Help desk
< May 15	<< Apr \| May \| Jun >>	May 17 >

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.

May 16

How do I nominate an article for deletion?

Resolved

– – ukexpat (talk) 20:46, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Can I do so without registering? 24.189.90.68 (talk) 23:58, 15 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You must register, as you have to create the discussion page and page creation is disabled for anonymous users. Alternatively, you can tell us (a) which article you are talking about, then (b) post your rationale for deletion on the article's talk page, then someone here might nominate the article on your behalf. Xenon54 (talk) 00:09, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The page I want to nominate for deletion is Greyson Michael Chance. I already wrote my reason on its talk page. 24.189.90.68 (talk) 00:20, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Done Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Greyson Michael Chance Xenon54 (talk) 00:30, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. 24.189.90.68 (talk) 01:07, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Skin

How do I make it so I use the Monobook skin even when logged out? jc iindyysgvxc (my contributions) 00:32, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can use this link, but when you click on an internal link, it automatically switches back to vector. Goodvac (talk) 01:00, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Highly unlikely you can do that. --White Trillium (talk) 01:29, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't speak javascript, so I wouldn't know how to achieve this, but shouldn't it be possible to transparently rewrite internal links client-side using greasemonkey or similar from "http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Any_article" (Vector skin) to "http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Any_article&useskin=monobook" (Monobook skin). Not the easiest or prettiest solution, but it should do the job if you can find a javascript programmer to write it for you.131.111.185.68 (talk) 19:11, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A modification to this greasemonkey script should work.131.111.185.68 (talk) 19:18, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Quesitonable claim

In http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate it is claimed that Georgia has a 100% literacy rate for its population of over 4 million. I request a fact check for this information. 76.229.218.70 (talk) 03:44, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That information was taken from this report (on page 172), as published by the United Nations Development Programme in 2009. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 03:52, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

page does not exist message is appearing, why?

If we want to browse some articles, page does not exist message appearing,why? who are deleting these pages?

for example if we try to search for the film 'Arundathi' we are unable to view that

regards, shiv--202.164.44.108 (talk) 05:16, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The reason as to why you cannot see articles that have previously existed is that they have been deleted, as you mentioned. The particular article you ask for, Arundathi, has been deleted under A1 criterion for speedy deletion (which basically means that the article lacked the context needed to identify the subject of the article). NawlinWiki was the administrator who deleted the article; you may wish to ask them on their talk page for a bit more detail on the matter, as they are the one who deleted it, and being an admin, they can view the deleted article. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 05:36, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for a BOT

Is there a BOT that removes all red-links in an article by removing the [[]]--intraining ^{Jack In} 07:03, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think there's a bot that indiscriminately removes redlinks, although ClueBot II (talk · contribs) removes redlinks from suspected copyright violations. Goodvac (talk) 07:14, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Calling template experts

Just made Template:Missouri county elected officials. This is designed to have a uniform template for all Missouri county articles. I would like it to have a spot to list the political party of the incumbent along with the incumbent's name - and for it also to automatically shade the appropriate color (blue for Democrats, red for Republicans, gray for independents). See the table at Washington County, Missouri#Local.

Can anyone lend a hand? Neutrality^talk 07:30, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Apple Dictionary App

Since the launch of the improved Wikipedia UI, Apple's dictionary.app has been displaying wikipedia's pages improperly. While the page appears normally and links can be followed as usual, scrolling is completely disabled. The up and down arrows, the scroll bar on a mouse, the scroll bar itself, all have no affect. Is wikipedia working on a remedy for this or is it more likely an error on the part of Apple? Either way, how can this problem be fixed? --24.110.37.64 (talk) 13:35, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You may getter a better response at the technical section of "the Village Pump"; however, I'd guess that the fix lies with Apple - they'll need to update their app to either work with the new skin (Vector) or to request the old skin (Monobook) with each HTTP equest to Wikipedia. TFOWR^propaganda 13:40, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I read that the problem could be solved by (in Safari) changing wikipedia back to it's former interface. However, I hate to give the impression that I don't like this otherwise great UI to the foundation. --24.110.37.64 (talk) 20:08, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Signing

My question above got unanswered, could please somebody read my explanation added today under the first request heading?

Thank you

Aldrasto11 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aldrasto11 (talk • contribs) 13:48, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Would you be able to use another browser? "Firefox" and "Chrome" are both free (but, depending on where your computer is, you may not be able to install applications on it).

I can't think why Internet Explorer would do anything at all when you type four tildes (~~~~). Does the same thing happen if you use the "signature" button in the editing toolbar?

TFOWR^propaganda 14:00, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There are different ways to sign and I'm not sure what you do. Here are 3 ways: 1) Manually type four tilde characters ~~~~ one at a time on your keyboard without clicking anything. 2) Click a signature icon with a pencil above the edit box. 3) Choose "Insert" or "Wiki markup" in a selection box below the "Save page" button and click on ~~~~ in the box. Method 2 and 3 should both insert ~~~~ at the cursor in the edit box. Do any of the 3 methods work for you? PrimeHunter (talk) 20:28, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Using Internet Explorer to sign

Works for me —MC10 (T•C•GB•L) 21:10, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I just posted at the last post by this person on this subject. I have a problem with signing too, and I use Firefox. Four tildes used to work but recently stopped working. My name and date/time of post are added but are not hyperlinked. See: Candy 10:01, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

children music

who write children music and words and publisher city county and copyright dates —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.67.32.220 (talk) 19:02, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what you refer to but if you want information to cite Children's music or another Wikipedia article in a work outside Wikipedia then click the "Cite this page" link under the Toolbox heading to the left of an article, or see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:15, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Article wizard/Wizard-New edit instructions A

Could somebody please (a) revert Wikipedia:Article wizard/Wizard-New edit instructions A and (b) fully protect it. It doesn't have many watchers, and is highly visible (part of WP:WIZ). User:Rd232 logged out. 194.106.43.95 (talk) 20:29, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have reverted the erroneous changes to Wikipedia:Article wizard/Wizard-New edit instructions A. Maybe a kindly admin reading this will protect the page. – ukexpat (talk) 20:44, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How to get my contribution to show when using Google search

I wrote a factual article on myself (see link below). However, I can never find it by googling..Any advice/

Thanks,

Gabriel Magno

http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/User:Gaberingo/Gabriel_Magno —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gaberingo (talk • contribs) 20:58, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's probably not indexed by Google yet. Searching up "MC10 site:en.wiki.x.io" gives me results from my userpage, so you may just have to wait a while. —MC10 (T•C•GB•L) 21:07, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In theory drafts in user space are not supposed to be indexed by search engines. Once a draft is moved to main space it can take several days for it to show up in search results. – ukexpat (talk) 22:35, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Special:WhatLinksHere/User:Gaberingo/Gabriel Magno indicates that before being nominated for deletion there was no page linking to it so it was hard to find for a search engine. The nomination added __NOINDEX__ which tells search engines to not index the page. Note that the page is a user subpage for your account and not a Wikipedia article. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:37, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Template help needed

Resolved

– – ukexpat (talk) 16:06, 17 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone fix and replace that to that, or (my preference) make it look more like such {{POV}} regarding color and layout? Placing solutions in my sandbox for future use preferred. Much appreciated, The Magnificent Clean-keeper (talk) 20:59, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've fixed the template. Goodvac (talk) 21:34, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a lot, (also for the spelling) . It's perfect now.The Magnificent Clean-keeper (talk) 22:20, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why not use {{in use|time (message)}}?

I thought about using that, but {{in use}} states that the page it's on is undergoing a major edit. That's not the case here. Goodvac (talk) 22:37, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough. – ukexpat (talk) 16:06, 17 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Changing vector skin

Hi everybody! With monobook skin I used a modified user stylesheet that attaches the header to the browser window when scrolling down. I tried the same with vector skin using this in my vector.css:

div#left-navigation
  left:10em;
  position:fixed;
  background-color: #f8f8ff;
  z-index:5;
  }
div#right-navigation
  right:0em;
  position:fixed;
  background-color: #f8f8ff;
  z-index:5;
  }
div#p-personal
  position:fixed; 
  background-color: #f8f8ff;
  z-index:5;
  }

Now some questions to this because I find it very useful to have those buttons visible all the time: How can I remove the gap between the two fixed rows and maybe also between left and right navigation? And wouldn't this be a nice gadget for everyone just to activate or deactivate in the preferences? --тнояsтеn ⇔ 21:03, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nobody any idea? Or is this the wrong place for this kind of question? --тнояsтеn ⇔ 07:49, 18 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Solved, see result here --тнояsтеn ⇔ 09:03, 19 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For those that subst: in shared IP templates...

Where do you get the information that says who the IP is registered to? I've tried using RIRs and WHOIS, but they only seem to end at the ISP level. Any advice? Hmmwhatsthisdo (talk) 21:09, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think that you can. However im not quite sure. Anyone else know?--White Shadows ^{you're breaking up} 21:28, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I've seen people that seem to pull these names out of the blue, and somehow be miraculously right (I saw them put a SharedIP-EDU template on my school's IP talk page, and I couldn't find the school's name listed anywhere). I've even tried checking the whois & RIRS for already tagged pages, and still can't seem to find the source. Hmmwhatsthisdo (talk) 22:01, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I get schools from the whois - you do need to read them carefully, and be prepared to use your google-fu to interpret some results. Could you point us to any school IP's where you couldn't replicate the identification? DuncanHill (talk) 22:05, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not ATM. I just remember that I went Wikipedia on a school computer (forgetting to log in), and noticed that the talk page said it was registered to something related to our Educational Service District. But anyway, as for "google-fu", are you telling me that whois-ing the IPs, then googling the registered names? Hmmwhatsthisdo (talk) 22:11, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. For instance, WHOIS might show that a block of IPs is registered to "GV/WFL BOCES" and a Google search would show that that's the Genesee Valley / Wayne–Finger Lakes Board of Cooperative Educational Services in New York. Deor (talk) 23:20, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ah. Ok. I have had my "ah ha!" moment. I thought that there was some foolproof way of finding the owners of IPs. In the past, I've seen whois-es that drop off as a huge block of IPs registered just to "Comcast" or "Verizon", and that's it. But, now I am enlightened. Thank you all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hmmwhatsthisdo (talk • contribs) 01:23, 17 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Where has the search field gone? 21:46, 16 May 2010 (UTC)~~

Where has the search field gone? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Biblical wisdom (talk • contribs) 21:46, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You mean the search bar? It's now located at the top right of the page. Orphan Wiki 21:48, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you're using Vector, then the search box is in the upper right hand corner. If you wish to turn it off and revert back to the old interface, click "Take me back" at the top. Goodvac (talk) 21:51, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Image variable in URL

File:Thisisanexampleimage.png

If you click on the above image placeholder you will be sent to http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Wikipedia:Upload?wpDestFile=Thisisanexampleimage.png

I'd like to see Wikipedia:Upload page modified so that the wpDestFile={imagename}} variable can be passed through when you click on what type of image you'd like to upload. As it is you set up the page how you'd like with the correct image name but when you choose what type of license it is you lost the destination filename and have to manually type it in again.

As it is now:

http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Special:Upload&uselang=en-nonfree-logo&wpUploadDescription={{logo%20fur%0A%3C!--%20REQUIRED%20--%3E%0A+%7CArticle+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CUse+++++++++++++++=+Org%0A%3C!--%20HIGHLY%20RECOMMENDED%20--%3E%0A+%7CSource++++++++++++=+%0A%3C!--%20ADDITIONAL%20INFORMATION%20--%3E%0A+%7CUsed%20for++++++++++=+%0A+%7COwner+++++++++++++=+%0A+%7CWebsite+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CHistory+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CCommentary++++++++=+%0A%3C!--%20OVERRIDE%20FIELDS%20--%3E%0A+%7CDescription+++++++=+%0A+%7CPortion+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CLow_resolution++++=+%0A+%7CPurpose+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CReplaceability++++=+%0A+%7Cother_information+=+%0A}}

How I'd like to see it:

http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Special:Upload&uselang=en-nonfree-logo&wpUploadDescription={{logo%20fur%0A%3C!--%20REQUIRED%20--%3E%0A+%7CArticle+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CUse+++++++++++++++=+Org%0A%3C!--%20HIGHLY%20RECOMMENDED%20--%3E%0A+%7CSource++++++++++++=+%0A%3C!--%20ADDITIONAL%20INFORMATION%20--%3E%0A+%7CUsed%20for++++++++++=+%0A+%7COwner+++++++++++++=+%0A+%7CWebsite+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CHistory+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CCommentary++++++++=+%0A%3C!--%20OVERRIDE%20FIELDS%20--%3E%0A+%7CDescription+++++++=+%0A+%7CPortion+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CLow_resolution++++=+%0A+%7CPurpose+++++++++++=+%0A+%7CReplaceability++++=+%0A+%7Cother_information+=+%0A}}&wpDestFile={IMAGENAMEVARIABLE}

TheBigJagielka (talk) 23:38, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I click on your link, browse for a file, then change the licensing to logo— the filename sticks. I tried with Monobook and Vector skins. You can create a link that includes the licensing; I use this for BSA images:

{{fullurl:Special:Upload|uselang=en-nonfree-logo&wpUploadDescription=%0A==Summary==%0A{{logo%20fur%0A|Article+++++++++++=%0A|Use+++++++++++++++=Infobox%0A|Source++++++++++++=%0A|Used%20for++++++++++=%0A|Owner+++++++++++++=Boy%20Scouts%20of%20America%0A|Website+++++++++++=%0A|History+++++++++++=%0A|Commentary++++++++=%0A|Description+++++++=%0A|Portion+++++++++++=%0A|Low_resolution++++=%0A|Purpose+++++++++++=%0A|Replaceability++++=%0A|other_information+=%0A}}%0A%0A==Licensing==%0A%7B%7BNon-free%20Scout%20logo%7CBSA%7D%7D}}

Note that you have to convert spaces, newlines and included braces to percent hex codes. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 11:10, 17 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Bot

Is there a bot can automatically change the destination of a link on many pages from York Region Shooters to York Region Shooters (1998) ? TheBigJagielka (talk) 23:41, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is it really necessary to change the link? It already redirects, so I wouldn't bother. Goodvac (talk) 23:43, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I see you just moved York Region Shooters to York Region Shooters (1998). Are you planning to create a new article at York Region Shooters? Special:WhatLinksHere/York Region Shooters doesn't show that many links so you could do it manually or with the semi-automated Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser. I wouldn't request a bot run for this. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:50, 16 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I want to create a new article at York Region Shooters. Italia Shooters have changed their name to "York Region Shooters". Both clubs were founded in 1998 so I wasn't able to differentiate by year. TheBigJagielka (talk) 00:03, 17 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I see you are now using AutoWikiBrowser. I think [1] had a valid link and should be reverted. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:00, 17 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed TheBigJagielka (talk) 02:36, 17 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I fail to make the connection. Sego Lily (talk) 02:01, 17 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]