Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 May 18

=May 18=

Password not Recognized
Suddenly tonight the password that I think I've been typing in for weeks now is not recognized and there is no action suggested on the sign in page. I guess I forgot it, dunno. What should I do, create a new account with the same signature? --

Hey I tried again, typing the same one for the 6th time and it worked! --Sawyer12477 00:34, 18 May 2007 (UTC)24.239.181.178 00:30, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Customizing Signatures
Is there a guide on customizing signatures on Wikipedia? I'd like to spice up my own a bit. Thanks! --Ali 00:50, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * (1) Look in the edit window @ mine, or (2) see WP:SIG. ~ Magnus animuM &#8776; &#8730;&#8734;  00:55, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I checked WP:SIG - it only gives guidelines, not information on actually doing it. By looking at your signature, it appears you just use HTML tags, right? --Ali 01:02, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I figured it out, I'll make my sig more creative later! -- Ali  01:09, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Trouble logging in, Langhorne Speedway update
Hello,

I have two subjects that are only slightly related. First, I've had no success logging in. The system does not recognize the password that I entered. I'm not even sure whether I'm supposed to create my own user name and password, or whether you assign those items.

Second, last Sunday I edited your article on the Langhorne Speedway, adding quite a bit of information on the early history of the track. I wanted to include the principal reference for my information, but could not figure how to add a reference. That reference is: Walter T. Chernokal, Legend of Langhorne, Cavalcade of Auto Racing, Kingston, NY, Summer 1967.

John Nelson jnelson@illicom.net


 * Okay, well, first of all - you have to create a username and password - you can do that from the login page. To add a reference, see WP:References for a guide.  --Haemo 02:32, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Search Function
Hello,

I have a wiki knowledge base that I am having some troubles with. I have created articles for the wiki but when I try to search for the articles in the search function they are not coming up. Sometimes I get lucky with some articles but most are not coming up. I have looked in the help sections and also have tried creating tags. Is there an easy way that the search function to associate my article? some kind of pluggin that will automatically put in the tag at the bottom of the page? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Andrew Houghton —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ahoughton1 (talk • contribs)


 * Could you please provide the names of the articles in question? Looking through your contributions, I cannot find the articles which you said you had created. Please check the deletion log to see if they have been deleted. If they are, you might not find them using the search function. PeaceNT 08:27, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I think he means that they are on his own wiki. In which case, Village Pump (Technical) might be a better place to ask. I can't think of anywhere else off-hand anyway. Don't forget that the wiki software's search database takes a while to update, though whether that is the case with a small wiki, I'm not sure. Adrian M. H.  12:54, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * If Andrew is using the MediaWiki software, he should be aware of the limitations on MediaWiki's built-in search function. See Help:Search. One factor that can trip people up is when they search for pages that are in different namespaces than they have set in their preferences to search by default. MediaWiki's built-in search function lags behind the state-of-the-art in search technology, and naive MediaWiki users may come to grief by expecting it to work like a modern search engine which tolerates misspellings and so on. Andrew should check Special:Allpages on his wiki (if it is a MediaWiki wiki) to make sure his articles are where he thinks they are and have the titles he is searching for. --Teratornis 16:04, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Requesting Information --- WHAT do I have???
I have a metal (silver) flip top container (much like a LARGE Zippo lighter). On the bottom is Parke Davis & Co. Inside is a metal injection syringe kit. There are four vials: (1)Labeled: 25 Hypodermatic Tablets, No. 84, Nitroglycerin and Strychine, Glonoin (Nitroglycerin), {small writing that I cannot read}, Strychnine nitrate, Parke, Davis & Company --Note. - Subject to deterioration through gradual loss of volatile ingredient. {This vial has a rubber stopper and appears to be full}. (2) Labeled: Hyprodermatic {unable to read small print}, No. 16, MORPHINE {another word}, B{?}, B{?}......., Morphine sulp......, Atropin..........., Parke Davis & Company. {This vial has a rubber stopper and is empty}. (3) Labeled: 15, Hypodermic Tablets, No. 90, CAFFEINE SODIO-BENZOATE, 1/2 GRAIN, Parke, Davis & Company. {This vial has a rubber stopper and appears to be full}. (4) Labeled in red: 25, Hypodermatic tablets, No. 3 - in smaller black numbers: 1985077, ATROPINE SULPHATE, 1/50 Grain, Parke, Davis & Company. POISON. {This vial has a rubber stopper and appears to be full}.

I Received passed down from family members and have had it for a few years. Is it possible that you can provide me with any information regarding year manufactured and/or possible value.

Thank you for your help. Shelia Robinson (personal info removed)


 * You'd probably be better off asking about this over at the Reference Desk - Miscellaneous - this page is for help with Wikipedia and its functions, not for general knowledge. Cheers. Tony Fox (arf!) 04:27, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * It's a Parke-Davis Emergency Kit, probably from around 1894. See the image about 1/3 of the way down this link. Probably not worth a great deal, you might want to try contacting the author of that article for an expert opinion. --YFB ¿  12:44, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I didn't know exactly what this site was for. Thank you for your comments. I've read the article and will follow up. Sorry for the inconvenience. Shelia

Inserting Pictures
Can someone explain how to simply add images to an article? Right now they don't exist and I would be adding the picture to the wikipedia database file. --LtWinters 02:44, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * There is an "Upload file" link on the left side bar. You click that and upload the image you want to add to the article. The image must meet Wikipedia image licensing standards, which can be found from the upload file link. Once you've successfully uploaded the image, you just wikify the image name where you want it to appear in the article. Lara  Love  T / C  03:07, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * See also WP:UPIMG, WP:TAG and Help:Images. PeaceNT 08:30, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

How to add to an article?
I want to add important information to an existing article on the potato. Since I am new to Wikipedia, I have no idea how to do that and cannot really find the answer I am looking for in the FAQ sections. I have participated in the discussion on the potato, and was encouraged by one reader to add the information I had provided to the article. PeterSchmiediche 04:43, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Hmm ... well, if not in the FAQ you should find information in the pages starting from Help:Help (ironic that vandals can work out the editing thing straight away, and valuable contributors can't ...). But in any case, to add text to an article you can either (a) click on the tab labelled "edit this page" right up the top, or if you're just editing a single section then the section header should have a little link labelled [edit] at the far right. Confusing Manifestation 07:06, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Joni and Gina is notable
Joni and Gina's Wedding is the first lesbian version of its Italian-style predecessor.

I believe indeed is just as culturally relevant as other works of theatre you have listed

"Joey and Maria’s Comedy Italian Wedding” Finnegan’s wake" "Awesome 80's Prom" etc. to name a few.

Well, any help you can give would be appreciated. Im enjoying learning Wikipedia.

Thank you very much =) Ann Lippert

TequilaMockingbird63 05:07, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Would suggest you include sources to demonstate notability, for example, the production won a 2004 lesbian theater award Addhoc 14:27, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Re: Community Service
regarding the comment i made earlier...

i dont think you understand, this was a choice given in my class options for the future at eckerd college in st. petersburg, Florida. taught by n. smith, if anyone can help me.


 * First, I would suggest it's better to add comments to the section of your original question by clicking on the [edit] link next to the section header (although admittedly the further up the top it is the less attention it is likely to receive). Second, if you have a class that requires you to do community service and includes Wikipedia editing as an option, then I would hope they have some way of measuring that themselves since frankly there's no real way anyone here can confirm that you've spent those actual hours editing Wikipedia (especially since your user contributions only show your edits to this page, so assumedly you were editing under an anonymous IP). Confusing Manifestation 07:11, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Change Page Name : "Adam's Bridge" to " Rama's Bridge"
I wish that the page name " Adam's Bridge" be changed to " Rama's Bridge". This issue has serious sentimental issues involved for millions of Indians. This is our country and the bridge is associated to the story of "Rama" for thousands of years. There is no sense in naming it as Adam's bridge, which is a Western name and must have been coined in colonial British times. The usage of this name : "Adams Bridge" is also non existent and nobody in India has earlier heard this name till NASA images were published about the bridge and a debate started. Even if the bridge eventually be found as a natural bridge and not an ancient man made one, still I feel there is no justification to keep the name as " Adam's Bridge" in Wikipedia. Even if the name is retained in Geographical maps, till the Govt. of India wakes up and do necessary changes, I think it is the moral right of the people of India to have a separate page named and referred as " Rama's Bridge" and NOT " Adam's Bridge", which any way will get deleted once the changes are made in the Geographical maps. I feel it is the duty of the Wikipedia fraternity to accept and make the necessary changes in favour of the overwhelming sentiments of the people of India.


 * Could I suggest you start by reading WP:MOVE. Addhoc 09:49, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Rama's Bridge redirects to Adam's Bridge, so people can easily find the article by searching either name. The name is discussed at Talk:Adam's Bridge. This is the English Wikipedia. Naming conventions says "Generally, article naming should prefer what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize". See also Naming conventions (use English). PrimeHunter 10:18, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * If the people of India have an overwhelming sentiment, it seems likely some reliable sources have documented their sentiment. If so, then you might add a new section with a name like Adam's Bridge in which you summarize what the reliable sources say about the naming dispute, and you properly cite your sources (see also WP:CITET). On Wikipedia, we do not settle conflicts between, say, Indian citizens and British imperialists; we merely recount what the reliable sources have published about such conflicts. --Teratornis 15:54, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Pictures not displaying
Hi, When using Wikipedia i cannot se any pictues. I only ever get the red cross which indicates the picture does not exist or not able to load etc. I have look at the source of the file and its coming form upload.pmtpa.wikimedia.org ip address 66.230.200.228. I can trace route to this server from my network no bother. Is their any reason why images are not loading

Thanks in advance

Paul Cheyne
 * The images should be coming from the image server, upload.wikimedia.org. If you can't see the images, it's most likely either because you've turned images off, you've blocked the image server by mistake, or an adblocker you have installed is blocking the image server erroneously. --ais523 14:14, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

View all images
Is it possible to do "View all images" funkcion in articles with like Gmail has it for mails including images? So, when you put the gallery in and save the recent change, the "View all images" link would automatically appear above the images. Ofcourse, below every image is also written the subtitle if available. --Janezdrilc 13:20, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

How do I
Add an article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Roseeey (talk • contribs)


 * Create a link to the article on an existing article or search for it and click "create article" if the option appears (I don't think it does for new accounts). Then, type the text and click on Save Page. --Kainaw (talk) 14:04, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * See also Help:Starting a new page and Your first article. PrimeHunter 15:09, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

blocking and reading only
I was reading about porphyry, clicked on "porphyritic textures" and a notice that "user is blocked by krimpet" appeared. Since I hadn't had an account before I was blocked, I opened one, but now I can't find the page that was blocked in order to read it. Since I had no account previously I never tried to edit anything. I don't feel I know enough about any subject to try any editing. The lost page does not appear in my IE history list. How can I find it again? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gussie O'Meara (talk • contribs).


 * There was an error earlier today/yesterday (depending on which time zone you're in) leading to the blocking of one of Wikipedia's servers by mistake, causing spurious 'you have been blocked' messages all over the wiki. The message only comes up if you've been blocked (or in this case if the software erroneously thinks you've been blocked). You can have a look at MediaWiki:Blockedtext to see what the message would have looked like (using $1, etc., as placeholders because it isn't a real block message). --ais523 15:06, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * If you're blocked, whether you know that you're blocked or not, you can still read any pages, so you could browse Wikipedia, click on one link after another, getting from one page to another, and not realise you were blocked unless and until you tried to edit. However, sometimes an article has a link to a page that doesn't yet exist. Such links are red instead of blue. If an unblocked user clicks on such a link, it takes them to the edit box of the as-yet uncreated page. If they start typing in that box and then save what they've typed, they'll have created the page.


 * If you're blocked, and click on a blue link, it just takes you to an existing page, which you can read. If you click on a red link, then instead of getting to the edit box of the uncreated page (which is where an unblocked user would end up), you get a message saying that you have been blocked.


 * My guess is that you were reading the article Porphyry (geology), which has a RED link to the non-existent article porphyritic texture. ElinorD (talk) 15:13, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * See WP:RED for more about how red links work. Be sure you understand that "blocked" means "blocked from editing." No one gets blocked from merely reading Wikipedia, and this wouldn't be possible to enforce in any case, because Wikipedia's content gets forked, mirrored, copied, and republished widely. --Teratornis 18:26, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

IP Address Confusion
I submitted an article which bears another user's name. I am wondering if the confusion is caused by our satellite service, which makes it appear that all its users have the same IP address. How can I remove the other user's name, or have it removed? The article is entitled Thomas William Bird, Member of Canada's 14th & 15th Parliaments. I submitted it anonymously because each time I tried to submit it, I was asked repeatedly to log in after receiving a message that I was, in fact, logged in. I may have used the system incorrectly -- this is the second time I have submitted this article. I was hoping to have a link to this article from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Progressive/United_Farmer_MPs.
 * If you're asked to log in repeatedly, especially if you're using a satellite connection, use the alternative login URL at https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/w/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin (note that many browsers don't accept the security certificate on it by default, you'll probably be prompted to accept/deny the certificate). The https is normally enough to cause the connection to be maintained. The attribution for an edit can't be changed, but you might want to consider making a small change to the article with an edit summary saying something like 'the last edit was actually me', for instance. --ais523 15:19, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Making a userbox
I am making a userbox though I don't know how to make it the standard size (I am relitively new on wikipedia). This user box is User:Wikihobby/Wikihobby's wikipedia mania [1].

You can contact me on my user page or on the help page. Thanks, Wikihobby
 * The usual way to make a userbox would be by using the userbox template, which makes it a standard size automatically. Instructions for its use are on Template talk:Userbox. --ais523 15:25, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

A little help,PLEASE! == ==

I am making a userbox though I don't know how to make it the standard size (I am relitively new on wikipedia). This user box is User:Wikihobby/Wikihobby's wikipedia mania.

You can contact me on my user page Wikihobby's user page or on the help page. Thanks, Wikihobby
 * I think our edits just crossed; I answered you in the section above. --ais523 15:27, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

TOTD

 * Answered on user's talk. I've run the template through Special:ExpandTemplates to 'substall' it so that this question won't lose its context tomorrow. --ais523 16:07, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Adam's Bridge
There is no such thing as adam's bridge, it is Lord Rama who made this stone froating bridge. Please change this false information!! Please talk to any Hindu before puting details!!

The URL is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam%27s_Bridge#History_and_Mythological_beliefs

Riks


 * See Help desk higher up. There are 20700 Google hits on "Adam's Bridge", so the name is clearly used. PrimeHunter 17:21, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * There is ample precedent for groups of people to start their own wikis after concluding Wikipedia is insufficiently hospitable to their respective beliefs. See for example CreationWiki. Several religious texts make claims about the real world which, when interpreted literally, generate testable claims and eventually come into conflict with science. (The Book of Mormon's claims about the prehistory of Mesoamerica are a notable example.) Typically in such disputes science wins, and after enough centuries have passed, religious believers typically find ways to re-interpret their sacred texts so as to rationalize away the conflict with objective facts. For example, see the Galileo affair; the Catholic Church tried Galileo for heresy in 1633, then apologized for doing so in 1992. Galileo's offense was to question the official cosmology of the Church, which was based in part on scriptures which clearly state that the Earth does not move. Today of course every schoolchild knows the Earth moves, so people who continue to believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God must either interpret the fixed-Earth scriptures to mean something other than what multiple generations of earlier Christians understood them to mean, or simply ignore the troubling passages.
 * In any case, if there is in fact some sort of organized dispute about the name and origin of Adam's Bridge/Rama's Bridge, and reliable sources exist to document the dispute, someone might wish to elaborate on it further in the Adam's Bridge article, and mention it in the section: Relationship between religion and science which currently appears to suggest there is no conflict between Hinduism and Science. --Teratornis 18:11, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

User Pages
Some people have complex user pages, is there a template to make them? If any one knows please answer or leave a message on my talk page. Y4kk 17:19, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * You might find useful instructions at WikiProject User Page Help. Hope this helps PeaceNT 17:22, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks I'll have a look at this page. Y4kk 17:24, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * It helps greatly if you have a working knowledge of HTML markup and CSS. Adrian M. H.  19:32, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Check out User Page Design Center for some cool tips. Scottydude talk 20:35, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

oetzi ice man article
can someone add that brad pitt just got on oetzi tattoo on his left inner forearm? http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/12493996.html#cutid1

Log-in "looping" problem
I can't log into my account. I created it yesterday (5/17/07), checked the "remember me" box and expected to receive a confirmation email.

I never received confirmation. I attempted to signin today (5/18), and received a message indicating that my password is incorrect. I know it is not, as I wrote it down. The "loop" is that I cannot ask for my password to be changed or sent to me, because I was never confirmed in the first place. I just tried requesting that a new password be sent, but nothing received at this end.

Moreover, when I attempted to work around this and create a new identity, a message comes back indicating that my chosen name from yesterday has been taken. So I know it's there...and somehow in the system, but I cannot access it.

Obviously, I can start again with a new name, but I like the one I have and am known by online. Is there a means to get around this?

I just looked above and note that several other folks have had problems with the system accepting sign in password.

Thanks...

LINK Incorrect
We are in the process of adding out company profile page (Openbox) and found that a company that uses the name is not indeed the owner of the trademark. Our company Openbox Technologies is the owner of the trademark. We would like our site to come up as Openbox and not Openboxtechnologies. Please let me know...And thanks in advance dustinp@openbox.net


 * Currently, Openbox is a redirect to Openbox Window Manager, which is not a company but an open source software project released under the GPL. I can't tell how long Openbox Window Manager has been around, but its Web site says a version 3.1 was out in December, 2003. I did not find any earlier history on my brief look at the site, but if the earlier versions had similar release schedules, there might be considerable precedent for "Openbox Window Manager" to have been under the GPL. How long has your company held its trademark? I'm not an attorney, so I have no idea who would win if you decide to pressure the Openbox Window Manager project to change its name; I do know that some open source projects have had to change theirs in response to corporate bullying pressure (see Pidgin (software) which used to be called Gaim until AOL attorneys had their say, but AIM had clearly existed longer than the obvious knock-off Gaim, so that was probably a slam-dunk).
 * If the world is big enough for more than one Openbox, you could create a disambiguation page or ask here for an experienced editor to create one. Wikipedia does not, of course, takes sides in such disputes. If you don't want Openbox Window Manager to use that name, you or your attorneys will have to take that up with them. Until that gets resolved outside of Wikipedia, I would imagine the Wikipedia community would prefer to turn Openbox from a redirect to a disambiguation page, assuming you can create an Openbox Technologies article that does not get deleted. See WP:COI and WP:PEACOCK for some reasons why writing about yourself or your company on Wikipedia tends to attract bloodthirsty deletionists. Wikipedia deletes some 2000 articles per day so do not underestimate the difficulty of writing new articles that "stick." Although I don't know the statistics, I suspect new users account for a disproportionately large fraction of articles that get deleted, since they haven't mastered the complex rules and guidelines yet. --Teratornis 02:34, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Anyway to keep whitespace from being removed?
Is there any way for me to keep whitespace from being removed? e.g. I do this:

______    __               ___  ______               _     /_  __/__ _/ /__ ___   ___  / _/ / __/ /____ _______  (_)__ _ / / / _ `/ / -_|_-<  / _ \/ _/ / _// __/ -_) __/ _ \/ / _ `/ /_/  \_,_/_/\__/___/  \___/_/  /___/\__/\__/_/ /_//_/_/\_,_/

_____    ____        __  _             ___            __  / ___/__  / / /__ ____/ /_(_)__  ___    / _ )___  ___  / /__ / /__/ _ \/ / / -_) __/ __/ / _ \/ _ \  / _  / _ \/ _ \/  '_/ \___/\___/_/_/\__/\__/\__/_/\___/_//_/ /____/\___/\___/_/\_\

_____    _    __   / ___/_ __(_)__/ /__ / (_ / // / / _  / -_) \___/\_,_/_/\_,_/\__/

But the whitespace at the front gets removed when I press save page, is there any way to keep it? It should look like the top of this.

This is for my own installation of mediawiki, its just I was asking here because I find I get very good answers.

 AVTN  T  CV  A 21:08, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Use &amp;nbsp; wherever you want a non-breaking space character to appear. --Kainaw (talk) 21:16, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * If you start each line with at least one blank space, additional leading spaces will survive:

______    __               ___  ______               _        /_  __/__ _/ /__ ___   ___  / _/ / __/ /____ _______  (_)__ _    / / / _ `/ / -_|_-<  / _ \/ _/ / _// __/ -_) __/ _ \/ / _ `/   /_/  \_,_/_/\__/___/  \___/_/  /___/\__/\__/_/ /_//_/_/\_,_/
 * See: WP:EDIT. --Teratornis 21:44, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

finding consensus for style guide
The numismatics project would like to come up with a convention for titles of articles about specific coins. Before implementing it, we'd like to see if there are any objections from the community. Is there somewhere we can ask? Or should we just nominate articles for renaming and see how it goes? Ingrid 21:32, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I suggest going to WT:NC and starting a discussion there. ~ Magnus animuM &#8776; &#8730;&#8734;  21:35, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Password characters
Which characters are allowed for use in passwords in Wikipedia? Obiously a though z and 0 through 9, but what about brackets, full stops, commas, vertical bars, quotation marks, and all other punctuation and general typography characters? —May the Edit be with you, always. (T-borg) (drop me a line) 21:55, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Hi T-borg. I'm fairly certain that all ASCII characters are allowed, but you may want another person's opinion on that. ~ Magnus animuM &#8776; &#8730;&#8734;  00:43, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I see. Thanks for the help Magnus. —May the Edit be with you, always. (T-borg) (drop me a line) 09:47, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

MANUEL GUZMAN

Administrator Reports
How do we report vandlism or something else bad to an admin or sysop? Thanks &#39;&#39;Meldshal42&#39;&#39; 01:20, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Once a vandal has been properly warned (see WP:VAND) they can be reported to WP:AIV. Otherwise WP:ANI is the place. Prodego  <sup style="color:darkgreen;">talk  01:25, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. Meldshal42