Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 May 3

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May 3[edit]

Wikipedia Upload[edit]

Why there is a Wikipedia:Upload if already there is one Commons:Upload. --Extra999 (Contact me + contribs) 03:48, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Upload is for uploading images only to English Wikipedia. Uploading images to Commons:Upload allows them to be used on all other projects on Wikimedia servers. Goodvac (talk) 04:06, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict)Because not all images can be uploaded to Commons. Some images must remain on the English (or French, German, etc) Wikipedia. Dismas|(talk) 04:07, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

add a new page[edit]

How do I create pages??—Preceding unsigned comment added by Dum vita est spes est (talkcontribs)

See WP:Your first article. Dismas|(talk) 05:04, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And after that see WP:Article Wizard. --Extra999 (Contact me + contribs) 05:05, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines with which all articles should comply. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.
Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.
If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article. You might also look at Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is also available to walk you through creating an article. – ukexpat (talk) 17:20, 5 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Citation[edit]

For [1], am I supposed to use APA referencing style since it is a psychology subject, or is there a different method for Wikipedia?

See WP:Citing sources. Dismas|(talk) 05:34, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Italicise manuscript titles?[edit]

Are we supposed to italicise manuscript titles, like we do with books? I couldn't find it listed here: Wikipedia:MOS#Italics. Like for example: the MS Blah Blah, or the Blah Blah manuscript.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 05:43, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If the manuscript has a title as given by its author, like a published book, you should italicize that. If its been given a descriptive name to distinguish it, but is not a title, like the Voynich manuscript, you should NOT italicize that. --Jayron32 05:46, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
OK. I had meant unpublished, historical manuscripts. So I've got some de-italicising to do. Thanks Jayron32.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 06:20, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

clock[edit]

Sir

Why does the clock in the "history" line not correspond with my "real" time? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spiraxle (talkcontribs) 07:01, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The time in your watchlist and in the history of an article is based on UTC. If you go to your preferences page and click on the "gadgets" tab, you can check the box to put a UTC clock in the upper right corner of the page. Dismas|(talk) 08:30, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Under the "Date and time" tab at Special:Preferences you can select which time zone to display in histories, watchlist and some other places. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:52, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

how to make an article about upcoming Hollywood actor? 20 films in 2 years, some very popular[edit]

check this link: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3059262/ and please respond... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.208.138.142 (talk) 07:20, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Please see my answer to the question a few sections above this one entitled How does one keep a page up?. According to Martin William Harris' IMDb page, it doesn't look like he would meet our notability guidelines. Most of the roles he has played are non-named characters such as "Paramedic" or "Irish Reporter". These aren't noteworthy roles really. This is just going according to his IMDb page. Maybe you can find some other way that he satisfies WP:ENT. Dismas|(talk) 08:33, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
WP:UPANDCOMING may also be of interest when you describe him as upcoming. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:55, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Your question almost answers itself. While it is understandable that fans and publicists for "upcoming" actors would like to publicize the actor in as many venues as possible, including Wikipedia, that is not the role of an encyclopedia. We do not want to be a lead, when it comes to publicity, but a follower. We attempt to accurately record what happens, but we want to avoid influencing what happens, outside of the overall goal of adding to the easily accessible store of knowledge.--SPhilbrickT 12:01, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Login Successful page[edit]

Hi, I was wondering how I could find documentation and proposals related to the current newbie "login successful" page which displays when a user first logs in. Thanks. Claritas (talk) 07:21, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See MediaWiki:Welcomecreation. Goodvac (talk) 08:03, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Would I propose a major change to the template (supported by members of RCP) through the talk page or as a proposal ? If as a proposal, where should I create it ? Thanks. Claritas (talk) 08:32, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I would initially propose it on the talk page -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 10:51, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

footballers loans[edit]

If the football season is over for a particular league and players are on loan at clubs in that league,should I changed their football club years for example with jack colback, from 2009- to 2009-10? Gobbleswoggler (talk) 12:11, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You should ask your question at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Football where the footie experts hang out. – ukexpat (talk) 17:22, 5 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How to Flag an Article that Needs Many Corrections?[edit]

I ran across an article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buriganga_River) that contains many grammar errors and uses non-standard English. I don't have the time and don't feel competent to fix the article myself. How do I flag an article to alert others who might want to make the necessary repairs? Aethrun72 (talk) 15:10, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Cleanup templates. Ks0stm (TCG) 15:16, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Editing Mobile Version?[edit]

The text in the standard and mobile versions of an article do not match. Someone apparently inserted what he thought was "cute" text into the mobile version which does not appear in the standard version. Yet the mobile version appears to have no "edit" button. So how do I edit/correct that mobile version?

JonsBlog (talk) 16:09, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If I recall correctly, the mobile version is a snapshot of the main version. As such, it takes a while for changes on the main Wikipedia to be reflected on the mobile version of the site. There is no "edit" option, as most mobile phones cannot handle the size of a page of text. -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 16:28, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
See Help:Mobile access for other options. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:14, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Dinka[edit]

The 1991 Bor Massacre section of the Dinka article is POV to the point of being propaganda, and needs at least to be tagged, if not deleted. How do I tag it, assuming I don't simply delete it? Thanks! Awien (talk) 17:47, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you are questioning the accuracy, add {{accuracy}}; if you are questioning the neutrality, add {{neutrality}}. You cannot delete the article (only admins can do that) - and if only part of this article is inaccurate/POV, then it should be improved. The best way is to tag it, then discuss it on the article's talk page, explaining what needs to be changed, and providing reliable sources showing the correct information. -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 17:57, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I don't have the resources to improve the section as it needs, so I'll try to tag it for neutrality. Otherwise, I would only remove the contentious section, not the article. Awien (talk) 18:06, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you do tag the article for neutrality, then please leave an explanation at the article talk page detailing which sentences/passages need fixing, and what about them needs fixing. Tags, especially tags like "NPOV" related tags, which can be seen as "scare tags", should not be left unexplained, lest they be removed. --Jayron32 18:35, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

People keep deleting reference to my Wikimedia commons photo[edit]

in this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Brewer

I took the image myself!! It is an image I took with my cellphone camera and they keep deleting it off! Is there any way you can protect this image in the article? What else more do I need to do? THe person deleting the image wont respond to my TALK in their talk page!!!!!! Zpalmese (talk) 19:22, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like you took a picture from a TV screen. That's most likely copyrighted. Jauerbackdude?/dude. 19:45, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
commons:File:JanBrewer-04-22-2010.jpg was deleted as a screen capture of a copyrighted television broadcast.[2] See commons:Commons:Screenshots. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:18, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

where are the videos?[edit]

im trying to find videos on subjects does wikipedia have a special area for them —Preceding unsigned comment added by Brandon vanden bos (talkcontribs) 19:33, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Commons:Category:Videos is a place to start. An even better place to start is to tell us the subjects you have in mind. --Teratornis (talk) 19:52, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Image slideshow?[edit]

Hi, I'm a sysop for the BelegarthWiki (www.geddon.org), and people have asked in the past if there is a way to make some kind of image slideshow on the Main Page so we don't have to look at the same pictures every day. Or even a way to have the image pulled randomly from a select group of approved images and change on its own? Is there any way to do this? My knowledge of Wiki code is very limited, but if given an example I'm sure I could follow it.

Thanks,
Aleytiger06 (talk) 19:56, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If your wiki has the ParserFunctions extension then you should be able to copy Template:Random number and use it in a switch to select an image. Users may have to purge the page to get a new random number. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:49, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Determined to stop deletion of template[edit]

The closing of this templates TfD discussion is absolutely inexcusable. The result of the discussion was obviously no consensus. Is there any way for me to contest this deletion in process? Immunize (talk) 20:39, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Deletion review is the place to request the review of a deletion decision discussion. TNXMan 20:40, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Is deletion review the correct place to prevent the deletion of an template (as this template has not yet been deleted). 20:46, 3 May 2010 (UTC)
Yes, as far as I know. The discussion has closed, so it is eligible for DRV. Deletion of templates can take a while, since all the instances of that template have to be deleted. TNXMan 20:50, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Exporting an older revision of an article[edit]

Is it possible to use the "special:export" function to export an older revision of an article without exporting the whole history of the article? MarkkuP (talk) 21:23, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

questions regarding webcomic articles[edit]

Resolved
 –  – ukexpat (talk) 17:25, 5 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've been told that at one time there was an article about the webcomic Housepets!(http://housepetscomic.com) And that it was removed just because "wikipedia didn't want it", and they don't want anymore articles on comics. Is this true? If so, Then what the hell? Why not? I was about to create an article on it. Because i noticed it was missing, There's one on VGcats(another webcomic) and XKCD. So why not Housepets!?

Thank you ~ReCreate —Preceding unsigned comment added by (the real)ReCreate (talkcontribs) 22:29, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The reason Housepets! was deleted was not because "Wikipedia didn't want it". It was deleted under criteria for speedy deletion A7, "No indication that the article may meet guidelines for inclusion". Articles on Wikipedia must be on notable topics. The specific notability guidelines on web content are at Wikipedia:Notability (web). Please read that page and check whether the webcomic is notable under those guidelines. There has never been a policy saying Wikipedia doesn't want any more articles on comics. Articles about notable content are always wanted. --Mysdaao talk 22:35, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The deleted Housepets! was a plot-only description of a fictional work with a long list of characters and their characteristics, but no sources or indication why the comic might be notable. Just like other subjects, articles about webcomics are allowed if they satisfy notability requirements. Category:Webcomics and List of webcomics shows many. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:48, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, So it was deleted, long story short, because the content of the article was not notable? ReCreate (talk) 23:01, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
No, because the subject of the article was not notable. We accept low-quality content, if the subject is notable; but not the other way around. --Orange Mike | Talk 23:04, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Oh? Does that mean an article on the Comic Housepets! won't be allowed because it is not "notable"? ReCreate (talk) 23:20, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
also, where can i find this deleted article? like the history somewhere? ReCreate (talk) 23:20, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It was deleted per Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion#A7 which doesn't require evaluation of the subject, only of the article content. I can confirm A7 applied to the deleted article. There was not even any indication that anybody had ever mentioned or read the comic. It was just an unsourced description of the characters and nothing else. I have not tried to evaluate the notability of the comic, and the deletion log doesn't indicate whether the deleting administrator tried it. If you can find sources to satisfy Wikipedia:Notability (web) then an article might stay, but most web content fails that guideline.
Only administrators can see deleted articles. The opening paragraph said:
"Housepets! Is a comic created by Rick Griffin. The Idea of the comic was conceived in 2006 and came into fruition in 2008. The Comics are usually done in 4-panel strips are sometimes longer or shorter. The comics are usually posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday."
The rest of the article was copied from http://www.housepetscomic.com/cast which is copyrighted so it was a copyright violation. We are not allowed to restore copyright violations but you can just read the original. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:39, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, Thanks a lot! That answers all of my questions. ReCreate (talk) 23:47, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In many cases, a deletion like that just means that the initial article creator didn't do their job. If the comic is in fact actually notable, then create a new article showing us that, with citations of articles about it in verifiable, reliable sources that actually discuss it in a substantive manner. That doesn't mean a link to a webforum posting saying, "Hey, man, that Housepets! is mega-awesome!" (Unless the posting is verifiably by Barack Obama and/or Neil Gaiman, perhaps.) --Orange Mike | Talk 01:55, 4 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
haha yeah. I'm thinking of doing that. I probably will sometime. Thanks again! ReCreate (talk) 03:00, 4 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

linking from many articles[edit]

Hi, I have just requested a link to one of my maps from 1 article, but there are hundreds of articles to which the same link would apply. Do I have to propose a link for each article individually or can this be streamlined or bundled somehow? I create maps of public transport connections for various London areas, showing all available means of transport (tube, train, bus, coach), not just Transport for London routes. My maps are the most comprehensive and up-to-date available and well designed. The web maps are featuring some dynamic content (highlight individual bus routes, venues, etc.) and the PDF versions allow for enlargement without loss of quality. All bus stops are shown and there are links to all available time tables. So far I have only about 20 maps, but hope to have 50 by the end of the year. That means thousands of links.

Best regards Michael Strauss 23:47, 3 May 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Michaelstrauss (talkcontribs)

I don't think that there is. But in any case, it is doubtful whether links to your sites are acceptable. Please see WP:ELNO (where you may fall foul of points 1 and 4, and probably 13) and WP:EL#ADV further down the same article. --ColinFine (talk) 21:50, 6 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]