Help desk
< July 24	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 26 >

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.

July 25[edit]

User:TonyTheTiger/monobook.css[edit]

I want to edit my monobook, but WP does not think that User:TonyTheTiger/monobook.css exists. Why is this?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 00:05, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It has to be created like other pages. See Help:User style. You have only created User:TonyTheTiger/monobook.js. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:13, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How do I delete an entry?[edit]

How do I delete an entry? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.146.189.193 (talk) 07:04, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What do you mean by an "entry"? —teb728 t c 07:08, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to undo an edit just click the (undo) button. For more information see WP:UNDO • S • C • A • R • C • E • 10:09, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you want a page to be deleted then see Wikipedia:Deletion policy. Only administrators can delete pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:15, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

To delete the page have to go thru an admin. Unless It meets the crteria for speedy deletion. See: Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion.Etineskid (talk) 16:25, 28 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Article on George Mandler[edit]

I have been working on the article for George Mandler, several times, most recently by gollowing editors' suggestions re peacock terms etc. The page has been saying for over two days that the article was edited 2seconds ago, but no progress is being made. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mandler (talk • contribs) 08:20, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I dont seem to be able to find such an articleOttawa4ever (talk) 08:52, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It's an article at WP:AFC. The article in question is Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/George Mandler. I'm not familiar with the AFC process; I suggest you contact the reviewer User:MSGJ and ask him if it's ok and the concerns are addressed. ≈ Chamal ^talk 10:15, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If the article you are referring to is at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/George Mandler, I think there are two separate issues: 1) The template at the top of the page was saying "Last edited 1 second ago by Mandler" even though it had been some time since you last edited it. I have purged the article which seems to have resolved this - the template now says "Last edited 103 minutes ago by Mandler". 2) The article has been put on hold by a reviewer who noted the concerns re neutral point-of-view and peacock terms. I am not familiar with all the ins and outs of the WP:AFC process, but it looks like the article will be re-examined within a certain time to see if these issues have been resolved before making a decision. The template says the length of time is 24 hours, but if there are a lot of articles to be reviewed, this may be longer. --Kateshort forbob 10:25, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bypass_your_cache#Internet_Explorer[edit]

I have added further information to the above wikipedia page, how do I know if it will be deleted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zthatin (talk • contribs) 09:21, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Keep an eye on it (using your watchlist)... you'll see there if the information is deleted. I would not expect it to be deleted, although it may possibly be improved if necessary. PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 10:04, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Also I noticed that the instructions for IE7 were totally wrong, I have gone ahead and fixed it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zthatin (talk • contribs) 10:06, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! I'm not knowledgeable about these things, but others who are will no doubt see it, and improve it if required. PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 10:10, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

HARD DISK[edit]

WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CYLINDER AND PLATTERR IN HARD DISK. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.168.216.22 (talk) 09:28, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Computing reference desk. They specialize in answering computer questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link and ask away. You could always try searching Wikipedia for an article related to the topic you want to know more about. I hope this helps. • S • C • A • R • C • E • 10:01, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See Hard disk drive, Hard disk platter, and Cylinder-head-sector. --Teratornis (talk) 22:44, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"Seed" in Portals[edit]

What does "Seed" mean in random portal components? • S • C • A • R • C • E • 10:11, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It's for generating the random number used... see Random seed. PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 10:23, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{{Random portal component|max=#|header=Title|subpage=Subpage|seed=#}} Isn't that what "max" is for? • S • C • A • R • C • E • 10:52, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Seed, as in Random seed Oops, didn't realise Phantomsteve had already linked that - it seems to be used to choose which page is shown. Max is to limit the number of possible pages in the pool. (I think, from a quick look.) --Kateshort forbob 12:00, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{{Random portal component}} uses {{rand}}. If you use {{rand|max}} multiple times on the same page then you get the same value unless you give different seeds. Compare these {{rand|100}}:

No seed: 72, 72, 72, 72, 72, 72, 72, 72, 72, 72

Same seed each time: 39, 39, 39, 39, 39, 39, 39, 39, 39, 39

Different seeds: 4, 71, 5, 39, 7, 41, 9, 43, 11, 13

PrimeHunter (talk) 12:07, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Creating an account[edit]

In all of your publicity you stress the advantages of registering as a user by creating an IP address. Yet nowhere do you give clear guidance as to how to perform this rudamentary information. Can you set out the process step by step? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.134.218.80 (talk) 12:13, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what you refer to by "registering as a user by creating an IP address". The Internet connection on your computer is automatically given an IP address by your Internet service provider (ISP) unrelated to whether you use Wikipedia. If you are not logged into an account when you edit Wikipedia then your IP address is shown. Yours is currently 86.134.218.80. If you want to create an account then fill out the few fields at Special:UserLogin/signup. There are instructions later on the page. If you have problems then you can also use Wikipedia:Request an account. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:29, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure that many people will be confused by this, but I have clarified the opening statement of Wikipedia:Why create an account? in light of your question (see this diff). Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:31, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wondering "Why do People ask strange questions here ?--Notedgrant (talk) 14:51, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Notability process[edit]

If a you are placing a biograpghy notibility template on a article. What is the time frame and process when it finally will be deleted or merged? Who evaluate the situation?--Kslotte (talk) 14:02, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean CSD for an article of someone that isn't notable? If it's controversial, it will go through the AFD process, if it's extremely obvious it will be deleted immediately. It could take anywhere from 60 seconds to a week, an administrator will delete it if obvious. Read more at WP:CSD#A7 • S • C • A • R • C • E • 15:31, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In this cases it's about athletes that may have been in Wikipedia for a while (for years) but don't fully fill the Wikipedia:ATHLETE#Athletes requirements. If I then place a tag {{notability}} on that page. In what time frame are we talking about then. Days, weeks, months or years? Can it stay there for a while so people can add more information to the article? --Kslotte (talk) 19:13, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it can stay there. Tagging an article with {{notability}}, in itself, does not lead to deletion. (Actions that may lead to the deletion of a page are explained at WP:DEL.) Goodraise 19:33, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Translations[edit]

I'd like to go to Wikipedia Brasil and read the articles in English. How can I do that? Thanks, CKClarkelly33 (talk) 13:46, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You could use a translation tool like BabelFish to translate Portuguese into English. Cheers, TFOWR^{This flag once was red} 13:49, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a great translator from Google • S • C • A • R • C • E • 15:27, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Spacecraft Endeavour[edit]

How does the Endeavour re-enter the Earth's atmosphereHopalongtwo (talk) 14:05, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Try google Bing search--Notedgrant (talk) 14:46, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Please do your own homework.

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misevaluation, but it is our policy here to not do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn how to solve such problems.
Please attempt to solve the problem yourself first. You can search Wikipedia or search the Web.
If you need help with a specific part of your homework, the Reference desk can help you grasp the concept. Do not ask knowledge questions here, just those about using Wikipedia. • S • C • A • R • C • E • 15:21, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Did you read Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle orbiter, and Atmospheric reentry? --Teratornis (talk) 22:41, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy delete[edit]

[1] Eric Partridge (talk) 15:05, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What's your point ?--Notedgrant (talk) 15:14, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Content dispute[edit]

There has been a long lasting content dispute in Category talk:Anarchist communists. The dispute is about whether the category should be included as a subcategory of Category:Communists. The editor I am arguing with has provided very little constructive arguments and is displaying strong signs of tendentious editing, but he isn't really disturbing the article (if you don't count one protest revert) so I feel that reporting to administration is overreacting. I asked for and received a third opinion, which was discarded by the other editor, and also asked for help on WikiProject politics, but he simply ignored or discarded all their opinions as well. What to do? Kotiwalo (talk) 16:26, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

that user seems to be writing as if he owns the site WP:own An Admin can help you out --Notedgrant (talk) 16:58, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Okay I'll ask for help. Kotiwalo (talk) 17:09, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Question[edit]

Resolved

What is the welcome tag that is includes IP User registering? I currently use the {{Welcome}} template, which does not include registration Sephiroth storm (talk) 17:01, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The documentation for {{Welcome}} links to {{Welcome-anon}}. See also Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome templates and Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Standard user greeting. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:09, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Sephiroth storm (talk) 20:05, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Reverting edits on talk pages[edit]

If a person edits articles it may be for a good reason but is editing (others posts)/deleting them allowed on WP

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Qur'an&diff=292639237&oldid=292553851

If the posts contain inappropriate material or are malicious in any way, then yes. Articles and talk pages have very similar rules. Kotiwalo (talk) 17:55, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note that by inappropriate material I mean not only profanity, personal attacks etc but also spam and text that isn't related to improving the article in question, including general discussion of the topic, even when not in bad faith. Kotiwalo (talk) 17:57, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you I wont reinstate my edits I tried to write appropriately out there but I may err Thanks for the quick response and have a good day :D--Notedgrant (talk) 18:00, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You too. Don' let them bite you! Kotiwalo (talk) 18:05, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Robert V. Decareau[edit]

I have a source that I keep getting a </ref> missing for <ref> for [[Robert V. Decareau]] even though if you click on the edit of the section, both the <ref> and </ref> are in there. What am I doing wrong? Please advise. Chris (talk) 18:31, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Found it. Never mind. Chris (talk) 19:05, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Duplicate account : Joe.mambo and Joe.Mambo are the same user, but different accounts[edit]

Dear Helpdesk!

I have recently noticed that I made a type on my first registered Account Joe.mambo. I would like this account to be merged with my correctly spelled one : Joe.Mambo

Would be delighted if that were to be possible.

Thanks

Joe.Mambo —Preceding unsigned comment added by Joe.mambo (talk • contribs) 23:10, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am sorry but accounts cannot be merged. Just use the one you prefer from now on and abandon the other one. You can also add a note about this to your userpage so people can review the previous contributions under this name. Regards So Why 23:28, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You may also be interested in WP:USURP • S • C • A • R • C • E • 07:01, 26 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

He owns both the accounts already. ;) --59.95.99.49 (talk) 07:05, 26 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]