Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2013 October 8

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Help desk
< October 7 << Sep | October | Nov >> October 9 >
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.


October 8[edit]

Academics Notability[edit]

I think I may qualify as an academics. But of course it is for others at Wikipedia to decide if an article about me, Paul S. Wang (http://www.cs.kent.edu/~pwang), is worthwhile.

Thanks, Paul — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.189.208.126 (talk) 00:12, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You're right that you are strongly discouraged from writing an article about yourself: see WP:AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Notability for academics is defined at WP:PROF. You could request an article about yourself at Wikipedia:Requested articles, although the backlog is huge and realistically there's little chance of it happening soon. The alternative is to wait until somebody decides you're a good subject for an article and writes one, I'm afraid. - Karenjc (talk) 07:27, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

redirect a page[edit]

I'm not sure if I did this correctly, but I want to redirect the "MAACO Bowl Las Vegas" to "Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl". I placed the "#REDIRECT" header in the "MAACO Bowl Las Vegas Bowl" page but it didn't look right, so I undid the page. Can you help me

Roberto221 (talk) 00:15, 8 October 2013 (UTC) Roberto221[reply]

The edit that you performed here was done correctly though it's probably not the right way to handle this. If the game is known by the new name, Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl, then the article should be moved to its new title. That said, the move should probably be discussed on the talk page first. Dismas|(talk) 00:51, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) You can't redirect Maaco Bowl Las Vegas to Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl because the latter article doesn't exist. I suspect that what you want to do is to change the wording in Maaco Bowl Las Vegas article to reflect the fact that the event has changed its name to Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl, then you can move the article to the new title "Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl" using the process described at WP:Move. This will automatically leave a redirect from Maaco Bowl Las Vegas to the new title. - David Biddulph (talk) 00:53, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Using software 'mwdumper'[edit]

Hello I have been given a project to create a database of almost 1600 wikipedia articles. I have been using the software mwdumper to store one .xml article file at a time to the database. Can anyone please tell me a faster way to transfer these files to the database? or maybe another software that can get the job done.

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kclalwani (talkcontribs) 02:43, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. You might get more specialised input by asking this question at the Computing reference desk or perhaps at WIkipedia:Village pump/Technical. - Karenjc (talk) 07:00, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
You might find MW:DUMP helpful. --ColinFine (talk) 10:59, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
That links to a page called 'DUMP' with no text. If you mean the mwdump python script, unfortunately I don't know python. If you meant something else, please let me know. Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kclalwani (talkcontribs) 18:04, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

thank you for your inputs, I will post the question at the computing reference desk.

What I would really like is some way to iterate through pages to upload. When I download the pages I want, I use wget with the -i switch and a text file of URLs to get. Is there anything similar for importing those dumps into my local mediawiki installation?Kclalwani (talk) 18:08, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

sirvi or seervi caste community certificate pali zilla which category it belongs[edit]

sirvi or seervi caste community certificate pali zilla which category it belongs

@Ssankaran: Hello, it's not clear from your question what you are trying to ask. Further, your recent article creation, here where instead of creating an article, you asked a question, suggests that you may not be quite up to speed on the proper usage of article space, vs. Help Desk space: "sirvi or seervi caste community certificate pali zilla which category it belongs. The sirvi caste does not come under your list rajastan government. where do i search for obtaining community for this caste" Can you be more specific as to how we can help you at the English Wikipedia? No disrespect is intended. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 05:25, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Can't find recently created article[edit]

Hello, I recently created an article titled "Sonatas and Partias for Solo Violin", or, I think I created it, but it isn't showing up anywhere. How long does it take to appear after creation? Or if that's not the issue, could you tell me what is, and how to get it to appear? Thank you, — Preceding unsigned comment added by Violiniste (talkcontribs) 04:40, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

@Violiniste: Hello! Your new-ish article appears to still be located here in the Articles for creation space, which you can locate by checking your contribution history. Looks like you still have a way to go before it can be submitted for consideration. In its current state, it would likely be classified a stub if it were released into the wild, but it would also likely be nominated for deletion because it lacks any references.
That said, I happened to notice that there is an existing, similarly titled article, Sonatas and partitas for solo violin (Bach) (partitas vs partias ?). While you do appear to be a recent contributor at that article, it doesn't appear that you created the article. (Of course if you happen to be ViolinGirl, then you appear to be an early contributor, circa 2005. Anyhow, that's what I've been able to glean.) I don't know much about the classical musix, but if you were interested in deleting your current article, and instead fleshing out the existing article (assuming they are on the same subject), you might want to request a page deletion. Drop us a note here and someone should be able to help you with that, including me. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 04:57, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, wait, I just noticed your edit summary here in which you write, "Explained why the solo violin works have come to be called "Partita" rather than "Partia", as Bach originally titled them." Again, I know nothing about the classical musics, but if Bach's "sonatas and partias" are the same thing as Bach's "sonatas and partitas", the only difference being minor difference in spelling, we could create a redirect from the original "partias", to the more common "partitas", which would spare you the effort of re-writing the article, and then you could attempt to clarify the difference between "partia" and "partita" on the main article. Does that make sense? Basically, if "Encyclopaedia" is the same thing as "Encyclopedia" let's just redirect visitors from "Encyclopaedia" to "Encyclopedia" and call it a day. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 05:09, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

deleting a wiki page[edit]

I have a wiki page attributed to me and wish to have the page taken down. How can t do this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.168.73.109 (talk) 05:04, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

@67.168.73.109: Hi, it's not clear from your question what you mean by "a wiki page attributed to me". Do you mean that there is an article ABOUT you, or that there is an article where you are listed as a creator/editor? I only see three edits in your IP's edit history. Are you referring to the article on Guy Maddison? For what reason would you propose that it be deleted? The article appears to be created by a user named Natalukas in 2007, not by your IP address. We need more information to be able to help you effectively. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 05:18, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
If you are talking about an article about you, then a good starting point would be to look at Wikipedia's policy on Biographies of Living Persons, especially the section on dealing with articles about yourself. Wikipedia doesn't automatically remove material on request, but there is an obligation to ensure that articles about living people are accurate, well sourced, balanced and not unduly intrusive. - Karenjc (talk) 06:50, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

History of gunpowder and gunpowder[edit]

I'm doing a science project of gunpowder and i'm having trouble finding the correct information because the Wikipedia page History of gunpowder and the Wikipedia page gunpowder has similar information and different information which is confusing me on which information is real and correct — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fire4age (talkcontribs) 05:56, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The two pages have different tasks, but their information should not contradict each other. If you could provide an example of any contradictory information, we can look into resolving this. All information that may be disputed should have a source in the article that backs it up, and if you find information that doesn't, especially if it contradicts that of another article, feel free to try to find a citation, or use one from the other page to correct the content.  drewmunn  talk  08:13, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia editing policy[edit]

Dear Wikipedia,

I have been giving donations to wikipedia for the past 3 years and this Wikipedia is my main source of information - mostly about history and science. I frequently perform minor editing of pages.

I was shocked when I read this page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Sheldrake

The header of the article is highly derogatory to the scientist. It seems that a group of wikipedia editor with little or no training in the scientific method has decided to put down researchers interested in fringe topics as could be seen here http://guerrillaskepticismonwikipedia.blogspot.com.

While I do not necessarily concur with Sheldrake's ideas, there are other ways to balance points of view than insulting individuals.

I also find it shocking that a group of editor could associate with each other in an attempt to diffuse their ideas and beliefs (whatever that idea it might be).

Best regards,

A. Delorme — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.29.182.139 (talk) 05:57, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, A. Delorme. The article that you are discussing appears to be undergoing development, and has a lively discussion going on on its talk page at Talk:Rupert Sheldrake. If you find the article unacceptable, perhaps you can advocate on that page to change particular sections of it by pointing the editors to reliable sources which support your changes, or by suggesting changes to the language that you find derogatory. —Anne Delong (talk) 06:26, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, it's probably also worth mentioning that since it's common knowledge that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, it is also generally understood that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone. (Yes, I deliberately said the same thing twice.) An encyclopedia that can be edited by the world is a dynamic process that can in some moments produce mind-boggling chaos, and in other moments produce academic greatness. Participation is always the best way to inspire change, and maybe a great place to begin is on the article's talk page, guided by Anne Delong's comments above. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 07:59, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Unwanted page, which is also inaccurate[edit]

Somebody created this page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Bowden) about me based on a Guardian artcile. The Guardian has now corrected its story (check the cited URL, but they took a week to do it), so I would prefer if the Wikipedia page about me was simply deleted

I don't want a Wikipedia page, 60% of the biog (by wordcount) is wrong (based on the errors in the Guardian article), and there is a serious point at issue :

I am a privacy guy - why should I have unwanted data collected about me because I exercise free speech to criticize people collecting unwanted data about me?. Especially because the page was only created on the basis of a journalists' cynical twists to get a viral headline?

I followed Wikipedia instructions to complain at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Caspar_Bowden

Caspar Bowden @CasparBowden — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.16.69.91 (talk) 09:20, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have revised it according to the links on the talk page. If you still wish to have it deleted create an account, and nominate it per the instructions at Articles for deletion. --Mdann52talk to me! 12:31, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
If you are intending to follow Mdann's suggestion and nominate the article for deletion,WP:BLPREQUESTDELETE may be another helpful link. - Karenjc (talk) 14:06, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Watchlisting pages outside of Wikipedia[edit]

I rarely venture outside of Wikipedia, but I would like to watchlist a discussion at Wikisource. Is there a way to add a Wikisource page to my watchlist here? I tried the obvious thing of editing the raw watchlist and added the Wikisource page prefixed with s:. That did not work.

Is it possible?

Trappist the monk (talk) 11:59, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There are two scripts (see the note at the top of WP:IIGW). I haven't tested them myself, so cannot comment on whether they work or not. Note that those are user created scripts. There is no way to watch a page on another Wikimedia project from EN Wikipedia without using one of those scripts AFAIK. -- Toshio Yamaguchi 12:06, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you.
Trappist the monk (talk) 13:22, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Block or semi-protection?[edit]

Hello. I don't know if that's the right place for this kind of question/help but, this IP address keeps changing/adding info on the Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 17) page that are not correct. I already warned them three times to stop doing it but they won't stop! How can we semi-protect the page? Can I do it on my own or an admin has to do it? Thank you very much. TeamGale 12:39, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You don't seem to have warned the IP on his/her user talk page. You can't always rely just on edit summaries. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:45, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
OK thanks. I just changed the last edits from that user and left a message on their talk page. Hope they'll stop. TeamGale 12:58, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
You might find Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace useful, especially as most warning templates are incremental. Please look at the individual template documentation before using it, to ensure that it is suitable. Unfortunately the explanations use (what are to me) obscure words like transclusion, and need a simple explanation, but in general, if you replace the final "}}" with "|Article name}}" it will fill in the article to which you are referring. Arjayay (talk) 15:49, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
TeamGale, only admins can protect pages. Please go to WP:RFPP to request protection, or you can ask any admin on his or her talk page. If you don't know anyone who's an admin, you could go through Special:Listusers and tell it to provide only the usernames of admins. The same is true of blocks; leave a note at an admin's talk page, or report vandalism at WP:AIV. Nyttend (talk) 01:52, 9 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you all so much for the links! Arjayay I didn't get the chance/time to read and study the page with the templates but I'll sure do it in the first chance. Nyttend thanks for the link of where I can ask for a page to get protected. I knew that only admins can block someone, I was mostly asking about the protection. For now, after leaving a message to the user's talk page, seems like the constant changes with incorrect infos have stopped. If the user comes back to do the same, I'll ask for protection from an admin. Thanks again for all your help :) TeamGale 06:01, 9 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Gerard Catholic High School[edit]

The mascot you have on this page is incorrect. it is from a Christmas party where I put a Santa hat on the mascot. Below is a link to the correct photo. Gerard Catholic High School Mascot - Redcoat — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jamiek57 (talkcontribs) 13:42, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for notifying us of this. You may find the talk page of the article helpful as well.  drewmunn  talk  13:56, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The current image doesn't seem to have a valid copyright release. - David Biddulph (talk) 14:03, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I have marked the current image for deletion as having an improper license, and have uploaded the version linked to above as fair use, and replaced it in the article Gerard Catholic High School. DES (talk) 14:54, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

starting a new page[edit]

I have my document in my talk page, complete with references and it is ready to submit as a new wiki page. How do I do this?Ceedeeo (talk) 15:33, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

As it is a blatant copyright violation, mostly from [1] if it was moved to main-space it would be deleted almost immediately. You need to write articles in your own words, not copy-paste the work of others. Arjayay (talk) 15:57, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I have blanked the copyrighted content, and warned Ceedeeo on his or her talk page. I didn't revdel the copyvio, but that could be done. I hope that Ceedeeo will find the welcome links helpful, and will now understand that articles cannot be based on large amounts of text simply copied from elsewhere. DES (talk) 16:15, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

PoIgb template[edit]

Having some problem with the table of PoIgb templates at Lichfield Canal#Route. Why is the "accommodation bridge" wikilink showing up in the coordinates column?--Shantavira|feed me 16:22, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The template documentation says "Do not use Wikilinks in the 1st parameter unless the name= parameter is also specified", and that has fixed it. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:50, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]


Changing an Article Title[edit]

Hello I just registered today and I am still trying to figure out how to do some of the editing. One of my goals is to add updated information to some psychology pages, specifically information included in the DSM-5 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition, which recently came out.

Many of the disorders have been renamed and I want to change the title of the article of Somatization Disorder to it's new DSM V title: "Somatic Symptom Disorder"

Thanks -Dan — Preceding unsigned comment added by Leppertd (talkcontribs) 17:33, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You can add a redirect page or move the page or also use an aka format on the page. I would suggest a redirect is a better option here with an aka. A m i t  웃   17:39, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
If you jsut registered today, you will not yet be able to move pages. If you do want to do a moce use requested moves. But I agree with User:a.amitkumar that a redir and an aka would do the job. DES (talk) 17:50, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
For advice on which should be moved and which redirected you should talk to the subject specialists at WP:WikiProject Medicine. -- Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 06:36, 9 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Help with WikiBlame[edit]

Hi, I was hoping to get some help with WikiBlame because I'm not getting the results I need, and I'm a little confused by the manual's explanation. I'm trying to search article Super Why! for all additions of "Brer" (as in Brer Rabbit) as part of a long-term vandalism/sockpuppetry case I'm putting together. WikiBlame seems to report a few select times that the word "Brer" was on the page, (double green circles) but I'm still having trouble pinpointing exactly WHO added the text. (I'm clicking back and forth through the diffs, to little success). Another tool, Article Blamer gives me 2 results but I know that there are more than 2, because I manually found this one and a few others. Are there any tools that can tell me, "Okay, these IPs and accounts all made edits that added the word 'Brer' to the article"? Is there a more efficient way to use WikiBlame? Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 17:42, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

dele jegede[edit]

I uploaded a pdf on the subject of this note. The idea was to see it to Wikipedia for public consumption. I wonder whether I did anything wrong, or missed out on anything. Or perhaps it does take a certain time-frame for it to come on stream. I will appreciate any assistance on this.

Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bolekaja (talkcontribs) 18:52, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

According to your edit history, this is the only edit you have made under this name, so I assume you have edited under another name or as an IP. There is no article called "dele jegede" so I am not clear what you mean by "I uploaded a PDF", or where you uploaded it to, but Wikipedia does not usually reproduce documents. Could you tell us what you uploaded, where you uploaded it to, and/or what name, or IP address, you might have used in the past. Arjayay (talk) 19:01, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I believe @Bolekaja: is looking for this. It appears that the copyright issues must be resolved or it will be speedily deleted. "This file is a copyright violation because it is copyrighted and not published under a free license. The file is subject to speedy deletion unless it is relicensed according to the Commons licensing policy." I'm a little unclear as to the purpose of the PDF. Did you wish to create an article for this gentleman? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:42, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Give me a few minutes and I'll see if I can start an article for you. I'm basically going to copy/paste the content from the PDF, so if it is plagiarized from somewhere, you'd better tell me now. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:54, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
UPDATE: Okay, @Bolekaja:, rather than start a new article (because I think the article could use some work), I've converted the PDF to a very roughly formatted article and placed it in your Userspace. See: User:Bolekaja/Dele Jegede. A lot of the text sounds really promotional in tone, and some of it comes across (to me) as a bit pretentious, particularly the areas where Jegede is talking about his own art. We're not writing an interview, you see. If you want to establish a section to list critical response to his works, that's reasonable, as long as it is written in neutral language and with balanced reviews from both sides of the critical fence. I've enclosed some hidden comments in the article, which you will be able to read when you start editing. Good luck, and I hope that I've helped. If you need further help with citations and stuff, let me know, or you can post a general request at the Help Desk. Once you get the article up to snuff, you can submit it at WP:AFC, but keep in mind there is a massive backlog, so it could take a few weeks for it to go live. Regards, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 20:25, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Account[edit]

Unable to open inbox.com. pw lost in brain lol, Open new account not excepted? Why? Wikipedia same problem. unable to create account due to lost pw., please advise. IS:t48246--63.174.40.183 (talk) 19:33, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, it is unclear what you are trying to do. Are you trying to log into an existing Wikipedia account, or create a new Wikipedia account? How exactly can we help you? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:46, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I think the OP is trying to retrieve a lost Wikipedia password via email at inbox.com, but can't because s/he has also lost the password to the inbox.com email account. If so, unfortunately there's nothing to be done other than to create a new account. You can leave a message on the userpages of both accounts if you wish, to make it clear that the edits of both have been made by the same user. - Karenjc (talk) 20:08, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I've just created a help page[edit]

Hi, I've just created a help page called Help:Citation merging and I'd like an experienced user opinion about it since I'm not that experienced in Wiki help pages. Thanks.Truth-seeker2004 (talk) 20:40, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of changes to my company's page[edit]

Someone is defacing my company's page and I was wondering if there was a way that I could be notified if anything changes on the page so I can in turn fix it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.65.128.6 (talk) 21:35, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, if you create a user account, you can add the page to your watchlist by clicking the star in the upper-right hand corner of the screen. You are, however, discouraged from making edits to the article about your company, because that would present a conflict of interest. Also, it's not your company's page, it's the community's article.  :) Cyphoidbomb (talk) 22:04, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Also, if you told us what page it was then we, experienced editors, could look at the article and help keep it factual and reliable. Dismas|(talk) 00:10, 9 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
TeleTech (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
The IP has recently been fixing vandalism at the TeleTech article. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:02, 9 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Pageview tool missing days although data seems to exist[edit]

At stats.grok.se there are several dates for which pageview statistics raw data seems to exist that have not been compiled for use.

The following dates do not seem to be missing data (on cursory glance) although they were not produced for the pageview tool.

1/31/08
2/28/08
3/1/08
6/1/08
6/2/08
7/12-31/08
11/15/09
2/23/10
6/26/10*
9/2/2011
10/20/11

There is a very inconsistent policy in regards to including dates for which partial data is available. The following are data during which some hours are available although no data has been produced:

3/3-4/08
10/21-22/08
10/14,16/09
11/22/09
1/23/10
2/8/10
6/28/10
7/5/10
7/7/10
7/10/10

There are other dates that seem to have been produced even though only partial data is available. These dates include

June 2010 several dates
12/23,26/11
7/24/13

This leads me to believe that the other dates above with only partial data should be produced. Can we go back and produce the dates that have full or partial data?--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 22:34, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia has no control over this tool, the tool is maintained by User:Henrik. Scarce2 (talk) 22:48, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I have emailed him about this discussion.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 23:45, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Henry F. Holden[edit]

putting this profile together, but don't know how to put a reference list together, all the information is legit, you can google or wiki this person and you will find him in quite a few things, please help me with this problem — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hank65 (talkcontribs) 23:34, 8 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I assume that this question is about Henry F. Holden, so I have added an appropriate section heading. Numerous useful links have been added to your user talk page, so you need to read those. In particular you need to read about reliable sources, about Wikipedia's definition of notability for people, and about referencing for beginners. - David Biddulph (talk) 00:00, 9 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]