Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 December 13

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

December 13

Adding New Page Request - Please make a new page!

Most people are confusing about the once respected "American Conservatory of Music."

I would like to suggest that Wikipedia should have a seperate headword about the topic. I don't know how to make a new page (or make them seperate by 2 direction words):

1. American Conservatory of Music (in the State of Illinois: Accredited Period) Original Old school NOTE: Notable Almini should be listed here!

NEW PAGE!!! 2. American Conservatory of Music (in the State of Indiana: Non-accredied Status) Present NOTE: Please make sure the school is not accredited by Federal & State level. It's not internationally accredited either. No accreditation. they just want money by awarding the highest degree, masters, doctors, etc.

Some people are trying to deceive people by using the old image of this slippery conservatory. So don't let the public mix it up.

Before relocating to the Indiana, Chicago Sun Times had reported their activity in Illinois very well. The following is the typical fraud sctivity report:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4375260.html

Conservatory con man back with new scheme Chicago Sun-Times; Mar 20, 1997; Raymond R. Coffey "Remember Richard Schulze, the amazingly elusive, big ticket, coast-to-coast con man who used to run the once-respectable American Conservatory of Music in downtown Chicago? Apparently he still runs it - but with a new address, yet another corporation (this one chartered in Las Vegas) and another pitch to shake money out of alumni, students and friends of the conservatory. This time around, Schulze is trying to raise $60,000 via a "private" shareholder offering in a "limited liability" company named Conservatory Partners LLC. To anyone familiar with his past and the current status of the conservatory, the brochure and letter promoting the pitch reads like classic con-artist poetry. In ..."

Most people try to defend it by using religious status in connection with the ecclesiastical charter of the Orthodox Church in Belize. But the Schulze family is coast-to-coast con-artists. This is just a loophole of the state laws.

So, I strongly suggest to make a new page for non-accredited ACM in Indiana. I don't know how to make a new page. Please help the public with correct image.

This sham school is still insisting the founder of NASM (federal accreditation organization = NASM: National Association of Schools of Music). Regarding NASM status, please check NASM handbook:

http://nasm.arts-accredit.org/site/docs/Handbook/NASM_HANDBOOK_2009-10_DEC2009.pdf

Here's the quotation from the official handbook:

The National Association of Schools of Music was founded in 1924 for the purpose of securing a better understanding among institutions of higher education engaged in work in music; of establishing a more uniform method of granting credit; and of setting minimum standards for granting of degrees and other credentials. It is incorporated in the State of Ohio as a non-profit organization. The work of the Association during its early years was financed largely by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In November of 1975, representatives of member institutions ratified proposals creating a category of membership for non-degree-granting institution.

They never mention the relation with American Conservatory of Music. The original ACM was one of the member in the beginning period.

Make a new page for the present non-accredited ACM. And wait and see. You will know who's trying to deceive.

This is for better the education in the U.S. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shelly099 (talk • contribs) 08:18, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Both incarnations of this school can be covered in the existing article American Conservatory of Music, on whose talk page discussion can continue.

I have blocked User:Shelly099 for sockpuppetry. --Orlady (talk) 19:19, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

? problem with map & coord rendering

Does anyone know if there is a problem currently with the way wikipedia is placing red dot coordinates on maps? I have been updating articles in West Somerset and noticed that the red dot displayed on the maps for Brompton Regis, Exton, Somerset etc fall outside the county boundary on the map. I have checked the coords given on streetmap and they are correct so I wondered if it is a wider systemic problem related to wikipedia's software?— Rod ^talk 10:35, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Which browser and version are you using, and which Wikipedia skin are you currently using ? —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:22, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm using Firefox (3.5.5) & default skin (whatever that is called).— Rod ^talk 12:27, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

The red dot is in the right place when using IE8 & not logged in & in Firefox when not logged in - so it is something about the settings once logged in.— Rod ^talk 13:35, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

This appears to have been a problem with importScript('User:AndyZ/peerreviewer.js') in monobook js - help being received thro IRC.— Rod ^talk 15:14, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Sock puppets

How do I deal with a sock? Should I tag the sock and sockmaster, or is that for admins? If I should, then where do I find the tag templates? ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 11:45, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

• Proving someone is a sock requires experience. It is probably a good idea to bring it to the attention of administrators. Also, if you were to tag them on your own, they're likely to accuse you of bad faith. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:52, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

This case is cut and dried. I have a lot of anti-vandal experience using huggle. A user kept posting spam links, and I kept reverting. Then an IP address popped up and put the same spam links on the same page. I put a template on the IP address' page, see here. What warning should be placed on the sockmaster's page? ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 11:55, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Personally, I would go to Wikipedia:Sock puppet investigations and let them check it out. If it is verified, the notice will be put on the user's pages when they are blocked. The case is only definitively cut-and-dried when a checkuser has confirmed that they are indeed sock/sockmaster. -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 15:39, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Fair point; then it's cut and drying :o) I'll post an ARV now. Thanks. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 17:25, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Uploading pictures

So, I expanded an existing article about the author Patrick French as an unregistered user. that was last week. I would now like to upload a picture of the author on to his page but I can't figure out how. Please help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mandakinigahlot1984 (talk • contribs) 13:19, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

• If you want to add an existing image to an article, add [[Image:File name.jpg|thumb|Caption text.]] to the area of the article where you want the image to appear – replacing File name.jpg with the actual file name of the image, and Caption text with a short description of the image. See our picture tutorial for more information.
• If you want to upload an image from your computer for use in an article, you must find out what the proper license of the image is. If you know the image is licensed under a free-license, upload it to the Wikimedia Commons instead of here, so that all projects have access to the image (sign up). If you are unsure what license the image takes, see the file upload wizard for more information. Please also read Wikipedia's image use policy. I hope this helps. --Mysdaao ^talk 14:44, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Shrinking Display

Either my eyes have suddenly failed or every thing has shrunk to the edge of legibility. I use Foxfire, no other sites I use have reduced their font size (so it's not my setting). Have you shifted font, changed size, and announced it somewhere I didn't notice.

Dan Eaves 114.77.126.19 (talk) 13:58, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Not that I'm aware of, you may like to check that you haven't accidentally adjusted the zoom level on your browser. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 14:00, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Try holding down Ctrl and then pressing + a couple of times. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 14:04, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

The common reason for this is pressing control and rotating the mouse wheel. It took me ages to work out what happened the first few times! Isonomia (talk) 14:46, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

how to get authorised

Every time I try to do a minor edit, I find I can't because the page is semi-protected and I don't yet have a ten-edit history. So how to achieve those ten edits? What proportion of pages is semi-protected? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alpinehermit (talk • contribs) 14:07, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

This page displays all semi-protected pages on the en Wikipedia. You can request to become "confirmed" here which will enable you to edit those pages. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 14:12, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

(e/c) Ironically, this was your tenth edit, and you're now autoconfirmed. --Floquenbeam (talk) 14:13, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

+ ::Their user rights log says differently? [1] Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 14:17, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

My bad. Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 14:21, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Could you help me with a word? "Feeder school"

Hello :) I am from Germany and contributing to a atricle about a school in my country the Gymnasium (Germany). People from other countries sometimes wrongly assume that the Gymnasium is a school for the gifted and/or that it is the only way to college in Germany. Both assumptions however are wrong. There are 50 ways to college and Gymnasien are only one of those, what distinguishes them from other schools are college is that

• 1)nearly everybody attending a Gymnasium is college bound, while of the students attending other schools some are collegebound and some are not and
• 2)that a person graduating from a Gymnasium will by accepted by any college, while students graduating from other schools may not be accepted by some colleges

Is there a school in the english-speaking world this could be compared to? Would "prep school" be a good word? Also would it be possible to call a school like this "feeder school". The english article about feeder schools states "some college preparatory high schools and community colleges are designed to feed local universities". Gymnasien are not designed to feed local universities, but all of them. Thank you :) --Greatgreenwhale (talk) 17:01, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

I think "academically selective" might be a useful phrase; I assume that Gymnasien are at least somewhat selective in admissions? Some sort of entrance test? Feeder schools are usually aligned with a particular school or set of schools; if a person who graduates from a Gymnasium might go to any university in the country, then that's probably not a helpful phrase. Offhand, I can't think of another current system that has a tier of schools like this, only examples of high-performing schools. --AndrewHowse (talk) 18:12, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your answers. So, i won't call it feeder school. Actually admission procedures vary very much by Bundesland and Gymnasium (Gymnasium_(Germany)#Admittance_into_a_Gymnasium), but few Gymnasien do have real entrance exams. Many have interviews, but that's not really a test.

So, I am not sure if "academically selective" is the right word. They pick their students, but some say they don't pick on merit.

So, do you think "prep school" also would be the wrong word? Or may be "grammar school"?

--Greatgreenwhale (talk) 18:29, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

It looks as if 'prep school' might be the right phrase for North American readers, but it is strongly misleading for British readers: in the UK a prep school is a private junior school (up to age 13 or so), whose pupils generally proceed to a public school (i.e. a private school). Grammar school would probably be better for UK readers, though it doesn't correspond exactly. --ColinFine (talk) 23:18, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank you :) --Greatgreenwhale (talk) 13:48, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Is the voting secret to the general public?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:SecurePoll/vote/80

Wikipedia can be confusing or there can be little known features that an ordinary editor doesn't know about. Is the casting of a vote secret? I mean, besides Jimbo Wales, IT people, checkusers, ArbCom, oversighters, whom I presume have the technical means to peek and see how people vote, not that they necessarily would.

Suomi Finland 2009 (talk) 18:06, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

As far as I know, a record of who voted is publicly accessible. You can go to Special:SecurePoll, hit List, and find out that I voted today. However, whether or not a record of how everyone voted is available to someone is unclear. In a perfect world, the results would be tallied by the software and no person besides the voter would ever see how they voted. The extension's page on the main MediaWiki wiki is incredibly unhelpful in this regard, so this would be an interesting village pump question for the developers. Xenon54 / talk / 20:16, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

"Edit page" header...

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 02:25, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

How can you make a page have a "header" before the editing box (like the "This page is only for questions about using Wikipedia" here)? I did it before and now I can't remember how... Mononomic (talk) 18:20, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

WP:Editnotice has everything you want to know, and perhaps a bit more. You'll need an admin to do this on any page except a user or user talk page. --Floquenbeam (talk) 18:44, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks very much. Mononomic (talk) 19:10, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Is it possible to edit and article when there is no "Edit this Page" tab?

I've found a mistake in an article which didn't have an "Edit this Page" tab. Is it possible to make a correction? ```` —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alyjohnsonkurts (talk • contribs) 23:03, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Since you haven't given us an article name, we can only give you generic advice. You are a new user (your first edit is to this page), so the most likely reason of a missing "edit this page" tab is that the page is protected. Semiprotected pages can be edited by any autoconfirmed user (any user whose account is 4 days old and has at least 10 edits), while fully protected pages can only be edited by an administrator. Xenon54 / talk / 23:21, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

You can, however, go to its 'Talk' page and add a comment there explaining the change you would make (and giving a source if appropriate). --ColinFine (talk) 23:24, 13 December 2009 (UTC)