Help desk
< December 25	<< Nov \| December \| Jan >>	December 27 >

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 26[edit]

Suggestion Box[edit]

Does Wikipedia have something like a Suggestion Box?--Natl1 14:34, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Look over the proposals made at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals) to see if your suggestion fits there; more specific suggestions should be put in appropriate domains. For instance, a suggestion about changing a particular template should go on the template's talk page or on a page that coordinates a class of templates. Content suggestions for articles should go on the particular article talk page. Suggestions for new articles should go into the Wikipedia:Requested articles page set. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 14:42, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pictures[edit]

How do I add pictures to an article?00:44, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

See here and ask again if you have any further problems. Trebor 01:14, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Merged, need help[edit]

I merged Merchant Marine into Merchant Navy and copied the talk pages into Merchant Navy (as suggested), but now I don't feel free to "clean up" properly. Which is to say, delete the old Merchant Marine page, etc. Need help from an expert. Please and TYKU, and Happy Xmas to all. JohnClarknew 01:20, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Create a redirect from the first page to the second - there's no need to delete anything. Trebor 01:24, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Voilà! 'twas done, and it works! Thanks, Trebor. JohnClarknew 01:45, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Looking for vandal template[edit]

Is there a template to warn vandals who create pages on non notable people, or pages that qualify for db empty? Or should I just use a regular vandal template. Dooms Day349 01:37, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

{{nn-test}} and {{nn-warn}}. BTW, this may be useful for you. Jacek Kendysz 01:44, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! Good link; it's bookmarked. Dooms Day349 01:47, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For a relatively comprehensive organized listing see WP:UTM; this is the page I use. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 04:24, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

free download softwares[edit]

hello sir/madam, This is Surya prakash,want toknow the softwares which can be downloaded freely of old versions. for examples: SAP modules, which are SAP-SD,HR,CRM,SCM,FICO demo versions,so that it will be helpful to us to learn more things,since we cant purchase all the softwares & learn,if the Wikipedia provides us tgo learn practical aspects. So please provide the detial how to download the demo versions of diff softwares.

my email id: (Removed to prevent from spam)

Thanking you ,

B.Surya Prakash

This page is for help on how to use wikipedia. Your question would probably be better asked at the Reference desk, where you are more likely to get a response to a general question.

Additionally, I have removed your email from this post. Wikipedia is a very public site; if you leave it on this page you are likely to receive a lot of spam in fairly short order. Anyone who wants to see your email address can still find it in the page history, but most people on wikipedia will not respond by email. -- Sir Escher ^talk 08:14, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Naming an article on a person who uses multiple psuedonyms...[edit]

Hey. One of these days (*g*) I am planning on writing an article about a boxer from Thailand who finished his career undefeated that, over the course of his career, was referred to by different names. As can be gathered on this page, the boxer in question has used 5 different psuedonyms in his career, as well as his own name (which, incidentally, might be spelled wrong because there is no standard transliteration from Thai to English for the boxer's real name). Do I use the boxer's real name here or his most common psuedonym? And if it's the former...umm...then I've gotta hope I can spell the name correctly. :) -- transaspie 08:08, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

According to the biography naming conventions, you would create the article under the name he is most commonly known by. Also take a look on the section on Thai names. For the other names this boxer goes by, you would put in redirects to the common name. -- Sir Escher ^talk 08:24, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm...it's still inconclusive as to what I call him. It'd be best if I could figure out how he is referred to in the Thai language, then I could more ably figure out the most common name. (I couldn't even find the guy on the Thai Wikipedia even though I can find lots of other boxers...which shocks me because I thought he was something of a hero there.) Eh, maybe I'll just make a decision for now and wait later to figure out what to definitively name the article. -- transaspie 10:56, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If there's no one pseudonym that is obviously more popular, it would seem sensible to default to his real name. Whichever name you don't use, you can always create redirects at. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 11:35, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The title of the article should be whatever name he uses to refer to himself now, in my opinion. If s/he has an 'official' site or an authorised biography in English, whatever is his name in either of those should be how his real name is spelled. Anchoress 17:07, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Dealing with advertising articles[edit]

The article on APIIT is overt advertising. Although it contains much factual content, it reads like a glossy brochure (examples: "As mentioned earlier, all our programmes are internationally Quality Assured through..." or the final sentence: "Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@ucti.edu.my").

What markup should I use to flag this fact? I'm not calling for deletion, but the article needs to be rewritten from a neutral point of view. - Euchiasmus 08:27, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

One template is {{advert}}. You can find more at Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup — Lost^(talk) 08:57, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! That's what I was looking for :) - Euchiasmus 10:00, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Reverting edits[edit]

Are you aloud reverting someones edits to previous edits by yourself? For example, after you edit, someone vandalizes the article and your the first user to notice it. Can you revert to the last version by you? Kamope 14:42, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yes you can. However, be sure that you are reverting overt vandalism and not just someone else's point of view. Also see WP:3RR — Lost^(talk) 14:44, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

But it's important to note that 3RR doesn't apply to reversion of genuine vandalism. Anchoress 17:04, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If you revert someone's vandalism, you may also want to add a warning template letting the vandal in question know that his or her edits are inappropriate. This also helps other editors know when a user has been warned of his actions, so successive warnings (and possibly a block) can be used. —K e akealani 18:24, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism?[edit]

Imus_Ranch seems to have been suffering from repeated vandalism for a week. The vandalism is possibly by a single user with multiple accounts (see the article's history): "I've only been "vandalising" for a week, mang. Get your facts straight." I've added welcomes and what I believe are appropriate warnings to the accounts' userpages but this might need attention from a more experienced wikipedian. Random Passer-by 15:29, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I will have a look at the article. However, you should report vandalism to WP:AIV — Lost^(talk) 17:05, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

None of the individual instances of vandalism seemed serious enough to warrant reporting. The sock-puppeteering link on the page you linked was very helpful though. I think I'll have a better idea what to do if I encounter a similar problem again. Thank you. Random Passer-by 16:46, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If an article should be vandalized frequently during some brief period, even if by a single user creating multiple accounts, semi-protection might be in order; in such instances, you might also try WP:RFPP. Joe 07:33, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The vandalism on that page seems to have stopped for now but your links were very helpful and I think I'll have a better idea what to do if I encounter a similar problem again. Thank you. Random Passer-by 16:46, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

letter writing[edit]

how to write a business letter (sale letter)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. — Lost^(talk) 17:09, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

can't view images[edit]

I am using Mozilla Gran Paradiso and cannot see any of the images on any of the pages, I have this problem with some other websites but mostly here. Every image is a text link and then I click on that and then on another link on the next page to view the image alone. If I use an Internet Explorer browser it works fine, but for some reason my Internet Explorer will only load one page correctly before returning with a dell/google search page and error message every time, so I would rather use Mozilla. Thank you for any help. 137.148.245.254 18:21, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like it is a problem with Gran Paradiso's rendering. Maybe ask here? Or just go back to Firefox 2.0 like the rest of us. Or check out Wikipedia's browser notes. Hope that helps!--Goyston (talk) (contribs) 21:59, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Citing a computer program[edit]

I'm writing the List of Spiral Galaxies page and there is not information on the distance to some of the galaxies. I opened up Celestia and I could get the distance from there. It may be a little bit off considering it is a freeware program, but it is the best I can do right now. I was just wondering how someone would cite Celestia as a source. I couldn't find any information on the format for citing computer programs. Thanks in advance for the help! Imaninjapirate^{talk to me} 19:18, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There exists a template Template:Cite video game that can be used like so: <ref>{{Cite video game|title=bogotron pro|publisher=foosoft|platform=powermaclinux|developer=et.al.}}</ref> (The resulting entry doesn't specifically say anything about the reference being a game, so it should work for any software) You can visit the template page for all the available attributes. --Infrangible 04:06, 29 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Copyright violation/non-violation[edit]

On 13 December, I came across Visionhealth which appeared to be a copyright violation. I notified the contributor and listed it on Wikipedia:Copyright problems ([1]). Today I found a message ([2]) on my talk page purportedly from the copyright holder, releasing it to Wikipedia. I noted this on the Copyright Problems page ([3]).

My question is, is there anything else I should do, or is it all up to the admins now? Should I try to flag one down? Thanks. -Wayne Miller 19:32, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If you email them and get an OK by email (from their domain), then it should be fine - they are legitimately releasing the rights to some content. I'd recommend noting the incident on the article's talk page and including a copy of the email you recieve (minus your email if you don't want it to appear) as a subpage of the talk page. Nihiltres 19:36, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much for the swift reply. Assuming I follow the above instructions, is it ok for me to revert "This Page Is A Copyvio! Do not touch!" off the page, or should I still wait for an admin to do it? -Wayne Miller 19:48, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Requesting_copyright_permission#When_permission_is_confirmed has the necessary information on what to do. It should be fine to remove the copyvio notice, if you leave a note on the talk page and forward your request and the response to permissions-en AT wikimedia DOT org -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 07:30, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Much obliged, thanks! -Wayne Miller 15:41, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

False and Inflamatory Statements[edit]

In the section pertaining to Angeles City, one of your contributors is continually putting false material pertaining to sex slavery. I have lived here for more than twenty five years and know it is false.

The reference used is totally false. It is on the internet, but it is false.

The statement pertaining to sex slavery was removed previously by another person who lives here in the Philippines but has since been put back on.

I extremely familiar with the proper method of removing this type of material, but even if I was, it seems that the individual who is putting it in the wikipedia will just keep replacing it.

Is there anyway you can block and prevent this type of inflamatory material to be continually put??

Daddyo2 20:35, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There are sourcing problems with that paragraph. I've removed one paragraph already and am looking at the others at the moment. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 21:46, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Daddyo2 and Sam Blanning! I've looked in to some of the edits made by you and a variety of other people at Angeles City. Kukini is, I presume, the person you refer to? You cannot block Kukini because that user is an administrator. Also,they have over 23000 edits to their name. If you want though, you can leave a note on Kukini's user talk page and mention it there. Thanks! I'll leave it to Sam to fix up the citation though.--Goyston (talk) (contribs) 21:53, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Goyston, anyone can be blocked if blocking helps to prevent damage to Wikipedia, regardless of how many edits the person has or whether the person is an administrator or not. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 22:29, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have made a few more changes to actually reflect what the sourced material says, and one reference. -- Sir Escher ^talk 22:56, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What is the proper way to use content from Wikipedia on website?[edit]

What is the proper way to use the content of an article on my own website (not a link)? Is this OK? I would like to copy a article and put it on my website, but I would like the article to be a direct copy of the original where a person can edit etc., while changing the original copy (the wikipedia copy). If this is common, please provide any examples.

Scooterking 20:44, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If I understand, you'd like a mirror which synchronises content from and to Wikipedia? You'd need to create a MediaWiki wiki, copy the entirety of the Wikipedia databases, and write scripts which uses bots to update your wiki or Wikipedia when a change is made on the other. I don't think it's a good idea and to my knowledge it isn't being done. I'm not sure the Wikipedia community would allow unapproved bots, and I'm not sure you could get approval for bots for those tasks. The synchronisation bots would not be able to preserve edit attribution without some creativity with edit summaries. BigNate37_(T) 21:07, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

All, I want is the content of the original article in Wikipedia on my site, when a users updates it, the links on the current wikipedia article all point to the wikipedia article. I don't want to maintain separate databases and synchronize. Can the articles without the links inside the article be re-posted on another site? Meaning can i just COPY the text from one article and put the article on my site and reference a link to the article on wikipedia on the bottom of the article?

Scooterking 22:49, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Not to mention this would be hell for Admin issues. All your changes would come through one login, so you'd only need one vandal on your site to get the whole account banned. I'd advise against this. -- Kesh 22:51, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, I see. I don't see how that would be feasable, as you'd have to update the text itself every day to keep current. People will constantly be behind on edits. Better to just link over to Wikipedia so they can see the full article themselves. - Kesh 22:54, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Substituting in the current username[edit]

I would like to create a Wikifun-like game. When you click "Answer This Question" I would like them to be sent to edit the page called User:Goyston/WikiQuiz/(their user name here), where they could post their answer. I don't want a giant page that whoever can easily read and see other people's answers. I have read Help:Substitution but I can't find any information regarding this. Basically I need a code for inserting whoever is reading the page's (not my!) username in to a link. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks! --Goyston (talk) (contribs) 21:18, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I know, there's no way to do this. The list of variables supported by the software is at m:Help:Magic words. -- Rick Block (talk) 22:20, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Rick! --Goyston (talk) (contribs) 22:25, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Login Problem -- yes, I read the FAQ ;-)[edit]

Hi,

I did read the FAQ ;-) I selected "remember me" when logging in. I have privacy set to "Low" on IE6 I even edited the the "per site" privacy section and included wikipedia.org to "always allow" cookies The only firewall I have running is the standard Windows XP firewall; nothing else.

Here's what happens. When I visit wikipedia I'm automatically logged in. As soon as I click on any page within Wikipedia I'm logged out.

Help

67.142.130.49 21:42, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Err...this has been asked numerous times, hold on until I or someone else finds the link for a secured login. — Arjun 21:59, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That would be this link right here. Try that and see if it helps. - Kesh 22:29, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Update -- I tried the secure link, worked for about 3 page clicks :-( Thought ok, maybe my ISP (HughesNet) is the problem. I shut down Hughes and started a new session with my Sprint EVDO card. So far it seems to be working, I'm up to a dozen clicks and haven't been logged off yet. Fingers crossed. If this seems to work I'll switch back to Hughes to prove the theory, then post to the FAQ section for future unfortunates ;)

Thanks!

MacTheTraveler 00:03, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You are welcome, the secure login has never failed us yet. — Arjun 00:09, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting a page[edit]

How do I delete the page I have creeated? —Preceding unsigned comment added by EMC630 (talk • contribs)

You yourself can't delete it as only admins can, place {{db-author}} on the page you would like deleted. — Arjun 22:28, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Userbox alignment[edit]

I can't get my userbox boxes aligned to the right-hand side of my page. Can anyone help? John Reaves 23:07, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Take a look at my User page. You want to put a Userbox tag in, and put your boxes into that, and you can right-align that tag. -- Kesh 23:13, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I did that and they still aren't aligned. Would anybody mind looking at them? John Reaves 23:29, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Move your Babel box below your Userboxes and that should get the Userboxes aligned to the right. However, in the previews your Grammar box still doesn't align correctly. There may be a problem with the tables inside that. -- Kesh 23:36, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

When I do that, nothing changes. John Reaves 23:44, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I fixed it with Template:-, that is with the {{-}} tag. It forces clear margins before the rest of the wiki markup is displayed. BigNate37_(T) 00:13, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]