Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 October 15

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October 15[edit]

Category articles per page[edit]

I'd like to retrieve the contents of a large category in a single page. Do we have a URL query parameter that can be used to get a page showing more than 200 items from a category? I tried num, per_page, perpage, and limit, but to no avail. • Anakin (talk) 04:16, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've tried different things, but nothing works for me either. I'm guessing that answer is "no". -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 07:39, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The tools CatScan, CatScan 2.0 and Category Intersection at the toolserver can be used to retrieve pages from a category. The output is in vertical format (one column). Their intended use is to return articles that belongs to two or more specified categories, e.g. "Category:Musical groups" and "Category:All pages needing cleanup" for finding musical groups articles needing cleanup. Iceblock (talk) 08:40, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. CatScan 2.0 does exactly what I need. • Anakin (talk) 14:08, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How long before a new wikipage becomes visible?[edit]

I just created Timothy Lin wikipage but I cannot find when I do the regular search.

How long do I have to wait before Wikipedia visitors can find the article in the search box?

Please let me know. Thank you.

Kdl4082 (talk) 06:54, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, it looks like the page on Timothy Lin has been deleted (Timothy_lin) by User:LadyofShalott. If you have any questions about why this page was deleted it would be best to take it up with them in a respectful manner (WP:Good Faith). Caleb Jontalk 07:04, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For your information, Kd14082, once you click on "save", the article is visible immediately. Whether it survives long enough to be seen by many people is another matter - as you have found out! However, do not be dismayed - as Caleb Jon suggests, contact LadyofShalott if you have any other questions about why this page was deleted. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 07:29, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Looking at your contributions, I see that you created Timothy Lin (Lin Dao Liang) - I have moved this to Timothy Lin with a redirect from Lin Dao Liang. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 07:29, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Question about whether several related events should each have their own article, or should be spread into several articles[edit]

What is the policy on how much related things should be clumped, and how things should be spread into their own articles?

I am asking this questions mainly because I am wondering whether [1] should be included in 2009_Pakistan_Army_General_Headquarters_attack or whether it should have its own article. Caleb Jontalk 06:58, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

My personal opinion is that it should be included in the main article (as only the main facts from the news report are required), but you might want to read Wikipedia:Article size for further guidance - just bear in mind what those guidelines say: "No need for haste"! -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 07:34, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Citing from foreign language sources[edit]

Hi. I am working on a page on an English illustrator on English Wiki, and have come across an Italian language interview on an Italian e-zine site which contains useful information not available anywhere else (to give a very basic example, it is the only source I have which actually gives the artist's year of birth). I have no problem translating the material into English myself, but have no idea what the guidelines are regarding the use of a foreign language source as a ref. Any ideas? LSmok3 Talk 11:05, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Citing a foreign-language source is acceptable, as long as a corresponding English-language source is not available. For more info, see WP:VUE. Regards, decltype (talk) 11:10, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
As Decltype says, it is perfectly acceptable to use non-English sources of information. In fact, many subjects may not have English-language sources (for example, a page I expanded yesterday only had Indonesian sources) - as long as they are verifiable by speakers of the language, and come from reliable sources. In the VUE guidelines linked to above, it says Where editors translate a direct quotation, they should quote the relevant portion of the original text in a footnote or in the article. Translations published by reliable sources are preferred over translations made by Wikipedia editors. English-language references are preferable, but not required.-- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 11:16, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
My only concern is whether the e-zine is a reliable source. Many "e-zines" are really just blogs with pretensions and pretty HTML. What language it is in, is the least of our concerns. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:48, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I know what you mean about e-zines, many are comparatively unprofessional, etc. This one is not great and is also of very narrow remit, and the Italian seems a bit odd (possibly due to the interview having been carried out in English and then translated into Italian), but the only thing I'm interested in is the interview, or rather the information therein; I will not be quoting directly from it, only using a few bits of info not available elsewhere. The interview is linked to on the artist's own site, showing it to be bonafide, if that counts for anything. . . LSmok3 Talk 11:48, 16 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Column chart[edit]

Using the F1 example on the right hand side at the top of their Wiki page, how do I replicate something similar to this?

How do I input images onto a page and write a caption below?

How do I link words and names to external websites?

How do I get references at bottom of page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Slush129 (talkcontribs) 11:48, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'll try to answer all of those:
  1. To add images, use the format [[File:name-of-image.jpg|thumb|right|Caption-goes-here]] (see Wikipedia:Images#Obtaining_images for information on getting images, and Wikipedia:Uploading images for how to upload images - but be aware that you determine the copyright status)
  2. In general, the only links to external websites should be in a list at the bottom of the page (see Wikipedia:External links) - but the way to do it there is to use the format [http://domain.com/page.html Caption]
  3. To add references, see Wikipedia:Citing sources, but basically at the bottom of the article, have a section called References with the tag {{reflist}} after the header. Then in the article, after the sentence/paragraph which is being reference, add <ref>(details of reference)</ref> - but I'll leave a message on your talk page with more information on how to do that.
Hope this helps, contact us if you have other questions. Your draft article Powerboat P1 will need references from reliable sources before you can even consider moving it to main article space - but I'm glad that you have sensibly created it in your user page while you work on it. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 12:31, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Uploaded new logo but old logo still showing[edit]

Cargotec recently changed its logo. I uploaded the new logo here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cargotec.svg and the source is pointing to the correct logo. http://www.cargotec.com/cms/cargocms20.nsf/(Images)/New%20Corporate%20Logo/$File/cargotec_logo.gif?OpenElement

Old logo (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/09/Cargotec.svg ) is still showing up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargotec.

Do I need to change is somewhere else too? You can see the new logo at http://www.cargotec.com/ too.

Kind regards, Susanna —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.37.255.5 (talk) 11:50, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

  • The file doesn't appear to have been updated since August. It looks like for some reason, the new image wasn't uploaded. I would suggest that you try again, reading everything carefully: a common mistake is to click on preview instead of upload - if you still have problems, come back here and let us know the status. -- PhantomSteve (Contact Me, My Contribs) 12:21, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Not gonna happen; User:Cargotec was blocked as a role account username back in June. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:49, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I am user Cargotec and I have no idea why we were blocked. I was trying to change this logo back then. We had the image change in June. Could you please unblock our username and tell why it was blocked? I will try to upload the logo again. Sorry about this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.37.255.5 (talk) 13:22, 16 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The account was blocked for violating Wikipedia:Username policy#Company/group names. See the instructions about {{unblock-un|your new username here}} at User talk:Cargotec. You have to log in as Cargotec before requesting an unblock as described. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:32, 16 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Maps[edit]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_New_Mexico_highlighting_Santa_Fe_County.svg

Mr. Benbennick, Your name is associated with the map at the end of the above link.

Here is the situation. As brief as possible. I am involved with a hobby/sport called geocaching. I found a web site at WORLD66.com that allows me, by linking to them somehow on my geocaching.com website profile, to map which states I have been geocaching in. I would like to do the same thing with a map of New Mexico to show which counties I have been geocaching in. It looks to me like the Wiki map noted above could possibly accomplish that. With that brief overview, do you think there is a way you could assist with that? Is there a way to link to a NM state map and color in the counties at my discretion?

Thank you, Jeff Jdclark02 (talk) 14:04, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Jeff, as you note, the file was created by David Benbennick . His user name at Wikipedia Commons is Dbenben. It is possible, but unlikely that he will see the messgae in the help desk. However, he does have an active user talk page, so it would make sense to post a note there and ask for help. You can get to that page here. I’ll follow up with a post giving you thoughts on how you can do it yourself.SPhilbrickT 16:44, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The New Mexico map is in a format called SVG. There are many programs that can manipulate .svg files, one I use is easy and free – Inkscape. Changing colors of counties is quite easy, although there is a learning curve as with any new software. If you want to use that map, keep in mind that not all browers auotmatically render .svg files (the SVG page will probably tell you more, but you could change the county in an svg editor, then save it as a different format such as .jpg.SPhilbrickT 16:56, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
On Wikipedia itself we have templates that we use to dynamically create location maps in articles: {{Location map start}}, {{Location map marker}}, and {{Location map end}}. See for example {{Location map USA New Mexico}} and some articles that use it. You could put a location map on your Wikipedia user page and use it for editing practice. A map of your geocaching adventures would probably not be suitable for use in a Wikipedia article. I don't know how you would go about "linking to them somehow on my geocaching.com website profile". Doing that sort of thing (a so-called Mashup (web application hybrid)) requires Web development skills that few people have. Most likely, the only methods you could learn in a reasonable amount of time would involve manually copying and pasting coordinate data from one Web site into another site or application. It turns out to be surprisingly hard most of the time to obtain data from one Web site and re-use it efficiently in ways that site's designers did not anticipate. Data on computers does not lend itself to the kind of flexible re-use a person comes to expect in the real world. For example, if you find some old bricks lying in your back yard, you can just pick them up and arrange them around your bushes in the front yard. In the world of computers things are rarely that simple. In general, nothing is straightforwardly compatible with anything else, unless you know for a fact that it is. Before you can do something that looks as simple as picking up some bricks, you may have to read a 500 page manual, assuming you can find one, learn new programming languages, and spend weeks in trial and error experiments and Googling for clues to decode a bunch of meaningless error messages. People who work with computers a lot tend to become fluent with profanity. --Teratornis (talk) 18:12, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Should I disambiguate?[edit]

Hello, there's a new article I saw called Thou Shalt Not... about an episode on TV. I don't know if it's notable enough to remain on Wikipedia. There are also articles on the Biblical Thou Shalt Not and the Broadway musical Thou Shalt Not (musical). Should I try to make a disambiguation page for these, or should I wait pending on whether the TV episode article is deleted in the next few days? Thank you. LovesMacs (talk) 14:40, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I found a partial answer, the Thou Shalt Not page is already a disambiguation page. LovesMacs (talk) 14:47, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Notable or not, many of the Quantum Leap episodes have separate articles, as do the episodes of several other TV shows.--RDBury (talk) 17:52, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
OK, I'll add the new article to the list. Thanks for your help. LovesMacs (talk) 00:10, 16 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia architecture and administration[edit]

Has or Wikipedia ever or will Wikipedia ever publish the systems architecture and system managment practices involved in creation and maintenance of Wikipedia? I am interested in how Wikipedia can supply so much content AND make sure it's all protected.

I am interested in items like: operating systems hardware platforms data storage techniques data storage technology database type(s) database management tools used —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.71.62.137 (talk) 20:36, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You may be better off by asking at the technical village pump, where you may receive a better reply to your question. TNXMan 22:27, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
See here for some info: meta:Servers. • Anakin (talk) 07:57, 16 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Article search keywords[edit]

hi,

i have been creating my contribute about the "Ontario Justice Education Network" a not-for-profit org., the acronym for which is "OJEN". I would like my article to come up when the acronym is used in a search engine. i am wondering if this has to be done with a tag, i have been going through those in the Wikipedia website but have not seen any. does this process require a tag, if so what is it? If this is not the way to accomplish this then what is the proper way.

Thank You, Ojen1 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.57.16.15 (talk) 22:24, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Technically, it is done by creating a redirect. However, Wikipedia should not be used for advertising or promotion and all articles must be written from a neutral point of view. Remember, we're not here to increase pagerank, but rather to write an encyclopedia. TNXMan 22:26, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]


Reference templates[edit]

I'm looking for a specific template. It's used when an article lacks in-line citations. Even when there's a list of books at the bottom, the article doesn't say which statements are supported by which texts. I've seen the template used before, but I can't seem to track it down. Any ideas? ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 22:31, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{{nofootnotes}}? TNXMan 22:34, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It's easy when you know how! :o) Good work TNXMan. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 22:45, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

logging in[edit]

Dear Sir:

I have tried repeatidly, yet I am unable to create an accepted account .

Sincerely.

Jeanne —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.213.202.202 (talk) 22:44, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Which username do you want? The username Jeanne is taken along with 47,336,458 other usernames at Special:ListUsers. What happens when you try to create an account at Special:UserLogin/signup? PrimeHunter (talk) 22:55, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If there is a technical restriction that is preventing you from creating an account, such as a hardblock, you may want to request an account. Intelligentsiumreview 22:59, 15 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]