Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 November 27

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November 27

Hi

I am currently an autoconfirmed registered user at wikipedia, but im having trouble uploading an image from a website. Could you tell me how i can browse for a file without mu=y information being seen--PlannerPenBackpack (talk) 20:04, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Pictures

It seems to be so difficult to find a pictures for certain pages. I try searching Google for public pictures that I can use, and I do find some. But when I upload it, there's still a need for licencing and stuff. For the page of House of Heroes, I've been looking for a picture for the page, for the longest time. But the licencing always gets in the way!

Why must there be licencing stuff for free images? Is there anyway uploading an image can be easier? Moptopstyle1 00:33, 27 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Moptopstyle1 (talk • contribs)

Experience shows that many users upload copyrighted images without saying they are copyrighted, so we cannot assume an image is free if the uploader gave no license information. There are also many users who don't know copyright rules and have greater risk of making an inaccurate claim if they just write plain text like "This image is allowed to use" than if they use a specific copyright tag which may say where they actually got the image from. Use of copyright tags also help to automate some things. See more at Wikipedia:Image copyright tags. If you are unsure what to do with an image then you can post to Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:00, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Oh, but I do not know anything about, "permissons" and "copyrights" and everything like that So, where do I start? What do I do? Moptopstyle1 01:13, 27 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Moptopstyle1 (talk • contribs)

You can start by following these links: WP:Copyrights; WP:CC-BY-SA; WP:FUI. commons:COM:L may also be useful. Intelligentsium 01:22, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Template:infobox festival

Resolved

At Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic, most of the parameters are not working. I think some tinkering has caused problems.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 00:52, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

I have fixed this instance through an analysis of the template (the syntax is fairly simple, but a meta-template is used). The problem was that you misnamed the arguments (for example, |dates should have been |date). If you would like, I could fix the template itself so that it will take both, or at least desensitize it to the variants. Intelligentsium 01:08, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Desensitizing the template would be helpful, since it is probably breaking in several other uses. The page had been working for years before recent changes to the template. So whatever changes you can make so that fewer other templates experience problems would be good. Thanks for cleaning it up. Is the size parameter working?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 04:07, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Now, resolved. Thanks.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 12:42, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Pictures in list

I'm working with List of heads of state of Argentina, and most of the people in it have images to be ilustrated, but some obscure antique governors do not (at least, not free ones). What do I do with the "Image" field in their cases? Do I leave an image placeholder like File:Replace this image male.svg, or do I leave it empty? MBelgrano (talk) 03:55, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

In a table, it is best to leave the image field blank. Intelligentsium 04:00, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Most edits

Which Wikipedia mainspace article has had the most edits? jc iindyysgvxc (my contributions) 08:21, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

• You might find what you are looking for in the article Wikipedia:Most frequently edited pages. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 08:41, 27 November 2009 (UTC)
  • By default the Most frequently edited pages table is sorted on the Recent Edits column. You may want it sorted on the Total Edits column; you can sort it that way by clicking on the column heading. Note that because of the length of the table, the resort may take several minutes. Mainspace articles are those in Namespace 0. —teb728 t c 10:46, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Not too surprisingly, between 2008-04-24 and 2008-05-23 it was George W. Bush's article. I guess that no one has bothered to analyse all of the edits since then. You can check www.wikirage.com as well though Smartse (talk) 18:50, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Can I translate those pages?

I don't know if it's proper to translate a page directly and create them as the page of another language on Wikipedia. for example, I wanna just translate the page introducing Yttria Stabilized Zirconia into Chinese, and then create the Chinese pages in Wikipedia, using those texts i've translated. Do i need to cite the original English page?

Thanks a lot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lagrime (talk • contribs) 10:53, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Usually what people do is to mention it in the editsummary (add the permanent link). Some Wikipedia versions have a talkpage template for articles that were translated from a different language version. See {{Translated_page}} —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:33, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Edit box doesn't show correct data

Twice recently, when I attempt to edit a page, nothing, or a scrambled page source appears in the edit box. For example, I can not edit my Talk page at the moment, as the box says there is no content. I am using the secure server. Thanks ContinueWithCaution (talk) 11:13, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Did you try a forced reload in your browser ? WP:BYPASS —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:27, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I tried that without success. This happens on the beta, monobook and modern skins, too. Thanks, ContinueWithCaution (talk) 14:39, 27 November 2009 (UTC).

Question

minda amocanis amoxzsna...trapecis partobi? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.54.199.2 (talk) 15:02, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you are trying to ask. TNXMan 17:57, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Google Translate with the detect language option claims the source language is Malay, but doesn't translate it to English. If the question really is in Malay language, there is a Malay Wikipedia where the questioner could ask. However, the ip2location tool puts the IP address in the country of Georgia, so who knows. --Teratornis (talk) 20:04, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Using a variety of tools, and assuming it is Georgian (which seems more likely to me than Malay), the best I've come up with is that the original question can be transliterated as "მინდა ამოcანის ამოxზსნა თრაფეcის ფართობი", however when looking for individual words, it seems that most of these are not words, "წმინდა ანბანი ამორჩევა თრიალეთის ფართობი" is what suggestions have produced (I have no idea of the accuracy). With even less accuracy, the word for word translation of this is: "(holy) (alphabet) (to choose) (?) (area)" which doesn't help much. I can't find any Georgian phrase translators on the internet though. The Georgian Wikipedia may be of more help. Thryduulf (talk) 20:50, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Where to get someone to review a proposed edit

Is there a well-trafficked place to ask for someone to review an edit I'm proposing to a page with little discussion-page traffic? A link I proposed for County of Brant was deleted by a bot, but since no one reads the talk page there it's not really a good place to ask anyone to look over it. Misty De Meo (talk) 17:48, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

I had a look on the talk page, and it appears that Brant County falls under both wp:WikiProject Ontario and WP:WikiProject Canada, so they might be good places to check out.

Depending on the type of link you were adding, the bot might have been set to remove it automatically. In which case, have a read of WP:EL. There is also a noticeboard: WP:ELN that you could try. Stephen! ^Coming... 18:43, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

The link was to this wiki, it seems like a reasonable link to be included so I'll add it back for you. Smartse (talk) 18:42, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Help with IPA

I was hoping somebody could help me by placing the IPA pronunciation guide in Kiliaen van Rensselaer (Dutch merchant). I don't know how to use the system, but I have a sound file of the pronunciation of the name, stated by a Dutch speaker. Anybody here want to take a whack at it? upstateNYer 18:27, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

As this is a specialized request, there might not be anyone reading the Help desk who knows how to help with this (but check back over the next several days, maybe you will get a useful reply). If nobody here can help you, you can try some of these alternatives until something works:

• Search for other articles having IPA pronunciations for other Dutch words. Look at the history of such articles to identify the users who added those pronunciations. Ask them for help on their talk pages.
• Ask on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Netherlands. Probably some Dutch speakers participate in that project.
• Ask for help on the talk page of the corresponding article on the Dutch Wikipedia: nl:Talk:Kiliaen van Rensselaer. The Dutch-language version of the article should also have the same IPA pronunciation, but it does not currently. I suppose you could leave a question in English on the talk page there, which isn't ideal, but many Dutch speakers also speak English.

--Teratornis (talk) 19:50, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the response. It has more to do with knowing how to use the IPA alphabet, not anything to do with Dutch. Anybody that knows how to use IPA should be able to use the sound file to make the IPA version. upstateNYer 22:59, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Page moved incorrectly

Could someone fix the moving of Home Rule Movement to Indian Home Rule Movement? Someone copied and pasted it instead of moving it and I couldn't catch it before they edited it again. Afterwards I think they wanted the HRM article to redirect to Home Rule instead. Cheers Smartse (talk) 18:38, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

You will need help from an administrator. See Wikipedia:How to fix cut-and-paste moves. --Teratornis (talk) 19:53, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

adding spaces between letters?

Is there a way to add blank spaces between letters

For example if I want to write a list like the following

1. Walt Whitman: xxxxxx

10. Walt Whitman: xxgggg

but I want the W after the 1. to fall under the same space as the W after 10.

is there a space code I can add to do that?

Thanks. Jonathan Ned Katz Jnkatz1 (talk) 18:45, 27 November 2009 (UTC) <blanked>

The easiest way I know to force text to line up in HTML is to use an invisible table. Algebraist 19:13, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

See Help:Table and WP:EIW#Table. You can also use the {{column}} templates, like this:

1. Walt Whitman:
2. Walt Whitman:

xxxxxx
xxgggg

and you can monkey around with the spacing to make it look the way you want. If you want to number consecutive list items non-consecutively, you have to use an HTML ordered list. See Help:List. --Teratornis (talk) 19:35, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Need for Disambiguation....or not?

I would like to create a link from a person, Michael Shane, from the cast list in the article One Potato, Two Potato. No article exists yet for that Michael Shane, however there is a redirect to Matt Bentley, a professional wrestler that uses Michael Shane as a 'Ring Name'. At first I thought that this would be a case for a disambiguation, but now I think that the 'ring name' should not be a redirect, instead simply a reference in that article. If I remove the redirect, would that revert to a red link for Michael Shane on the One Potato, Two Potato article, and could it become an article on its own at some point, or is there a different procedure? Yunchie (talk) 20:02, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

If you change it from a redirect to an article about the One Potato Two Potato actor, then you can add a HATNOTE at the top of the article to say something like "This is an article about the actor; for the professional wrestler, see Matt Bentley". The template use is all described on the hatnote page, and there are a wide variety of templates to use. Stephen! ^Coming... 00:32, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

My text doesn't show

Resolved

I have tried twice to ad text to a talkpage: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk%3AWikiProject_Arab_world&action=historysubmit&diff=328259179&oldid=328253156

But it doesn't show at the page. --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 20:32, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

I fixed it. Someone had added a loose <ref>, earlier on the page and it was hiding the rest of the page. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 20:54, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Alt text work

Hi. I have been having fun adding alt text to images. But where does the text go? Take the picture of Euler on the Mathematics page. So, we have "Euler, sitting at his desk with some papers yada yada yada". But various pages link to this image. Should I edit the mathematics page, or Leonard Euler? Or do these pages require different alt texts? Robinh (talk) 20:40, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

In this case, both pages could probably use the same alt text and you would need to edit both pages. There are cases where different alt texts might be used. Imagine an image of a person sitting behind a desk. It is used on the following pages:

• Wooden desk - here you would use alt=A fine grained handmade wooden desk. Peter is behind it writing a manuscript
• Peter - here you might use alt=Peter with a thick woolly beard and his characteristic round hat sitting behind a wooden desk writing a manuscript.

—TheDJ (talk • contribs) 21:05, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

OK, thanks, TheDJ. Is there a way of getting both pages to "point" to the same text (to save having it appear twice on the servers)? Robinh (talk) 23:10, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

No, this is not possible at the moment. The alt text is coupled to the usage of the file in an article. It cannot be coupled to the file itself. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 23:25, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Help with Article Issues on Article

Dear Admin(s) and or any authorized person, I would like to request help addressing the issues listed in the Article Issues box on the article page that I created titled Mekael Shane, so that we can ensure that its cleaned up and Wikified. Your assistance is appreciated.MatrixEditor (talk) 20:40, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, let's start with the first line "a stalwart advocate for change, was born in the United States during a period of intense racial and revolutionary turbulence, which created prolific catalyzing events that reshaped and redefined the tenets of justice and equality in America." This says nothing about the person (other than that he is a poet). It says more about the time he was born. A period he doesn't even remember himself most likely. It's "media talk" and completely out of place in Wikipedia. I don't know this person, but a more appropriate introduction would go along something like this: "Mekael Shane (born sometime, somewhere) is an African American poet . His debut bundle 'aname' was featured by the New York Times and was listed in the Poetry Top 20 of Barnes & Nobles for 15 weeks. He received the 1995 Amazon encouragement prize for poetry for this early work"

See the difference ? The first is an ad, the latter explains what someone does and why it was important. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 21:15, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Talkpage archive bot

Resolved

I added an archive bot to this talkpage as there were some BLP issues that I wanted to remove but not delete from the talkpage and it has worked but it is not showing a link to the archives on the talkpage, could someone please have a look and let me know what I left off as I want to be able to do this on other talkpages. Off2riorob (talk) 21:05, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

 Done diff —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 21:19, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks DJ I saw that was quite easy, but a bit messy, floating box. I really wanted to add the same as what is here is that possible? Off2riorob (talk) 21:22, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

would someone like to proofread?

Hi, I am not a native speaker. I tried to contribute to ther article Gymnasium (Germany), which deals with a school in my country. Could you do me a big favour and have a look at it? User:Gonzonoir already helped me out a few days ago, but I have added some new stuff to the article. So that would be very kind of you if you could proof read it, starting with "Gymnasium and political and social issues" and if you could also tell me: 1. If that article makes sense to you 2. If you have questions about the school that have not been answered by the article 3. If I should add some stuff about scientific studies dealing with the Gymnasium. Recently a lot of studies about Gymnasium and social class have been done and this is a "hot topic" in my home country... but I am not sure if that is so interesting for people from other countries and I already covered it in the article. Thank you very much.--212.201.83.59 (talk) 21:27, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

I will do so; please consider moving to Requests for Feedback, a page devoted to the sole purpose of proofreading articles. Intelligentsium 21:33, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you so much!--212.201.83.59 (talk) 21:35, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Very well done. I have revised a few minor errors in grammar and flow, but otherwise the article is very well written and is fairly comprehensive. The article makes perfect sense, but I am concerned about the formatting of references. We have templates specifically designed to standardize citations, and I would suggest using these in your article. Your article may also need more references, especially the quote by a headmaster. There may be too many images, particularly in the lead (introduction), and this may be distracting to some readers; if there are any you feel are not necessary, you should remove them or relocate them. And yes, I think you should include some discussion of scientific studies of the Gymnasien; I would consider this very interesting. Intelligentsium 22:11, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

P.S.: Please consider creating an account; this affords you many benefits, including the ability to edit without your IP address being visible to other users. Cheers, or as they say in German, tschüss Intelligentsium 22:11, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you very much. Danke:) I have included the reference for the quote of the headmaster now. I am a little bit in a fix when it comes to proofing that - say - German Gymnasiums have sport teams. I just know They do, because I attended one and I know other people, who attended one. It's like you (if you are from the USA) have to proof that american Highschools do or don't have sportsteams. You cannot really proof, you just know. So would that be enough proof if i included examples of some Gymnasien, which do have sports-teams, because I cannot proof every single Gymnasium has a sportstema, I just know the majority has. 212.201.83.59 (talk) 22:15, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Have all the questions you might have about the school been answered by that article?

Don'T want an account, because that seems to be so addictive, but thanks anyway.--

Of course, I don't expect a reference for every gymnasium's sports team or anything like that, but I am fairly sure a general description of this topic can be found, and that description referenced to prove that gymnasien generally have sports teams. Sourced examples are fine, but please don't include too many and please only include notable instances. And yes, all questions I might have about this topic have been answered. Intelligentsium 22:33, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks again. I'll look for references and i'll include the studies and Gymnasium and social class. Would you like to proofread again in a few weeks, when I have done that?--212.201.82.178 (talk) 23:36, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Pronunciation

When doing a search I get a pronunciation of the subject in parentheses. However, the pronunciation is in no language I recognize - is this a default that can be changed to English?

Thank you! Craigmarshallsmith (talk) 23:49, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

I think you are referring to International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 23:56, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

See the "recurring themes" box at the top of Wikipedia talk:IPA. --Teratornis (talk) 17:57, 28 November 2009 (UTC)