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Edits that are more than minor

I am wondering what to do when I find an article that simply needs to be rewritten because it was poorly crafted. Should I go ahead and make the edits, or is there some protocol to follow so as not to offend the original contributor?

Thanks

Wordcraft (talk) 03:09, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps I should add that I am potentially rewriting one paragraph of a two paragraph article on a subject with which I am very familiar. thanks

Wordcraft (talk) 03:20, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Wordcraft! Welcome to Wikipedia :-) As we like to say here, "BE BOLD" -- go ahead and make the edits. It can also be a good idea to leave a note on the article's talk page for the other editors working there. Make sure you've got good references for any facts that you add, and you should be just fine. Good luck! Siko (talk) 03:30, 10 December 2012 (UTC)
And please fill in the edit summary field for each edit you make. Providing a brief explanation of what you're doing, and why, is helpful to anyone else who's watching that page. Rivertorch (talk) 06:01, 10 December 2012 (UTC)
See WP:BOLD and WP:OWNER. ⁓ Hello71 03:36, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

review my article before I go live

Re: User:Shomburg/sandbox (Sean C, American DJ)

Can you review my article and give me an opinion on whether it will be accepted? Shomburg (talk) 19:21, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Welcome to the teahouse!

I just ran through your article and I'll have to say that it needs alot of improvement. First of all, it needs more sections and content (giving a lead and discography is not enough). Add sections like Personal Life, Career, Early Life etc. Why don't you see other articles on music producers for a general idea how to go about it? That will help. Secondly, you've not cited the article properly. Many of the refs are simply urls, which are seriously not good for an article. Use the CITE WEB template from the CITE tab in the editing page and fill out the necessary details. Thirdly, the article needs clean up. Some of the words are entirely capitalised and some are not. So overall the article needs a lot of improvement but I'm sure if you rectify them you'll succeed in making it an amazing article. Hope you succeed. WonderBoy1998 (talk) 07:21, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

screwed up map on Estes Kefauver article

I was going to correct the 1952 primary results on the Estes Kefauver article (He won 14, not 12 different preference primaries in 1952. And Yes, I have many references for this). However, there's a map graphic on the page showing that he won 12. This graphic has other problems, like not listing the DC primary, and saying Harriman won West Virginia(!). It also claims to be a list of all the primaries that year, but leaves out at least 2 states that held delegate primaries. Here's the big problem: I only know the identity of 13 of the Preference primaries Kefauver won in 1952, so I can't provide an accurate map. Finding this out isn't as simple as it seems; primaries were poorly covered and somewhat arbitrary in that era, and the state sites don't usually list records that far back. So what about the map? It's blatantly wrong, so do we just do without until I get the Identity of the 14th preference primary? It seems silly to leave an inaccurate map up there.Ezra c v mildew desire Jr (talk) 03:51, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Question moved to top. Go Phightins! 02:16, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Side note to the question asked, but it's fascinating how screwed up this fact is across multiple really reliable sources. Some say 12 of 14 entered; others 12 of 15 entered (NYT article, 1972); 13 of 15 entered (1956 NYT article), some say 14 of 15 entered (the NYT, contradictorily again: "won all but one of the fifteen primaries he entered in 1952") and some say 14 of 16 entered, and I barely began to look.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:06, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Editing filmography section

I tried to edit the filmography section of Dominic Chianese to mimic the same for John Goodman. I seem to have botched something, as the filmography now shows below the external links, and the formatting is not quite right (year column is very wide, title is very narrow).

While I would be happy for someone to just fix it, I'd prefer to know where I went wrong.

Henroids (talk) 19:44, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Henroids, welcome to the Teahouse. You were so close to having this correct. All you had missed was to close the table by having the code |} after the last line, so instead the table was including all the text after it as well and as some of this was templates it distorted the width. As a rule when editing articles if there is a { to start some process then somewhere there needs to be a } to close it. NtheP (talk) 20:03, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Uploading of an Image File

Pretty new here I am - am setting up a page for a local primary school. I want to upload a logo to the box on the right. I imagine I have to first save the image to Wikipedia somewhere and then point to it. Can someone help? FroggyPFroggyPeterson (talk) 12:53, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello FroggyPeterson, Welcome to Teahouse. You can upload images through Wikipedia:File Upload Wizard. Make sure you choose the appropriate non-free use rationale under the copyright information. --Anbu121 (talk me) 13:21, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks I will give it a try. FroggyFroggyPeterson (talk) 13:29, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Understanding reliable sources

Let me know if there is a better place on Wikipedia to ask this question- It has to do with this article I am working on/trying to create: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/826Chi The first reviewer of the article left a nice comment with very helpful feedback about why the article was declined which I tried to fix, but the second submission for creation received the same reason for being declined. Is there any obvious unreliable sources I am using? If an article for submission is declined twice is it best forgotten or is it typical to keep editing/submitting until approved? I apologize if the reason is obvious, I am very new and still trying to figure it all out. Thank you! Hcallas (talk) 07:00, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Hcallas. I have to say, having looked at the current version of the article, that I don't understand why it was declined a second time - the sources, whilst far from perfect, are sufficient for a basic article. I'm not going to overturn another editor's decision unilaterally, but I will discuss the reviewer's reasoning with him, and ask him to explain why he thinks the sources are inadequate, since he hasn't left a comment at the AFC page. I'll get back to you on your user talkpage. Yunshui 雲‍水 09:02, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
Thank you for all your help! Hcallas (talk) 02:04, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

How do you make an article suggestion to an author?

How do you make an article suggestion to an author?Loverofmyoho (talk) 04:25, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello Loverofmyoho, and welcome to the Teahouse. If you are just looking to make a general suggestion for someone to create a new article about a specific topic, you can make suggestions at Wikipedia:Requested articles, just click the topic that the article fits under, and add the suggestion to that topic. You can also create new articles yourself, though it is recommended you read through something like Wikipedia:Your first article first. Does that help answer your question? --Jayron32 05:23, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
Welcome to Wikipedia and the Teahouse, Loverofmyoho. You can suggest a topic to a particular editor by leaving it on the editor's talk page. As Jron noted, a more general place is the requested articles page. Another good spot to suggest an article is on the talk page of a WikiProject related to the topic. You don't have much of an edit history but one of your posts indicates you might want to check out WikiProject Alternative Medicine. Hope this helps, DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·cont) Join WER 05:31, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
One thing to note about Requested Articles is that most articles requested there never get created. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 10:48, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
Hi Loverofmyoho. I suspect that you are asking about changing an existing article rather than creating a new one. You can reach the authors of article on the article's talk page. (If the title of the article is TITLE, then the talk page is called Talk:TITLE.) Or if you have reliable source for the change you want to make, you can just change it yourself. —teb728 t c 05:47, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

I deleted vandalism on an article?

Hi, I'm JHUbal27 and I found vandalism on Template:Cite pmid/12135908. This template was a reference for Giant panda, number 74 I believe. I deleted the vandalism, but should I have reported it? I provided a link to the history page here.[1] Can someone please help me? Thank y

No need to report vandalism to anyone. It's a common enough event. However, you should let the user know on their talk page with {{Uw-vandalism1}} (use the curly brackets). If you see the same editor doing that again in the same month, use Template:Uw-vandalism2, and keep going upwards. öBrambleberry_ meow _ watch me in action 22:42, 12 December 2012 (UTC) edited to use {{tl}} ⁓ Hello71 03:29, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
You can see Help:Reverting for an easier method to remove vandalism in this and many other cases: Revert to a pre-vandalism page version. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:05, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
If you are looking for an easier way for undoing vandalism, try WP:Twinkle and if you want to learn more about it and want help from more experienced users, try WP:CVUA §haun 9∞76 ༆ 00:08, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks! This coding is so complicated! JHUbal27 talk

Who to ask to create a widget

Hi, I often find myself looking at a table in Wikipedia (or elsewhere) and thinking to myself: "I'd like to download that data into Excel and rearrange it or merge it with data from elsewhere." But if I just copy the table and paste it, I usually get a long string of information. Instead of tabs between fields and a carriage return at the end of the line, there are just spaces between each of the entries. Using tools like BBedit, Tex-Edit Plus, Word, and lots of perseverance, I can usually recreate the table in a form that I can upload to Excel from this data stream, but it is often a difficult process (especially if the cells of the table have textual data with spaces).

So I would really like someone to create a widget that would make this task easy. What I envision: at the top of each table in Wikipedia there would be an icon. If you clicked on the icon, it would automatically download the table in .csv (comma-separated values) format which could then be easily imported into Excel or another spreadsheet program. I assume it would be relatively easy to create such a widget since tables have a regular and simple markup language (though text that extends over two or more cells might be a bit tricky). There are already widgets for converting spreadsheets into Wiki's markup language, but as far as I can tell, no way to go the other direction.

I was going to suggest this idea of writing a widget and making it available at the top of every Wikipedia table to someone at Wikipedia, but I don't know who or how to do this. Any suggestions who I should write to? Randy Schutt (talk) 13:55, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Randy. It's not so much who to ask as where - the Village Pump's technical board is the best place to post requests like this. It's frequented by Wikipedia's finest technical gurus, more than one of whom would surely jump at the chance to implement what is, I have to say, a jolly good idea. Some of them pop by the Teahouse from time to time (I'm sure I've seen Writ Keeper skulking around here more than once...), but the Pump is the place where your suggestion will get most exposure to the appropriate folk. Yunshui 雲‍水 14:42, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Tools#Export: Conversion to other formats mentions a command line tool called wiki2csv. I haven't tried it. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:46, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks. I'll visit the Village Pump's technical board. I looked at the command line tool wiki2csv. This requires using Python and other tools which are beyond me (and way beyond most users). So I still think creating a simple widget would be best. Thanks again for steering me in the right direction. Randy Schutt (talk) 15:00, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
Just FYI: I've made a script for this at User:Writ Keeper/Scripts/tableConverter.js; comments are welcome at the thread at the village pump. Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 17:07, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
Merely speak his name, and he appears like some sort of coding genie to answer your wishes... Yunshui 雲‍水 09:11, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Citing a Pamphlet

Hello

I am writing an article and I am trying to cite a pamphlet where I got some my info and was wondering how to do? I can't seem to find anyway to do it. Any help on this would be very much appreciated. Anonymouswhovian (talk) 03:02, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Hey and welcome to Wikipedia. What kind of pamphlet is this you're talking about? Who published it? Go Phightins! 03:03, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

It was made by the Scott County Public Library and is being used to help with their article I am creating for them. Anonymouswhovian (talk) 03:06, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

See WP:CITE for the main citation methods and see WP:CITEX for examples.
 — Berean Hunter (talk) 03:13, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
(partial copy of my response below) You can also use ProveIt which is easily enabled under Preferences ==> Gadgets (Editing section). I believe that should help you and it is very easy to use.
 — Berean Hunter (talk) 03:29, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
Also, here's an essay that has useful information about sourcing articles: Wikipedia:Verification methods. Northamerica1000(talk) 01:29, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

City montage infobox

'm new to Wikipedia and I was just wondering if you could inform me how to make an info-box montage for a city? Is there any particular photo editing program required? 124.177.186.253 (talk) 11:34, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

I believe a montage picture can be created even by using MS Paint (Open a picture, zoom out, expand the boundaries and add the other images). Any photo editing program would also do. Did you faced any particular problem in creating one? --Anbu121 (talk me) 14:05, 11 December 2012 (UTC)
Hi, there is a bigger limitation for you as IP accounts cannot upload images to Wikipedia. You must have registered an account before this right is granted. NtheP (talk) 14:53, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Why doesn't my article appear in google search

I'm wondering why my article doesnt appear when I google search the name. Is there anyway to make it available in the search engine? Does anyone know why? Shomburg (talk) 23:33, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Shomburg. Welcome. If your article is very new the search engine web crawlers may not have had time to find it yet.--Charles (talk) 23:38, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Which page and exact Google search are you referring to? If you mean Sean C and a search on "Sean C" with quotation marks and nothing else in the search then it currently appears for me on page 18 of Google's search results. The article is currently an orphan. If you add links from other articles and give it time then it may move up in Google, but search engine optimization should not be a goal when editing Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:02, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

I have inadvertently caused "Review waiting" to appear three times for the same article.

Hi sorry for causing the work but in editing and revisting/editing the same article here Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/'The Pitch': Loaded TV show I have ended up with the "review waiting" notification coming up three times.

Only the third and last one down on the page is applicable as it contains the latest edits.

Would it please be possible to rid the system of the earlier two as they are just clogging up the queue?

Thank you very much your editorial assistance really is most appreciated.Old Bedan (talk) 19:45, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Old Bedan, thanks for stopping by the Teahouse. Done as you wanted. If something similar happens in future you can just remove them yourself by editing the article and removing the submisison template text. NtheP (talk) 20:47, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

How does one (or does one?) tag a dead-link to a Wikimedia Commons template-tag-link-thingy? For example →

Wikimedia Commons has media related to House of Helfenstein.

{{Commons category|Dukes of Helfenstein|House of Helfenstein[dead link‍]}} results as →

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Category:Dukes of Helfenstein|House of Helfenstein[dead link‍]]].

-Found on page: House of Helfenstein
...or, is there some way fix this problem? ~Thanks, E:74.60.29.141 (talk) 19:06, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
P.s.: note that it does not show as a "red-link" ~E:modified:74.60.29.141 (talk) 19:36, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi E. Dead link tagging is for references and external links. Dead Wikimedia sister links should be fixed or removed but not tagged. The software only knows whether pages on the same wiki (the English Wikipedia) exists. Links to other wikis cannot be red. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:32, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Hmmm... did you cause the following to magically appear - I found this: m:Category:Counts_of_Helfenstein - should that replace the other? Redirect? (what's the difference between a count and a duke?)  Replaced link ~E:74.60.29.141 (talk) 20:09, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
The link is commons:Category:Counts of Helfenstein. m: is meta, a common discussion and coordination wiki for Wikimedia projects. commons: is a common media repository. I know there is a lot to keep track off. {{Commons category}} automatically inserts the right prefix so your link in House of Helfenstein#External links works. Thanks for fixing it. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:47, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Are there any tricks or central locations where one can find the protection of a specific book or magazine? Watchwolf49z (talk) 16:33, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello Watchwolf49z: It depends a bit on where the book or magazine was published. Nearly all reliably published books and magazines have copyright information printed in them, usually within the front cover or first few pages, at the very least they should have a date and location of publication listed, which can be used to determine what copyright protections exist based on the jurisdiction and date of publication. If you have specific questions about a specific work that you are planning to use at Wikipedia, let me suggest Wikipedia:Media copyright questions which is a noticeboard at Wikipedia that specializes in answering questions about copyright. Does that help any? --Jayron32 17:55, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Great, I read through those pages and they were helpful. Luckily, the main one I was concerned about is posted to the internet as "Public Domain". Thanx again Watchwolf49z (talk) 21:56, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

deleting files

I have uploaded two files that I now wish to delete. How do I do that? Reculet (talk) 12:10, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Reculet, welcome to the Teahouse. In the case of the graphs that you've created yourself, you can tag them with {{db-g7}} (just paste that code to the top of the File page) and they'll be taken care of. For files where the original work is not your own I have to admit I'm uncertain as to whether we have a process for deleting them at your behest; if they are freely available under an appropriate licence then I'm not sure that we do. I will look into the matter and get back to you ASAP. May I ask which files you want deleted? Yunshui 雲‍水 13:23, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Actually, that may not be a problem - the only file you've uploaded which was not self-created was File:LHCb RICH Btoππ.jpg, which is actually up for deletion anyway (there's no evidence that the author has given permission for its use under an appropriate licence). So simply tag the pages you want removed with {{db-g7}} and a passing admin should delete them shortly. Yunshui 雲‍水 13:26, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks Yunshui, that answers my question. But for the file that was not self-created my question is now different - I have discovered that the file is published, in the source I quoted, under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-3.0) license. I believe this means that I can use it in Wikipedia provided I cite the source, but how do I update that information for the uploaded file? I realise that I can start again and upload a new version, this time choosing the correct copyright options, but if there is a quicker way, modifying the existing file's definition, that would be preferable. 91.125.13.96 (talk) 22:05, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Hi, you can simply edit the Licencing section of the image page and change the licence to {{Cc-by-3.0}} and add the parameter Attribution details to show how the authors wish it to be attributed so it would end up looking like {{Cc-by-3.0|Attributed to X, Y & Z}}. NtheP (talk) 22:37, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Notability and Conflict of Interest

Hi, I recently drafted an article on ERG, a part of the UK Cabinet Office, in my userspace - and then requested to be confirmed, in order to add photos of the relevant people and publish it. The editor who handled my request said that he had some doubts over notability and COI. I wanted to ask your advice on what I should do to make sure it was an appropriate article, and how best to approach any COI problems? I think that on a notability point, there's good grounds for it to be a valid page, as there are pages for many other parts of Cabinet Office (such as the Office of Government Commerce and the Government Procurement Service) - and ERG is large part of the department (a parent organisation to GPS). What do you think - and what do you recommend I do? Thanks very much for your help! CabOffice01 (talk) 17:29, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Without having checked first, I would be inclined to agree with you that ERG is notable. But it does seem that you work for the Cabinet Office, which would be a violation of WP:COI if you write about aspects of the Cabinet Office in namespace. Not to worry! You can still be of great help in the development of such an article, and editors here do have community incentive to create new content. I would advise helping us by using your talk page to outline reliable sources talking about ERG and why it's important. Almost certainly this would have been discussed upon its creation. Thank you so much for engaging the community for help - not all folks who have been associated with the topic they wish to appear here have been as engaged in the process we use. Shall I watch your talk page for sources? ClaudeReigns (talk) 18:13, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for your advice, ClaudeReigns! On the Wikipedia COI page it does mention that "editors with COIs who wish to edit responsibly are strongly encouraged to follow Wikipedia policies and best practices scrupulously...and to request the views of other editors". Does this mean it might still be possible to share the article I've drafted, but request editors' views, to cut my existing article down to shape and make sure it is entirely neutral? Very keen to keep engaging and make sure I go about things the right way! Is it possible to supply the core material in my article (to be used as other editors deem best), or is it best only to provide sources and comments? Thanks again! CabOffice01 (talk) 14:55, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Right. I overreached with respect to WP:COI, probably based on how it works out in practice. Sorry. What I'm seeing at the draft of ERG is an article based primarily on self-published sources. What we're looking for is an article based primarily on secondary sources. It looks pretty in userspace, but then once it gets into circulation, editors may want to tag it for cleanup. Like this. Or this. Or this. If notability is not proven through reliable secondary sources, it could even meet this. What you need is much more of [this]. The Guardian is an award-winning secondary news source which publishes corrections and has served as a reliable source for even controversial articles. Its article clearly defines and rather peacocks your group; the article also gives your director tons of face time. Y u no use secondary source? :) ClaudeReigns (talk) 16:06, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, that's really helpful advice! For some reason thought it would be better to use primary sources as they were more direct - but can definitely see it makes a lot more sense to use secondary ones! I'll edit the citations and strip out the primary sources, and try and make it as neutral as possible. What would be the best thing to do after that - submit it through AFC and leave it to other editors to clean it up further as they think best? Thanks, you've been great. I use secondary source now! CabOffice01 (talk) 16:40, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Just a note, Caboffice, on primary sources. Using primary sources is not verboten at Wikipedia. They have their importance, but the main bulk of an article should be based on secondary sources. Certain basic, uncontroversial or banal information, like basic information about the office, where it is located, who heads it up, when it was founded, etc. could be cited to the office's own publications, so long as such information is not under contention from secondary sources. However, the bulk of interesting information (for lack of a better word) should come from sources unconnected to the department so as to ensure that Wikipedia information is neutrally presented, based on the dispassionate reporting of secondary sources which don't, themselves, have a vested interest in the office. Does that make sense? Primary sources aren't evil or to be avoided at all costs, but it is their judicious use which is important. You may want to read this guidance which describes how such sources are used at Wikipedia properly. --Jayron32 18:01, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Great points to keep in mind. The recipe calls for some tasty primary. Once you get it to where secondary sources outweigh primary and you've put Jayron32's excellent advice to work, yes, use the AFC process, and yes, do engage other editors. You may also choose to ask those editors if it's suitable for exposure on our front page and drop me a line if you're interested in pursuing that process. ClaudeReigns (talk) 18:56, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Feedback on a draft article

Re: User:IRScholar/Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies

Hello. I am drafting a new article that I would like some feedback on. What are the next steps? I'm still very new at this! Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions... IRScholar IRScholar (talk) 23:16, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

I would suggest WP:AFC where experienced users can review, give tips and help you through the creation process. If the article is in your sandbox you'll need to do some copy/pasting but if you need help, just ask here or on my talk page. §haun 9∞76 ༆ 23:25, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
I would agree that AFC is the right way to go; I believe you just hit the "submit" button in the "user sandbox" template at the top of your article to submit it for review. To clarify, don't copy-paste articles to move them; once the article is submitted the "Submit" box will have a little link for you to move the draft to the correct title for the reviewers, so just follow that link. Generally speaking, don't ever copy-paste entire articles on Wikipedia, as there are move functions to do that, and copy-pasting obscures the entire history of the article since it makes it look like a "fresh start". That is, let's say there's an article "John Foofleson" that's been steadily improved over four years by various editors, and I conclude that the title should include his middle initial since he's usually referred to with it. If I copy the whole article and paste it at a new page "John Q. Foofleson", now the whole article just has "MV created this article on 12 December", as though I created it out of nothing. So now nobody can see how the article developed over time, who worked on it, etc. But if instead I just hit the "Move" button (in the drop-down menu just to the left of your Search box at top of page), then I can move the article to the new title, and its whole page history and Talk page move with it. Not to fill you with detail, I just get nervous when someone mentions "copy-paste", because that shouldn't be done with whole articles.
In any case, I left you some comments and suggested changes at the article. That said, the overarching issue you need to address is that the article currently reads like an "About Us" page for the Institute, vice an actual examination of it. It's just mission statement, founding date, and a lot of what, frankly, comes across as name-dropping of people who've spoken at their lectures. There are a few footnotes, but almost all WP:Primary sources, not third-party independent perspective on the Institute. Also, the footnote about Bunche's career shouldn't be there; footnotes specific to Bunche, and not involving the Institute at all, should be in Bunche's own article. If folks want to see proof of Bunche's career they can click on the link to read his page. Every footnote should specifically mention the Institute and its work somehow; having footnotes that don't involve the subject comes across as "fluffing" up the footnote count to no real utility.
What you want to find is mention of the Institute in academic journals or news articles. Ideally not just passing mention ("there was a lecture at RBINS last Wednesday"), but more things like, say, the NYT commenting on the impact the Institute has had in its first few years, controversies, commendations from prominent people, assessments of its role in developing issues, etc. Does that give a starting idea? MatthewVanitas (talk) 15:11, 13 December 2012 (UTC)


Thanks so much for the feedback! It is *very* helpful. I will make some changes, tidy things up a little more and look to get more critique and feedback at WP:AFC. Thanks again! IRScholar
Yes this was a great explanation and cleared a lot up. Thanks! (That1user (talk) 00:00, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Why is it not showing that I am logged in?

Moved from other topics.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:56, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

I have an account and i am logged in and my user id is DNSD3 i not sure why it is not showing?

Susan 11:30, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

apologies responded to wrong discussion

Susan 11:31, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Ihave an account and I am logged in now

Susan 11:34, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi, Susan, and welcome to the Teahouse. I took the liberty of moving your three responses to their own section so they would not confuse people. According to the history, you were signed in as DNSD3 all three times. Could you be more specific as to what your problem was? I'm not sure why your username didn't appear in your signature, unless you did not use the four tildes. Type the following: "~~~~" to make your signature appear. More information can be found here.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:54, 12 December 2012 (UTC)


Hi Susan, A couple of things that could make your signature appear that way would be:
  • On Special:Preferences in the Signature section (of the User profile tab) you may have entered "Susan" in the textbox and checked "Treat the above as wiki markup". Those features are for special rendering of your signature. If that is what happened, I would recomend clearing both the textbox and the checkbox at least until you learn how signatures work.
  • Or you may have signed as "Susan ~~~~~" (with 5 tildes); 5 tildes is rendered as a date only with no signature. If that is what happened, be sure to sign with 4 tildes.
—teb728 t c 21:47, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
For reference of other helpers, links to your account include User:DNSD3 talk contributions —teb728 t c 23:55, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

hi i have edited a page and i had no problem, but i want to add a new page. how do i do it?

hi i have edited a page and i had no problem, but i want to add a new page. how do i do it? Movasatp1 (talk) 04:06, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Movasatp1, and welcome to the Teahouse! Please read Wikipedia:Your first article; it's a good overview of the process of creating an article. Come back to the Teahouse if you have any problems. Happy writing —teb728 t c 04:17, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Janie Johnson notability

Hi, I have also address this on the Talk page of the Janie Johnson article, but the notability tag from July 2009 seems like it should be dealt with sooner rather than later. I completed a full review of the page for the December blitz and even though it now has inline citations and has been copyedited, it would be great to take it that one step further and address the notability issue. A Janie Johnson series article also exists, so a merger (something I have no experience with as of yet) may be appropriate? Any help would be greatly appreciated.Soulparadox (talk) 03:07, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Wikilinks--major or minor edit?

Hello fellow tea drinkers, a small question. If I convert a term in an article to a wikilink, would that be considered a major or minor edit? On one hand it doesn't change the prose, on the other it might change or at least explain the semantics of the term. I have the same question regarding adding a category. Thanks! Mark viking (talk) 23:54, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello there and thanks for your question. Regarding the wililink (wl), it's been my practice to consider it a minor edit only if I just put tags around a particular word(s). If I have to add a pipe for clarification, or if I add multiple wls at one time, I don't consider that to be a minor edit. --Rosiestep (talk) 23:58, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
...and regarding adding categories, that is not a minor edit. Thanks again for your questions! --Rosiestep (talk) 00:00, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
That makes sense. Thanks for your insight into current practice, Rosiestep! Mark viking (talk) 00:25, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

To add photo in article

How to add photo in my article?Kumar Abhishek (talk) 22:25, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Hey Kumar, Welcome to The Teahouse. There is a template you use it is


[[Imagename (bob.png)|Amount of pixels ("100px" for 100 pixels)]]
§haun 9∞76 ༆ 23:15, 15 December 2012 (UTC)


Thanks for the info. I appreciate thisKumar Abhishek (talk) 23:17, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Proper etiquette for archived Teahouse questions

I asked a question earlier on Teahouse, but received an unhelpful reponse. I re-asked the question, but the initial question has been archived. Does this mean it's not an active topic anymore? Where else can i go to discuss/ask for help? Should i repost it here? See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive_60#Primary_Sources_.26_Mugshot_on_convicted_criminal_page Thanks - BeadleB (talk) 20:39, 15 December 2012 (UTC)


I think WP:Reference Desk Might be helpful in this situation. §haun 9∞76 ༆ 03:10, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Meaning of TOP

I don't understand the meaning of 'top' in my list of contributions. I'm new. I've updated some pages but only for some of them i've found 'top' in brackets. Could you tell me the meaning of top.? Thanks Dishv80 (talk) 19:23, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Dishv80. Welcome. It means nobody else has edited that page since you did.--Charles (talk) 19:42, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Thanks a lot Chares. Much appreciated! Dishv80 (talk) 19:52, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

is my article in?

Hi, I hope I have done the right things to submit my article on "American Mental Health Foundation."

There are four sections including references. I hit the "save" button for each but have not received any feedback--and the article is not "up.

Any help appreciated.

MentalhealthwriterMentalhealthwriter (talk) 14:26, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello, Welcome to Teahouse. The article has not been submitted for review yet. I just now fixed a syntax error in the submission template in your article. Please have a look at the instructions in the template box at the top of the page to submit it for review. --Anbu121 (talk me) 15:05, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
Thank you very much for your assistance. The article now is being considered--the yellow box at the bottom is present.

best,

mentalhealthwriterMentalhealthwriter (talk) 15:14, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Yasser akkaoui article

How do I change the caps lock of the title? Need the title to be Yasser Akkaoui instead of Yasser akkaoui Mayasioufi (talk) 12:38, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Mayasioufi, welcome to the Teahouse, what you need to use is the Move function which you'll find on a dropdown menu at the top of the editing screen. But your account isn't old enough (you have to have had an account for 4 dayas and made 10 edits) for you to use this. Another editor has moved the article for you to Yasser Akkaoui. NtheP (talk) 15:29, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Where is it?

I can't find the page I started, where is it? Its The Neo Naturists

Cheers Sylvia C Tring (talk) 11:46, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello Sylvia, Welcome to Teahouse. The article you are looking for is at User:Sylvia C Tring/The Neo Naturists. You can see all the edits that you have made by clicking 'Contributions' at the top right corner of the page. Currently the article is in your user space. For the article to be reviewed, you need to move it to Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/The Neo Naturists. The instructions for the same can be found at the last line of the review template located at the bottom of that page. --Anbu121 (talk me) 11:58, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

creating an information box on the right hand side of an article

Hello, I need to create an info box on the right hand side of the article I'm editing, it looks like the one in this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson_String_Quartet

How do I do this?

ThanksPacificaquartet (talk) 22:22, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Pacificaquartet, welcome to the teahouse! The easiest way to do this is to edit the Emerson article, copy the infobox from the top of that article, paste it into your article, and then change the details as necessary.
So what you would copy and paste basically looks like this:

{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians --> | name = Emerson String Quartet | image = | caption = | image_size = | background = classical_ensemble | alias = The Emerson Quartet | origin = [[New York]], [[United States]] | instrument = 2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello | genre = [[Classical music|Classical]] | occupation = [[String quartet]] | years_active = 1976–present | label = [[Deutsche Grammophon]], [[New World Records|New World]], [[Sony Classical]] | website = {{URL|http://www.emersonquartet.com}} | current_members = Eugene Drucker<br>Philip Setzer<br>Lawrence Dutton<br>David Finckel | past_members = Guillermo Figueroa<br>Eric Wilson | notable_instruments = }}

(Although you probably want to keep it on separate lines so that it's readable.)
If any item isn't relevant, you can leave that item blank, just as the Emerson article does with "image" and other items.
Hope this helps! --Demiurge1000 (talk) 22:35, 16 December 2012 (UTC)


My home page

What's the easiest way to spice up my home page for future visitors? Is there a "Wikipedia:" article about it? Thanks!!  Qbgeekjtw  20:23, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello, Qbgeekjtw! The User page design center has some great resources for designing a user page. If you have any specific user page questions, feel free to contact me my talk page, since I enjoy helping with user pages. The Anonymouse (talk • contribs) [Merry Christmas!] 20:40, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Another great resource that I was unaware of (and I've been around for a while). Thanks! - J-Mo Talk to Me Email Me 00:12, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

electronics illustrated

can I find back issues of electronics illustrated on Wikipedia and if so how? Thanks for your help.71.236.182.75 (talk) 19:38, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello. No, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and only has encyclopedia articles. The best I can find is this site, where you can order certain back issues.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:15, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Converting a HTML table to wiki format

Hi,

I've been using the Wiki Cleaner tool to check and perform minor edits on lots of pages where I can. Something that keeps coming up however is HTML table tags. I was wondering if there was a (hopefully simple) way of converting HTML tables to a wiki format and if this is even useful? --Jamesmcmahon0 (talk) 19:06, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Jamesmcmahon, hi and welcome to the Teahouse. There is a script available at http://bmanolov.free.fr/html2wiki-tables.php which I think does what you want. I've not used it myself so I can't vouch for either it's ease of use or accuracy. 19:16, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, looks hopeful, I'll give it a go later! --Jamesmcmahon0 (talk) 19:20, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Instead of using the HTML source, I copy and paste the rendered table into a text editor and from there into a spread sheet, format the table the way I want, and then copy and paste this back into the text editor. I then do a global replace of all of the tabs with space||space and put the headers and the |- between each row, and the | at the beginning of each row one at a time (I do these in one step by copy and pasting both along with the new line), finally closing with |} and any other formatting needed. If a column needs something special I put an extra column in the spread sheet for it with a marker group of characters, like xxx, that I can globally replace in the spread sheet. Apteva (talk) 21:01, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

User page

I want to know what should be contained in a new user page. Rural01 (talk) 18:13, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse, Rural01! The quick answer to your question: anything you want.
The detailed answer now: generally you should have something about yourself. If you have any legitimate alternative accounts, that is especially recommended to make sure that you're not a sockpuppet, or someone who has multiple accounts for vandalism. If you are in a WikiProject, you generally put the userbox of that WikiProject on your page, as it informs other users what projects you're in. Articles that you've created or significantly worked on can go here to. You can also put a to-do list, as I have on my userpage, reminding you of what you want to work on. You may also wish to include things you find funny or a link to your sandbox so that other users can know what you're working on at the moment.
There are also some things that you should not have on your userpage. This includes excessive content about things not related to Wikipedia, promotion of yourself or others, offensive material, and excessive personal information. The personal information one can be tricky. For example, it's perfectly fine for me to say that I'm on a quest to read every Stephen King book, want to learn Irish, and am in a marching band. It would not be okay for me to say exactly where I live, my whole name, my phone number, or anything else that would allow people to contact me. Sometimes this can be a personal choice of yours, but most of the time I would keep some privacy.
Feel free to ask me or another host if there's anything specific that you want to know about in regards to the user page and what you can and can't put on there. Happy editing! öBrambleberry_ meow _ watch me in action 18:28, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, that gives me a place to start. Helps a lot. Rural01 (talk) 18:34, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

How to address/refute articles flagged for deletion

How does one refute flagging of articles for deletion? Is it possible to refute the proposed deletion as a creator? If I think I have a valid reason should I put it on the talk page and remove the deletion notification?

Checa985 (talk) 15:39, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Hey, Checa, welcome back to the Teahouse! That actually depends on the type of deletion tag that's on it: there are three basic kinds. If you're talking about Ocean Recovery Alliance or Kids Ocean Day HK, then yes. Those tags are called "proposed deletion" tags, and you're allowed to simply remove the tag off the page, which will halt the process. You can just delete the first few lines of the article, starting at the line {{Proposed deletion... and ending at the line }}. Once you do this, the page won't be able to be deleted through the proposed deletion process again. Keep in mind, though, that this doesn't prevent deletion from the other kinds of processes, notably the articles for deletion process, so you should definitely take the concerns in the tag seriously and try to fix them. Hope this helps! Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 15:51, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Also, if you don't improve the article after removing the PROD tag, other editors may immediately propose it for deletion again with a different reason or at a different venue. gwickwiretalkedits 20:52, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Bookmarking/Following?

Hello All, I have probably been struck blind or stupid, but is there any way of following a page without editing it? For example, I wanted to follow this page, but the only way I could find to do this was to pretend to edit, do nothing, tick the 'watch this page' box and then exit. Bit of a rigmarole. Is there a simpler method. Thanks. Kiltpin (talk) 13:58, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Kiltpin. At the top of any page, if you are using the (awful) default Vector skin, you should see at the top right links for edit Read | edit | View History..." right next to view history is a little star. Clicking that star will add a page to your watchlist.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:18, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for the quick response. Great facility, this. I shall be back with more questions, no doubt. Kiltpin (talk) 14:33, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Turning a redirect into an article

Hi. I have been a busy new editor. I had an article declined so I am well aware there is a review process for new articles. However, I have turned two redirects into essentially new articles. I am not trying to pull a fast one so I want to know how to bring this to the attention of the reviewpedians. The articles are Dragon beam and Post (structural). I also am working on an article New England Barn which is currently an inappropriate redirect to English barn. Thanks. Jim Derby (talk) 00:57, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

I do review and both look ok to me. I'll tag them with the appropriate issues to notify you §haun 9∞76 ༆ 03:04, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
What do I do in the future? By the way I looked at your user page and I am glad to see you are sane!! Thanks. Jim Derby (talk) 19:17, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

I want to put something just like on the article "Islam". Where under the picture of Kaaba, the Islamic portal script and under it is a Qur'an Portal and under is a Hadith portal script. How to put it in the article where it is required. Sanpatrick81 (talk) 10:01, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi and welcome! Here's the code for portal bars. You can put any number of portals into the portal bar, so long as they exist. Preferably, you add portal bars into a "See also" section. Example code for portal bar:

{{Portal bar|Music|Comedy|Islam|India}}

Which results in this:

Hope this helps. Cheers. Bonkers The Clown (Nonsensical Babble) 10:36, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Oops this is not what I want, I want to involve the script which is showing on "Islam" wikipedia page under the pic of kaaba at the right side and after it a Arabic word explanation came and under it hadith script came and under it Qur'an script came. I want to know how to add scripts like these on my article of Wikipedia. These all scripts are located in right side, I hope you will find them if you do what I tell

Sanpatrick81 (talk) 10:58, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello Sanpatrick81, They are called as templates in Wikipedia. You can include the Islam template by using the code {{Islam}} and similarly the Quran template by using {{Quran}}. -- Anbu121 (talk me) 11:31, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for your help. I am having some kind of problem, when I put the code ... The change shows the Islamic template replaces the text which is written, you can check it out by opening "Knowledge and Islam" article.

Thanks Have a nice day Sanpatrick81 (talk) 15:44, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi, the problem was not with the templates, it was with the quote boxes. I have created a 'width' parameter in the quotebox templates and assigned it to 70% in the article to avoid interfering with the templates. --Anbu121 (talk me) 20:46, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
Hi, thanks for your help... I have two things to discuss with you:

1. How to make redirection for any article, suppose an article named Wikipedia and whoever search for "free encyclopedia" the "Wikipedia" article comes.

2. How to create references like [1], [2] in the exponential form with specific details. Please guide me step by step, i shall be thankful to you

Sanpatrick81 (talk) 08:19, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Redirects can be created using the code #REDIRECT [[Target article]]. Using your example, the code #REDIRECT [[Wikipedia]] should be placed in the article "free encyclopedia". References can be included by adding the reference within the tags <ref> and </ref>. For more information, please read Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners and Help:Redirect. --Anbu121 (talk me) 12:42, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, any other thing if I discover will be asked soon.

Have a great day Sanpatrick81 (talk) 14:14, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, another problem... I have to make references how to create them? could u please help me

39.52.135.163 (talk) 08:09, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

References can be made by including them between the <ref> and </ref> tag. Between the ref tags, you can use {{citeweb}} or {{citebook}} to cite web pages or books respectively. These references needed to be added to the end of the sentence you wish to cite using them in the text. The {{Reflist}} code at the References section will reflect and display all the references in the article. Please read Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners --Anbu121 (talk me) 03:03, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Shorting my user name but still being the same user

When I first signed up to Wikipedia it asked me for a user name and like on most websites I didn't put too much thought into it. I have been editing quite a bit, over 1500 edits so far, and i have a problem with my name. The name that i chose is Learned69. This comes across as arrogant and out of place with other regular names. I am sure that many users think who is this guy who thins that he more learned than the rest of us, I surely would, and I am certainly not. However I do have a lengthy record of conrib. and this is usually a way for other users to see what my areas are and I don't want to lose this. I am also known in the circle of the areas that I write on, I recognize others and they recognize me. So it is very important that i keep my identity. I would like to change it to L69. In fact most users refer to me that way on talk pages. Is there any way to do it. Please notify me on my talk page. Learned69 (talk) 01:10, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Please see Wikipedia:Changing username. You have the option of requesting a complete username change here or a simpler procedure of Wikipedia:Signatures#Customizing your signature so that your name appears differently when you sign. This second option is far less complicated and may be better suited to your request.EagerToddler39 (talk) 02:18, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Creating an attractive user page

Hi! I'm fairly experienced (this is not my first account) but one thing that has always eluded me is how to make my user page attractive - I'm starting to get to the point where I'm leaving messages on people's talk pages saying that they can ask me if they have a question about an edit I have rolled back, but I would rather that when they go to my user page, it looks like I know what I'm doing! A web search isn't finding any, but are there good guides to that sort of thing? GailTheOx (talk) 17:38, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi GailTheOx. Have a look at this. Alternatively you can copy/paste bits of code you like from other editors pages and customise them for yourself.--Charles (talk) 18:00, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
Great! Just what I was looking for. Thanks Charles. GailTheOx (talk) 18:29, 17 December 2012 (UTC

How do I edit tables?

How do I edit tables?RKKarnad (talk) 16:11, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

RKKarnad, it depends what you want to do with the table. They can be quite complex and it's easy to get wrong but there are some pretty full explanations about most features at Help:Table. If you have a specific feature you want help with please ask here again. NtheP (talk) 16:42, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

I am trying to enter [[Category:Precisionist Wikipedians]] on my user page to make a clickable link to to that category page, but nothing shows up. What to do?
kcylsnavS{screechharrass} 02:23, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Hey, Svan, welcome to the Teahouse! For categories, the normal way of making a wikilink actually just adds the page to the linked category. There should be a clickable link at the bottom of the page, along with any other categories you might have. To make a link in the body of the page, without adding a page to teh category, you have to put a colon in front, so that it looks like [[:Category:Precisionist Wikipedians]], which renders as Category:Precisionist Wikipedians. Hope this helps! Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 02:27, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
Exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxcelllent!
kcylsnavS{screechharrass} 02:28, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Huggle

Hi, I was recently granted Rollback. When I tried to use Huggle, it said I had to configure it-how do I configure it? Cheers, Kevin12xd... | speak up | take a peek | email me 20:54, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi there and welcome to the Teahouse! I'm thinking back to when I got rollback and downloaded Huggle. I seem to recall something similar to what you're talking about, but I don't remember how I rectified it. Did you enter your username and password yet? Or haven't you gotten that far? If I can't help, perhaps those at the technical Village Pump can. Go Phightins! 20:57, 18 December 2012 (UTC)
Hi, and welcome to the Teahouse! In order to use you Huggle, you must create a page called "User:Kevin12xd/huggle.css" and add the compoents at the main Huggle page. See User:TBrandley/huggle.css for everything you need. Happy Holidays, TBrandley 21:13, 18 December 2012 (UTC)
That's it! Thanks TBrandley, I knew there was something. Go Phightins! 21:22, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Can someone help processing a new article?

I've written a new article on an important 20th century American artist, printmaker, teacher and would like help getting it up on Wikipedia. Can you tell me the process? Thanks. Trouver (talk) 20:15, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Trouver and welcome to Wikipedia! You basically have two options. You can either send it to articles for creation where it will be reviewed prior to being moved to mainspace or you can simply move it there yourself. If the article is in your userspace, you can follow the directions at WP:MOVE to move the article to mainspace, or you can copy-paste it there, but make sure to copy-paste the wiki-markup, not just the text (e.g., copy from edit mode, not from just looking at the page). Fair warning, however, there is currently a massive backlog at AFC, so it will likely take a few weeks for your article to be reviewed if you send it there. Thanks, Go Phightins! 20:18, 18 December 2012 (UTC)
  1. ^ "Template:Cite pmid/12135908: Revision History".
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