Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 December 23

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December 23

Adding references to Tammy Miranda Music

Resolved

 – References in Tammy Miranda Music fixed by Fetchomms --Mysdaao ^talk 00:54, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

I am trying to add the references to Tammy Miranda Music and I just cant make it happen....some of the reference websites are extremely reliable that are added to the page. Please help —Preceding unsigned comment added by Talentbuyer (talk • contribs) 00:15, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

The references have been fixed by Fetchomms. --Mysdaao ^talk 00:54, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

May I write a new page on this topic?

My mother is an author of a book on parenting, and I would like to write a page about her, and about her book. However, the instructions say not to write about a friend or family member. Other people are listed. Is it OK to do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hobieg0 (talk • contribs) 00:15, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Handy when people answer their own questions: "However, the instructions say not to write about a friend or family member". So in general not. There are also a lot of inclusion criteria. Not everyone who writes a book will be included in Wikipedia. See WP:AUTHOR. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 00:42, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

And for books see WP:NB. – ukexpat (talk) 15:09, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

If after looking at those pages you think that your mother does meet Wikipedia's criteria, you can post a request at Wikipedia:requested articles. But be aware that there is a backlog there, and all editors are volunteers. --ColinFine (talk) 20:03, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

LOST YELLOW LAB RETRIEVER KILLED BY SHELTER IN BROWARD COUNTY FLORIDA

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 16:43, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

<content removed>

Please don't spam your personal Goals and Campaigns on Wikipedia. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 00:44, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

seeking information about a painting

I have a painting of a wide path/road winding down through a field with some trees scattered on on each side. I wish to find out it's title. ROD PALMER is printed in bottom right corner. I'm 67 and think these prints were around in the 50's....I am not good at searching internet because the younger generation has murdered common english and it is a web of confusion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.172.21.207 (talk) 02:49, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

This is a place to ask questions about Wikipedia. The place to ask your question is at the reference desk. ~~ GB fan ~~ ^talk 02:53, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

According to our article, Estonian artist August Albo used to sign his paintings as "Rod Palmer". Gandalf61 (talk) 11:40, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Searching using "prefix:" and "intitle:"

When you use the "prefix:" and "intitle:" search facilities, the results seem to exclude redirect pages, while Special:PrefixIndex seems to include them. Does anyone know how to do an "intitle"-style search that includes redirect pages? 86.136.194.224 (talk) 02:55, 23 December 2009 (UTC).

You cannot. --rainman (talk) 10:51, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Right, thanks. I assume somewhere there is a very big list of features that would be nice to have. Perhaps if someone here has the wherewithal and inclination this request might be added to that list. 86.133.55.75 (talk) 20:28, 23 December 2009 (UTC).

Format article, please

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 16:41, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Will someone format this article, Sarcophaga africa, so the references sit below the image on the left? I believe there is a tag, but don't remember what it is. Feel free to make editorial decisions on best formatting. Thank you in advance. --IP69.226.103.13 (talk) 03:34, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

I added {{clearleft}}. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:44, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I was almost in the ballpark. --IP69.226.103.13 (talk) 04:22, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Uncreated categories

These two categories have been linked to but the category does not exist: Category:Black and white birds Category:Birds with red bill or beak. The usefulness of the categories should be discussed in the Birds WikiProject first I would suggest.--Felix Folio Secundus (talk) 03:58, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Seems eminently reasonable, but the project page would be the place to discuss that. --AndrewHowse (talk) 04:02, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

You can also start by disussing with User talk:Hippietrail, the user who added many articles to the categories yesterday. If you two agree to remove the category links then outside participation is not needed when the categories don't exist yet. If you post to a WikiProject page then notify Hippietrail. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:14, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Short box?

Hello... how do I add the box that appears to the right of an article? Logo and breif orgnaizational info? Thx Jones 07:03, 23 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by JonesSAC (talk • contribs)

What you are looking for are infoboxes. The best option, given the thousands of availible infoboxes, is to find an article that uses the infobox you want to use, then find the source template and read the documentation on its use. Or, you could copy and paste the template from another article, and clear out all of the data; filling it in yourself for the new usage. --Jayron32 07:35, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Question about a citation

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 15:15, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi...How to create a nice and valid citation for this page from the New York Times? [1]? Could somebody create it and put it here as an example for me so i can use it and learn how to create similar ones in the future? I know there are documents how to do them. But i am not sure and an example for this particular page would help me. Thank's so much. IQinn (talk) 09:15, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

• I would cite this as {{cite news|url=http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/53-saud-dakhil-allah-muslih-al-mahayawi/documents/1/pages/74#3|title=Saud Dakhil Allah Muslih al Mahayawi – The Guantánamo Docket|work=[[The New York Times]]|publisher=[[The New York Times Company]]|accessdate=23 December 2009}} which would give:

  "Saud Dakhil Allah Muslih al Mahayawi – The Guantánamo Docket". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 23 December 2009.

There are no pages or publication date, as it is an on-going publication of the Docket. -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 11:05, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

That looks pretty good for me. Thank you so much! Just for the "accessdate". That's the date i fill in when i have checked the information and add the citation. Right? IQinn (talk) 11:18, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

The access date is the date that the webpage was accessed by you - usually today's date, so yes! -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 11:21, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

I think that is clear now. Thank you again. You are doing a great job. IQinn (talk) 11:32, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Differences between advertising and just information

Hi,

Quite a while ago now I decided to create a wikipedia article on my site. However within a day or two it wasn't displaying, and it said it was removed as it was supposedly advertising; Which is fair enough. But companies for example google, they have wikipedia articles; Whats different between them having an article and me having an article? If its because they are a 'big company', then what is the barrier between a small company and a big company? Regards, Joe —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.106.127.41 (talk) 16:26, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

It's not because of the size of the company. The article on Google is written from a neutral point of view and is supported by independent reliable sources. You may find our information on advertising helpful as well. Finally, if you have a conflict of interest with a subject, you are highly discouraged from editing articles about the subject. TNXMan 16:29, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

I would also add that these companies do not "have" an article, since nobody "owns" an article in Wikipedia. Some editors, over the years, have decided that certain companies are notable enough to have articles about them in reference works; and the articles have been written and refined since then. I assure you, Steve Jobs did not create the article on Apple; and if he's been editing it and we catch him, we'll make him stop. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:27, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

One of the hallmarks of Wikipedia is that it does not create information, it merely repeats it. One corrolary of that is that a Wikipedia should not substantially increase the exposure of a subject. McDonalds and Apple Computer and Levi Jeans do not gain any real increase of exposure because there is a Wikipedia article about them. Wikipedia does not make them more notable, Wikipedia merely reflects their already existing notability. If a company needs Wikipedia to increase its exposure, then by definition the company is likely not notable enough to merit a Wikipedia article. --Jayron32 20:17, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

To the original poster: read Wikipedia:FAQ/Organizations. Note that Wikicompany wants an article about every legally incorporated business in the world, unlike Wikipedia which only wants articles about "notable" companies.

• Notability is not solely about size, but big companies are much more likely to be notable than small companies, so it would be misleading to say size does not matter here.
• I'd like to see some evidence for the unsupported claim that large companies do not gain any real increase of exposure from Wikipedia. For example, the McDonald's article gets over 100,000 views per month, more than a million views per year, not counting all the mirrors and forks and other language Wikipedias. If a million views per year is not a real increase, what is? It is unintuitive to suggest that Wikipedia - one of the world's most-visited Web sites - does not help the rich get richer. At a minimum we need some evidence to support such a claim that would run counter to what every public relations professional might guess about exposure here.
  • However, owners of small non-notable businesses should note that an article about their business on Wikipedia would be unlikely to attract many views. Notability creates more notability, and getting the process started represents a chicken and egg problem, for which Wikipedia is not helpful. See also WP:UPANDCOMING.

--Teratornis (talk) 05:07, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

Deleted pages -- record of edits

When a page is deleted will the record of edits remain on the list "User contributions", or does the record of edits to the deleted page disappear from view? - Steve3849 ^talk 22:35, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

The deleted edits are still included in your edit count by most counters, but the deleted edits are removed from view to all but administrators. Intelligentsium 22:41, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, deleted edits by a user can be found (if you are an admin) in a "deleted contributions" page, similar to normal user contributions. Any of these deleted edits can be restored back to the page they belonged to, so they don't really disappear. ≈ Chamal (sock) ^{Master · talk} 02:03, 24 December 2009 (UTC)