Help desk
< April 7	<< Mar \| April \| May >>	April 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.

April 8

How do I add automatic edit summaries manually?

Hi. I recently took a long Wikibreak and came back to find a suggestion that I specify which version I'm reverting an article back to (I mainly revert vandalism). I've decided to take this suggestion by using WP:AES, but I don't see anything that says how to add it manually. Help? Psycho Kirby 01:31, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, normally you would just write "rv to last version by USERNAME" in the edit summary. There's also a WP:UNDO function that will undo a single edit and make an edit summary for you. If you're looking for the tools that fill in detailed edit summaries, there are some listed at Wikipedia:Counter-Vandalism Unit. I know the "twinkle" script does this. Hope that helps, — coel acan — 01:41, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I'll try to do that from now on. Psycho Kirby 02:03, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm probably a bit late response wise, but using the revert feature of the popups tool also automatically fills in the edit summary, I've found it incredibly useful. --Luigi Maniac 02:10, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to make a string of specific edits with an automatic edit summary, I believe that the following code will work, if placed in your monobook.js (there may be incompatibilities, although I doubt it):

addOnloadHook(function() {
  if (document.getElementById('wpSummary')) {
    document.getElementById('wpSummary').value = 'your edit summary here';
  }
});

If you want the edits to be marked as minor, use:

addOnloadHook(function() {
  if (document.getElementById('wpSummary')) {
    document.getElementById('wpSummary').value = 'your edit summary here';
    document.getElementById('wpMinoredit').checked = true;
  }
});

Make sure to remove it when you're done. Gracenotes ^T § 04:35, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, this is just in general. WP:TW takes care of the anti-vandalism revision stuff just fine. Gracenotes ^T § 04:36, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bureaucrat?

How can users become bureuacats?Trampton 03:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

A user can before a bureaucrat by successfully passing an RFB—a request for bureaucratship. A user may nominate him/herself, or one user may nominate another. It basically works how WP:RFA works, except that generally a lot of support is needed (more than 85%), and questioning can be very, very intense. Gracenotes ^T § 04:27, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also see Wikipedia:Bureaucrats. John Reaves (talk) 04:30, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, I seem to remember that an RfB request has to be self-nominated. As it happens, though, there haven't been any successful requests since 12 June 2006; it is very hard to pass at RfB. --ais523 15:39, 8 April 2007 (U T C)

There's no rule, but they are typically self-noms. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 04:11, 10 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

TJ Wilson

Hello. I have tried to add the word "not" into the sentence regarding Pete Wilson being TJ Wilson's brother but it will not accept my change. I do not know why that is. I do know with out a doubt that Pete Wilson is not TJ Wilson's brother; and, I would consider myself a reliable source..after all, as TJ's mom, I believe I know who my children are; and, I believe Pete's mom would have to agree with me. Ms. Wilson68.146.215.249 03:39, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sure you're a reliable source, but Wikipedia needs something more than the truth: it needs something called verifiability. That is, something other people can check (without phoning you at all hours to confirm it!). So... is there any book or newspaper article that has this information? Let us know, and we can help you add that information. Notinasnaid 07:50, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Rest assured, however, that Wikipedia's software is not clever enough to figure out that your edit was not verified! It was probably just either something that you missed or a server problem (we had one of those for a while yesterday, for example). Adrian M. H. 15:44, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

posting maps

Hi. I am trying to post some of my self-made maps in here. My question is: 1) how do I post captions for them, 2) how do I tag them for "fair use" catagory of copyrights? There is no catagory for maps under the rubric "fair use"!

Thanks,

Mike Izady —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Izady (talk • contribs).

Captions are a part of the article where the picture is used. A picture could be used in three articles and have a different caption each time.

Fair use is not a type of copyright. Fair use is a legal argument that copyright doesn't apply; it has to be made in full knowledge of the copyright law. Why do you want fair use? Is it because your maps are derived from other copyright works (which you acknowledge, since redrawing a map can retain its copyright)? I guess, for us to give you good advice, you should describe to us the process you used, including any reference maps and how you worked with them. Notinasnaid 07:47, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Further reply-

Where images is definitely not my area of expertise-

Have a look at Wikipedia:Images for ways of putting images in articles. Once you've uploaded your image (your map), use the markup [[Image:Example.png|thumb|right|Example image caption]], replacing example.png with the name of the image and the extension, right is the alignment, and can be substituted with "right" "left" or "float", and example image caption answers your question- put your image caption there.

I'm not sure about what fair use tag to use for them- it depends on the picture. However, to help you you can have a look at Wikipedia:Image copyright tags/Fair use and see if any of them help you. For more information, you can see Wikipedia:Fair use. I hope that helped- CattleGirl ^{talk | sign!} 07:46, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As Wikipedia wants its content to be freely distributed, there are only certain conditions under which copyrighted work used under fair use is accepted/used. This is when no freely usable alternative is available or could be made in the future. For a map you have drawn yourself, they are clearly replaceable as they could be recreated by someone else and released under a free licence, and would therefore be deleted as replaceable. There are a number of licences Wikipedia does except where you still retain copyright but you allow the work to be distributed under the licence. The licences that are excepted are described at Wikipedia:Image copyright tags/Free licenses, along with the tag you can use on the image description page, and I suggest you read them carefully before choosing one that is suitable for your needs. Hope that helps, and let me know if you have any more questions. matt br 08:45, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

a wrong link about Mossadegh in Persian wikipedia

Dear Colleagues, thanks for your great effort. There is a problem in the Persian Wikipedia as follows:

In the article about "Mossadegh" there is a link by the external links at the bottom of this article named: زندگی کار و پیکار دکتر محمد مصدق This sentence is linked to http://mossadeq.com, but it should be linked to http://www.mossadeq.com As it is just now, it does not function and does not find it.

Please arrange it to be corrected.

Thanks in advance. Regards Soheila Sattari —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.63.125.26 (talk) 05:37, 8 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

I think I have fixed it for you. In future, anyone can make changes to articles so you are welcome to make the change yourself, plus this is the English Wikipedia, and you are best asking questions about the Persian language project there. matt br 08:29, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Icelandic short stories

I ran across a Category:Þættir, with a number of articles whose titles are in Icelandic rather than English, i.e. use Icelandic characters. Should they be renamed or left as is? Clarityfiend 06:19, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think there was a question on here quite a while ago about that. I'm pretty sure the consensus is leave the titles how they are, but create redirects in place of the Icelandic characters, for example, Brands þáttr örva could have a redirect called Brands pattr orva or Brands Pattr Orva, so the pages are easily accessible to english writers. CattleGirl ^{talk | sign!} 07:39, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Infobox + pic... = what?

Hi, I've been trying to format the page Gerard Way with not much luck... when visiting that page you'll notice that the image placed in the infobox has text around it, as well as the caption, which was intended to be there, under it. The infobox in use is Infobox musical artist... if someone could perhaps fix this/tell me how to fix this and tell me what was wrong, it would be appreciated. Thanks- CattleGirl ^{talk | sign!} 07:25, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Image has been removed, as replaceable with no source. CattleGirl ^{talk | sign!} 08:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

(ec) The image was linked like this '[[Image:name.jpg]]' when it should be just 'name.jpg', the infobox adds the rest for you. I'll clarify the documentation so it makes that clearer. I have removed the image from the page as it has no source or licence, and has a replaceable fair use tag on, so it is very likely that it will be deleted. matt br 08:20, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

MOBILE VER.

HOW I USE WIKWPEDIA ON MY MOBLE PHONE ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.176.112.105 (talk) 09:24, 8 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Wikipedia:WAP access might help. x42bn6 Talk 17:38, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sorting on tables

On a list I came across yesterday, List of George Cross recipients, the table can be sorted with the button at the top of the column. However, the full dates in one column dont sort properly - is it possible to do this, and is there anyone that knows enough about tables to do this? Thanks, RHB ^{Talk - Edits} 09:50, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Help:Sorting recommends using <span style="display:none">2006-12-25</span>[[25 December]] [[2006]]. Hope that helps, matt br 10:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How do I place a locater dot on a map?

I was editing Soda Creek and added a map and am stumped as to how, and really where exactly to put that yellow dot. Also, should I remove the useless map until I do know how?CindyBo 10:26, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to create a map for the article then you mau have to make it by yourself or search the Wikimedia commons for one, you can create them using image programmes such as Inkscape or Adobe Photoshop, however if you do not know exactly where the yellow dot would go (which indcates where the place is), maybe you could ask other Wikipedians too at Wikipedia:Requested images. That should help! Telly addict 11:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The Editor's index has lots of information about maps.

Where to put the yellow dot: first you want to obtain geographic coordinates for Soda Creek. You can use the various links to search for it, or you can use the information already in the Soda Creek article. Let's try the latter:
- The Soda Creek article says: A small bench of land at the mouth of Soda Creek and ten miles north of Williams Lake .... The Williams Lake article gives its coordinates and shows a map of British Columbia with the location filled in. The scale of that map is large enough that you could probably use the same map in the Soda Creek article; the ten mile difference is probably within the size of the dot you could draw on the map.
  - Actually you could just use the same map for the Soda Creek article as is in the Williams Lake article, because the location rectangle looks to cover a distance at the map scale large enough to mask the ten mile distance between Williams Lake and Soda Creek. So I'll put that in. But we still need coordinates for {{coord}}, and we need more accuracy for that.
- Google Maps finds Williams Lake easily enough [1].
- Looking about ten miles north and slightly west of Williams Lake on the map shows an unlabeled shaded area between highway 97 and an unlabeled waterway that is probably the Fraser River; that looks like a good candidate for the mouth of the Soda Creek.
- We click the Link to this page button in Google Maps to get the big ugly URL for this location, which we paste into WWC link converter to extract the coordinates and get the {{coor dms}} template source:
  - {{coord|52|20|3.82|N|122|17|11.24|W|region:CA_type:landmark}}: 52°20′3.82″N 122°17′11.24″W / 52.3343944°N 122.2864556°W / 52.3343944; -122.2864556
- That links to a page that in turn links to several map sites for this location. One site not on the list (for some reason) is the Atlas of Canada's topo maps. Unfortunately, the Atlas of Canada site requires us to tediously type in six input items to specify the coordinates (because it only accepts DMS coordinates, and not decimal degrees), and even more unfortunately, I cannot see an obvious way to generate a URL to the resulting map that I could paste here. You'll have to visit the site and type in the coordinates yourself, or just take my word for it that the Atlas of Canada topo map does plainly show Soda Creek near the coordinates I listed above.
  - Does anyone know how to generate a link to an Atlas of Canada map?

--Teratornis 18:12, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

We are actually supposed to use {{coord}} instead of {{coor dms}} now, as the former deprecates the latter. I put a {{coord}} in Soda Creek. Also, the lead section of Soda Creek needed work; it read as if we were dropping into the middle of a conversation. I edited it slightly. --Teratornis 18:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

how can i see the map of india and its states from this site

pls tell me how can i see the map of india and its states. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.178.74.224 (talk) 11:46, 8 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Is Image:India-states-numbered.svg what you are looking for? matt br 12:25, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for a succession box

I'm looking for a template for a succession box. That is, I'm trying to determine if one is already made for what I want to do, if not I'll copy and modify one to do what I want. What I want to do is add a box to the articles for sites along Boston's Freedom Trail. What I've found is the following:

Preceded by N/A	Locations along Boston's Freedom Trail Boston Common	Succeeded by Massachusetts State House

But this looks odd in that the landmarks are in bold in the "before" and "after" boxes but in standard type in the middle of the box. It just doesn't look uniform. But then if I have the current landmark and the title in bold, it would still look odd. Any ideas for where to look for what I want? Dismas|^(talk) 12:44, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It looks a bit better with bold text for the middle entry, like above. That would save you creating a new template. Adrian M. H. 15:53, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Purging

I've never really understood this. What exactly does it do? Simply south 13:35, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It causes the server to regenerate the HTML version of the wikimarkup on the page. Normally, this does nothing; but if pages that you're transcluding have changed, it'll update the visible version of the page (and likewise if you're using magic words like #time: it'll update the page for the current time rather than the time at the last purge/save). Purging a page doesn't update things like its what-links-here or other things that don't depend on its HTML version. Hope that helps! --ais523 13:44, 8 April 2007 (U T C)

See WP:PURGE. When you know a specific term such as "purge," you can do a ctrl-f search in your browser for the term on User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia, and often find a link that explains it. A large amount of Wikipedia jargon is searchable on that one page. --Teratornis 19:15, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

So does that mean it just works like refreshing a page? Simply south 20:27, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but refreshing a page usually means making your browser fetch it again rather than use a copy cached on your PC. Just like there's a cached copy on your PC (for performance reasons), there's a cache copy on a Wikipedia server as well (for performance reasons - so a given page doesn't have to be regenerated every time it's fetched). Refreshing makes your PC ignore its cache and fetch the page from the server. Purging makes the Wikipedia server ignore its cache and regenerate the page content from the various underlying databases. -- Rick Block (talk) 21:32, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:PURGE#How it works for a technical description of this, and for a clear explanation of when you would need to purge. --Teratornis 23:55, 11 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

surname

hi the page "Matt barrelle" should have a capital B on "Barrelle" how does one edit the name? Greenplanet71

In order to change the name of an article, the article must be moved to the new title. See WP:MOVE for more info. Your account is too new for you to move articles so I have moved the article for you. Dismas|^(talk) 13:51, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

uss bullhead (submarine)

My brother on the uss bullhead (submarine)which was lost around or near the Java sea between China and Japan in 1945 and I would like any information about the uss bullhead?

Ernest L Harris <address removed for privacy> Monroe mi. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Eharris1 (talk • contribs) 13:53, 8 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

uss bullhead (submarine)

My brother on the uss bullhead (submarine)which was lost around or near the Java sea between China and Japan in 1945 and I would like any information about the uss bullhead?

Ernest L Harris Email and Home address removed for privacy Eharris1 14:03, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See USS Bullhead (SS-332). Dismas|^(talk) 14:53, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Cheese

Where does cheese come from?

See cheese for more information. AQu01rius (User  Talk) 15:50, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Pam Pinnock image deletion

pam pinnock page book cover picture was deleted because lack of licensing by Riana. It has been up for weeks without a problem. When I checked under the download it shows that permission was given to use and it is public domain. I tried to put it back but was not able to. can you help. Article looks plan and empty without book cover.

Please remember to include a heading and sign your comments. That the image in question was around for weeks does not mean that there was no problem; simply that no-one had yet noticed and attended to it. If you are certain that its license status was correctly described and that its status was suitable for use in Wikipedia, then leave a polite request for explanation on the deleting editor's talk page. Adrian M. H. 18:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Someone edited the image to add {{PD-self}}. This is a valid license, but it has < nowiki> tags around it, which will stop it from working properly. I would like to confirm though that the uploader (Brandonaka8), is the owner of the original photograph and all rights to it, and the book cover design and all rights. The reason for double checking is that these rights often actually belong to the book publisher. Wikipedia cannot be too careful with copyrights, sorry for the trouble. Notinasnaid 18:59, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Search History

How do I delete the Search History for Wikipedia? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ajbibby (talk • contribs) 18:11, 8 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

You will have to delete your browser history by going on Tools → Internet options → Delete browser history, this is for windows. That should help. Telly addict 18:15, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Note that the above method clears all textbox history - if you just want to clear Wikipedia's, double-click the search box and put your mouse cursor on the first entry - and hold down delete (ctrl-delete on Firefox) and watch all the entries rapidly vanish into nothing. x42bn6 Talk 18:52, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

the amazing race- A corrida Milionaria

Please add a link to our page: www.acorridamilionaria.com.br

tks Rony —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 201.36.104.133 (talk) 18:38, 8 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

You have not said which article to add it into, and even if you did it seems it would be violating WP:SPAM.Telly addict 19:40, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Anon IP vandals

people keep using my ip address to vandalize other people's pages and im getting punished for it, how do i stop thisKfholmesattivor2 20:07, 8 April 2007 (UTC)kfholmesattivor2[reply]

Unless you have a static IP to which only you and trusted individuals have access, there is nothing that anyone can do about it. It is a risk with dynamic IPs. Adrian M. H. 20:11, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As long as you use your user account your editing priviledges will not be affected. Scottydude _talk 03:20, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Colour editing

While I have studied the Wikipedia Help desk and Wikipedia searches for editing the colour of infoboxes, userboxes and page background colour, where can I go to actually find out how to EDIT to make colours appear? I might find a template or a code for background colour or text colour but why is it so difficult to add such a feature to a page? Some features like background colour seem hidden, so how does it occur? It is as if some colour templates are invisible. I found Wikipedia:Colours but now how do I edit colour as according to the Wikipedia guidelines that I read? Thank you, Sincerely -- Marycontrary 22:06, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Easy (he says...) Know the basics of CSS and you're away. For example, let's make a border with some text in it: (click edit to view the code)

This is a grey box with a blue border.

The style declaration is the operative part; within it, you can place various labels to which colour can be applied. Hope that helps as an introduction. Leave a message for me if you need more specific help (I'll reply tomorrow) Adrian M. H. 22:11, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also of use is List of colours, as well as many external sites that provide colour sampling. Adrian M. H. 22:44, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Stubs

Regarding the stubs that can be found here: Category:Financial services company stubs

It is noted that "BTRadianz" is listed. The name of the company is in fact "BT Radianz"; a space exists between BT and Radianz.

I couldn't figure out how to amend the name myself, hence the help desk comment.

Thanks! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.168.161.13 (talk • contribs) 22:24, 8 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Please remember to sign all your comments, and include a heading (I added one for you). You need to go to the page in question and move it to the new/correct name. Do this only if you are certain that the name is currently wrong. If you have any doubts, propose the move and someone else will look at it for you. Instructions are at the link provided. Adrian M. H. 22:34, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

After checking the website, I have moved the page for you as anonymous editors cannot move pages to a new name (being able to move pages is one of the benefits of having an account). Thanks for pointing it out, matt br 22:41, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Salted pages in count?

Are salted pages included in Wikipedia's article count? --TeckWiz ^ParlateContribs_@(Lets go Yankees!) 23:49, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see why they wouldn't be. It might be worth noting here that salted pages also include an in-line comment filled with periods to prevent them from being listed on Special:shortpages, so that would seem to indicate there's no mechanism that prevents their entry into the realm of Wikipedia article counting. --Ybbor ^Talk Survey! 00:22, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

They don't link to another article, so I would say no. Prodego ^talk 14:45, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Archive?

How do I archive my talk page? FictionH 23:56, 8 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think the easiest way is to get a bot to do it - like User:MiszaBot III. x42bn6 Talk 00:11, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WP:ARCHIVE Cheers Clappingsimon talk 00:53, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]