Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 October 8

= October 8 =

submitting a question
'Bold text''Yes I am trying to get a friend back home, and I need to find out about how to get her back here.... Can you help me here? She needs to catch a airline from Muhammed International air port. To travel to Seattle International air port.... I have checked out Travelosity, and Expedia...Mix & Match Airlines... Delta, and Royal Air Maroc..... Please can you help me? Thank you Mr.Pugh I asked a question, but I don't know how to send it? How do I send it? I can't find no send button.

Please advise. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Robert Lucero (talk • contribs) 00:10, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * If you meant your question at the reference desk, it went through just fine. The "send" button is simply the Save Page button right underneath the edit box. GlassCobra (Review) 00:16, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

editing
You have stated that there is vandalism that takes place...but if there is editing to do on someone i know as a friend, why am i not able to change this on her behalf, after all, there are stories about certain indivduals on here that other people can edit. i do hve an account - i want to make a permanante change to an edition that someone has falsely made! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Frederickalazlo (talk • contribs) 01:04, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * If you personally know the person, it's very possible that you may have a conflict of interest in the matter. In order to try to maintain a neutral point of view, we do ask that people with personal relations to a topic avoid editing articles about it. Doing so could relate in a large amount of unverifiable original research, or a clearly biased viewpoint.
 * To relate to what edits you were making, removing references and referenced information is generally considered vandalism. If you could explain the rationale for your edits on the article's talk page (which you can reach by clicking the "discussion" tab at the top of the page), then you and some other editors may be able to establish a consensus as to what should be done. Since two people have now reverted your edits, please do not continue to make them without attempting to discuss this with other editors. Hers fold  (t/a/c) 01:44, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

strange behavior on all fronts
While following a link, I was presented with a page saying my account had been blocked - listing an ip address vastly different from my own. (page is http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Spanish_Gambit_%28novel%29&action=edit).

Following instructions, I tried to email the admin credited with blocking the account - but was told I couldn't do that because my email wasn't registered.

I went to my preferences and clicked "confirm email." I've now clicked the button three times, but no confirmation has come. (My email is listed correctly).

I went back to the "blocked page" and it now appears with no problem.

And I read that people with no edits - like myself - can have their accounts hijacked. Is that what's happened here, or is wiki suffering a nervous breakdown?

01:37, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * If you can edit here, you are not currently blocked. I see no block notices on your user pages and can find no entries in the block log for you. I'm not sure what's going on there. As for your email, the confirmation email does take some time to arrive, possibly up to a full day. Remember also to check your spam folders - since Wikipedia is part of a large organization, it is possible that the email triggered your spam filters.
 * I doubt that your account has been hijacked, as such a thing is fairly rare. To ensure that this doesn't happen, you may wish to check your password strength and consider adding a cryptographic hash to your account with this template and the associated directions. Hers fold  (t/a/c) 01:52, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Number of biographies of living people
How many biographies of living people does Wikipedia have? a.z. 02:44, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Not the faintest idea. Category:Living people lists most of the BLP's, but not all, and good luck counting. Since the number changes every day, it's really hard to give a specific answer. It's safe to say several several thousands. Hers fold  (t/a/c) 03:02, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Aha! Someone already counted or used a tool to find out. According to the category page, there were 225,827 articles in that category as of October 4th. Hers fold  (t/a/c) 03:06, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks a lot for the answer. I wonder how many people in the world are notable enough to qualify for an article. a.z. 05:25, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Yikes! Over 10% of articles are biographies of living people.  Are we sure they ALL meet the notability criteria? Astronaut 15:51, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Come to think of it, that's only 0.004% of the world's population; but still, one in every 25,000 people have articles. There's hope for me yet :-) Astronaut 16:00, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

How do I write my own article?
I was wondering how to go about writing my own article. I have figured out how to edit others pages but I don't know how to start my own. If you could help that would be great!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bakekari (talk • contribs) 03:03, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi, and welcome to Wikipedia. :)
 * Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.


 * Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.


 * If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Your first article and How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation.


 * If this doesn't answer your question, please let us know. :) --Moonriddengirl 03:05, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

I have been to those links and they were very helpful but what i'm not quite understanding is how to start my own page and I don't know what to click on or what link I should follow to being my own article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bakekari (talk • contribs) 03:15, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Printing Articles
how can I print a selected portion of a long article?

elvingsimonElvingsimon 03:09, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Depending on which browser you're using, you may be able to select the text you want to print (by clicking and dragging), then going to the Print window and looking for an option "Print Selection". If that doesn't work, you'll probably have to copy the text into a word processor program. Confusing Manifestation 03:56, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Reviewing a deleted page
A page on "Holy Tantra Jin-Gang-Dhyana" Buddhism has been deleted some time ago. Is it possible to (a) view the page and (b) review whether it should be restated? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Becky aus (talk • contribs) 03:25, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Head to Deletion review and put a link to the exact location where the article was under "Requests to restore content to userspace". Confusing Manifestation 04:03, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

help starting a new page????
The links that I have followed I don't think I'm understanding them. I was wondering how to start a new article. I don't know what links to follow or where to go to actually start my own article. I just need to know what to do and where to go to actually start typing and wrtitng my own. bakekari —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bakekari (talk • contribs) 03:34, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi there: If you go to your own talk page at User talk:Bakekari you'll find a welcome message I left there that contains some links to useful pages, including a tutorial. Hope this helps; if you have further questions, leave a note here or on my talk page. Accounting4Taste 03:39, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

family
hi this is not really about using wikipedia but i wanted to know. if your parents divorce is stepsiblings still legally family?


 * As the box up the top says, for factual questions head to the Reference desk. I would guess probably the humanities desk will be able to help you the most, but you'll need to be more specific - mention what country you're in at the very least. Confusing Manifestation 04:00, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Maryland, USA —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.85.48.16 (talk) 04:11, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

native american breast feeding
all satistics on breast feeding —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.180.255.134 (talk) 04:02, 8 October 2007 (UTC) \


 * Try the reference desk. Thanks. Sephiroth BCR  ( Converse ) 05:26, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

I just wrote an article about lumpy skin disease and when i saved it the article was gone??
Where did my article go?? When I clicked the save button the article was gone when the page refreshed. Did I loose it or would it be somewhere that I missed when looking for it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bakekari (talk • contribs) 05:40, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * The article doesn't appear in your contributions list, and I don't see any deleted edits in your history either. Can you recall the exact title of the page? Raven4x4x 08:07, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * If the article was speedily deleted it won't appear in contribs. Prior to creating new articles, it is a good idea to get a feel for the guidelines and policies, to avoid having articles be deleted because they are poorly written, or not encyclopedic. Also be sure to use the search box to see if the article already exists. Here are some helpful links: Cite your sources, Manual of style, Layout guide, First article, Article development and How to edit for assistance. Reading over those should help you understand the basics of what an article should be prior to creation, and you can always use your userspace to practice, by creating a page such as User:Bakekari/Sandbox. Hope that's of some help! Ariel ♥ Gold 08:10, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Recovering password when IP address is blocked
I forgot my password, so clicked the option to have it emailed to me. Clicking that option got the following error: "Your IP address is blocked from editing, and so is not allowed to use the password recovery function to prevent abuse." My ISP is Earthlink -- not sure why the IP address would be blocked. Fortunately, I recalled the password. Just sending this notice that the above block makes the password recovery option pointless. Please let me know if there is a more appropriate place to send this software note. Data.Analyst 06:12, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * It's likely that another user on the same ISP had vandalised recently and been blocked; their IP would also have been blocked automatically, and as some ISPs change who has which IP every now and then you might have ended up using whichever IP they'd just been using by coincidence. The reminder would probably have worked the next time the IPs were reassigned (maybe a few minutes later, maybe a few hours). The prevention is there to stop vandals sending lots of password-reminder spam to other users. Hope that helps! --ais523 17:08, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Log in
Hello, After several tries I cannot log in to my account. Is there a way you can send me a reminder for my password? Thanks, Van (stereo3d) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.207.165.105 (talk) 06:13, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I assume you were User:Stereo3d? If you were, it doesn't look like you specified an e-mail address when you registered your account, so I'm afraid there isn't anything we can do to help you. Raven4x4x 08:03, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * User:Stereo3d only has 5 registered edits. You can create a new account and optionally link to the old user page. PrimeHunter 10:18, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Flight ticket
how much is flight ticket to canada from namibia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.219.195.2 (talk) 07:38, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * This page is for question about Wikipedia only. Please ask knowledge questions like this at the Reference Desk. Surely though a local travel agent would have the information you are after. Raven4x4x 08:03, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Can a page be made lowercase?
I've written a page on a product called gridMathematica. It is spelt with a lower case g at the start, so it would seem sensible for wikipedia page to also have a lower case. If so, can someone please change it for me. Drkirkby 09:36, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * By default, the first character in a page's title is assumed to be uppercase. If that character ought to be lowercase, placing  with , and then adding the parameter   to the template when you call it, i.e.  . I'll go and fix the templates you named to support that, and you can see more info at Category:Category suppression supporting templates. Hope that helps,  Nihiltres ( t .l ) 20:20, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much. I will  make a point of studying the changes you made to better learn how to fix other templates when I run into them. Dbiel (Talk) 20:25, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Signature distortion in Talk pages
When I first registered, I worked on the Skinhead article, in part collaborating with User:Sam Spade. I've been away for a while, and on returning see that Sam got into sort of a power struggle last year and vowed to quit. When I reviewed Talk:Skinhead to refresh my memory on our interactions, I discovered that many of his signatures now read "User:Example (talk . contribs)". Looking at the raw wikitext, it seems these signatures are sourced as "", which I guess is a template that was deleted or moved (with redirection) to Template:User. I have verified that these distorted signatures also occur on other Talk and UserTalk pages.

On 10 March 2006 User:Bmearns discussed this usage and its consequence of not displaying the correct user name with Sam on his talk page, but Sam considered it not worth fixing.

I believe Sam used this signature code for well over a year, since at least January 2005 and probably earlier. This means there are many hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Talk and UserTalk pages where his identity is obscured, especially from nontechnical editors who wouldn't know how to view the wikitext.

The problem isn't limited to Sam's edits, of course. There may be other users who misused the VIP template and have the same problem. Is this a problem that needs addressing, to fix existing distortions and/or prevent future ones? Could a bot legitimately correct such signatures? --Unconventional 20:17, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * While I'm always surprised by how tech savvy some of Wikipedia's editors are, so it's possible that one of Those People will be along five minutes from now to answer you, I wanted to suggest that you might also like to ask this where they regularly hang out: Village pump (technical). Wish I could offer something of substance. :/ --Moonriddengirl 20:33, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Vip was redirected to User after Templates for deletion/Log/Deleted/May 2005. The discussion noted something should be done to make existing uses work, but apparently it wasn't done. PrimeHunter 20:43, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Notability of schools
I seem to remember once seeing someone say that all high schools were notable, but not necessarily middle schools or primary schools. I've been asked a question about it and I'm not sure how to answer; Is anyone aware of applicable guidelines or discussion? Thanks,  Into The Fray  T / C  20:26, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, it is discussed in Articles_for_deletion/Common_outcomes and (I think) WP:NN. Ne ra n e i   (talk) 20:30, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * See WP:SCHOOL for a list of old proposals about notability. I cant see anything linking to a guideline from the WikiProject Schools im afraid. Woodym555 20:33, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks much!  Into The Fray   T / C  20:37, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

WHAT happened to the site layout??
THe site layout changed. it is not the same as the wikipedia yesterday. 99.229.27.189 20:38, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Are you using a different browser? No major layout changes have been effected, as far as I know. Wikipedia does look different in different browsers, though. Ne ra n e i   (talk) 20:42, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * You made the above edit without logging in but if you log in then you can change layout by changing skin in Special:Preferences. PrimeHunter 20:45, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

I must aquire your services.
How may I help you?
 * Could you please clarify? We are happy to help you. Ne ra n e i   (talk) 20:42, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Linking Photo
I, today, uploaded a photo called "Grise Fiord Airport.jpg". If someone could please link it to the page "Grise Fiord Airport", I'd be very thankful. I buggered up somewhere..... --Conroyp 20:41, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * ✅ Thanks for your upload :) Do you really live in the Nunavut? --YbborTalk 21:11, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Checking if an image is loaded
Is there a way to detect if an image is loaded? I have tried #ifexist, but that only checks if the image is loaded on Wikipedia, whereas some of the icons used for the canal descriptions are loaded on Commons. The help page for #ifexist says there is an "exists" function, which looks like it should do the trick, but when I add it to a template, it appears in red, indicating that the Template:exists cannot be found. I am a bit stuck. Bob1960evens 21:09, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

YOUR IMMEDIATE & THOROUGH RESPONSE TO USER:LABS1950 QUESTIONS
INTO THE FRAY(?), is that your moniker? Forgive my -almost- total ignorance, but -as I described before- I feel lost in the midst of ALL the data in WIKIPEDIA, and no matter how many times I look into finding the name I ought to use in writing to you, I am still uncertain.

Once again, thank you for your assistance. This time for adding the label to my father's photo, as well as for your immediate, complete response.

Concerning the un-encyclopedic tone of the article, I would certainly wish someone would help w/getting it to sound correct for Wikipedia. Although, I have to admit, I did some research in Wikipedia on a number of Cuban artists and others as well, even on Chicagoan Ed Paschke, and I was not impressed w/the tone or content. But, I am glad you have called my attention to the matter since your two responses to my S.O.S assure me you know exactly how Wikipedia works. Also, I was impressed by your letting me know you did not have complete information on copyright matters, but that you would look into it. That is great, thank you!!!

So, next, I must add/be more specific about how I came to have access to the photographs of the 4 paintings by my father that I wish to include in the article. I will do so immediately after I send this to you.

I repeat my appreciation to you for your assistance and hope you will continue to respond to my messages.

Looking forward...

LABS1950 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Labs1950 (talk • contribs) 21:57, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * All users have a talk page which is located at "User talk:User name." When you leave a message on a person's talk page they get an orange bar across the top of their page alerting them to the fact that they "have new messages." The proper place for your message, above, is thus at User talk:Into The Fray, and I now see that you did find your way there and left a message, though not the same one you posted above. I have taken the liberty of informing Into the Fray of this post's existence. Note that it's a good idea to sign your posts on talk pages. To do so, simply add four tildes ( ~ ) at the end of your comments, which will automatically format to your linked signature and add a timestamp when you save. You can also place the tildes easily by clicking the button that looks like this: [[Image:Signature_icon.png]].--Fuhghettaboutit 10:40, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Removing Personal Information from Wikipedia
There is incorrect/personal information on Wikipedia. I have tried to edit off the page while leaving correct information but am being told that I am "vandalizing" the page.

How do I proceed?

Spheeris 22:08, 8 October 2007 (UTC)Julie
 * What page is it? And what edit was it? Smartyshoe 22:09, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Umm, this was your first edit... look...  *Cremepuff  222*  22:28, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * That only tells it was their first edit with this account. ssepp(talk) 22:41, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Jeezums, I was just a bit confused. *Cremepuff  222*  00:18, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
 * And I was just giving a factual comment that seemed relevant... ssepp(talk) 22:46, 9 October 2007 (UTC)