Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 February 16

=February 16=

Archiving
Seems I messed up when trying to archive Talk:George W. Bush. I removed the content here, created the new archive page here and updated the archive list here. Unfortunately, a link to the new archive page does not show up in the archive list. What did I do wrong? --Mbc362 00:25, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * You have fixed up the problem now (the archive page actually needed to go at Talk:George W. Bush/Archive 49). Also, on Talk:George W. Bush a purge was required to get the new 2007 link to show up, ie going to the url http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:George_W._Bush?action=purge .--Commander Keane 00:42, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Ogg file conversion
Please, please help! How do I convert sound files (place names etc) into ogg format? Where can I get a reliable ogg encoder from? Anil 00:40, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Media has ideas.--Commander Keane 00:42, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I found http://www.mediaconverter.org quite handy. - Mgm|(talk) 23:09, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * ThanksAnil 01:15, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Preventing edit by double click
Is there a way to prevent users from editing a page by double clicking it? I would like to apply this to Introduction, the lower part of which can be edited by new users as a kind of sandbox. But of course we don't want users to edit the upper part, which they now can do even accidentally if they doubleclick anywhere. &mdash; Sebastian 01:58, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Double clicking is but a shortcut for "edit this page", I believe (it's off by default in my preferences). Since you can't semi-protect part of a page, I don't think it's possible. Xiner (talk, email) 02:47, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Thank you, that's a pity. (Your first sentence already gives me the answer I need, but there's a misunderstanding in your second sentence. I didn't mean this for part of the page; I'd be happy if a user could doublecklick nowhere on the page. I thought the default was double-click, but maybe I changed that. Help:Preferences doesn't say what the default is.) &mdash; Sebastian 03:23, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism reversions
If the vandalism is fairly minor, e.g. an added sentence, is it better/more efficient (for Wikipedia) to bring up a prior version and save it, or just fix the vandalism in the current version? Clarityfiend 02:07, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm pretty sure it doesn't make any difference. Chairman S. Talk  Contribs  02:13, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * It's the price we pay for letting people edit. Xiner (talk, email) 02:44, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I think it's usually better to revert to a prior version so you can make sure you're not accidentally missing something. Some vandals make similar edits under different names in short succession. Checking the history for a clean edit is a catch-all - Mgm|(talk) 23:07, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

why can't i see the edit button on my question i posted?
Ok, i posted a question but i cant see my edit button to reply. why is that?
 * Where did you post the question? -- [|.K.Z|]  [|.Z.K|]   07:23, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Infoboxes
what is and how do you use an info boxe. J.Mraz 02:39, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * They're templates, I believe. So Infobox Person, if it exists, can be accessed at Template:Infobox Person. Do you have a specific one in mind? Xiner (talk, email) 02:42, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * See Help:Infobox and WP:INFOBOX. --Teratornis 05:46, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Automatically logged out?
I've already searched the site and found another discussion about this problem, but it didn't help me.

I'm running Firefox 2.0.0.1 and I'm behind a D-link router with no special content filtering or anything like that.

When I login, I'm taken to a page that shows my username in the upper right corner telling me that I've successfully logged in, but as soon as i go anywhere else on the site, I'm logged out.

I should mention that i'm on satellite internet, which is total crap, but it shouldn't stop me from staying logged in, I would think.

67.142.130.39 02:47, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * From Pump Tech FAQ: This could be a result of your cookie, browser cache, or firewall/Internet security settings. Some ISPs use transparent proxies which cause problems logging in. If you find that you are automatically logged out just after you have logged in, and removing all your Wikipedia cookies does not fix the issue, try using the secure server (much slower) to bypass the proxy. This happens most often with some satellite ISPs (particularly HughesNet/DirecWay/DirecPC)..--Commander Keane 03:04, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

interwiki links
I want to link the article on ducks to the Mapudungun article on ducks or Cuchru how can I do that? It's an incubator and arn:cuchru is not working. please respond to my talk page 71.142.68.229 04:21, 16 February 2007 (UTC) qrc2006/email 04:22, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

please answer me on here please


 * Have you read: Help:Interwiki linking and Interwiki map? These two links appear to be equivalent; the latter may be what you want:
 * http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cuchru
 * Cuchru
 * although you might prefer to hide the interwiki link prefix: Cuchru. --Teratornis 05:52, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Creating tabs on wiki.
Hi! I'm currently creating a Bioinformatics on-line course using Wiki but I was thinking it would be more effective if I can use tabs on the modules. So how do you create tabs just like in this page:
 * Click "edit this page" on that page and copy the code to a page in your user space. Play with the code. The tab names are contained within. Xiner (talk, email) 04:27, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * You will need the code from the included templates as well. Rmhermen 05:12, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I assume this is for some other Wiki; I can't see that an on-line course belongs in Wikipedia. I thought I should point this out in case other readers see this message and are inspired. Notinasnaid 09:30, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I am also interested in learning how to do the tabs, but I cannot edit the page. Do I have to register first to see it? 69.180.251.135 18:40, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

LIGHT WAVES
I was reading the above article and then it disappeared. The word 'spam' was at the top left of the file folder outline page. I did not know how to retreive what I was reading. How do I prevent this from occuring again? I am very upset because it was important research and time lost. What did I do wrong that may have caused this problem? What action can I follow if this interferece reappears? 74.103.90.47 03:47, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * It's back. Light is the article you are looking for. The reason the word 'spam' was visible was because someone decided to vandalize the page. There is really no way to prevent it from happening (well, except semi-protecting the page), but the vandalism can be reverted. I hope this helps to clear up any confusion that you may have experienced. Kyra~(talk) 03:56, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Making Wikipedia read-only at the local level
Is is possible to prevent a user from editing Wikipedia at the local, user account level, e.g. through a browser cookie? The OS would be Mac OS X 10.4 with the Safari and/or Firefox.

Thanks 24.118.153.134 03:53, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * That can only be done if the user account of ip is blocked from editing and it can only be done by an administrator in adherence with the Blocking policy &mdash; Lost (talk) 03:57, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Wait, do you mean you want to block someone else on your computer from editing? Prodego  talk  04:00, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

That would be correct.
 * It is theoretically possible to disable an account from editing using Javascript, but there's no way you can prevent just logging out and editing, without preventing reading Wikipeida too. -Amarkov moo! 04:20, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * It is possible, though I'm not sure of the exact mechanism by which you would achieve it. The edit page is always . If you could figure out a way to block any Wikipedia URLs containing the string "&action=edit", it would be possible. There's probably a way to twist Greasemonkey into doing something similar or disappearing the edit box / buttons as well. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:09, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * is a quick version of said Greasemonkey script (should also work under the Creammonkey program for Safari). Greasemonkey is easy to bypass though. A better solution would probably be to use Privoxy or some Content-control software. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:47, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

using wikipedia for a nigerian style scam
i received this email ala the nigerian scam and it uses a link to here to legitimize it. below is the email. the wiki page was edited on 2/11. i got the email on 2/15. was this created to help the scam or has it been here all along and they are just using it? I thought you should be aware of this.

Dear Sir,

I, representing Mr. Mikhail Khodorkovsky (M.K.), would like to ask for your partnership in re-profiling funds over US$123 million.

I will give the details, but in summary, the funds are in a security vault, Meanwhile, I have worked out the strategies and technincalities where by the funds can be claimed in any of our 6 Clearing Houses without any hitches.Our sharing ratio will be 80% for investment and 15% for your assistance while 5% will be for expenses during the process of the transaction. All the documents to this effect are all in place and if you are interested, Please email me your direct telephone number for discussion of this transaction and further details.

Finally, please note that this must be concluded within a short time. Write me back. I look forward to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Khodorkovsky

Mr.Boris

216.186.88.44 04:59, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * The page itself has been here all along, and has nothing to do with the scam. The scammers are just linking to the page, in order to falsely associate themselves with a legitimate figure. -- Chairman S. Talk  Contribs  05:04, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Mikhail_Khodorkovsky. They could just as well be linking to any other wealthy person's article. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:06, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Cool! So the spammer in effect is providing a link to a statement saying that it's spam. I love the way Wikipedia works to inform people! Has anyone tried to remove that section? That could give some good hints to the police or whoever investigates spam. &mdash; Sebastian 17:11, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Advanced Search
i just wanted to know the best way to search for in/famous people born or date of death on a particular day? i typed in a particular date, but the list didn't help
 * for wikipedia, just type in a particular year, and it'll basically show all the famous people born/died in the year. In Google or something else, there's no way to successfully do this. -- [|.K.Z|]  [|.Z.K|]   07:25, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * What do you mean? October 28 shows births that occurred on October 28. − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 12:37, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

New message box CSS
Does anyone know the CSS code to change the color of the new messages box for monobook? I've done a search for said code, but I have not been able to locate it thus far. Kyra~(talk) 07:43, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * The class is usermessage, so
 * works. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 09:42, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * works. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 09:42, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

i have a report;;;;
what is the; earliest copyright date listed in wikipedia? i was doing a report on calvin coolidge; and.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_coolidge  and can't find author(obviously because a bunch of people edited and wrote on it) and date of publication....

or URL(what's that?, anyways)...

citing references is harder.........................than writing the report, anyways...........


 * Firstly, it really isn't a good idea to cite Wikipedia as a reference (see General disclaimer), as there is no guarantee of validity or reliability. You're better off finding a primary source of some kind.


 * However, if you are going to cite it, you don't need to include an author, and cite the publication date as 2007. in addition, you should usually include the date that you accessed the page. A URL is simply the web address, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org. -- Chairman S. Talk  Contribs  08:04, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * It can be hard, and that's why every article has a link "Cite this article" down at the left. A URL, by the way, is the address of a web page: that thing which starts http:// and you see at the top of your browser. Copy and paste it exactly. Notinasnaid 09:35, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Citing Wikipedia − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 12:35, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

query
how to find the number of contributors —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.109.122.7 (talk • contribs) 21:08, 16 February 2007


 * Contributors to what? -- Chairman S. Talk  Contribs  10:47, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * According to Special:Statistics there are 3,576,983 registered user accounts, of which 1,117 (0.03%) are administrators. Some more detailed statistics can be found at this site, though only as recent as November 2006.
 * Wikipedians who edited at least 10 times since they arrived
 * Increase in wikipedians who edited at least 10 times since they arrived
 * Wikipedians who contributed 5 times or more in this month
 * Wikipedians who contributed 100 times or more in this month
 * − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 12:34, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

In the AfD Log and now not in the AfD Log?
I've added a page to AfD today, 16th Feb, it appeared in the log. Seemed OK.

Being this: Articles_for_deletion/Civilian (street_artist)

Then I bundled some other pages together with it. Now neither they nor the first one are in the log of today's AfD's. Have they gotten lost somewhere, somehow? Marcus22 12:38, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * According to Special:Contributions/Marcus22, you never added the AfD nomination to the log. Is it possible that you clicked on 'preview' rather than 'save' by mistake, and didn't notice? (You'd probably better try adding it to the log again, so that the debate can be closed in proper time.) --ais523 12:43, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I've gone back and re-added it. And it was there the last time I looked!  Marcus22 14:41, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

How to clear data present in the search browser (Wiki cache)
I want to know how to clear the Wikipedia search browser. I dont want any pages saved here, because most of it is not child-friendly.I want my Wikipedia to be safe for my kids to use.
 * There's a good answer to that question further up the page:


 * This is nothing to do with Wikipedia; however, some browsers will have this as a feature. I think it's called 'AutoComplete' in Internet Explorer, so there might be some way to clear it in the menus somewhere (I don't have access to the relevant menus on this computer, though, so I can't check). --ais523 15:01, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I think you can delete individual items by highlighting them with the cursor and pressing the Delete key, or alternatively:
 * In Internet Explorer, click Tools -> Internet Options..., click the Content tab, click AutoComplete and there are options there.
 * In Firefox, to disable the feature go to Tools -> Options..., in the Privacy section, click the Saved Forms tab and uncheck "Save information I enter in forms and the Search Bar" and click OK and then click Tools -> Clear Private Data... and make sure Saved Form Information has a tick and then click Clear Private Data Now. It's up to you to determine what other data you want to clear. I think that's everything I can tell you, but it's more a question for the Reference desk. --WikiSlasher 12:18, 13 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I hope that helps! --ais523 13:45, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

correction in a biography
Hello, we went to the Edouard Glissant Biography and he (Edouard Glissant) thinks that you need to make few corrections on the text. we try to edit directly some changes we made but apparently it doesn't work. Could help us with this ?
 * These are the edits you made: . If the article appears to have not changed, try bypassing your cache. --ais523 16:16, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Image height
If, for example, I use, I will get an image that is 100 pixels wide, and the height is calculated automatically. Is there any way I can specify the height I want for an image, and let the width be calculated automatically? – Tivedshambo (talk) 16:49, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * According to Extended_image_syntax, if you use [[image:foo.jpg|1000x150px]], you will get an image that is no wider than 1000 pixels and no taller than 150 pixels. For a sufficiently large width value, the height value will be the controlling limitation.  Particularly if you're inserting the image in an article, however, you might want to review Image_use_policy, which discusses recommended maximum widths.  Based on that recommendation, you might consider setting your maximum width to 550, so that the image will display on 800x600 monitors correctly.  Subject to that maximum width limitation, your height limitation will control the image size.  TheronJ 16:58, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks. The images will be logos for my home page. – Tivedshambo (talk) 17:06, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * If one knows the aspect ratio of the image, one could try using an  function to calculate the width for the   tag from the desired height. For example, if the original image is 300px wide and 500px tall, and one wants to specify a scaled image height of 200px, the resulting width should be:  . Insert the whole expression tag into the image tag's width parameter, like this: , after substituting the actual height and width of the original image, and the desired scaled height. Disclaimer: I have not actually tested this on a real image tag, so you may need to experiment. See: Help:Calculation. And this would only work on MediaWiki wikis that have the ParserFunctions extension installed (such as Wikipedia). --Teratornis 17:21, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Thumbnails for gif animations?
I have created this very nice animation for wikipedia that describes the spread of religion over centuries but when I try to put it in an article in a thumbnail form it doesn't appear, it says the thumbnail image is 404. The image is What do I do? -- zenberg 16:50, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * If I recall correctly, some animated GIFs can't be resized. Trebor 17:15, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Does anyone have more information about this? Perhaps I saved it encoded in a nonstandard way, some more information would be very helpful. I doubt it has anything to do with size as there are other gif animations much bigger than mine (such as: and have perfectly find thumbnails. -- zenberg 17:35, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I had a possibly similar situation on a corporate wiki in which a user uploaded an image file, and no thumbnail was appearing on the wiki. I investigated and determined that the MediaWiki software was using the  program (part of ImageMagick) to generate the thumbnail. I tried running   on the command line to test the thumbnail generation manually, like this:
 * and the result was:
 * The solution was to open the original file in another graphic software program and re-save it. The re-saved file then did not seem corrupted to the  program. The ImageMagick bundle of programs comes standard on Linux, Cygwin, etc., if you want to play around with it. --Teratornis 18:32, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * The solution was to open the original file in another graphic software program and re-save it. The re-saved file then did not seem corrupted to the  program. The ImageMagick bundle of programs comes standard on Linux, Cygwin, etc., if you want to play around with it. --Teratornis 18:32, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * The solution was to open the original file in another graphic software program and re-save it. The re-saved file then did not seem corrupted to the  program. The ImageMagick bundle of programs comes standard on Linux, Cygwin, etc., if you want to play around with it. --Teratornis 18:32, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I might add that if you have an animated graphic file that works, you might download it to your (hopefully Linux or Unix-like) computer, and compare the output of the  command on the working file to the output for your file. That might give some clue about what file format to use. References: Comparison of graphics file formats, Image file formats. --Teratornis 22:25, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

cd conversion into paperback books
My memoirs (130+ pages) are on a cd. I would like to have this put into book form in at least 10 books. THere are several photos also that we have scanned for use on various pages. Setting margins, etc. does not appeal to me. Can you help?? Thank you
 * 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 18:04, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Finding when/by whom an edit was made
Is there a straightforward way of finding when or by whom a particular bit of text in an article was added? (Short of searching through the edit history, which is very time-consuming if the text was added hundreds of edits ago, even using a binary search.) Ben Finn 17:12, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't think so, although it would be useful. Trebor 17:14, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Some revision control systems call this a "blame" or "annotate" feature. For example, Subversion has an snv.blame feature. Obviously, having a blame feature makes a revision control system more useful, for example when you want to directly question the author of a particular passage in an article (or document, program file, or whatever you are editing). A search of Meta turns up the Annotate special page that someone is working on. You may want to check it out. --Teratornis 17:55, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * And while we're on the subject, I think this section: Blame could use a link to Annotate as another illustrative example. Is there a way to add that link without it being a self reference? --Teratornis 17:55, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Would you link to the page on Meta if you were writing it in another encyclopedia? If you think you would (which seems reasonable), that's fine, but make sure it's an external link, as you're referring to Meta in an external-linky kind of context. --ais523 18:06, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * User:AmiDaniel did a tool called "Whodunit" that should be floating around somewhere which should fill your needs.. - Mgm|(talk) 22:55, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

hot to empty the search box
how do you empty your search box?..124.6.189.254 18:39, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Look at 'How to clear data present in the search browser (Wiki cache)', six sections above this one. --ais523 18:41, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

How do I become a user?
How? I need help here, thx in advance. :-) 207.63.251.231 18:53, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Here's a link for you: Sign up to Wikipedia! Creating an account is free, and you don't even have to provide an email address (if you do, you can use it to reset your password, and you can allow other people to email you through it if you wish). You can also use the 'log in / create account' link in the top-right corner of the screen. Hope that helps! --ais523 18:58, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * After you did that, you want to read Tutorial for the basics. - Mgm|(talk) 22:53, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Blocking users from editing
I'm wondering how I would go about getting my company's pages on Wikipedia blocked from being edited by other users.

Clairecorus 19:19, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Short answer: you can't. No one has ownership over a page; by submitting it to Wikipedia you are agreeing that your contributions can be edited (mercilessly). Hope that helps. Trebor 19:21, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * However if the page is being vandalised then wikipedia admins can take steps to prevent that. Which page are you talking about? Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 19:22, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Is user:anaalberts a meat puppet? If so, who do I report this to?
User:anaalberts' contribution makes me suspect that this is Patrick Holford, or a representative. The previous history of the patrick holford article makes me more suspicious. Is this something I can/should report - and, if so, where? Thanks in advance Jon m 20:35, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * If you suspect that a user is a sock puppet, you can report him/her at Suspected sock puppets. -- Chairman S. Talk  Contribs  20:46, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * thanks - it looks like my suspicions were wrong, though. The user was just quoting Holford, without attributing the quote Jon m 22:05, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Quill Publishing
I have noticed that Wikipedia shows Quill Publishing as being based in New York, however I am the senior partner in Quill Publishing - a publishing company in the UK (North Yorkshire to be precise) and I wondered why Wikipedia fail to list us? To ascertain further details you will find the company and relevant details at the following website www.quillpublishing.co.uk


 * The most likely reason that your company doesn't appear on Wikipedia is that it probably fails the guidelines for Notability and Verifiability. Unfortunately, Wikipedia does not keep articles on everything, only subjects that the community deems notable enough to appear. -- Chairman S. Talk  Contribs  20:54, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * It's also possible that just no-one has bothered to write such an article yet. You can contribute, too, but please be mindful of WP:COI. Xiner (talk, email) 20:59, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Getting Started
I am a newcomer. Want to start simply by commenting on Talk pages. Instruction say "go to the Talk Page and hit "+"Tab and type your comments, then sign using four tildes. When I hit the Tab at upper left on by keyboard, a link is highlighted but no place to write appears. Hit Tab again and the next colored link is highlighted. What am I doing wrong?? Have I got the wrong Tab key? Taylour 20:44, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Scroll to the top of the talk page. There's a "+" sign there. That's the tab that we're talking about, not the button on the keyboard. Xiner (talk, email) 20:48, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

I do appreciate that. Sorry I am a little slow. Taylour 20:50, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Don't worry. We all started as new users. Xiner (talk, email) 20:53, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Taylour, what page of instructions did you read? I would like to review the wording in the section that misled you, and make sure the instructions for new users are understandable to new users. Perhaps the existing wording does not adequately account for the fact that the new user sees the word "Tab" on the keyboard, but the GUI tabs in Wikipedia do not say "Tab" on them. Therefore, the Tab key is more apparently a "Tab" than the GUI item is. The instructions should make clear they are not referring to the Tab key. --Teratornis 22:38, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Having redirects appear differently on Special:Watchlist/edit
How can I change the way that redirects appear on Special:Watchlist/edit? On 759, it says to add formatting in the CSS page, but WikiProject User scripts/Tutorial doesn't have instructions for how to change the formatting of text based on a spanning class. Thanks! -- Creidieki 21:17, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Add something like the following to your monobook.css or appropriate file:


 * replace the CSS directive with what you want.  *Mishatx* -  In \ Out   09:04, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks! That did exactly what I hoped.  -- Creidieki 02:46, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Why are the changes I made yesterday not visible now?
I made some changes in a Wikipedia article yesterday, I spent a lot of time finding the references and checking to make sure everything was correct and substantiated. I lost all of my changes when I closed the "Preview" window by mistake, and had to find the references again and enter them all again. I spent several hours doing all of this. When I go to the page today, though, none of the changes I made yesterday are there. However, when I check my "contributions" to Wikipedia, the changes I made are listed. Could you please explain what happened, and why, and how to resolve this? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.80.46.44 (talk • contribs)
 * Which changes are you talking about (your current IP address doesn't show any changes)? It's possible that other users have changed your edits. You may also want to try bypassing your cache, in case the page isn't updating. Hope that helps. Trebor 21:21, 16 February 2007 (UTC)


 * You might want to tell what username or IP address you used to make those chances. If you used your current IP address Trebor would've found a trace of the edits you talked about. Failing that, giving the article title would help too. - Mgm|(talk) 22:50, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Word origin
How did the term "mouse" become associated with a black eye or a "shiner"? Josie209.191.13.243 21:28, 16 February 2007 (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. Trebor 21:32, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Enbalmed
My question is when you are embalmed how long does the embalment last before the body is totally decomposed
 * 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. Trebor 21:34, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

How to declare a picture (in this case a map) to be bias and not neutral?
Please. TNX!


 * Where is the image in question? Could you provide a link? Hersfold (talk 23:09, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * P.S. - If you add a POV-check template to the image's page, and provide a reasoning of why you feel it's biased on the image's talk page, someone should come around to look at it. I hope this helps. Hersfold (talk 23:13, 16 February 2007 (UTC)