Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2006 October 24

=October 24=

Discussion of John Calvin
You wrote: "Calvin self-consciously molded his thinking along biblical lines. He labored to preach and teach what he believed the Bible taught. Just as anyone else, however, he stood in the midst of a history and culture from which he could never fully extricate himself, because he was gay." Yet you offer supporting evidence for such an assertion. May God have mercy on you.


 * Wikipedia is not a person. Wikipedia is a collaborative effort, and once in a while, people come around and vandalize pages. If this is what you are talking about, feel free to remove such nonsense. --Wooty Woot? &#124; contribs 00:26, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Vandalism removed. I'm astounded it lasted 4 hours... it was relatively subtle. &mdash;   Da rk Sh ik ar i   talk /contribs  00:30, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Heh, I was about to do that. I got a chuckle out of it at least. Cheers. --Wooty Woot? &#124; contribs 00:33, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

who is the author of wikipedia?
who is the author of wikipedia?
 * There is no "author" of Wikipedia (see above), though I think you might be asking for citation information. If you want to cite an article (for an essay for example), go to the relevant page and click "Cite This Article" on the sidebar. --Wooty Woot? &#124; contribs 00:30, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

WHMIS
1. W.H.M.I.S (Workplace Haazardous Material Information System) was legislatedin 1987 and is also know as the Legislation I want the missing answer for this Question
 * You might try the reference desk. This page is for help with using Wikipedia. However, bear in mind they do not answer homework questions. --Sam Blanning(talk) 01:56, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

A Stolen Life
A couple of days ago I noticed that my bio had been chopped to 20% of my original posting, and asked the help desk about it. Turns out that Adventures Into Digital publishing demanded its removal. This is my standard bio, I provided it to them, and I own the copyright. As my granny used to say "This burns my fanny." Greg Theakston
 * You can leave a message on the person who removed it's talk page: User talk:Haakon. --Wooty Woot? &#124; contribs 02:59, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Please also read the page Autobiography, which strongly discourages writing articles about yourself, including using a promotional biography as article material. Even if the material is technically released to Wikipedia under the GFDL free license (which is what happens when you, the copyright owner, inserts it into an article; note the sentence to that effect below every edit box), other editors may consider it overly self-aggrandizing, self-promotional, etc., and remove all or part of the material. --MCB 04:18, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thank you for drawing attention to this article. Someone had posted a version of the article which explicitly claimed copyright, which is not acceptable, and which did not follow the house style for Wikipedia. I have reverted it to the previous result of collaborative editing. Notinasnaid 08:10, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * With a little research, I've now been able to extend it to include more of the original points. This includes a source for "Theakstonizing", and a Wikipedia link to Pure Imagination (comics), Mad (magazine) and Omega Men, all of which mention the subject. I'm sure that there is much more to say, if it can be properly sourced and written in the house style! Notinasnaid 08:31, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Animals
I am wondering of perhaps an encompassing wildlife section ought to be created. It might link all pages on animals together, and perhaps further, to all pages on the natural world and conservation issues?
 * You could try Wikispecies. -Royalguard11 (Talk·Desk) 04:09, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Hmm, yeah. That looks good, although obviously in need of some serious imput? I put in a common species and nothing was found. (Sasquatchuk 04:17, 24 October 2006 (UTC))


 * The search box isn't always great. Perhaps you misspelled. It's very sensitive to capitalization. - Mgm|(talk) 09:19, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

BIRDS
As a quite serious birder I am perturbed by the poor quality photographs/paintings used on many pages dedicated to our birds. From an enthusiasts pov, photos ought to be used over some of the the antiquated paintings that are currently in place. If drawings do have to be used, then why not ones chosen by ornithologists (which should provide wiki with more accurate info). The current pics (for example: Lesser Spotted Eagle) do not accurately depict the animal. In fact, they are/it is way off the mark. These types of paintings/drawings are outdated (perhaps pre 1970s or earlier?) and much better examples are now available. If the persons responsible for the inclusion of these details understands this then a more rounded article it will make. Ta ta.(Sasquatchuk 03:47, 24 October 2006 (UTC))
 * Images must be either copyright free (usually implying old) or essentially donated under an extremely generous free license (donated on the condition that anyone can copy it so long as they let anyone else copy it). If you know of better images that meet the Image use policy please feel free to upload them.  -- Rick Block (talk) 04:06, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * There are many pictures available out there. I have more than one on my PC which would be an improvement. How do I upload/change it?

A bird ringer and regular editor of Wikipedia may have more access to pics than others. I am suggesting a guideline. I am not going to be an editor but my suggestion is a sound.(Sasquatchuk)


 * Are these pictures that you've taken? The problem is pictures that are "available" very often don't meet the image use policy.  Please realize all the content here is effectively donated.  All the words.  All the images.  There is no funding for content generation.  The guideline is "best available (that meets the image use policy)".  Again, if you know of better images that are publicly available (or that you've taken and are willing to "donate") please let us know. -- Rick Block (talk) 04:31, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes I have several that I have taken myself that are suitable. Also, you might like to know, since the advent of digiscoping, a huge number of ornithologists are taking better pictures of birds. This new craze produces many pictures that are on a par (quality wise) with professional nature photographers. In theory, there ought to be a great deal more uncopyrighted images available. I'm not sure exactly where to find them but then I haven't looked. I'll ask around maybe. (Sasquatchuk 04:40, 24 October 2006 (UTC))

University Database Class seeking to edit entry as a group
Hello Wikipedia Nation,

I am currently a member of Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business's Database Management class. We are seeking to update and correct some information to the "Database Normalization" page. My professor has asked that I find out what we need to do to be able to do this. Are we eligible to do this since we will more than likely be first-time account holders? We seek scholarly work as well as a benefit for all of society.

Thanks in advance!
 * Well, there are several issues you have to take into consideration. Per the GFDL, we need information of who is making changes to a page; while this doesn't sound as big of a deal, you need to recognize that if one member of your class does mischief, all of your class will have that mischief reflected on their contributions record. Additionally, there's usually not much acceptance for role accounts.


 * However, don't let that discourage you, there have been several class-wide projects done previously: see the list at School and university projects for more ideas and tips. Overall, my recommendation is for each student and the professor to create an account, and have the professor link all the usernames of his students for organizational purposes, like GumbyProf does in his user page for his university project. Overall, a lot of ideas and suggestions for professors and students are available. Of course, thanks for helping out, and in case you have any questions, feel free to ask again! Tito xd (?!?) 05:09, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Malicious reverting of edits
HI, I am wondering what the policy is on users constantly reverting others entries, I have been trying to add content to a topic, but a predominant user keeps reverting all my work, he/she says it doesn't follow the format of how they want it done.

I feel my work is valid to the topic, but they keep reverting it anyway. I checked the editing policies and they say I am allowed to edit the article. When I check the history of the page, I see that this user reverts everyones work.

Topic, Smallville (Season 6)

The user is Bignole —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.49.235.50 (talk).


 * While I'm not sure about the entire situation, hopefully, we can assume good faith, though this may not always be the case. Unfortunately, I cannot offer a simple solution for you, other than perhaps ask the user in what ways you can help.  However, if you think that talking to the user will not yield any simple solution, you are more than welcome to look at the dispute resolution process--perhaps taking a break would help, or if not, mediation might solve your issue.  Good luck to you! -dougk  (Talk ˑ Contribs) 06:08, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * This Anon believes me to be "maliciously reverting" them because they refuse to follow the MOS for fictional universe articles, the MOS for television series articles, and because I have cleaned up sentence structure. A quick look at the history for Smallville (Season 6) will show that it isn't malicious and that other editors have notified this user of incorrect practices (just before they were blocked for being disruptive to the same page). I also leave clear edit summaries explaining why I am removing/editing something they added. This Anon is just continuing to be disruptive because they believe that they have a right to add anything they wish, because (and their own words were) "Wikipedia is whatever readers want it to be!" Also, I think this user is mistaking what "the right to edit means", because it does not mean "the right to edit however you wish, with no regard to policy, guidelines, etc." Bignole 07:18, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Removal of Title on a wiki page
I was wondering how to remove/hide the title name at the top left corner of a wiki page, as done on Wikipedia's main page.
 * I think the Main Page's title removal is a special software feature that only affects that page, although I'm not sure. I wouldn't advise trying to mess with titles in articles (at least two templates that did this were deleted or userfied at TfD); if you want to alter the title of your userpage you could use . --ais523 07:47, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

WORLD FOOD DAY
Hello, I put this page up two weeks ago and it has a mark at top asking for it to be Wikified. I've read through the guidelines on ways to Wikify but am not sure what exactly needs amending in this case. Any pointers? Many thanks. ANFO 07:38, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * The tag is there because the page doesn't have enough wikilinks. You can create a wikilink by placing a word or short phrase in a pair of square brackets; also see Help:Link (that's a wikilink right there) for information about what to do when that doesn't work. See MoS:L for information on what ought to be linked. There are a few other things that need to be done as part of wikification, such as links saying (see WP:ASR or the article for why this is a bad idea); if you leave the tag on eventually other Wikipedians will finish the wikification. --ais523 07:53, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

management
what is insurance 07:56, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * 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. --ais523 07:59, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * If you posted this question you would probably get an answer like this:
 * X ['Mac Davis '] (SUPERDESK |Help me improve ) 08:14, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Alignment of text/things other than images
Where can I find a tutorial on the subject the alignment of text/things other than images? Guide to Layout did not help, nor did Manual of Style.

Example:

Thanks.--Fix Bayonets! 08:31, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * There are different methods for different objects.

This text is floated to the right; if you look at the edit screen (click 'edit' next to the heading of this section) you can see what markup I used.


 * Some templates allow different positionings; the one you used above ( doesn't, but some have an extra parameter (e.g. align=left or float=left) you can use. If you are more interested, read about CSS (the Wikipedia article and CSS Programming are starting points you may want to use, but talk about CSS generally rather than as applied to Wikipedia). --ais523 08:55, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Colors
When attempting to make templates, I have always used colors such as "red, "blue", "black", etc. However something I often run into when editing other templates is colors such as "#E8FFFF" or "#339999".  Are these universal html codes for certain colors, or is it a Wikipedia convention?  Also, is there a list somewhere of these "color codes" so I can have a broader selection than just the rainbow... -Runningonbrains 10:14, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * The colour codes are HTML; they consist of six hexadecimal digits in three pairs representing the redness, blueness, and greenness of the colour. Web colors provides a much larger table of colours you can use for things like userpages and template backgrounds; if you want to colour a Portal look at Colours or Wikipedia talk:Colours. --ais523 10:21, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Images from other language wikipedias?
What is the best way to get images from other language wikipedia's. As I can't read the copyright info, i can't save and resubmit. Can I link to them in any other way? Kingutd 10:28, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * The other-language wikipedias can't be image-linked to; this is a good reason to upload images to Wikimedia Commons, which can be linked to from any language. The copyright tags can often be figured out without knowing the language, because the names of the licences and particularly their acronyms often aren't translated. For instance, de:Vorlage:Bild-GFDL is reasonably obviously the GFDL, based on the name of the template, the reference to the Free Software Foundation in English, and the fact that the external wikilinks in the target of the bolded link go to the text of the GFDL. You could also try contacting the uploaders requesting a move to commons if you know a language they speak (many users of foreign-language Wikipedias will be able to speak English and state this on their userpage, for instance). --ais523 10:37, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks mate. Kingutd 10:54, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * A nice way to transfer free images from other Wikipedias to Commons is CommonsHelper. Kusma (討論) 10:58, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

What do you do if someone won't respond to their Talk page?
I'm on one side of a content dispute over articles relating to the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools; is on the other, and s/he has been known to remove large sections critical of the organisation or its facilities from their respective articles without bringing up the issue on their talk pages. I left a message on his/her talk page four days ago, but s/he hasn't responded either there, on my own talk page, or that of the articles. What am I supposed to do now? CameoAppearance orate 11:48, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * 209.181.151.57 is an IP address. If it's dynamic it's possible that the user hasn't received your message (talk-page messages to IPs often get lost due to the editor changing IP). If the editor continues the dispute using the same IP and refuses to communicate, it may be worth going through the Dispute resolution channels. --ais523 11:52, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Need some help
If someone could read my talk page, there is an already going conversation about what to do with an image in question. If someone could answer me there, it would be appreciated. Aspensti 13:47, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Responded on Aspensti's talk page. —Mitaphane talk 16:41, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

scholarships
I am trying to use this site to access info about college scholarships for football and don't know where to begin
 * Not all information is suitable for Wikipedia; if it's too specific for an encyclopedia it's possible that it isn't here. You might want to search on similar terms using the search function, or you could try asking a question about it at the Reference Desk. --ais523 15:08, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is a general encyclopedia, and you are unlikely to find up-to-date, precise and detailed information on college scholarships. Please try looking at the official websites of the organizations that offer scholarships; using any secondary source for this kind of research can be harmful. Good luck! - Tangot a ngo 15:09, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * http://fastweb.com is the best site for scholorships that I know about. Sign up for free and look at that. Wikiversity would normally be good, but it is still in development and I'm not sure of the volume of sports-related college stuff. X ['Mac Davis '] (SUPERDESK |Help me improve ) 17:47, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Photograph
I am at a loss how to attach a photograph to a Wikipedia article The photo downloads and is stored here but I cannot see any way of editing the article to move or download the picture directly. Could someone explain in simple English how to do this? Someone tried before here to tell me but it was written in jargon which I didn't understand. I think one of the weaknesses of Wikipedia is the shortages of images with articles.I think it should be easier to affix pictures! Lee Brown —Preceding unsigned comment added by Frglee (talk • contribs)
 * It is very easy to add an image that is already uploaded to Wikipedia. Just follow The Image tutorial step by step. If you dont succeed, let us know which image you are trying to add to which article. -- Lost (talk) 16:01, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Copyright can't really be simplified too much because the law is complicated. But if you can tell us how you came by the photograph, we may be able to help you work out if the photo is acceptable in Wikipedia. Notinasnaid 19:57, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Table photos
I am making my first table today. I am having a problem getting the photos to display at Hampton House. I am not sure what is wrong TonyTheTiger 15:13, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Although I don't think photo galleries are exactly recommended for use on articles, you may like to take a look at Picture_tutorial for some quick and standardized ways to create image galleries. Cheers, Tangot a ngo 15:18, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

softporn
Can your softporn movies be purchased, if so can you show me what's available.

Thanks

Ray —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rvaiza (talk • contribs)
 * You are at the wrong website. This is Wikipedia, an encyclopedia. You will find articles about anything including porn, but no porn movies here -- Lost (talk) 16:59, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Photo Limit
I have posted 9 pictures from my 7 megapixel camera to the Hampton House page. It seems that at any time at most only 6 or 7 will load. I have tried on my laptop as well as a desktop here at the library. Is it common for a page not to load more than a few pictures? TonyTheTiger 19:09, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I think it's a problem wikipedia is currently having. Some images aren't loading for me as well. And this page seems to indicate other people are having the problem as well. —Mitaphane talk 20:28, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

WP:ABUSE
Hello, I didn't realize that Wikipedia actually reports abuse to ISPs (good job!) but I was wondering what happens to reported vandals? --SonicChao 19:14, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * It depends on the ISP. Different ISPs have different Terms of Service that allow them to terminate service if the user violates the terms. I doubt any of them, however, have anything related to Wikipedia vandalism. Although, many ISPs do have a no Spam clause in their terms. I imagine if a user was found severely spamming wikipedia, the ISP could cancel their account based on those actions. —Mitaphane talk 20:38, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I seriously doubt however, that an ISP would cancel a money paying customer over something as simple as vandalizing wikipedia. Aspensti 21:10, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Actually, you'd be surprised. Its not a "simple thing" and its no different from spamming a discussion board or sending spam emails. &mdash;   Da rk Sh ik ar i   talk /contribs  21:15, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Ok. Maybe someone should add that to the page? --SonicChao 22:04, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * That's why I said severely(I'm thinking bot spam here). I'm sure a 5-10 posts of spam on here wouldn't make an ISP think about terminating service, but a few thousand might. —Mitaphane talk 00:09, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Sub list - listed with letters instead of numbers or bullets
Is there ANY way to list my items with lower case letters next to them instead of numbers or bullets???
 * I'm afraid I don't understand your question, could you provide more context? X ['Mac Davis '] (SUPERDESK |Help me improve ) 22:27, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I think he wants to create a numbered bulleted list but with it enumerated as:
 * a. first item
 * b. second item
 * rather than:
 * 1. first item
 * 2. second item
 * I don't know if it's possible, except for typing it out manually as I've done, but then of course it's a pain if you wan to insert things in between later. p.s. please sign your posts by typing four tildes after your reply like so ~, it automagically expands into your username or IP and the current date like so: Zunaid 09:29, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

More Controversy for "The Island" Film
I have an interesting addition to the controversy of "The Island" film infringing the "Clonus" film.

I also have a copyright infringement lawsuit against the producers of "The Island" -- Stephen Hendricks v. DreamWorks, LLC; Warner Bros.Entertainment, Inc.; Mandalay Filmed Entertainment, LLC; Mandalay Pictures, LLC; and screenwriter Caspian Tredwell-Owen(CV05-8271-CAS (Ex)). My lawsuit is for "The Island" clone film infringing my requested, submitted and read clone screenplay "Double... Double..."

I filed my complaint as a plaintiff pro se because I couldn't find an attorney who would take my case on a contingency. In my lawsuit, Judge Christina A. Snyder denied the defendants' motions to dismiss (DreamWorks, Warner Bros. and Tredwell-Owen jointly filed one motion and Mandalay filed their own motion) and she also granted my motion to amend my complaint for a breach of implied-in-fact contract. The trial is set for August 2007. Mandalay's VP of Features Ori Marmur asked for my clone screenplay in March 1999. Marmur was the supervisor of Tredwell-Owen, "The Island" "screenwriter," who was under a two-picture screenplay contract at Mandalay. I have proof of access. In my complaint I listed over 100 similarities and provided Judge Snyder with a material review that showed how Tredwell-Owen and the defendants rewrote my screenplay. What they did was take the two plots of my present-day clone story and rewrote it into one plot and set it 20 years in the future.

But by doing that the defendants made an infringing derivative sequel of my "Double... Double..." clone story.

How did I come up with my story? It's based on a friend who has a chronic disease and will need an organ transplant. One day we were talking about if only if we could clone her, then that's how we could get a viable organ. But then we got talking about the sad fate of the clone -- created for a body part and then no longer needed and disposed of. Some of the "Freudian slips" of the defendants' telltale copying include: 1) My story ends on AN ISLAND, setting up the sequel to the next chapter of my clone story. The first thing you see in "The Island" is AN ISLAND, which is the transitional sequel link between my clone story and the defendants infringing clone story. 2) The main character in "The Island" is named Lincoln Six Echo, but he is also called "Three." A main character in my secondary plot is also called, "Three." 3) The cloning facility in “Double… Double…” is called BIOTEC INSTITUTE. The cloning facility in “The Island” is sometimes called Merrick BIOTECH and sometimes called Merrick INSTITUTE.

In fact, there is one scene where both names are used when one character talks to another. In “The Island” the human Lincoln character makes a phone call to Merrick BIOTECH/Merrick INSTITUTE and asks the operator for Merrick INSTITUTE. The receptionist at Merrick BIOTECH/Merrick INSTITUTE then answers the phone, “Merrick BIOTECH” (“The Island” DVD, chapter 34).

I'm in the Discovery phase of my trial. Judge Snyder was very generous in the fact that she gave me time to find an expert witness to draft a substantial similarity analysis. I just found an expert who said my claim is valid. She has a doctorate and is a professor who has extensive screenplay analysis experience.

I also may have an attorney who will take over my case.

In regard to the "Clonus" movie, I never heard of it before the lawsuit.

In my case, the Mandalay Feature VP who supervised "screenwriter" Tredwell-Owen has admitted to reading my screenplay, which the courts have held is a reasonable possibility of access.

When you have a reasonable possibility of access in a copyright infringement case, any similarity becomes more significant.

When you have a weak chain of access, similarities can be easier to argue away as independent creation, coincidence and scenes a faire.

One of the things that is really disturbing about my case is that if the defendants get away with their theft, it would set a horrific precedent that would hurt all writers.

A way to look at my case is to ask if the defendants get away with their infringement, can they then make a prequel based on “their” 20 years in the future clone story and then take my present day clone story.

It’s very common now for Hollywood to make sequels and prequels. In fact, "The Island" director Michael Bay’s production company has just released a prequel to the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” called “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – The Beginning.”

So can the defendants take my present day story? They would have an argument. They could say that my present day clone story is based on “their” prior futuristic clone story.

It's another reason why I have fought so hard on this case. It would be disastrous for writers everywhere if the defendants get away with their theft.

DoubleDouble 20:11, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry, I don't think we can help you here. This is a Help Desk to assist Wikipedia users with using and editing Wikipedia.  I'm not exactly sure what your question is, but I don't think Wikipedia is the proper place for such a thing. — K  e  akealani  20:14, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

User Boxes
As stupid as I feel as I type this... I need help!

Can anyone help me figure out how to make userboxes? I tried and tried, but my result was a big mess all over my page. I tried looking at the Wikipedia article on Userboxes but it was no use. I would be eternally grateful for any help... thank you in advance.-SilentWind 20:22, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I have looked at the edits that you made to your userpage and I was wondering whether you meant actually making userboxes or just incorporating already existing ones? To put an already-made userbox on your page, find find the appropriate userbox that you wish to have on your userpage and then copy and paste the code in to the place on your userpage that you wish it to be.  So, for instance, if you copy and pasted the code  on your userpage, it would come up with this when you saved it:

Or if you meant you actually wanted to create a userbox, you need to have basic knowledge of HTML and Wiki-markup - the code for the above userbox is:

<div style="float: left; border:solid 1px; margin: 1px;">

As you can see, it is basically just a question of filling in the blanks. It would be beneficial to you if you tried to create a userbox in the sandbox so it doesn't interfere with your userpage or any other project-related pages. If you would like any help with actually creating your userbox, don't hesitate to contact me! <font style="color: #082567">S e <font style="color: #082567">rgeantBolt (t,c) 22:11, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * A good guide can be found at WP:Userbox. <font color="#6644FF">X ['<font color="#006600" face="Times">Mac Davis '] (<font color="#6688AA">SUPERDESK |<font color="#666666">Help me improve )

subscribing
hey everyone just wanted to know how i can subscribe and whether there is any fee involved and the url where i can subscribe. correct me if i'm wrong but i believe it is possible to become a member of wikipedia...also, what does "wiki"pedia stand for?
 * It is free to create an account to edit Wikipedia. You can also read Wikipedia without an account. Once you create an account, there are lots of things to learn, and lots of pages you can go to, but it is all free. Every single bit. As a reader, some things are more complicated, but you can generally do most of the stuff that someone with an account can do. See Introduction and Help:Contents for more. The "wiki" in wikipedia comes from a Hawaiian word for "fast", because editing can be very fast around here. See wiki for more information. Carcharoth 20:55, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

case sensitivity
I remember reading some WP page awhile ago that had some info about article names being case sensitive. The english wikipedia is one of only a few wikipedias that's case sensitive. Can anyone point me to this page, and tell me whether there's any hope of changing it? Case sensitivity seems really annoying.. two different articles with merely different cases is confusing (they should both be the same disambiguation page) and for normal articles, multiple redirects have to be created for common miscapitalizations --⁪froth T C  20:30, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * The rules for article names can be viewed at Naming conventions. As with all policies, the first way to bring about change is to use the discussion area. McMillin24 contribstalk 21:49, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Error on speedy deletion
I just created a stub for former National Hockey League defenceman Wayne Hillman and they erroneously have put it for speedy deletion. Please rectify this at once. It should not be deleted.Corey Bryant 20:43, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I've added the hangon template for you. Please go to Talk:Wayne Hillman and give the reasons why you think the article should be kept. If you say you are working on it, you will probably be given time to improve the article, but if it doesn't improve, or no reasons are given for Wayne Hillman meeting the criteria at Notability, it may be deleted anyway. Hope that helps. Carcharoth 20:59, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Image resolution
Dear Sir or Madam:

Re: The image of a terraformed Mars at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Terraformedmars.jpg

Since the image is in the public domain, I am planning on using this image for inclusion in a science article I am submitting for publication. I will, of course, give proper credit to Wikipedia and NASA.

My question is how can I obtain a higher-resolution image; my editor wants something 300 dpi or greater.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Joe Knight.
 * You can try writing to NASA as the image was created by NASA. -- Lost (talk) 03:26, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
 * (after edit conflict) You might do well to pose your query at WP:RD/C, where participant editors appear to know everything one might hope to know apropos of computing. You might also want to find the NASA original, e.g, from the NASA Image eXchange or, more generally, the NASA Science and Techincal Information site.  To the extent, btw, that the image is an adapted derivative of an original NASA work&mdash;I don't imagine it to be, the other-than-clear image description notwithstanding, if only in view of its being tagged PD-USGov-NASA&mdash;you might need to ensure that your use complies with the GFDL; you seem, of course, to have an excellent handle on such compliance.  Joe 03:33, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Upload photo
Hello there, I would really like to know how I can add my photo to my user page, Any information would be greatly appreciated. Kind Regards. Ben Montaigue
 * Click on "upload file" on the left side under "toolbox." Follow the prompts, and select a license. Make sure you named your image something better than "DSC13423423.jpg" Copy your image name use WP:IMG in implanting the image in your page. <font color="#6644FF">X ['<font color="#006600" face="Times">Mac Davis '] (<font color="#6688AA">SUPERDESK |<font color="#666666">Help me improve ) 22:24, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Advice and guidance needed
Dear Sir or Madam:

On Dan Poynter's "Publishing Poynters," I read the following paragraph: "If your book covers a topic included in the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, consider adding an entry related to your book, such as listing your website as a resource or including a link to an article you wrote. After I added content to several Wikipedia pages on a topic related to one of my books, I saw a big spike in targeted web traffic. For best results, be sure your content is both relevant and factual(rather than sales oriented)."

I am an historian of and about the battlefields of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France and Belgium during World War I (1917-1919). I have just published the first of a series of 'then-and-now' photographic format guidebooks to the old AEF battlefields. My title is: "American Battlefields of World War I: Château-Thierry--Then and Now. ISBN 0970244304. This book is of the 'crossover' type, in that it is both a guidebook and an informal history.

My question is: How do I best utilize Wikipedia to both disseminate World War I history and to tactfully promote my book? Quite frankly, I find myself a bit confused about the many 'ands, ifs, buts and whyfores' of the Wikepedia website. Maybe this is due to my age of seventy-five years............??

I have published many historical articles relating to the American forces in World War I. My website is: www.battlegroundpro.com

Can someone on your staff offer me some guidelines here and perhaps do a little bit of handholding????

Respectfully yours, David Homsher


 * It's strongly discouraged to use Wikipedia to attempt to "plug" your own works. If your book is relevant as a reference, your best approach might be to mention it on the talk pages of related articles in the hope of interesting editors in adding mention of it if appropriate. *Dan T.* 00:44, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Password reminders
Hi,

I have, for some time, been getting password reminders rather frequently. Currently, they constitute approximately 20-30% of my non-spam, non-mailinglist e-mail. Is there some way to prevent this being sent out for my account, as I have no intention of forgetting my password? If not, is the same IP requesting these several times cause of some form of countermeasure being deployed? From 22:28, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * There is no way to prevent this. Dont let it bother you. If you are sure of not losing your password, setup your inbox so that this mail goes straight to junk. It doesnt affect your current password. There are discussions going on at bugzilla regarding this. See 6427. -- Lost (talk) 03:25, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, it looks as though I'm not the only one with this problem, after all. Limiting requests per hour and preventing blocked users should help. Thanks for the help, and the link. I'm rather new to the "behind the scenes"-part of Wikipedia. From 03:57, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

95th Congress
THe link to Mike McCormack as a member of the 95th Congress is incorrect. You have linked him to the professional football player, Mike McCormack and not the politician representing the 4th Congressional District from WA
 * They're both perfectly valid article subjects: what is needed is a disambiguation page. &mdash;  Da rk Sh ik ar i   <sup style="color:#000088;">talk /<sub style="color:#000088;">contribs  23:13, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Fixed the link, also added Mike McCormack to the disambiguation page. --Skywolf 23:19, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Question
How come the edit tabs on pages are so big all of sudden? Check my userpage, there's one there. Temp 23:02, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

And I guess there's one above my comment, too. :)


 * That would appear to be an option in your browser, as the subheaders on this page use the Header 2 size, not all web browsers interpret sizes the same. --Skywolf 23:47, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

definitions
I have the definition of a word and i need to know what the word is that goes to this definition. How can i do that using Wikipedia?


 * Wikipedia is not a dictionary, however there is Wiktionary. If you need to look up a word by it's definition, your best bet may be an internet search engine. --Skywolf 23:42, 24 October 2006 (UTC)