – ukexpat (talk) 17:43, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Hello,

My entry of Pelle Pelle was previously deleted by NawlinWiki and I wanted to know for what reason. I wrote an objective article in my opinion and if I compare it to Sean John or Rocawear they are similar in tone. Please inform me about this so that I can adapt it.

Irfan121 (talk) 14:06, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

It appears that the article did not indicate why the company was notable. Notability is established through significant coverage in independent, reliable, third-party sources. You may want to ask NawlinWiki on his talk page if he could restore the article to a sandbox where you can work on improving it. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 14:18, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

I am afraid I have nominated this for speedy deletion pursuant to WP:CSD#G11 as it is far too promotional in tone. It has been tagged as under construction since 11/21 with little done since then. – ukexpat (talk) 15:13, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Writing a page for a friend

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 17:41, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Dear Wikipedia,

I would like to write a new Wiki page for an admirable social entrepreneur who has not only an interesting life story, but who has also contributed very substantially to the fight against climate change via his own social entrepreneur projects and businesses. His views and action on climate change via his world-wide energy-saving campaigns, one of which has made it into the Guinness book of world records, i believe would be beneficial for others to learn. The purpose of this article would be to illustrate this man's achievements, commitments, and contributions to combating global warming. This article is not intended to argue points for or against global warming or be opinionated in anyway.

I do not wish to create his wiki page to promote him, his companies or support/argue for his theories or ideas, I simply believe that his achievements and goals are worth bringing to people's attention, much the same as the other 'Social Entrepreneurs' you have listed in Wikipedia, and other social enterprises you have in Wikipedia such as Greenpeace, Bodyshop, etc...

I have read all the help-pages and do's-and-don'ts of Wikipedia and believe I can create such a page that would meet all the criteria of a good, informative, fair, and unbiased page.

Please could you advise as to your thoughts on this subject, as I do not wish to write an article which you feel would not be suitable.

Thank you for your time and help - I shall review your reply via the 'My Talk' section in my user account.

Regards,

P.BlackmanCoolnrg (talk) 00:21, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

See reply on your talk page. – ukexpat (talk) 03:25, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Posting an existing wiki to Wikipedia

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 17:40, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I have a wiki project from one of my classes at Arizona State University that I would like to post to Wikipedia, but I don't know how. Can someone help me? Please let me know on my talk page. Thanks! Sparkygirl1023 (talk) 19:34, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Done SpinningSpark 19:53, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Is there a Wikipedia policy regarding YouTube?

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 17:38, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I won’t be surprised to find that some people have tried to create pages with nothing but YouTube links, and I’m aware that some consider YouTube to be a questionable source, but there are cases where a YouTube link might be a good addition to an article. I don’t see examples, so I’m wondering if the use is discouraged or prohibited.

(I am aware that rights would need to be obtained.) Sphilbrick (talk) 18:31, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

You may want to review WP:YOUTUBE. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:33, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

To sum up the above link, links must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Youtube is tricky because much of the material may be copyrighted or only tangentially related to an article. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:36, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the prompt response. Sorry I missed the relevant reference. I’ll start the fun process of getting the rights (have them verbally, but understand I’ll need them formally) Sphilbrick (talk) 18:57, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

No problem. If you have other questions, feel free to ask. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:59, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Bots

can someone teach me how to make a bot?--Accdude92 (talk) 15:22, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Well, it's not for beginners, I'm afraid. It requires programming knowledge, a thorough knowledge of Wikipedia format and policies, and special authority (permission) to run it. If you have a task that you would like to have done by a bot, you can make a request for an existing bot to do it here: WP:BOTREQ. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 15:53, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

So where can i lean the wikipedia format, and the programming knowledge to make a bot?

Well, to learn policies, you can have a read through them. Most of them are linked somewhere from WP:WELCOME, but some you have to work out as you have to apply them. As for programming knowledge, I learnt it from hands on experience writing programs and scripts, but some people do prefer to learn it from books. — neuro^(talk) 16:00, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

so how long will it take to learn enough to make a bot?--Accdude92 (talk) 16:04, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

It depends on what you want it to do. To make a good bot, I'd say you need at least 3 - 4 years programming experience. — neuro^(talk) 16:39, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

It also depends on how much computer experience you already have, and how enthusiastic you are about learning a new computer language. With enthusiasm you could learn in a short time, even though bots are complex programs, and need to be proven error-free to gain permission to run at WP. But if your only interest in learing programming is to perform one task, you probably won't stick to it, which is why I recommended using the bot request feature. What do you intend to use it for? --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 19:56, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

• About learning the rules: WP:EIW has pretty much everything covered. (It's very long, but well worth reading) - Mgm|^(talk) 10:26, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Pictures on side of article.

Resolved

 – answered on user's talk page – ukexpat (talk) 17:37, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I'm new to wikipedia and trying to write an article on my user page for practice. I need help adding an image on the right side of the article. Also, I'm unable to create a user talk page. Please help.

- Aaronaldo (talk) 01:43, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Answered on user's talk page. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:23, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

How do I Contact Administrator MBK004

Would like to clarify an edit that was offered up and subsequntly reverted by MBK004 - Thanking you in anticipation 39track (talk) 10:39, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Go to User talk:MBK004, that's their talk page. AlexiusHoratius 10:47, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

How do I get the new page to come up on a general search?

Mswriters (talk) 16:37, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I just wrote an article about Mississippi Writers and Musicians (mswriters) and saved it. However, it does not come up on a search. Do I need to do something else? I read about "moving the page" but don't see any place on my saved article to do that. Thank you. Mancy Jacobs

It appears that you have created an article in your userspace instead of the mainspace. In order to get the article to the mainspace, there is a "move" tab at the top of your user page. However, I would not suggest moving the article yet, as it appears to lack reliable sources that indicate why the group is notable. Moving the article now may result in deletion. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 17:01, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Move page to live Wikipedia

I still can't upload my article to wikipedia. The "move" button is not visible. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rivalmaster (talk • contribs) 20:32, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

In order to move article, your account must be autoconfirmed, which simply means it must be active for four days and made at least ten edits. Once you have reached those thresholds, you will be able to move articles. Incidentally, where is the article? TN‑X-Man 20:52, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

It's at User:Rivalmaster. I have cleaned it up a little but as it stands I think it is destined to be speedily deleted per WP:CSD#A7 and WP:CSD#G11 if it is moved as it does not indicate why the company is important or significant and it is very promotional in tone. In addition it is completely unreferenced. I suggest that Rivalmaster reads WP:YFA, WP:CORP, WP:Spam and WP:RS. – ukexpat (talk) 21:03, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

In addition at least parts of it appear to be copyright violations having been copied from http://www.rival-marketing.com/ . – ukexpat (talk) 21:06, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I've speedied it as copyvio based on Ukexpat's notes above, although its tone, from an initial readthrough, also hurt it. I became aware of this when Rivalmaster posted an impossible rename request at CHU. -Jéské Couriano ^{(v^_^v)} 22:03, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Harry Schofield

Draft start page for a new Wikipedia entry on the pilot Harry Schofield. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mrsco (talk • contribs) 10:38, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

(content removed)

I have moved the rest of your post to your user page, User:Mrsco; you may prefer to create a subpage named User:Mrsco/Harry Schofield. I also moved the "under construction" template, but it's not really needed on a user page. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 13:56, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Would the real Jason Adkins please stand up?

The information in the article about the Nintendo games, Fire Emblem I and II, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is false. Specifically, the identification of the actor who played Ike as Jason Adkins, athlete from Virginia. In fact, I, Jason Adkins, am an actor in Seattle who contributed the voice of Ike to the english version of these games. The confusion lies in the fact that we share the same name. I would like to correct this,but I don't know how. I can edit the page, but the link that is connected to the name Jason Adkins on the page goes to a bio page about this athlete. When it should go to a page about me. How do I remedy this confusion? Please help! Thank you.Poweredbylight (talk) 14:11, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

After checking your IMDB entry, I have fixed the information on you in the article, List of characters in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Super Smash Bros. Voice Cast, as well as editing the athlete's entry to remove the video game voice actor description and categories. Those were the only place I found where the confusion was in place. Are there any other places where the confusion exists that I missed? If there are others, can you identify each specific article and provide links? You can link to an article by copying its exact name, including the capitalization, and then surrounding it in brackets. For example, the way I linked to Super Smash Bros. Voice Cast earlier in this paragraph was by typing [[Super Smash Bros. Voice Cast]]. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:34, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Correcting Wrong Info gets reverted by just an IP address

Love Wikipedia except when there is miss info about my non profit organ and I insert founders comments to correct was reverted by someone with just an IP address so misinformation replaces my factual comment as founder.

I have changed again but can anyone just reverse it if they dislike the truth?

I am talking about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberated_Christians

I am the founder, its non profit not a business just sharing ideas. I have inserted founders comments in the text like I did earlier. But in the history it shows the revert back to the incorrect deception information by: 01:03, 28 July 2008 67.235.44.183 (Talk) (1,911 bytes) (Reverted edits by Davephx to last version by 71.169.184.52)

I have now reedited but after reading all the FAQ's and details I am still at a loss on how to avoid someone just to revert by factual comments again. Davephx (talk) 01:05, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

The problem is that you are going about it the wrong way - inserting "comments" into the article the way you have done is not encyclopedic. Because of your conflict of interest, you should raise these issues on the article's talk page rather than inserting them in the article without references – ukexpat (talk) 01:17, 8 December 2008 (UTC) – ukexpat (talk) 01:17, 8 December 2008 (UTC).

Whoops, edited article belonging to project

I am a frequent user of Wikipedia and an occasional, tentative editor. When I run across a page that is unclear, has typos, or is grammatically incorrect, I generally do my best to fix it. (I did read the style guide first.) Today I did some edits to the article Karen Blixen. Afterward I realized that I probably shouldn't have touched it because it belongs to an active project. Was this, in fact, an error? and if so, what should I do about it now? Also, I'm not sure I applied the refimprove template correctly. I would have loved to fix the problem of the missing citations but that's beyond me at this point. Sylvia A (talk) 07:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

No one owns articles, and if by belonging to a project, you mean the WikiProject tags on the talk page, ignore them. They're just there so that members of that project can find articles in their bailiwick to help improve. There are many policies and guidelines as well as tacit consensus involved, but I assure you that what you are worried about is exactly the opposite of the community's standpoint: Be bold in editing! You did great and exactly what you should be doing. If you ever need help in adding citations, just drop by my talk page. On that subject, please see WP:CITE and {{Refref}}.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:23, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I agree with User:Fuhghettaboutit. The edit you did was a good one. If, however, in the future you do make a mistake when you do edit something, you can revert the changes. The edit you made should definitely NOT be reverted. - Akamad (talk) 02:09, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

summary submission

How do you go about adding a submission that discusses my hometown?216.153.228.77 (talk) 15:35, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Fuhghettaboutit (talk • contribs)

Just checking: do you mean your hometown doesn't have an article already but you'd like to create one? If so, then just follow the instructions above. Note however that towns are almost always deemed notable so there would probably be no questioning of its notability. On the other hand, if you just want to add to an existing article on your hometown, just go right ahead and edit it. Also, it is usually felt that editing an article about one's hometown does not constitute a conflict of interest.--A bit iffy (talk) 06:54, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

shakespeare

I cannot print pages 4-7 in your article on William Shakespeare Why? Frank Streek 216.145.100.18 (talk) 16:02, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Did you click "Printable version" in the toolbox to the left? Which program are you printing with? What happens when you try to print? Can you print other articles? PrimeHunter (talk) 16:50, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

• I recently had a similar issue with page 2 of the printable version of the article on Sponges. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:00, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Links

How do I add an organization to the links at the bottom of a reference pae?PreserveOurGas (talk) 19:00, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Cautiously. If you're here to promote some particular organization, it's likely that links to it will be removed. Friday (talk) 19:04, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

(e/c)Please read WP:Spam and WP:EL - note that you should not be using Wikpedia to push a point of view or for soapboxing. I know we are supposed to assume good faith but your user name sets the spidey-sense tingling. – ukexpat (talk) 19:05, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Note that the "gas" that PreserveOurGas wishes to preserve appears to be the Great American Songbook. Gandalf61 (talk) 13:01, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Contibuting a new biography

I want to contribute a living person's biography. Do I write the article first and upload it, or is there a template that I fill in the blanks?Terri Fernandez (talk) 18:45, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately, there is no "fill-in-the-blanks" template. However, you can look at other articles for examples on how to construct a good article. I would strongly suggest you read this guide on notability and this guide to your first article before getting started. Another good idea may be to start writing the article on your user page before putting the article into the mainspace. If you have questions, feel free to ask. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:52, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

And if the person does not meet WP's notability criteria, there are other options such as Wikipopuli and Wikibios. – ukexpat (talk) 19:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Adding an Article

Hi There,

I would like to submit a new article. I have signed in with a password. I would like to advertise our company's services and capabilities. I don't have any references that I would like to include. We have several business segments that I would like to include in the company overview. Please advise how this process is done. I am having extreme difficulty. I would like to advertise like Fedex. How easy is this process?

Many thanks for your quick reply, Erika Singh —Preceding unsigned comment added by Esingh1 (talk • contribs) 20:06, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately, Wikipedia does not host advertising. Articles must be written from a neutral point of view and cannot promote any service or company. If you're still interested in contributing other content, see this guide to writing articles. Please note that articles must have reliable sources. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 20:28, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

(e/c)Please read WP:Spam - WP is not an advertising service and promotional articles will be speedily deleted.  – ukexpat (talk) 20:30, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

I have a factoid to add to the Gordon Lightfoot page but it is possibly not verifiable

I was reading the paage on Gordon Lightfoot and have my own personal anecdote that other readers may or may not find interesting. I don't know if it is verifiable in any other published source but it may be controversial in some circles and it is nevertheless true. Is there some way I can float it and perhaps another readser will corroborate it or be aware of a published source.Mullery (talk) 23:40, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

You could add it to the article and tag it with {{fact}}, but that would probably just get people to ask why you bothered adding it in the first place. Perhaps mentioning it on the talk page or at an appropriate WikiProject and asking if anyone has a source would work. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 05:30, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Deleting Articles

Hello, Is it possible to delete an article that was added be myself, and if it is how can i do this?Aimonai (talk) 10:49, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

You cannot delete an article, as that action is restricted to admins. However, you can place {{db-g7}} at the top of the page and an admin will be along to delete it after a while. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 12:45, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

But only on the assumption that the OP is the sole or only major contributor to the article, which seems to be the case here: Altsoft. – ukexpat (talk) 14:32, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

cud i make maoney also by posting articles like it happens with any google account

Im Nandakishore I want to post articles about TR Mahalingham and would wikipedia have a commercial site where my articles and host of other knowledge bank base be taken for international publication and also I get paid of this services. Sd/---- Nandakishore$5\%$ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kishi007 (talk • contribs) 09:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

No. — Manticore 10:04, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

• If you want to be paid for your writing, you'd be better of writing for trade magazines or Google Knol. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:16, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

How do I handle these cite requests?

I was working on the article 613 mitzvot and came across the following paragraph.

Sefer Hamitzvot ("Book of Commandments") by Maimonides, with a critical commentary by Nachmanides.^{[citation needed]} Maimonides employs a set of fourteen rules (shorashim) which determine inclusion into the list. In this work, he supports his specification of each Mitzvah through quotations from the midrash halakha and the Gemara. Nachmanides makes a number of critical points and replaces some items of the list with others.^{[citation needed]}

I imagine that the second cite could be satified by by finding a source that says that N. did that (although looking at the book and seeing any replacement would probably be sufficient), but what does the editor want with the first cite? Phil_burnstein (talk) 16:15, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

The only thing I can think of is a request to prove Nachmanides actually did write a commentary. I'm not sure why the editor requested it, though. You may want to initiate a discussion on the article's talk page. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 16:32, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Redirect to Disambiguation page

What are the conventions for changing a Redirect page into a Disambiguation page? (Specifically, Randian redirects to Ayn Rand, but should instead offer the choice of Prince Randian as well. Bold is nice, correct is better: What is the proper procedure? Thanks. OldZeb (talk) 04:47, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Changes like this are made all the time, and the change you want to make does not appear to be controversial. Go for it! There is a {{Disambig}} template that should be put on all disambiguation pages, to make them easier to find, by listing them in a category page. More info about writing disambig pages can be found at WP:D. You probably don't need to read most of it, but you may want to skim it for applicable information if you're not sure about anything. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 06:20, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks -- I'll just replace the contents of the existing redirect page. Shrubbery! OldZeb (talk) 07:11, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Article James John Morrish deleted

I created an article about James John Morrish due to the journal that was published in scientific papers, which I referenced. The entire Article is planned as a biography. However It was speedy deleted. I have been trying to contact the admin who did it, but I am yet to find out how that is possible. I have seen articles with far less information in them and yet published here. Could someone please explain why my article was deleted even though a valid reference was provided and information was legit? Thank you DLogical (talk) 13:52, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

The article was deleted twice, the second time by User:Herbythyme, as it did not indicate the importance or significance of the subject. If you want to re-create the article, I suggest you do so in a user subpage, such as User:DLogical/James John Morrish, so you can work on it without fear that it will be speedied. Also, please read WP:YFA, WP:BIO and WP:RS. – ukexpat (talk) 15:53, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

According to the deletion logs, an article with that title was deleted twice today, once by Herbythyme and once by NawlinWiki. I have linked their names to their talk pages, and you can post a question on their pages to request more information or a restoration of the article to your personal user page or sub-page if you feel it can be improved to become acceptable at Wikipedia. These are the admins who actually deleted the articles, but the names of the users who made the speedy delete requests can be found in the messages left on your talk page. All four users gave this reason for deletion: "A7 (bio): No indication that the article may meet guidelines for inclusion". What this means is it matched reason number A7 of Wikipedia's Criteria for Deletion, which you can see by clicking the "A7" link. When you get a message like that, it is recommended you click both links and review the rules about what is required of biographical articles. If you are prepared to work on this article further, you should write it in your private user space, and ask for others to review it before trying to make it a "live" article again. This will help increase the chances of getting the article accepted next time. Best of luck! --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 15:59, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Help with creating article within gudelines. Saved page only to see how it looked.

I'm trying to create this article correctly. Do I have to place a <ref></ref> after every named source? Also, the music group I'm writing about, was one of the founding bands of a music scene in Los Angeles, and one of the early bands in its genre to be on a well known record label.

I don't want my article deleted again... it's costing me time and money.

Sftinafish (talk) 21:33, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

I added a references section with the {{reflist}} template.  – ukexpat (talk) 21:57, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Changing an article's name

I recently created a Wikipedia article, but one of the words in the article name was not capitalized (Millennia Media). Can this be changed? If so, how? Tks. Audio77 (talk) 02:58, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

There's a tab at the top of the article (next to edit this page, history, etc) that says "move" that allows you to rename articles. If your user account is very new it may not be available yet though, this is an inconvenience but it does stop quite a bit of page move vandalism. I've fixed the page in question, let me know if you need any other articles moved before the move button shows up for you. --fvw* 03:06, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

How can I upload an image?

I've created a Wikipedia entry and want to upload an image for use on this page. But when I try to upload an image, it says I don't have permission.

I've been signed up for more than 4 days, and I have more than 10 edits. What must I do to get upload permission? Tks.

Audio77 (talk) 02:21, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Your post to this page shows up on your contributions list as your 8th edit. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 15:45, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Image does not display

I uploaded a map view name High Rockies SRTM30.jpg. In the discussion section of the article on Beartooth Mountains, I attempted to reference this image. But all that appears there is an empty box with the caption. What do I need to do to display an image there? Is there a waiting period before the picture can be visible? I looked in the FAQ, but wasn't able to find the answer. I did see that someone else had the same or a similar problem, but it was fixed without an explanation of what the fix was. I suppose I'm missing something simple, but I don't know what it is. I can look at the map in the Commons, so I know it's out there somewhere. Please help, and thank you for your time. Kestrelpattern (talk) 02:21, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Your "gallery" tag was not closed. I took it out and made it a plain image, with double square brackets. Unfortunately the picture is still not showing because the file does not exist. I can't see any file you uploaded in your user contributions list, and your user talk page has not been created, which should have happened if the image was deleted (i.e. someone should have used your talk page to notify you). Sorry, I don't know where to go from here. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 15:53, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Oh, sorry, you said you uploaded it to commons, which is not actually Wikipedia, so it won't be on your contributions list. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 16:02, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

I fixed the image link. You neglected to capitalize "JPG," as it is in the file name. Deor (talk) 17:05, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

First Proper Contribution

Hi, in the sandbox I made in my userspace [3] I've drafted some improvements to the CCSM article. As my first contribution to Wikipedia that isn't reverting vandalism or correcting minor mistakes, could someone have a look over it first to check I'm doing things correctly? Orbital Delegate (talk) 10:22, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Looks very good. I made some extremely minor formatting changes which you can see the reason for from the edit summaries I used. It's a great improvement over the existing article content and you should make the changes to the existing article immediately and without hesitation. It's not a bad idea to write content in a sandbox when your basically entirely reworking a piece, but note that you don't need to worry about messing up with good faith contributions and you have the mandate of the community to be bold in updating pages!--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:43, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

One more thing. In the interests of thoroughly transparent references, you should probably add to all of the cite web templates the date you accessed the external sites to add the material. Just add to each the parameter |accessdate=December (??), 2008.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:49, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Ok, thanks for the help. Orbital Delegate (talk) 09:54, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

typo in entry title

NEVER MIND. I just read the "move" instructions above and fixed what I had to fix. Thanks.

Hello Wikipedia. I created a small page for the Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards. I kept trying to add a link to a related page, then realized it wasn't working because I accidentally added a comma to the end of "Awards." I know how to edit a page, but not the title of a page. Can you help? Thx. Pumpkin888 (talk) 18:01, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

See the section immediately above this one: same solution. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 21:25, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

created two pages accidentally

Resolved

 – Page and redirect now deleted.  – ukexpat (talk) 22:23, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

I am afraid I have created 2 pages for the same topic. i tried marking one for deletion but I put the wrong reason on it. The two are Harbec Plastics (keep) and Harbec plastics (delete) The former is under review as it was previously deleted and was just revised. Kateetak (talk) 18:24, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

I have changed Harbec plastics to point to HARBEC Plastics. This was done by creating a redirect. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:31, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Note that that article appears to be a blatant copyvio of http://www.harbec.com/about_harbec.html and other pages on that site and is tagged for WP:CSD#G12 deletion. – ukexpat (talk) 18:45, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Page and redirect now deleted.  – ukexpat (talk) 22:23, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Gary Budinger - schoolboy / Youth footballer

Gary played for Portsmouth as a schoolboy player and was then a non-contract player during the 1976/77 season. After moving to Watford FC and playing in the youth team at the back end of the season he returned to Tooting & Mitcham FC for one season, making two first team apperances - before giving up the game. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gary budinger (talk • contribs) 21:21, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Can I put up an article on what my company does?

I am working with a government link company in Malaysia and our mission is to help the MSC Malaysia status companies to achieve global standards through IT certifications. Is it possible if we/I write an article on the programmes that we conduct, what are the benefits from groing through the international recognised certifications and the incentive that the companies will recieve if they emabrk in taking up the certifications. 202.187.64.2 (talk) 09:35, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

It is not advisable. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not an advertising site. See the reply I posted to the question immediately above this one. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 12:28, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

There is no absolute prohibition against creating an article about your company, but it is strongly discouraged. You may want to consider creating the article first in a user subpage where you can work on it without it being deleted, and then ask for review as to its suitability to be moved to the mainspace. Please read: WP:YFA, WP:CORP, WP:RS, WP:Spam. – ukexpat (talk) 15:00, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Tables and organization

I wanted to fix up the AOY article, but coming up with a way to organize the doctrinal section is mind-boggling. I have put the section on my user page. I was thinking I could organize it in to a table maybe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:In_Citer/Page_4 . Suggestions? In Citer (talk) 18:18, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

two people with same name

I am creating an entry for my father. He shares a name with someone already on Wikipedia. The title to the existing page is the same name but without the middle initial. Is there anyway to make the page have the same title so that anyone searching for him can choose between the existing page and his own page? Does that make sense? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aadepa (talk • contribs) 19:54, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, see WP:Disambiguation. In brief you would use something like Dad's Name (XXXXX) as the title, where XXXXX is some disambiguation term, such as politican, writer, footballer, etc. Also, note that because of your conflict of interest, your article will receive heavy scrutiny, so you may want to consider creating your article in a user subpage first. Let me know if you need help with that. Please read WP:YFA, WP:BIO and WP:RS. – ukexpat (talk) 20:09, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Feature Films for Families

Hi, I have been working on the feature films for families page and i cannot figure how to write it so that it is not ad like. 68.60.238.246 (talk) 03:19, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Take a look at this page. It has tips on how to maintain a neutral point of view. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 14:39, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Take a look at WP:Spam - that explains what spam is on Wikipedia so may help you edit it out of that article. – ukexpat (talk) 14:39, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia rules?

Hello. I am a new user to Wikipedia. Do I have to learn any rules on Wikipedia before I start editing? Alatteofwikia (talk) 14:18, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

There are some rules, but get ready for some reading. The core principles of Wikipedia are outlined in this guide. If you want to create an article, I strongly suggest you read your first article. Finally, if you have any specific questions, you can ask here or on my talk page. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 14:25, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

• Those are the basic rules to adhere to. It would be impossible to learn them all before you start editing. I read most of the policies when I started, but that was 4 years ago. A lot has changed. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:17, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Help

How do you get the album covers for the Peter Frampton albums. Most of his albums are missing album covers. How do i get them, i've tried but i'm not successful? --QotSA (talk) 13:10, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

First you need to save an image to your computer that you want to upload (generally, click on an image on the internet, and choose "save image as"). In the toolbox on the lower left hand side of every Wikipedia page is a link entitled "Upload file". Click on that, then click on the link for "The cover of an album or single" (direct link). Follow the instructions from there. If you need more help with that process, please ask again.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:33, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Need to understand the wikipedia as I am new to it.

"Need to understand the wikipedia as I am new to it", the heading suggests very clearly that I need directions on how to use the wikipedia as on opening I found very lengthy statements and labels saying "Resolved". A doubt arrose in my mind on how to begin, my friends said! You get all information in the Wikipedia and that I can store the located information in my page. I found no ways that were clear to indicate where my page or pages are? Can some one help me to get started on the Wiki. This message is also written on an accidently located page which I may not find upon re-looking. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dynamark (talk • contribs) 18:40, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

I posted a welcome message on your talk page. It has links to plenty of places on Wikipedia to get you started. – ukexpat (talk) 20:19, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Click on the little word "contribs" beside your name at the end of your post above, and you will see every edit you've ever made! There is also a tab called "my contributions" at the top of the screen, which does the same thing. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 22:34, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

the Spores

<lots of text removed by User:ConMan>

Hi there. Please read Wikipedia:Your first article to learn how to properly create an article (hint: this isn't the right place). It's worth taking a look at a few other policies and guidelines, like Wikipedia:Conflict of interest and Wikipedia:Notability, too. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 22:23, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Can someone please do me a favour?

Please cut and paste this message onto NawlinWiki's talk page. It is protected and he obviously has not noticed the edit on that subpage. Thanks 115.128.20.21 (talk) 06:05, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Done. (Rather than cut and paste, I put a link to it on his talk page.) --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 10:12, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

For other new users, the original poster asked how NawlinWiki made large amounts of edits. Large numbers of edits can be made using scripts. There are several popular ones, including Twinkle, Huggle, and AutoWikiBrowser. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 14:19, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Not Advertising

How can I rewrite the Feature Films For Families page to n=make it less advertisement like? rebecca (talk) 19:06, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

There are several things that can be done to avoid an advertising tone. First, remove any peacock terms and weasel words. Secondly, take a look at this guide. Finally, back up any claims with reliable sources. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 19:32, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

And see the same question above. – ukexpat (talk) 19:51, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

editing new articles based on old articles

I have noticed that some wiki articles concerning the same subject, are more or less complete in relation to which language is used to write them. I think that it may be useful to translate a very complete article written in French in a new article written in English.

This is the case of one specific wiki article about the subject "Curis au Mont d'Or". The articles ,concerning this subject, written in Italian and in French, are very complete; on the contrary the English version of this same article consists of a text of three lines. I'd like to know if a contributor can contribute to this website's development also by editing new articles translated by wiki articles written in other languages. Whether this kind of contribution was accepted, I would be willing to finish many articles.

Violet.82 (talk) 11:01, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Not only is it acceptable but we have a project devoted to this task. A useful template you should be aware of is {{Translation/Ref}}. The template takes parameters which are not intuitive. When you would use it, the code would be {{Translation/Ref|language code|source title|oldid=number}}, which for translation from the French version of fr:Curis au Mont d'Or, would be {{Translation/Ref|fr|Curis au Mont d'Or|oldid=number}}. The "oldid" provides a link to the version of the article you used for the translation. If it is the current version of the page, you would get the number by going to the French version, choosing "Adresse de cette version" from the toolbox links on the left hand side of the page (on this Wikipedia it's marked "Permanent link") and copying the number appearing at the end of the URL. If it is an earlier version, you go to the history (fr: "Cronologia"), click on the date of the version and copy the numbers at the end of that URL.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:08, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Articles based of research results

Hi, I would like to start a series of articles on aerodynamics. More specifically I would like to discuss airfoil families and their performance. The airfoil coordinates can be found for free in the web (e.g. http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/m-selig/ads/coord_database.html#A) and the aerodynamic research will be based on the open source software XFOIL (http://web.mit.edu/drela/Public/web/xfoil/). The questions is, whether this kind of topic is considered an encyclopaedia topic. I can say for sure that it is a high level topic which provides lots of specific and high level information to the reader but is it within the scope of Wikipedia?

Thanx for your answers. georgepehli (talk) 16:34, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

There is already an article on airfoils, which can be found here. If you would like to contribute, look over the article and see if there are any improvements which can be made. If any of the changes you would like to make could be considered controversial, you may want to discuss them on the article's talk page. Also, be sure to read Wikipedia's guides on original research and synthesis. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 16:43, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

External Link to Flickr Page

Is it okay to include a link to a Flickr photostream in the External Links of an article, if appropriate? Sallymags (talk) 18:49, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

According to the external link guide, it's not really encouraged. Is it prohibited? No. But due to the fact that the photos haven't been reviewed and their content could change without warning, it's not the best choice. I think the most important thing is to evaluate external links on a case-by-case basis. Discuss with other editors on the article's talk page and see what others think. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 19:45, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

please help

hello wikipedians!as you know i am new at this so it would really help me if you answered some of my questions.to start of how would you get a picture on a page you are creating if you dont have a license?Paperlilies101 (talk) 00:32, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

If it's a picture you found on the internet and you don't know the license, you'll have to assume it's fully copyrighted and leave it out the article. There are, however limited circumstances where you could use the image under a claim of fair use. It is a bit complicated to add all the right templates, but have a look at Wikipedia:Non-free content which explains when you do this. Wikipedia:Upload should walk you through the process but make sure you fill in as much of the information it asks for as possible. Tra (Talk) 01:00, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

how to contribute new article

[ filler text removed ] Milescarapetis (talk) 11:37, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Please see Your first article.

1. Ensure that you have an account and you are logged in. If you don't have an account, create one
2. Make sure the subject is notable enough to have their own article
3. Find references
4. Make sure no article on the subject exists under a different title by typing the subject into the search box to the left (←) and clicking 'Search'
5. Type the page name in the search box to the left (←) and click 'Go'
6. Click 'Create this page'
7. Create the article, including all your references, making sure you adhere to the Manual of Style and our article layout guidelines
8. Be aware that Wikipedia deletes thousands of new articles for failing to adhere to our policies and guidelines. New articles by new users are at extra risk of deletion, due to new users' unfamiliarity with our rules. Consider gaining experience by editing existing articles before attempting to create new ones. Chamal ^talk 11:38, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Rules for writing about a book

What are the rules for expanding an article on a nonfiction book? The book currently has a page that is a very quick desciption, shorter than what would be on the jacket. I was planning on expanding it to what would be considered for plot summary of a movie. It is a criticism of a modern American political figure. I have read the help page on biographies of living persons. Is it incorrect to expand an article on a book by using the book as the main source, with smaller sources to back it up?

24.47.253.179 (talk) 16:39, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

There are, of course, no rules at all. Only what fits and is appropriate per writing style and taste, as informed by guideline and policy. If you take a look at other books that are featured articles, for example Starship Troopers, The Well of Loneliness and The General in His Labyrinth, they all have informative plot summary sections. Studying those gives you the answer to your main question. The second part, that this might violate BLP given that the subject matter is a living person and the book is nonfiction, is a good concern but I don't think it should be an issue so long as it's clear that when you are stating the facts, negative or controversial, the facts are offered not for their truth about the subject but for their appearance and assertion in the book.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 17:37, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Books/Non-fiction article. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:59, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Wrong topic redirected

Hello, I have a problem with trying to create a new page for a topic. The longsnout butteflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) is a differnt species to its counterpart the yellow longnosebutterfly fish, yet when i click on the forcipiger flavissimus, it redirects me to the yellow longnose butterfly fish. How do i create a page for the forcipiger flavissimus and not be redirected to the yellow longnose butterfly fish. Thanks, i hope you can help me Loh33 (talk) 01:20, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

I am not saying you are wrong (and have no expertise in the area, whereas you may be an ichthyologist for all I know), but a Google search appears to indicate that the Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish is Forcipiger flavissimus, while the longsnout butterflyfish is Prognathodes aculeatus. In any event, if it is indeed wrong, and you were keeping the article at the Latin name, you would move the article on Forcipiger flavissimus to the correct name for the yellow longnosebutterfly fish, thus freeing up the existing Latin name (by moving it, the old name would automatically become a redirect to the new name you moved it to). You would then edit the redirect page into an article about the longsnout butterflyfish. However, in some cases the articles should be at the common names rather than the Latin names. You need to decide what title the article should be at by having a look at Wikipedia:WikiProject Fishes#Article titles. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 08:22, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

One more thing. You can only move an article once your account is autoconfirmed, meaning four days old and having at least ten edits. Until you reach that threshold, you can request uncontroversial moves at Wikipedia:Requested moves#Uncontroversial proposals.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 08:28, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

How does wikapedia work

gp How does wikapedia work. Goncalo1998 (talk) 18:17, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Hello. Please see Wikipedia:Introduction, Wikipedia:Basic navigation, Wikipedia:How to edit a page and consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 18:25, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Family member's article?

I've been looking everywhere, but I can't figure this out, so maybe someone here can help me. There's an article on here for my uncle. It was created a bit ago and it needs a lot of work. I'd like to clean it up, find more sources and add to it, because it's a way to help Wikipedia and because it's really important to me and to my family that his article looks nice. It's not about me, so it doesn't qualify for any of those regulations. I would follow the protocol for autobiographical articles (let other people do it, discuss any changes you make on the talk page, etc) except that there aren't other people working on this. Is this worth pursuing? If so, how can I do it so that the article is a positive part of wikipedia, my uncle's memory and my edit history, and not a bit of uncited, POV drivel? Thanks. AnEmptyCageGirl (talk) 23:23, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Hi AnEmptyCageGirl. I assume by what you have said you've already found and read WP:COI and Wikipedia:Suggestions for COI compliance. What I suggest is that you identify changes that you think should be made on the article's talk page, as you already intimate you know about doing, and if no one notices that talk page material, then drop a note here or probably better yet, at the help desk (much higher traffic). However, the important part (as you also seem to already know), is that all your suggested changes should be cited to reliable sources, at best, using inline citations. If you need any help referencing, or otherwise, feel free to drop by my talk page and I'll be glad to lend a hand.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 06:59, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Changing the Title of an Article

I have not been able to figure out how to change (slightly) the wording in the title of an article. The article is entitled "Party of Animals" (it's a novel by Harold Brodkey), but it should be "A Party of Animals." I fixed a lot of factual errors in the article (all properly documented), but the careless title citation remains.

Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks.

64.252.124.201 (talk) 04:53, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

To move pages, you have to be a logged-in user with at least half a week and ten days of experience. Since you seem to not have that, I have moved it for you. Thank you for your help, and best regards. NuclearWarfare ^{contact me}_{My work} 05:18, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Anonymous users

In English Wikipedia, but perhaps there're some other wikipedia too, that is only log in users are able to create articles. This's hard, please change it. I would like that anonymous users can also able to create new articles in English Wiki. 69.234.186.84 (talk) 20:24, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

This has been discussed several times and there is consensus on the English Wikipedia to only allow article creation for registered users. In the past anonymous users could create articles and it caused problems. It's simple to create an account, you don't have to give any personal details or an email address (unless you want to use email features), and there are other benefits than being able to create articles. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:50, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Or, you can check out the Articles for Creation process. It allows anonymous editors to request articles. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 18:19, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Userpage

I created a page about myself, but every time I search for the page in Wikipedia I have to use the "user:(followed by my username)" instead of just my username by itself. Can I change this? How can I created a page where someone can find me just by typing in my username by itself without the whole "user:(username)" thing? BattleSoul (talk) 05:51, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

You can become notable, and have someone write a verifiable and well-referenced article about you in the main article space. Presumably, they will use your real name rather than your username. (In other words: user pages go in user space, actual articles which satisfy the inclusion criteria for articles go in the main space, and never the twain shall meet even for Jimmy Wales.) Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 11:00, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

There are other places to post your bio: Wikipopuli and Wikibios, for example. – ukexpat (talk) 17:39, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Uploading pictures

How can you upload a picture for "Today's Picture"?Haileygirl26 (talk) 19:59, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

In order to upload pictures, your account must be autoconfirmed, which means that it has been active for four days and made at least ten edits. Once you've reached those levels, you can upload pictures. For featured pictures, check out this page. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 20:01, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

And for how to upload, see WP:UPI. – ukexpat (talk) 20:20, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

genetic engineering

Please fill in the subject box above, then REPLACE ALL OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS with your question, and don't forget to sign by leaving the following four tildes (~'s) in place which automatically formats to your signature once you click "save page" below. Vishu 57 (talk) 10:56, 29 December 2008 (UTC) about history prespective of genetic engineering?

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what the Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. But note that they will not do your homework for you! I hope this helps.  – ukexpat (talk) 17:44, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Also, take a look at Genetic engineering. TN‑X-Man 18:24, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Change Title

My co-worker and I recently created a new page on Wikipedia. We put the title, "User:Writicus" by error. How do we fix it so that the title reads, "Online Stores Incorporated?"

Kayla Anderson 19:14, 30 December 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Classykitty (talk • contribs)

There are a few parts to this answer. Firstly, in order to move pages (i.e. from what your article is currently named to what you would like it to be), your account must be autoconfirmed. In other words, your account must be active for four days and made at least ten edits. Secondly, I would highly recommend your read Wikipedia's guide on conflict of interest, advertising, and notability. To sum them up, editors should not use Wikipedia to promote companies or advertise. However, we would be glad to help you improve your article, so if there's anything we can do, ask away. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 19:22, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Capitalizing an already existing page

The Wikipedia page "Amanda Stern" currently has a lower-case "s" at the beginning of "Stern." How can I change this? --Mhd234 (talk) 02:51, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Move it :) You need to be autoconfirmed to do so, so I've done it for you I was going to do it for you, but someone beat me to it :P Wizard of Yendor (talk) 02:53, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

You can move a page by clicking the 'move' tab at the top of the page, type the new name in the second textbox, and submit the form. Thingg^⊕⊗ 02:55, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Only autoconfirmed users have the move tab so I moved it (just before Wizard of Yendor who was faster to reply here). PrimeHunter (talk) 02:59, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Please review for NPOV

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 21:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Can someone please review the article draft I've created on my user subpage User:Fccc wiki/practice and provide some feedback on the talk page? More specifically, I want to ensure that my article displays NPOV.

Also, is it recommended to use only one reference per fact or should I be putting all possible references down? For example, the fact that we were the recipients of a $50 million commitment to California Community College students was covered by numerous news outlets from local newspapers to national and internet coverage. Do I need to cite all of them or will a sampling suffice?

I understand that Wikipedia discourages people/organizations/companies writing about themselves, so if you'd like to write the article instead, I'd be glad to help. I've just started working on some basic stuff on my user page.

Thanks for your help in advance. Fccc wiki (talk) 22:57, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

At the present time your user ID is "Fccc wiki" which suggests you are connected with the foundation that is the subject of the article. I see this is already being addressed on your talk page, and I presume you are going to change your name but haven't done so. There may also be a problem with the word "wiki" in your name, which could suggest you have some official connection with the Wikipedia foundation. Wikipedia discourages individuals and organizations from writing about themselves, but would allow you to request that someone else write an article, and to discuss the article on its talk page. For more information about this, see WP:COI. However I will comment further on the article (as requested) on your talk page. --A Knight Who Says Ni (talk) 03:18, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks Knight. I've implemented your suggestions and will wait 24 hours before moving into Wikipedia as a stub. If anyone else would like to comment or give feedback, please do so within 24 hours. BTW, my new username is User:CommunityCollegeSupporter and the page is now at User:CommunityCollegeSupporter/practice. Thanks! CommunityCollegeSupporter (talk) 22:32, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Tremere article rewrite

Stale

 – ukexpat (talk) 21:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I started to reorganize an article on Arnold Tremere who was the director of the Canadian International Grains Institute from 1989 - 2002. The article was pulled but I was able to get it back. I remain unclear about how much detail to provide about the kind of events that occurred during his period at CIGI as part of an explanation of what he did and why his contributions were notable in the Canadian grain industry at that time. My article is in the sandbox User:Amazona01. I am hoping that a pair of experienced eyes might be willing to have a quick peek at it before I finish it up and try to repost it.

Thanks for any and all tips. Best wishes, Amazona01 Amazona01 (talk) 19:28, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

my organization All Burma Federation of Student Unions (Foreign Affairs committee)

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 21:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I would like to make the wikipedia page for this organization. I have already posted in brief introduction, but the wikipedia page says this page will soon be deleted because of the some of Wikipedia's guidelines for page creation. How can I make to conform to the guidelines? I would like to get your help. I don't understand when i read about the guide lines on this wikipedia page. I would like to get your help.

Best, Ye —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yekyawaung2006 (talk • contribs) 12:57, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Your article ABFSU (FAC) needs a lot of work before it is suitable for Wikipedia. First thing to do is to add "{{hangon}}" just before the "Mission Statement" heading, and put a note on the article's talk page Talk:ABFSU (FAC) explaining that you are in the middle of changing the article. Then read Wikipedia:Your first article, especially the bit about references and sources - one of the problems with your article is that it has no sources. Take a look at some similar articles, such as those in Category:Students' unions, to see how they are written. Then think about how you can re-write your article so that it is more informative and less promtional in style. Make sure you do not copy text directly from a web page or some other source, which would be a copyright violation. And, if you have a personal connection with this organisation, check our conflict of interest guideline too. Happy editing ! Gandalf61 (talk) 13:48, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

ABFSU (FAC) has been deleted as being too promotional. I suspect that there would be notability issues too. All Burma Federation of Student Unions is apparently notable enough for its own article, but I doubt that the Foreign Affairs committee thereof would be notable. So for the moment I would add a section for the FAC to the main article, bearing in mind that it should maintain a neutral point of view and be properly referenced. – ukexpat (talk) 17:44, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Did some work on DYK article

Stale

 – ukexpat (talk) 21:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I did some work on one of today's DYK article Tropical ulcer and wanted to know if someone would help me edit it into better "shape," wikify it a bit, etc. Thanks in advance! kilbad (talk) 21:35, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

how do I recommend merging one article into another?

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 21:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

How do I recommend merging one article into another? Is there a standard convention? In the particular case I'm looking at, one article would essentially become a subsection of an existing article. I think I've seen such recommendations before, but I don't remember whether it was visible on the main page, or just on the talk page. Thanks!

Zacronos (talk) 22:05, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

See Help:Merging and moving pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:51, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Ah, thanks much! Zacronos (talk) 02:11, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

User Page Deleted

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 21:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I quess I made a mistake. I wanted to create a page about the Seattle Journal of Social Justice a law review at Seattle University School of Law. There is already a Seattle University Law School entry and entries for other Law Journals. I thought the correct way to do this was to create and edit the page on my user page, and then move it to the title when it was complete. This morning the page was removed. I had entered and formatted a lot of text. How should I have done this, and is there any way to get the information back, or must I rekey it? SJSJR2D2 (talk) 18:48, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Please see your user talk page; I'll provide a detailed message there. Tony Fox (arf!) 19:14, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

How long to take effect?

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 21:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I thought edits were immediate ... but I made a couple of edits to the Colorado Portal and they haven't appeared. Do they have to be approved or something? Thx.

BTW, the edits were the link to Previous Featured Pictures, which links to South Carolina, and the Collaborators, to add myself and to change the link which also links to South Carolina.

Notcesia (talk) 20:55, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

I can see the changes that you've made. You may have to purge the cache to see the changes. The quickest way is press Ctrl+Shift+R. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 21:01, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks!! Notcesia (talk) 21:09, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Just a quick question about images

Resolved

 – ukexpat (talk) 21:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Does my documentation of File:Mazeppa.png (Thank you!) appear to be appropriate? I want to add images to the other Transcendental Etudes as well, but won't go ahead until I'm sure that I'm doing it right! Thanks! :) Wizard of Yendor (talk) 22:56, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Write [[:File:Mazeppa.png]] to get File:Mazeppa.png. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:00, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Could anyone please answer my original question? Wizard of Yendor (talk) 02:39, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

There may be editors with more expertise at Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:57, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that a photo or diagram of music notes is not copyrightable, even if the score is copyrighted, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Either way, in this case, the composer (and presumably copyright holder of his work if he even bothered to copyright it) has been dead for more than 100 years, putting his work in the public domain. I'd say your documentation is more than adequate, but again, I'm not 100% sure. Thingg^⊕⊗ 03:00, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Okay. If I'm doing it wrong, I'm sure someone would have pointed it out sooner or later, but I just wanted to check. Thank you! :) Wizard of Yendor (talk) 03:13, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

SIMON EVANS (WAR POET)

I have recently submitted a detailed article on SIMON EVANS (1895-1940), a published author. The cross-reference from the CLEOBURY MORTIMER entry produces the heading SIMON EVANS (WAR POET). He wasn't a war poet, although he did fight in WWI and did write a little poetry. He was basically a working postman, who wrote and spoke on the radio about life in a small country town. Could you change the heading to something more appropriate, please? M24M24M (talk) 12:38, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Hi M24M24M. I'm guessing what happened is that you followed the red link in Cleobury Mortimer and created the page there - because the link was set to point to Simon Evans (war poet) that's the name your article was saved under. To change the name of a page you can click the 'move' tab at the top and enter a new name; I've moved it to Simon Evans (writer) but if you think that's still inappropriate feel free to change it. Thanks for writing the article, and welcome to Wikipedia! Olaf Davis (talk) 13:32, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Oh, to move pages yourself you need to be autoconfirmed, which will happen automatically when your account has been active for four days. Olaf Davis (talk) 13:41, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Major Editing Protocol -- help for photos, uploading

I have nearly completed an extensive (offline) re-write an a below-standard entry I found (in the Dogs section). Before setting out on my task, I posted an outline of my concerns with the article in talk. They've been up for about 10 days now.

I`ve have spent literal days trying to navigate the help and instructions, but am getting confused in the Wikipedia help pages. I must ask for guidance:

1. Major Change: I have a major re-write ready to post. I don't want to gain enemies by making my changes without notice. What should I do to meet wiki rules/policies/guidelines.
2. Pictures: The help that I've read so far about pictures has been confusing and lengthy. I have identified public domain photos I would like to include in the re-write. Is there a brief explanation somewhere of what steps to follow to get them into wiki. The existing help files I've seen are so lengthy I cannot follow what they're saying.

Please reply to my usertalk. Many thanks. Woodrowpongo (talk) 15:08, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Replying on talk page. – ukexpat (talk) 16:23, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I just created a article and it was flagged but i don't know why or how to improve the article can smeone help?

I just created a article and it was flagged but i don't know why or how to improve the article can smeone help?

It looks like the article you created, Simplekidscrafts, was flagged for deletion. The best way to improve your article is to add independent, reliable sources that show why this web content is notable. If you have other questions, feel free to ask. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 15:58, 31 December 2008 (UTC)