Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 February 27

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February 27

tag on public domain image

What tag should be put on an image that is in the public domain, if you are not the creator? {{PD}} is depreciated and {{PD-self}} is for the creator. Bubba73 (talk), 02:57, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

It generally goes by country and/or by subject i.e., a generic public domain template for the United States is {{PD-US}}. See Category:Wikipedia image copyright templates (and don't forget to click on "(next 200)" at the bottom of the page). Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:09, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

How do I go about adding IPA pronunciations to Wikipedia?

I already know how to type in IPA and transcribe sounds.

What are the conventions, wikitext, etc. for inserting IPA pronunciations? What are the guidelines for deciding when & where to use an IPA pronunciation? For example, would it be overenthusiastic of me to call up each and every article on a nation (Canada, France, Peru, etc.) and insert the IPA pronunciation for each nation's name?

In "Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7 1907 – May 8 1988) was an American novelist," do I put the pronunciation before or after the date? What convention should I use to separate Robert from Anson from Heinlein?

Is there some kind of Portal for IPA editors? Minetruly (talk) 03:36, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:IPA is probably a good place to start. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 06:27, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

• There is also Wikipedia:Spoken Wikipedia. Buried in there somewhere is a taskforce of people who provide pronunciation sound files. Since a lot of people DON'T know how to transcribe sounds into IPA (or how to decipher them again), it might be a good idea to try that instead. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:29, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
• I've not been able to find a page on the conventions for IPA notation. I add IPA transcriptions to every article I find where the correct pronunciation is unintuitive or often pronounced incorrectly, so adding one to every country article may be unnecessary. I generally put the IPA before the birth/death dates, but I only do that because I prefer it, not because I've found a guideline mandating that, because I haven't. seresin ( ¡? )  23:14, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

external link to file on HD

OK, maybe I'm just tired - but I'm missing something - I'm trying to put a link on my user page - to a file on my HD. I tried:

• [file:///C:/Users/Ched/Documents/wiki/backup-webpages/ched/somefile.htm name]

and

• <a name</a>

I even tried putting in the http:// in a couple places, but I'm just missing it. could a fresh set of eyes give me a clue as to what I'm missing or forgetting? Thanks. ;) and I'll offer the preemptive "facepalm" in advance — Ched (talk) 05:42, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't believe that the MediaWiki software allows this functionality. You would have to upload the file to Wikipedia directly and link it from there. It would help to know exactly what the file is and what your intent for using it here at Wikipedia is... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 06:26, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I guess you are using Internet Explorer which can both navigate the World Wide Web and your hard disk, but I don't think your browser would allow a switch from the Web to your hard disk by clicking a link. If you want to try then I uploaded your link here: http://users.cybercity.dk/~dsl522332/Chedtest.htm (including a missing '>' in your html). PrimeHunter (talk) 13:25, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Sandbox

Resolved

 – TNXMan 14:23, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Where's the sandbox. and if this isn't just to ask a qeustion and it's to write a page i'm sorry, o.k —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.19.222.54 (talk) 06:24, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

WP:SANDBOX. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 06:25, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

How do you use the sandbox because Mikaey(Mikey) wouldn't tell me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.19.222.54 (talk) 06:28, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

yeh i'm sorry man but that didn't help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.19.222.54 (talk) 06:32, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Can you explain it to me in words, because I don't get it, because this is the first time I've been on Wiki for more then 10 min. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.19.222.54 (talk) 06:37, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Instructions for using the sandbox are in the sandbox directly. If you left a more detailed explanation of what you are trying to accomplish, we could help you better. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 06:38, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm done —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.19.222.54 (talk) 06:39, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

OK. Bye bye now... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 06:40, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Creating a Sandbox - Help Please

I have created a Wiki page prior to this and am currently using it. I had created a Sandbox, somehow, and now as I am responsible for another project, I am struggling to find simple directions to creating a Sandbox.

I would like you create it for me if possible, since there are endless pages that I have read with little success. If you could put a link to it, so that when I sign in I could work in it, that would be wonderful.

Thank you for saving me a nervous breakdown! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cognitively Equipped (talk • contribs) 12:21, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

You created a correct link to a personal sandbox in [1] but I see you removed it again. All you have to do is click the currently red link (red signals there is no page at the moment) User:Cognitively Equipped/Sandbox and save something there, for example {{User Sandbox}}. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:46, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I appreciate what you are trying to do for me, but on the page I created before, when I logged in and clicked on the group name at the top center, it would bring me to a backslash and typed next to it , Sandbox. This was evidence that it was a legit sandbox. Right now I get nothing like that after I log in and it means our work could be deleted. I was hoping for a simple Sandbox like I somehow created before. This current project has a title listed as though it were a Main Page and Main Pages are subject to deletion. Whatever I created that you made a shortcut to, i am not interested in, I want a legit link to a Sandbox for when my group logs in.

thanks for your understanding and help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.144.50.63 (talk) 16:01, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

See your user page at User:Cognitively Equipped - I changed the link there to [[/Sandbox]] which takes you to the same page as User:Cognitively Equipped/Sandbox. – ukexpat (talk) 16:51, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't know what you are referring to. Which website was this at? Anything on the Wikipedia website can be deleted, but User:Cognitively Equipped/Sandbox is as legit as it gets for a user sandbox. It is not the Main Page and it is not in the main namespace, but anybody can see it and anybody is able to edit it when it's not protected (but it's rare to edit other users sandboxes). You can also get to User:Cognitively Equipped/Sandbox by clicking your username Cognitively Equipped at the top of the page and manually adding /Sandbox to the url. Maybe this is similar to what you did at the other site. I'm not sure what you mean by "group name", "our work could be deleted" and "my group logs in", but note that shared accounts are not allowed and Wikipedia is not a webhost. See also Wikipedia:User page. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:42, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Saving one's own files

can i save my own files in this site so that i can read it when i want. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.163.250.182 (talk) 12:49, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I am confused by what you want to do? Wikipedia is not a filehosting service. If you could explain in more detail what your purposes are, we could perhaps help you? --Jayron32.talk.contribs 13:05, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I think that's exactly what the poster is looking for, a file hosting service and Wikipedia is not it. Try box.net or Google "free file host". – ukexpat (talk) 14:35, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Or see File hosting service#Comparison of notable file hosting services. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:39, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I suspect he may want to save articles to his hard drive; so he can read them offline. —teb728 t c 19:58, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Category:Uncategorized pages

Am I halluncinating? This category used to be filled to the brim with articles just a few days ago and now it suddenly has subcategories with no indication in the history of either parent or child cat how they came to be there. Special:UncategerizedPages doesn't update properly. Did I visit the wrong cat or what? - Mgm|^(talk) 12:59, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I checked Category:Category needed as well, and I don't see anything there. Either folks at the categorization WikiProject have been working extra hard over the past few days (unlikely but possible) or there is a glitch in the system somewhere we are missing. Perhaps a post at WP:VPT or something may get someone's attention with more technical savvy?!? I am confused here as well. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 13:09, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

adolf hitler

having followed the link and then searched for 'adolf hitler' i am deeply unimpressed by the article. please advise why i cannot get any actual information about the man. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.249.138.179 (talk) 13:48, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Your question is not clear. There is a lot of info on the article Adolf Hitler. So much in fact, that it is tagged as too long to read comfortably. The article had been recently vandalized though, and maybe you have read the vandalized version. This has been reverted soon after. Cheers. Chamal ^talk 13:53, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

for some reason i see this too it says "He Has A **** (vagina)" but then i purge the page and it display now correctly

The vandalism was at 13:25 (UTC) and was reverted the same minute by a bot. The vandal has been blocked indefinitely (User talk:Devils Advocate). PrimeHunter (talk) 14:45, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Strangely enough, though, Hitler Has Only Got One Ball. And he has an article to note that fact too. Ok, that was probably excessive. But come on, laugh a little people]]. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 14:53, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

IEEE logo =

The logo used for IEEE on the page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE is wrong and outdated.

Please upload a new logo using this page as reference: http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/toolkit/masterbrand/index.html

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.98.210.243 (talk) 14:41, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

The correct place to raise this issue is at Talk:Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers rather than here. Comments about the quality of an article should be made at the talk page of the articles themselves. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 14:47, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Additionally, investigating the logo in question, it does not appear that the new logo is substantively different from the one in the article. Its basically the same logo, with some text underneath indicating the 125th anniversary of the company. Unless a completely new logo is designed, I don't see where changing the one in our article would be much use. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 14:49, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

The IEEE site has two logos: the IEEE Master Brand (nearer the bottom of the page) and the IEEE 125th Anniversary Mark (the master brand with anniversary text). The article uses the master brand, thus is correct. It is not un-common for an organization to have a variant of a logo for some special purpose, especially anniversaries, but the main logo is that one we should use. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 15:13, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't see text

My internet it working fine, but on most pages I dont see text or boxes, just the Wikipedia background. Anyone know what I can do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.7.60.38 (talk) 16:00, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Try to clear your entire cache. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:44, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Printing Wikipedia articles

When I tried to print out your article on "Multiverse," I found that p. 5 could not be printed. The "print preview" command showed it to be blank, in both the regular and printable versions, and that's the way it was when I went ahead and tried to print them anyway. I never had such a problem until several months ago; since then, I've had it fairly often with various internal pages when trying to print out articles of, say, more than a few pages in length.69.250.218.149 (talk) 17:46, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I can confirm this for IE7; it works fine in Firefox, however. Cheers, This flag once was red^propaganda_deeds 17:51, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm assuming you're using IE. Are you able to use a different browser? If not, could you copy and paste the text into a word processor? I can't see anything about the article that would cause this, but I'll keep poking. Cheers, This flag once was red^propaganda_deeds 17:53, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

To resolve the issue of blank pages when printing from Internet Explorer 7:

• Create an account if you do not have one
• Open Special:Preferences → Skin; from your currently selected skin, click on Custom CSS and open it for editing
• Add:

@media print {
sup, sub, p, .documentDescription { line-height: normal; }
}

• Save and bypass your cache using the instructions at the top of the CSS page

--—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 18:17, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I just noticed an interesting "create a book" box at the bottom of the left sidebar below the toolbox. See Help:Books. It's only for logged-in users at the moment. --Teratornis (talk) 21:10, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

England Test cricket team colours

Resolved

 – Answered at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Entertainment#England Test cricket team shirts  – ukexpat (talk) 20:44, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

On the England Team's shirts there is a number underneath the three lions logo. This number appears to be different for each player. What does the number signify? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.14.182.97 (talk) 17:50, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried the Entertainment section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. Algebraist 17:52, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I am guessing it's a player ID number, maybe something mandated by the International Cricket Council? – ukexpat (talk) 18:53, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

OP has asked as suggested at the RefDesk, and received the correct answer that it is the player's "call up" number. DuncanHill (talk) 19:22, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Can not delete a user page

Apparently I have an unknown user page that can not be deleted that is tagged can harm my computer. Can someone delete this page: User:Doug Coldwell/monobook.css . I have no idea what it is or what it is suppose to do - other than harm my computer or my account at Wikipedia! Perhaps people at Village pump (technical) might be able to help!--Doug Coldwell ^talk 19:54, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Don't Panic!. Monobook simply tells your browser how to display Wikipedia. You can see more details at WP:Skin. Best, TNXMan 20:06, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Actually, CSS pages are fairly safe. JS pages can do much more than "tell the browser how to display Wikipedia", including some very dangerous things (like mass edits). Brian Jason Drake 10:29, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

The page is not malicious. You created it on 9 July 2007. The current code lets you view the normally hidden persondata in an article. If you don't want that feature, just edit the page, blank it and follow the instructions on the page to bypass your cache. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 20:06, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Great! Now that I know what it is I can sleep again. Thanks for telling me what it is and what it does.--Doug Coldwell ^talk 21:04, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Filariasis

Page 3 in your article about Filariasis will not print. Please Help!72.11.41.88 (talk) 19:55, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

See #Printing Wikipedia articles above. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 20:03, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

And see Help:Books for a fancy new printing option (only for registered users at the moment). --Teratornis (talk) 21:11, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Modifying Wikipedia:IPA table

Look at this page here: Wikipedia:IPA. See the table to the right that has links to Wikipedia:IPA for Arabic, Wikipedia:IPA for Armenian, Wikipedia:IPA for Czech, etc.?

I've written a Wikipedia:IPA for Japanese article and would like to add it to that list.

How do I do this?

Note that I am new, and it appears my access to this section may be restricted. It doesn't even show up in the editing field. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Minetruly (talk • contribs) 22:33, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

The table on the right is actually something we call a navigation template; the template page is: {{IPAhelp}}. As the template page is not protected, you should be able to edit it now. The template uses some table markup, but it is so simple that you should be able to see what to add. Just make your entry like the others. --Teratornis (talk) 22:48, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Review of entry on Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company

This article was tagged at top about two or three weeks ago with a caution about avoiding ibid., op. cit, and the like in citations. I removed the ibid. I had used but the tag (or whatever you call it) is still there. Is there something I'm not seeing that you are? Also, I would like to get a more specific idea of why this article is ranked C class. I asked about this on the discussion page but the response was simply to refer me to your ranking chart/guidelines. The article appears to adhere to the standards for an A rating and I wondered if you could review it and tell me what, if anything, is lacking so that I can revise. Thanks! Megavoice (talk) 22:44, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

General note: you can make your question easier to answer by linking the article title, like this:

• Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company

(You did at least state the correct title, which is better than some questions we get.)

To your questions:

• On removing the {{Ibid}} template:
  • The bold approach is to remove the template yourself when you think you have corrected the problems that motivated someone else to put the template on the article.
  • However, if you are new to Wikipedia, the prudent approach would be to identify the person who put the template on the article, and ask him or her if he or she agrees that you fixed the problems. To do that, check the history of the article. You can see that Ukexpat added the template. Since Ukexpat reads this Help desk, he will probably notice that we are talking about him and chime in. If he doesn't, you could get his attention on User talk:Ukexpat.
• On the C class ranking:
  • Again, look at the history of the article's talk page, see who ranked the article as C class, and ask him or her if he or she thinks the ranking could increase now.
  • I wouldn't worry too much about the ranking. It only appears on the article's talk page. Here is how many views it got last month - the view count tool says zero views in January. Presumably the view count will jump up a bit for February, due to the recent edits on the talk page. However, in general talk pages get fewer views than the corresponding articles. Article rankings on Wikipedia do not matter nearly as much as the actual quality of the articles. If an article is of high quality, it will meet the needs of its readers, most of whom will be utterly oblivious to the ranking.
    • In other words, I recommend spending your time on learning how to improve articles, rather than on the procedural overhead necessary to push up the rankings. The rankings are only one means to the end of improving articles. One might consider rankings to be something of a motivational gimmick - not necessarily a bad thing, but not the ultimate goal. If you are already motivated to improve articles, and you know how to improve them, you don't need to pay much attention to rankings. Just go improve some articles, and eventually the rankings will reflect your improvements. The great majority of readers pay no attention to rankings anyway.

--Teratornis (talk) 23:40, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

My ears were burning so I guess someone called?! I have removed the {{ibid}} template. The article references could probably be cleaned up some more using named references, but the article is looking pretty good. As for the rating, I rated it as a "C" simply because it was clearly not a "Start" and I did not know enough about the rating criteria of the related WikiProjects to rate as a "B". The safe course is probably to ask for a review at the talk pages of the WikiProjects: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject North Carolina and Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Human rights. – ukexpat (talk) 18:38, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Advertisements

how do i publicly advertise on the site? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.30.107.73 (talk) 23:07, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

On which site? If you refer to the English Wikipedia (this site), the answer is you cannot advertise on it. See WP:ADVERT. --Teratornis (talk) 23:19, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

And see Wikipedia:Advertisements which is probably more directly relevant to your question. Also see WP:BFAQ. --Teratornis (talk) 23:22, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

(e/c) I'm afraid you can't add commercial weblinks or write promotional articles here, and Wikipedia doesn't currently accept display adverts. Karenjc 23:24, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

How to change a file name from Commons

I want to change File:Lomatium bicolor .JPG to File:Lomatium parryi.JPG. Is an administrator needed? ZooFari 23:08, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

See commons:Commons:FAQ#How can I rename/move an image or other media file?. --Teratornis (talk) 23:21, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Stephen Joseph Christopher (Change Needed To Information Please...)

Where it says:

On January 11, 2008 Christopher posted on Alien-earth.org stating that he planned to assassinate Obama in a thread titled "ok we have 9 days until my Presidential Assasination". Christopher stated that the motive for this was because he "can no longer allow the Jewish parasites to bully their way into making the American people submit to their evil ways."

It SHOULD read "On January 11, 2009". Somehow, it was posted as 2008 instead of 2009!!!

Thanks!

M7® (Member at Alien-Earth.Org) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.170.57.97 (talk) 23:20, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

The question refers to the Steven Joseph Christopher article. I must say, the subject of the article sounds like a real piece of work. --Teratornis (talk) 23:46, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

The cited references such as this one give the year as 2009, so you can be bold and change the year yourself. Just click the "edit" link at the top of the section. --Teratornis (talk) 23:48, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I changed the year in two places.[2] PrimeHunter (talk) 23:54, 27 February 2009 (UTC)