Help desk
< May 24	<< Apr \| May \| Jun >>	May 26 >

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.

May 25

Nominating an article for the main page.

As tomorrow will be the 40th anniversary, I would like to nominate the Lisbon Lions page as a featured article (the 25th of May).

How can I do this? Thanks! 63.113.199.109 00:33, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

To do this you need to take a look at WP:FACR and submit the page using WP:FAC if it meets the criteria, however you will not be able to have it featured today (25th May) as featured article discussions can go on for several weeks. Andy^reply 00:41, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Whether or not to feature articles is done through a debate process at Wikipedia:Featured article candidates. I don't think the article you are referring to has any chance of being featured at the present time for a number of reasons, many of which are elaborated upon at Wikipedia:Featured article criteria. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit 00:44, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Aye. You're all just a bunch of Rangers fans aren't you? What d'ya mean it wouldn't qualify?!?!?

It might not be written to the standards of the main page (it looks fine at a glance, though). Anyway, it might do well in the "On this day" section. I don't know how to get something nominated for that, but that's your best bet. Good luck :) --Edwin Herdman 00:53, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Okay. To be specific, it's a rather short article. If you look at most featured articles they examine a topic in quite some depth and most are much longer than this article. Note the featured article criterion "Comprehensive". This is a long way from that. Second, it has no references. This is a deal breaker. Articles on Wikipedia must cite their sources, and for featured articles, the sourcing must be impeccable and done with inline citations. There's more but you get the gist.--Fuhghettaboutit 01:20, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Can I cite my Grandfather as a source? He does talk out of his erse sometimes. However, I trust him on this one. 63.113.199.109 01:24, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Your granfather isn't a verifiable source. If you had a publication which used your grandfather as a source, that'd be another thing. See where this is going? :) --Edwin Herdman 01:26, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hey! Okay, granted, when he gets a few drinks in him he does talk pish! 15 birds in one night and all that. However, you can't say the man is entirely unreliable (he is 78) and that is my Granpa you are talking about!

That's precisely half the problem. We cannot say whether your Grandfather is unreliable or reliable. See Argument from ignorance for the logical problem here. To convince Wikipedia he is a reliable source, your Grandfather would have to be published by some organization with a reputation for checking its facts. Then we would have some idea how reliable he is. Please read WP:RS and realize that reliability from Wikipedia's perspective has nothing to do with your Grandfather's character (and he does sound like a character - 15 birds in one night? Let's hope that wasn't last night). A published work by Adolf Hitler could be a reliable source by Wikipedia's definition. --Teratornis 13:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, stop using innuendo. He was published in the Hare and the Toad's bi-weekly newsletter (the one on Old mill rd) and he has been resposible for many of their quiz questions. Although the answer to his question: "How do you get your dish-washer to stop breaking down?" was contested by several regulars. 63.113.199.109 20:33, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Australian content

How do I go about finding specific topics related to resect historican australian news stories (ie. in the past ten years).

Regards

John Cross

Well, probably not by using the oft-maligned search feature on Wikipedia. See User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia#Sea for a list of ways to search Wikipedia. You might try using Special:Linksearch to find all articles that link to Australian news sites (a number of which are linked from Steve Irwin#Notes and references, for example). Of course you would have to assemble your own list of Australian news sites and linksearch them one by one. For example, let's try a link search on Sydney Morning Herald: that finds some matches. I see no obvious way to limit the search results by a date range, but most online news articles are about recent events, which is what you want. I suggest making a user sub-page (which of course would require you first to create an account) and use that to compile your list of Aussie news outlets and links to your linksearches on them. You might also join WikiProject Australia and inquire on its talk page; certainly, browse around the Category:Australia and see what you find. If you have some specific news stories in mind, you could use Google Search on Wikipedia. --Teratornis 13:33, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, is this who I talk to about making a special kind of tournament bracket?

I looked at templates, but what I want to create is a bracket that has 2 rounds, but contains 3 teams in a match, as well as a 3 game total in each match. I also want to contain a 3rd place match in this tournament bracket as well. Is it possible to make brackets with 3 teams in one match? —Preceding unsigned comment added by BrandonTheGreat (talk • contribs)

You can ask for this type of help at Wikipedia:Requested templates. PrimeHunter 00:54, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Article was deleted without contacting me for no apparant reason.

Two arrticles I wrote were deleted for no apparant reason and I had an Admin advise me on the writing them becuase I wanted to be sure I followed all the rules. Look at your policy, before it was deleted someone should have contacted me or asked for revision. nothing was done. Please visit my talk page for complete infomation on this. Thank You again.

akc9000

Al Costanzo

Replied on user talk. PeaceNT 01:05, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting Pictures

In the article on The Gates a couple of pictures have been removed with comments very similar to this one:

(Removing "The Gates from The Met 2005-02-18.jpeg", it has been deleted from Commons by Ejdzej because: Commons:Deletion requests/Image:The Gates - Around Bend.jpg.)

I've been looking around, and I can't find the place to discuss/question the deletions of the pictures. (I also note that it appears from the comment that the file being deleted is a different picture than the one being deleted from the commons). The user entering the comment seems to be an account that goes with a bot program (I think).

Any advise or suggestions? Morris 00:57, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This particular deletion was done at the Wikimedia Commons [1]. The debate was at Commons:Deletion requests/Image:The Gates - Around Bend.jpg. Cheers, Sean William 01:00, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Date of Birth

How do I edit a page if I know the Specific Date of someone's Brith?

Click the "edit this page" tab at the top. Type in the date where appropriate. Fill in the edit summary with something like "added date of birth". Then click the save button. --LaraLove ^T/_C 01:54, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Note that it is now considered advisable to omiot the specific date of narth for many living people, due to the problem of identity theft, unless the person's DoB is already quite public, or the precise date, (as opposed to just the year, or year and month) is significant to the article. DES ^(talk) 14:37, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Evil vandalism problem

HI there,

I am one of the IT admisitrators at Oxford Falls Grammar School, NSW Austalia. We are a private school in sydenys northern beaches and naturally, we made a Wiki page. So you can understand how dismayed we were to discover some disrespectful student had come into our lovely wiki page and defaced it by posting "Gabi's a wanker etc..." in out wiki entry. Gabi is the schools headmaster. We have since removed the entry from out wiki page and severly diceplined the child, but in out history tab users are still able to view the GABIS A WANKER entry and its even titled like that in the history section!!!

Please tell us how we can remove all traces of this entry from our wiki page! if you need to view it, just search 'ofgs' in the search box and it will take you straight to our page.

Sorry for the long question! and thanks!

Hayden

IT Support Oxford Falls Grammar School

Edit histories can not be deleted. --LaraLove ^T/_C 01:53, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually they can on Wikipedia. See Requests for oversight. This is a system on Wikipedia that allows users with tech access to delete items from the edits history. Since you are using a private wiki, there should be someway to manually delete it. I just don't know how. Perhaps a dev can come in and clear things up? -- _Hdt83 ^Chat 01:57, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

They're not talking about a private wiki, they're talking about the Oxford Falls Grammar School article, in particular the contributions by User:Harrimanj. While you could request oversight, the vandalism in question doesn't really fall under either criteria - it doesn't involve someone's private details, and even though it's an insult I don't think it could be called libellous. I would just like to point out that (a) most people looking at the article on the school aren't going to be looking through the history, (b) most of those that do will recognise it as vandalism and as such it will reflect more on the vandal than the headmaster, and (c) unfortunately, this sort of thing happens all the time, and the best thing you can do is not let it trouble you too much. (Look at me - I'd only had my nice shiny user page for a couple of days and someone who didn't like me saying their band wasn't notable vandalised it.) Confusing Manifestation 02:32, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sight For Sore Eyes

Hello, I am the founder of this nonprofit organization, which was recently deleted from wikipedia for reasons that are beyond me. Thanks, Ethan

Please sign your posts by typing four tildes after your text. It will automatically create a signature of your username or IP address. Now, if you are referring to the article Sight For Sore Eyes this article still exists on Wikipedia. It may be however a candidate for speedy deletion unless it is created using notable sources. Scottydude _talk 02:04, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like it's been deleted twice so far, both times by User:Alabamaboy. In general, if something is deleted, it's not a good idea to repost it, especially not twice, and especially not with identical text. Also, as someone intrinsically connected with the foundation, you may want to read about our conflict of interest guideline. Confusing Manifestation 02:20, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Should italics be used in section headings?

Should italics be used in section headings if the words in a section heading is a title of something? --Silver Edge 02:32, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on the situation. See WP:MOS-T. --Random ^{Say it here!} 03:45, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

reference

How do i get a reference in a text (already typed in once during article)to automatically give details in the Reference section of the article? you may give answer to my talk page Jagra 02:51, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Replied on talk page. --Random ^{Say it here!} 03:51, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I added the markup to the page you were editing to make the references appear. In short, making a section called references doesn't tell the software to place references; there is specific markup that does this. In this case I used {{reflist}}.--Fuhghettaboutit 03:54, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia Image Use Rights Questions

Well, here it goes. I have stored on my computer the actual Adobe.pdf file that contains the official logos for some radio stations. I also have photographs of the station sign, an archived .jpg with the logo for another radio station, and it is all stored on my hard drive. From that file, I have saved the images in maximum quality .bmp files via the Foxit .pdf File Editor application.

The problem is that I do NOT own the copyright for these images! ...I am almost certain that the copyright owner would be in no big hurry to allow me to use his images for anything! Anyhow, I have Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Image Ready installed on my computer so I have the capability to convert the saved .bmp files into either .jpg, .gif, or .png files as well as shrinking them down in resolution.

The main question I have here is how far should I reduce the quality to these images? What is the maximum quality for images that the respective article-writer does NOT own the rights to that he/she wishes to post on his/her related article? Is there any real figure or ballpark estimate for how many kilobytes or megabytes the image should not be greater than or how many pixils the largest dimension should be less than? Also, HOW do you include an image into your article?

I can also tell you that I have a SCAN of one of the main logos. Scanned images are often of significantly lower quality than the original computer-generated source. Scanned pictures often include any dust particle or hair strand that gets on the glass and to say the least the images pick up grain and lose a great deal of their resolution. Scanned images are far less faithful than their original electronic counterparts. With that said, this extreme reduction in image quality that scanning an image causes seems to me to qualify as fair use but I am not certain. Please get back to me on this.

Thank you for your time. My e-mail address is removed email address so please send me a response to this question whenever you can.

If a user wants to contact you they can contact you via the Emailuser function, if you have the function enabled, or they can reply on your talk page or simply reply here. –Se bi ~ 05:40, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In actuality, I think the answer is that if these images were not taken/created by you (and you said above that they're not) and they're not in the public domain -- and if you're not able to get the image owner to PUT the images into the public domain -- you have no right at all to use those images on any article page in Wikipedia. To do so would be a copyright violation regardless of how small you made them -- and they would thus be open to speedy deletion. See WP:COPY for more details. MeegsC | Talk 16:56, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Logos are often open to fair use - in fact, it's one of the standard uses. WilyD 18:37, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Can I Change My Username?

Is it possible to change my username while keeping my history? MLWilson 04:29, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Please see WP:CHU, all your contributions from the old account will be reattributed to your new account after the process complete. PeaceNT 05:18, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! MLWilson 20:16, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Location

WHERE IS KOTHA KOTA LOCATED IN ANDHRA PRADESH

Hey there. This question would be best asked at The Reference Desk. Also, please sign your posts with four tildes (~). --Edwin Herdman 05:03, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A Google search on Wikipedia for "Kotha Kota" suggests searching for "Kothakota" instead; that finds B.Kothakota which says:

B.Kothakota is a village and a Mandal in Chittoor district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India.

The article does not yet provide coordinates. Someone should obtain coordinates and add them to the article. --Teratornis 12:04, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Creating a new page redux

how do I create a new page about something that isn't on wikipedia?

This comment was recently answered here: Creating a new page. Also, remember to use two equals signs on both sides of a Title when creating a new section, i.e. = Title = (with two equals signs instead of one). Also, please sign your posts with four tildes (~), to help others determine what you have contributed. Thanks! --Edwin Herdman 05:03, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Noarticletext article

-was created by User:Sinskajae who has no other contributions. I can't tell if it's a hoax (for speedy deletion) or just not named properly. I'm not sure what sort of tag covers that, so I'm listing it here. Thanks ColtsScore 05:07, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there. I'm not exactly too sure what this page is intended to be. The article name suggests it might be a template, the namespace suggests it might be an essay or a proposed policy, and the article content looks like an article on some chemistry subject. You might wish to contact Sinskajae on his talk page and ask him what exactly the page is. –Se bi ~ 05:44, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have asked him. DES ^(talk) 14:54, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Newbie mistake. Was copied to sensible title. This one now deleted. -- RHaworth 18:29, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Pacific War has a broken infobox

The article Pacific War seems to have had its infobox damaged, but I don't know enough about infoboxes to fix it.

samrolken 06:41, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Sam. I reverted the bad edit to the last best infobox. I'm not too sure what exactly was wrong with it. –Se bi ~ 07:02, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Watch contributions

Hi, is there any way or tool available that allows a user to 'watch' a users contributions? I.e. can I add Special:Contributions/Example to my watchlist? Thanks, DanielBC [_talk^contrib_stats] 07:40, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No. Dismas|^(talk) 01:49, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If anybody is interested in this topic, I have actually found User:Tra#User_watchlist which is a work around to do exactly this! DanielBC [_talk^contrib_stats] 12:52, 27 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Citations

I'm citing a book that has multiple chapters contributed by multiple authors -- and I need to cite pages in more than one of those chapters. I can do the citations part just fine (I'm using the Harvnb option), but I can't figure out how to link those citations to the reference section without having to list the same book in six times (i.e. once for each of the six authors I'm citing). Or am I supposed to use the EDITOR'S name in this case, and not the author? The article I'm working on is flight feathers; you can see my orphaned links down at the bottom in the Citations section. (It's Handbook of Birds of the World which is causing me trouble...) Thanks for any help you can give me! MeegsC | Talk 07:42, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The first time you list the book use <ref name=(provide a name)>citation</ref>. The next time you want to cite that source use <ref name=(same name) />. You can add page numbers if you'd like with {{Rp}}, just add the page number(s) right after the citation (after the "/>") in the form {{Rp|231-234}}Fuhghettaboutit 12:21, 25 May 2007 (UTC)12:17, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See: WP:FOOT#Citing a footnote more than once. --Teratornis 12:54, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your responses. I understand the bit you've explained above -- it's referring to the DIFFERENT AUTHORS, EACH OF WHOM IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A SINGLE CHAPTER that I'm having trouble with. For example, say chapter one is called Flight. It's written by Antonio de Rimi. Chapter 2 is called Feathers. It's written by Alison VanderHoot. Chapter 3 is about Feeding habits. It's written by Brian Gillingham. And there are 20 other chapters, all written by different authors. While I can easily make three (or 6 or 20) different <ref name=(provide a name)>citation, one for each chapter, then I can't link them to a single book in the Reference section, because the Harvard citations link appears to look for author name first. And if there are three (or 6 or 20) different authors, EACH RESPONSIBLE ONLY FOR A SINGLE CHAPTER, it appears that would mean I'd have to put the book into the reference section three (or 6 or 20) different times. Or am I not understanding the citations template correctly? MeegsC | Talk 13:01, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Interestingly, Harvard Referencing#Notes does not appear to follow Harvard referencing. It sounds as if Harvard referencing lists references in alphabetical order by author, so I don't see how you would get around needing separate entries for each author you cite. For example, the Referencing a Chapter (Harvard System) form takes one author and the book's editor, so you would have to fill out that form for every individual author you want to cite. Why not just forget about Harvard referencing and use Wikipedia's cite style? In my opinion, the cite style works better for online use anyway, since it displays explicit backlinks from the references. Even the Harvard referencing#Notes section does not use Harvard referencing. --Teratornis 14:21, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I'll give 'em a try. Must confess though, I'm getting the feeling that the easiest thing to do may be to just list the book under its editors! ;-) MeegsC | Talk 17:32, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That was the approach we used at Theory of Indigenous Aryans in India if you look at the last 3 books in the literature section, 2 of them are different authors for individual chapters of the same book. Addhoc 00:19, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Edits do not get reflected

Hi,

I edited an article and saved the changes. I could see the changed version when seen from my machine. But when I lokked at it from another machine the previous version was still showing up. However the history section did show my changes in the latest version. Whenever I go to the History tab and come back to the main article it seems to show the latest version.

I have recently experienced a similar problem. Are you viewing the page through 2 different browsers? --sparkl_!sm ^talk 12:07, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a lot for replying. No I am using the same browser.

Try reloading the page (Ctrl+F5), and somewhere there is also a "flush cache" option that should force an update of the page. Sometimes a "session data lost" warning will appear from Wikipedia; when you see that, go back to the article's main page and try editing the article again. If that doesn't work, log out/back in. --Edwin Herdman 21:23, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a lot for replying Edwin. I think I found the reason for the problem. But I can't find a solution. The reason for this odd behaviour is that it is a redirected page. When I search for the redirecting page it shows the older version of the target page (the URL address is still that of the redirecting page). But when I go to the history page the URL changes to the actual target page and from then on the latest version get displayed even when I come back to the article.

Creating a references listing

I have been unable to find instructions about how to create a References list, using the reflist tag (and, apparently, some additional list or document not seen in the References editing window). Some of the entries have both a ref list (with this tag), and a separate "Sources" list, which seems to be just a straight listing of sources, no special tags used. I have found that as often as not these can be combined for clarity and simplicity. My example refers specifically to the Philosophy of History page, where two lists can be combined. Thank you. And by the way, the Wikipedia:Citing sources pages does not seem to give complete instructions, though it does mention this. Who wields me, wields the world! 12:52, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:FOOT which is mentioned in WP:CITE. --Teratornis 12:56, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Burning man

a white liquid discharged started from my penis from 2 days looks like sperms to me and when i piss there is a burning sensation what that's mean help please

If your symptoms resemble the ones in Non-gonococcal urethritis#Symptoms then you need to see a physician. In general, when your body begins behaving strangely or sending you signals of pain it's time to see a physician. --Teratornis 13:52, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Though note that Wikipedia does not give medical advice, and you would do best to see a doctor about your condition. x42bn6 Talk Mess 19:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Caption notability

The Team America Rocketry Challenge article I created contains a photo I took of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates shaking hands with a kid. This kid is a non-notable high-school student who has his back to the camera, yet someone (maybe two separate people) has added his name to the image caption twice. I would like to know if there is any policy or guideline regarding the addition to captions of the names of non-notable people who are not the main subject of the photo. --Michael White^T·C 14:03, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If he is in the photo, adn his name is known (and can be verified) It seems to me that his name is a plausible addition to the caption or image discription. Note that vcaptions are part of the articel where the image is used, and should be discussed on article talk pages just like any other element of article content. DES ^(talk) 14:53, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My Account / Sign In name for Wikipedia is Shankeraravind and I want that deleted

My Account / Sign In name for Wikipedia is Shankeraravind and I want that deleted. Reason : I am not happy to continue with wikipedia .

You have two options. First you can request a name change here WP:CHU. Secondly, you can just simply leave. You can't delete your account though because of copy right violations that would occur. If you want to delete your userpage and talk page you can do by putting the following on top of your pages. {{db-author}}. --Random ^{Say it here!} 14:15, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Lost link - archive recovery

Is there some web site, that archives old versions of sites? I referenced a web site, that had text and images that detailed a historical automobile Alter (automobile) I wrote an article on. The link within that site is no longer in existance. http://www.plymouthhistory.org/ALTER.htm--Drussel3 16:57, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

archive.org might be able to help. Just enter the web address, and you'll get a list of past versions. Most recent one I found of your link was here (as of December 20, 2005). Hope that helps. tiZom_(2¢) 17:15, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Abuse?

On the Jerry Only (of the Misfits) page, I deleted a sentence similar to: "Wyatt Baxa is very fat and needs to work-out to look like Dr Chud." Never having heard of Wyatt Baxa, I did an internet search which indicated that Wyatt Baxa is just some kid who likes to work on cars.

However, I get an IM under the title of "Abuse" instructing me to "...stop editing pages without references like you did to the OJ Simpson page", or something to that effect.

Did the person who put the comment about Wyatt Baxa get the same warning? ANd if so, why was the addition kept on the page?

More importantly, I am offended that you deleted my addition to the OJ Simpson page. It is well-know fact that OJ SImpson was arrested in a wide-ranging satellite TV & drug ring. Although Mr. Simpson was allegedly unaware of the drug aspect of the ring, a federal judge ordered him to pay $25,000 for his knowledge of the illegal satellite activities. Incidentally, of all who were arrested, only Mr. Simpson avoided indictment. These are all FACTS; do any internet search or check federal judicial records for that Florida district.

This was alleged to have been possible because allegedly a member of law enforcement tipped off Simpson and he was supposedly able to get rid of the damaging evidence. Not likely, but these allegations were publicly disputed by Simpson's attorney, Yale Galantner.

Keep the "Wayne Bax is fat" edit, but delete legal facts about OJ Simpson.... In your mod/admin's haste to falsely accuse someone of abuse, Wikipedia further proves why it has become a less-than reputable source of information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jcroughwell (talk • contribs) 17:07, May 25, 2007

I'm not actually sure what you did because you appear to have created a new account to do this complaint. But perhaps you failed to source your statements. By WP:BLP, you are supposed to do so, and unsourced information about living persons can be removed. It's not valid just to say, "Do a Google search," because Google can do lots of things and sources could just point to Google searches, which aren't references at all.

Without sourcing or referencing, I could make serious libellous statements that could pop up on Google as parodies that may not appear as parodies on first sight. To prevent misleading readers and to keep biographies neutral and reliable, information must be sourced. x42bn6 Talk Mess 19:10, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

First, I note that you've never edited a Wikipedia entry under this username before commenting here. At a guess, were you editing anonymously at the time? Second, what do you mean by IM? Was it a message on your talk page? If so, someone may have simply mistaken your edit for vandalism OR someone else who previously had your IP address had committed vandalism. Since there's no way to tell who is who until you register a username, you may have seen a message intended for someone else.

In any case, you are mistaken that we can accept "well-known facts" for our articles. Anything, especially controversial changes, need to cite reliable sources. The burden is on the editor to provide the citation, not the reader & other editors to "do any internet search."

Hopefully this does not prevent you from contributing to Wikipedia in the future. Just keep in mind that mistakes happen and assume good faith when other editors make changes to what you've written. -- Kesh 19:14, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I may have tracked this one down. Special/Contributions:69.120.41.169 made edits to those two articles, with what appears to be the edits in question. With regards to Jerry Only, that was the last edit to this article. So, no one "kept" the fat edit, it was successfully removed. The OJ Simpson edit was unsourced, and was removed because of that. There was only one warning on User talk:69.120.41.169 about the unsourced addition, and no mention of "Abuse" on there. So, right now, I'm not sure what this "IM" you received was, unless your IP changed and on your next visit you saw a vandalism warning meant for another user. -- Kesh 19:29, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Changing the Title of an Article

I created my article (The Bastiat Society), but the title is not capitalized. How do I edit the title so that it is?

Done, when you are 4 days old, you will get a move page option and the code box for ading external links and creating pages disapears.--User:Rock2e ^{Talk - Contribs} 19:56, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How could I vandalize a sandbox

Resolved

I went to the sandbox to see what an image would look like and when I clicked save I got the message "This is your last warning. The next time you vandalize Wikipedia, as you did to Sandbox, you will be blocked from editing." I have no idea what I might have done to get this response but now I'm nervous about doing anything else there. Can you figure out what I did? I am very new to Wikipedia.

You haven't done anything wrong. Some jokester added in a vandalism tag to scare people. I've replaced it with the message "Just kidding?" and followed by a "citation needed" tag. :) Also, consider getting a username and signing your posts with four tildes (~). --Edwin Herdman 21:17, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How to make a menu on a userpage

Resolved

I need help creating a menu for my User page User:Bloodsource. Could you help me with this? Please :-) Thank you. User:Bloodsource

You use equals signs to create sections. Two equals signs on both sides of the title to create a larger section, three on either side to create a sub-section. Also, please use four tildes (~) to sign your posts on talk pages; it adds in your signature (which can be customized provide easy links to things like your talk page) and the date, which is very helpful for other editors when trying to figure out when you added comments. --Edwin Herdman 21:19, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Main Title

Resolved

How can i edit the main title on a page?

You can't edit the main page, sorry. It is fully-protected and only administrators can edit it. –Se bi ~ 21:06, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think he means changing the title of an article. For that, you want to check out Renaming and Moving pages. I would suggest that you register an account and be sure to sign your posts with four tildes before taking any such action, however, so that other editors can follow any changes you've made. Feel free to throw in the name of the page you want to rename here so we can assist you in the process. --Edwin Herdman 21:14, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

is this a fact?

hi!!! first i'd like to say i love using this free encyclopedia!! it's an amazing site that i use every day!! i searched "california" which brought me to the history page.......it referenced that the state animal is the grizzly bear, which is noted "extinct", but when i clicked on the "grizzly bear" link, it referenced that its "least concerned". so which is right?

thank you so much! : ) vanessa castillo

Yes, unfortunately. Check out this section of the article, and thanks for bringing it up! --Edwin Herdman 21:35, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A clarification - the species itself is not extinct, only its presence in California. -Wo o ty Woot? contribs 21:36, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A more accurate way to say it would be: "The grizzly bear has been extirpated in California." --Teratornis 21:51, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

UK International lottery

I WOULD LIKE TO NOW ABOUT THE UK INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY AND U.K.NATIONAL LOTTERY AND UNITED KINGDOM INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY. Because I have erceived from there cirtificate inform me that in I a weaning , but need from me to transfer money to names by Westren Union. My names :Mohamed Moustafa Email address: email removed Please I need information if you please Thanks. MOHAMED MOUSTAFA email removed

This question looks more suited for the Reference desk section. --Edwin Herdman 21:35, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This lottery does not exist - it is a Lottery scam, do not send them any money. -Wo o ty Woot? contribs 21:36, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oh Dear. This Is A FAKE SCAM! Common Sense is to not send them any money Lmc169 21:39, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Donate the money you would have sent to Wikipedia, instead ;-) 63.113.199.109 21:49, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

...and register an account! :D --Edwin Herdman 22:08, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

SVG Logo Images in Zoo Infoboxes

I am having trouble getting an SVG image to show up correctly here: Great Lakes Aquarium

I played around for a while and that's the only way I could get the logo to show up. (This is why at first sight it looks like I just don't know what I'm doing.) Using JPG format works fine - it is a problem specifically with using an SVG image. It looks to me like the zoo infobox is not parsing it correctly.

You should be able to just put in the image name with no brackets or anything. (Again, I did some extra stuff just to get the image to appear at all.)

Thanks for any help.

I will try to fix it. --Random ^{Say it here!} 22:56, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Have a nice day. --Random ^{Say it here!} 23:01, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks!

Citation oddities

Alright, so I've come across something that I feel needs citing. After a while I found a source that was not actually about the question in hand for the most part, but does in the text comment on what needs to be proved - how would I go about citing it? I'm currently just using the Cite web template, but it seems a bit inaccurate as it makes it seem as if the source is incorrectly placed or altogether wrongly attributed. Where I've run in to this is 2007 Cricket World Cup warm-up matches, first reference: the story is about umpiring but about half-way down it mentions the fact in question. And before you recommend finding another source, I can all but assure you there isn't one to be found (following several hours of searching). :p :) Thanks in advance. AllynJ 23:07, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It should be fine. As long as the source actually says what you are citing, it is acceptable. If you were using it to prove notability, it would not work, but for citing a source it is fine. I once used 1 sentence in the middle of a huge SEC report for a power company to cite a sentence about tourism because it was the only source that said what I wanted to cite in the correct format. (tourists per day as opposed to tourists per year like every other source) Mr.Z-mantalk¢ 23:12, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Aha, okay, thanks. Shall leave as is. AllynJ 23:17, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

King County Jaguars

Please add to Wikipedia (I can't edit here)

King County Jaguars

Founded 1999 League NWFL 1999-present MLFA ?-present (Please add 2006-present) Team History King County Jaguars 1999-present Stadium French Field Based in Kent, Washington Team Colors ? (Please add Carolina Blue, Navy Blue and White) Owner Jeff Scott (Please add Norm Larson and Lorrie Rarey) Head Coach Jeff Scott Championships 2005, 2006 Division Titles 2005, 2006 Cheerleaders Lady Jags

Thanks

That doesn't look quite like how I would edit an article; if you have comments about things that should be added I'd put them in the article's Talk/Discussion Page. I also think this can wait until you're able to edit the article yourself. Don't forget to sign your posts with four tildes (~). Good luck! --Edwin Herdman 23:20, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sarasota Military Academy

The Sarasota Military Academy has completed its 5th successful year fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and schools. The academy is not defunct.

Dan Kennedy, Headmaster 941-812-5406

Thanks for letting us know and I've removed the Sarasota Military Academy from List of defunct United States military academies. Apologies for the error. Addhoc 00:12, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hearsay won't do. You need reliable published sources, apparently. Labia_MajorA

Hi Labia MajorA, reliable sources are needed to include information, however they aren't required to remove unsourced content. Addhoc 00:12, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How do you get information of if i'ts partilly conflict of intrest

I've created my own comic book series and have it on the web. Several people have asked me about it and sometimes i see a page on wickapedia that says no infomation is knows. Do i ask someone to tell about the characters how they were created the episode guides the spinoff stuff of just bassics about just the comic book or do i do it cause it might be a conflict.

What do i do to get the infomation added to wickapeida —Preceding unsigned comment added by Keyoko (talk • contribs) 18:24, 25 May 2007

has anyoen else written about it? are there any reliabel sources independant of you who have discussed it? if not, it would probably be delted for lack of notability anyway. If so, you can always write up a draft version in a user subpage and ask an uninvolved editor to review it, that will pretty much do away with any COI issues. DES ^(talk) 23:32, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hearsay won't do. You need reliable published sources, apparently. 63.113.199.109 23:29, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Slimming Down My WXXS Article

This is the creator of the WXXS article. Yes, I caught the notice and have, in fact, started slimming down that article immediately. Although I have omitted quite a few opinionated words and statements, I might still have more to delete. Please view the page and help me. My philosophy is that if an article's creator makes mistakes, the best exercise is for other Wikipedians to inform the creator of the errors so the person can fix them and learn from those mistakes. That way, the person can avoid such errors in the future. The article can be found here. Hopefully, my most recent changes will prove to be improvements...So that article can stay. Also, please let me know if the article has been quieted down some through my latest updates. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.218.183.113 (talk • contribs) 18:38, 25 May 2007

First off, it is bad form to speak of "your" article, see WP:OWN. second, when discussing it elsewhere, link to it. Third, sign comments on discussion pages with for tildes. DES ^(talk) 23:46, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You can learn from the changes other people make to your edits by studying the diffs to your edits in page histories. That is, for example, how I first learned about such things as WP:TITLE, WP:LAYOUT, Help:Interwiki links, and too much more to recount. Hopefully the other editors will assist you by leaving informative edit summaries. All you need are some keywords from the summaries to look up in User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia. If you don't understand someone's edit, ask on their talk page or here on the Help desk. --Teratornis 01:08, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As of now all of that article is original research. -Wo o ty Woot? contribs 01:33, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

how do i post articles?

i've made an article, yet i'm having trouble figuring out how to post it so other users of wikipedia can see it. what do i do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.90.102.226 (talk • contribs) 18:46, 25 May 2007

You need to create an use an account to create pages yourself -- it is free and actually protects your privicy better. DES ^(talk) 23:49, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You also should read the first article in the FAQ you are directed to at the top of this page. It has answers for you: Nubio entry on creating an article. Good luck. --Edwin Herdman 23:52, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You can read here about the advantages of creating an account. You need to go here in order to create your account. Also, you won't be able to create any new articles for the first few days after you register an account, though you'll still be able to edit most existing ones. ElinorD (talk) 23:57, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Display problems when viewing the { {Infobox U.S. state} } template

Problem restated: if _sub or ^sup type is used, the entire line does not get displayed. Most wiki pages utilize a line spacing large enought so that if _sub or ^sup type is used, as is the case of this entry, the entire line is readable. The {{Infobox U.S. state}} does not do so. Its much tighter line spacing, results in one line of type blanking out the lower and/or upper portion of another line of type, resulting in a very hard, if not impossible at times, to read text block. This problem may be limited to the IE browser, but it is not strictly a browser issue as other infoboxes, such as {{Infobox Film}}, do not create the same display problem; even when all other varibles are removed, which was tested by placing both infoboxes on the same page and inserting the exact same copy into a section of both of them. The result of this test can be seen in the image below and the link to the test page is User:Dbiel/ScratchPad/test, which can be used to test the results using different browsers. Dbiel 17:41, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is there any way that the {{Infobox U.S. state}} can be alter to display better. the following is an example of the differences between {{Infobox U.S. state}} and {{Infobox Film}} using the same text block and appearing on the same page. (see the following test page that displays both templates using the same text as well and the associated screen shot) User:Dbiel/ScratchPad/test

What browser are you using? If Firefox, what extensions do you have installed? I am using Firefox 2.0 on Windows XP, and it is displaying fine on my computer. Hersfold ^(talk/work) 02:18, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

IE, multiple versions on multiple platforms.

The point is not so much the brower settings as why does one template will display OK and the other one does not under the same conditions and on the same page? There has to be something different between the two templates themselves. I would think that all templates should be using the same base formatting. If the issue was that all templates displayed bad, then one would definately want to look at browser settings.Dbiel 03:25, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

On a quick look, I would guess it has something to do with the way the text with footnotes is dispayed. I don't have much time now, but I'll look at it in more depth later. Mr.Z-mantalk¢ 06:59, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You have hit the nail on its head. I added an additional line of text at the top of this entry in an attempt to making it clearer as you were the first to understand what I was talking about. I will look forward to hearing what you discover. Dbiel 17:41, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Continuing the discussion, it would appear that the two info boxes were created very differently as can be seen on the following two test pages:

User:Dbiel/ScratchPad/test/test2 The only entry on that page is {{Infobox U.S. state}} which displays the entire info box in a fill in the blank format.

User:Dbiel/ScratchPad/test/test3 The only entry on that page is {{Infobox Film}} which only displays the following:

Dbiel 18:25, 26 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]