Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 September 10

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September 10

Report

If I were to write a 2 and a half page report on here how would you put it.I would like to have this as soon as possible.

Thank you, —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hds96 (talk • contribs) 23:09, September 9, 2008

See Your first article for some information on creating a good article. But please remember that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia for encyclopedic articles on notable topics, not a place to publish your papers or works. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 00:05, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

And see Wikipedia:No original research. On Wikipedia, you should only write about things that have appeared in reliable, published sources. Wikipedia's software (which is called MediaWiki if you are curious) lets you type anything you want, but other users watch everything you do, and if you violate the rules, they may delete your work. This makes Wikipedia very different than most other kinds of writing most people have done. Usually we think in terms of writing something, saving it, and then it stays there until we decide to change it. Not on Wikipedia! Here it's like playing the telephone game. You write something, and other people start changing it. Eventually it could become something completely different. --Teratornis (talk) 02:11, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes i would like some information

I would like to inquire about the procedure that needs to be followed for removing a specific website and its associated content from wikipedia's spam list? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Paul.Aucoin.la (talk • contribs) 09:32, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Spam blacklist and MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist#Proposed removals. Or if it's a Mediawiki blacklisting instead of only Wikipedia, see meta:Talk:Spam blacklist#Proposed removals. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:28, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

                         -------------------

But how do i know which one is it black listed on. My site appears on the page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam/2008_Archive_Apr_1

can i understand from this that on which page will i have to go to in order to start a discussion so that my site can be removed from the listing? I would also like advice on how to start discussions and related information like who i will be discussing it with. What should i say etc?

All blacklisted sites are listed on the Wikipedia:Spam blacklist. What site gets bounced back as blacklisted? --Orange Mike | Talk 17:18, 10 September 2008 (UTC) (And please log on and sign your posts.)

I cannot say where it's blacklisted just from being on that page. What is the domain? (write it without http://). Arguments would depend on why it was blacklisted and what it contains. Requests are reviewed by editors with administrator status at that site. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:24, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

The domain name is LiveAdmins dot com. I posted my request up at

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Spam-blacklist

but apparently no one seems to have noticed it. Can i make it more noticeable somehow. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.30.87.133 (talk) 06:24, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Cajun Dance Party

Why is only half this article showing? If you go to edit it, you can see that there's more stuff, but only the first three paragraphs show up in the article page. Thanks for any help, Pince Nez (talk) 11:10, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

A closing </ref> was missing '/'.[1] PrimeHunter (talk) 11:13, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Super! Thank you! Pince Nez (talk) 11:58, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Rollback

Sometimes I see vandalism and hastily hit the undo button, and then find that the vandal had made several consecutive edits and I've missed the earlier ones. See [2]. I know that non-admins can be given rollback, and I'm sure I've seen a special page where they ask for it, but I can't find the page right now and can't remember what it was called. Help would be appreciated. Thank you. Stratford490 (talk) 11:34, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for permissions.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:38, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your quick response. I'll make the request once I've read the relevant pages. Stratford490 (talk) 11:48, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

You're welcome--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:58, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Also, you can use "undo" on several consecutive edits. Go to history page and click on "cur" next to latest version before possible vandalism edits. This gives you a comparison of that version against current version. To undo differences click on "undo" next to current version header. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:04, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

This IP address 203.26.113.165 needs to be blocked, again. DOR (HK) (talk) 01:24, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Changing the name of a page

Could somebody please tell me how the change the name of a page?

I have recently discovered in Wikipedia under the category "List of companies of Romania" a page of the company I work for: Novensys Corporation. The information listed there was old, so I made an update of the information. The problem is that the name of the company in the page title is spelt wrong "Novesys" instead of "Novensys".

How can I modify this name?

Thank you.

Nemona (talk) 12:20, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Actually, it appears you created the article, but the link you got there from was pointing to the wrong place. What I would have done was to fix the link in the list, then follow it and create the article in the correct place. I'll move the article for you (the site doesn't allow you to move articles until you've been around a few days), but you may wish to read our notability guidelines for companies, as I fear your article does not meet them and is likely to be deleted. --Clubjuggle ^T/C 12:32, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:FAQ/Business has a good overview that you need to read. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 13:11, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Novensys Corporation has been speedily deleted as advertising and so I have just tagged the page move redirect for deletion too. – ukexpat (talk) 14:32, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

How to make something searchable as an article

This is my first attempt at publishing something on Wikipedia so forgive me if this is a simple issue. I've searched the help areas and faq's but can't seem to find the answer. I created the wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:TrilientPartners but it doesn't appear when searching for the word "Trilient" unless you use the advanced seach options and click the "User" checkbox. How can I convert this to an article so that it's easily searchable without having to use the advanced search feature. Thanks in advance! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.147.57.6 (talk) 12:31, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

That is because you created it as a Wikipedia:User page, not as an article. I see it is now up for deletion. Before you recreate it, please read Wikipedia:FAQ/Business. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 13:09, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Image Size

The portrait starting this article seems to me oversize. Is there a policy about the size of images in infoboxes, and does this image conform? Perhaps it is just that the portrait is so closeup.

Wanderer57 (talk) 14:08, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

It is a largish image and the way it has been cropped doesn't help. I have added an image size parameter to the ibox and reduced the image size. – ukexpat (talk) 14:37, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. That is an improvement. Wanderer57 (talk) 14:43, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Repeated inline references to the same source

Hi..

I want to make two inline citations to the same source at two different places in an article.

How can I do this without having to repeat the cite template for that source? Can I just have the ref+cite tag at the first citation and then at the repeat, just the ref tag with the same name.. I tried doing this in the naive way but it said something like "cant have ref with no name" even though they both had (the same) name, just the second one didn't have a cite. Zargulon (talk) 15:28, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Use <ref name="NAME OF REF"></ref> and later just put <ref name="NAME OF REF" />. Notice that the second use doesn't have a </ref> tag. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 15:38, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

• Great, that worked - thanks. Zargulon (talk) 15:53, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

The method is described at Wikipedia:Footnotes#Naming a ref tag so it can be used more than once. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:46, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

And you don't need to enclose the name in quotes. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 17:41, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

If the name contains a space or non-ASCII quotes, you need to use quotation marks. Aside from that, it is always recommended that quotation marks are used. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 18:21, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

ASKING A QUESTION

HOW CAN I ASK A QUESTION ABOUT A SONG TITLE LISTED IN WIKOPEDIA? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.170.142.167 (talk) 19:18, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Well, this is the right place to ask. Just click on "edit" at the upper right of this section and ask away. Be sure to take off the caps lock too. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 19:22, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

If it's a question about the song itself, and not about the Wikipedia article about the song, then your best place would be The Entertainment Reference Desk. Corvus cornix_talk 19:55, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Petronas infobox

Hi. The picture caption on the infobox of the Petronas Twin Towers article says "Petronas Twin Towers was the world's tallest building from 1998 to 2004". I wanted to change that to "Petronas Twin Towers were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004" (as they consist of two buildings, not just one), but I am surprised that I can't seem to find that caption anywhere when editing the article. Could someone please help me find out where's the sneaky caption hiding? Thanks. Húsönd 19:43, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

That's really odd. I'm still looking around though. TN‑X-Man 19:48, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

It's in Template:Infobox Skyscraper, but it's hard-coded in, so it's going to be trickier than you might have first thought to change it. --barneca (talk) 19:49, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflicts) It's coded directly into the template. The problem here is that the template is used by multiple towers/skyscrapers, and usually applies to a single tower - even though in this case it refers to multiple. The coding of {{Infobox Skyscraper}} is phrased to populate the text this way: {{{building_name}}} was the world's tallest building from {{{year_highest}}} to {{{year_end}}}. -- Barek (talk • contribs) - 19:51, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

It looks like someone has coded in a way to have a plural name as an option, but I don't understand the coding well enough to know how to use the option. --barneca (talk) 19:53, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Good catch. I set "Plural = true" in the article, and that seems to have worked. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 19:57, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Heh. I tried to use the {{plural}} magic word, and thought I'd fixed it myself (not realizing you'd already fixed it 2 minutes earlier). Now I have to delete the article and selectively restore it to remove evidence of my arrogance/stupidity (a lethal combination). --barneca (talk) 20:04, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Thank you guys. :-) Húsönd 20:06, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Polly Young-Eisendrath correction and update

Polly Young-Eisendrath lives and practices near Montpelier, Vermont. SHsyockey (talk) 20:55, 10 September 2008 (UTC)he is the author of thirteen books (translated into twenty languages), including The Resilient Spirit and Women and Desire. Her most recent book is The Self-Esteem Trap: Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance, published by Little, Brown and Company, 2008. She has been a practicing Buddhist since 1971.

She is also Consultant for Leadership Development at Norwich University. A new and revised edition of The Cambridge Companion to Jung, of which she is the first editor was also published in 2008. [

Her recent speaking engagements include: Shambhala Sun Institute: Love and Relationships, at Omega Institute, July 2008.

Is there a question here? Corvus cornix_talk 01:07, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Page Deletion question

Wikipedia makes things a bit too complicated. All I want to know is why my page was deleted fro my friend LD Sargent (page title). We also sent in a photo. When we checked for the deleted page and its administrator there was nothing. What happened? 21:37, 10 September 2008 (UTC)Mo

The article L. D. Sargent still exists. It has tags indicating that Ms. Sargent's notability is in doubt and that the article needs to be cleaned up, but it hasn't been deleted yet. Xenon54 21:44, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

The article was originally created at User:Mochalit, and on 20 August it was moved to L. D. Sargent. That may be why you couldn't find it. —teb728 t c 22:06, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Hellas S.C.

The Wikipedia entry for Hellas S.C. was not created or authorized by anyone representing our organization. It is completely full of innacuracies. Hellas is completely misrepsrented by an unauthorized person. As the vice president of Hellas S.C. I kindly request that the site be taken down.

Sincerely, Tom Papagiannopoulos <email address removed by NW> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.79.159.243 (talk) 23:14, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Hello, sir. Do you think you point us to the link of the article? In addition, you may want to check out Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View policy (linked in blue). If you still feel we have misrepresented your company, you may contact the Wikimedia Foundation for more information. NuclearWarfare ^{contact me}_{My work} 23:48, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

The article is clearly Hellas S.C. which has been edited by 24.79.159.243, but only with unexplained removal of content. I don't see any point of view so I guess the problem is factual accuracy. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:39, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

I've posted a question at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Football#Hellas S.C.. Hopefully someone there will be able to resolve this issue. The answer to Tom, though, is that if we consider the club notable then we will not remove its page just because the club asks us to. However if it isn't notable then it can be A7'd, which is a shorthand we use here for "speedy deleting" an article on a non-notable subject. Members of our football project are the best people to make this decision. AndyJones (talk) 08:01, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

A user from the Football Wikiproject has "PRODed" (i.e. proposed for deletion) this article. If there are no objections, it should be gone in a few days. AndyJones (talk) 12:13, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Username

How can I make my username look different? Schuym1 (talk) 23:42, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Signatures#Customizing your signature — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 23:43, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

I don't understand it. I tried adding html tags and it said that I did something wrong. Schuym1 (talk) 00:05, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Did you check the box "Raw signature"? — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 00:15, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes. All I want to do is change it to two or three colors. Schuym1 (talk) 00:20, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

What, precisely, did you do, and what, precisely, happened? Algebraist 00:22, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Maybe you can post your code for us to look at? For example:

'''[[User:Schuym1|<font style="color:red">Sch</font><font style="color:green">uym</font><font style="color:red">1</font>]] <small>([[User talk:Schuym1|<font style="color:green">talk</font>]])</small>'''

(Which should show up as Schuym1 (talk)) — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 00:27, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

I did it! Schuym1 00:32, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Looks good. But you should add a link to allow others to contact you. Lәo_(βǃʘʘɱ) 00:38, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes, without a link to either your user page or user talk page in the signature, the bots may think you failed to sign and add "(Previous unsigned comment left by …" — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 00:43, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Done. Schuym1 (talk) 00:46, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

I forgot to do user page. Schuym1 (talk) 00:47, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

I can't get it to work.[[User:Schuym1|Schuym1 (talk) 00:49, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Done. Schuym1 (talk) 00:50, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Only one of them is required at Wikipedia:Signatures#Internal links, but having both is convenient. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:56, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Awards and Achievements Box

Look below this entry:

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

There's a box called "Awards and Achievements." I want to make something similar for another filmmaker but I don't know how. How do I go about doing this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.86.103.169 (talk) 23:47, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Here is an example of such a table. Just click the edit tab and edit out the information you want.

NuclearWarfare ^{contact me}_{My work} 23:58, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Image captions

An image was recently added to the Priscilla Taylor article. The caption of the image seems to advert-y to me. Is the advertising on the image page good enough? Am I justified in taking the advertising off the caption since it's already on the image page? I suck at all the copyright red tape that goes with images... Dismas|^(talk) 23:50, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

I took out the promo. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 23:53, 10 September 2008 (UTC)