Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 August 5

= August 5 =

My contributions list
What the hell is wrong with my contribution list. I can't add infos to articles anymore. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Magnus Armstrong (talk • contribs) 00:10, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Was the article Adam Beason? It was deleted, which is why it doesn't show up in your contributions. Best, PeterSymonds (talk)  00:13, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

No, not this article. I mean my contributions to several articles. Magnus Armstrong (talk) 00:17, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Ah I see. Could you be a little more specific? I'm looking through your contributions now and all seems normal. You're not blocked, so your editing privileges are unaffected. Clarification on exactly what you're seeing would be helpful. Thanks, PeterSymonds (talk)  00:20, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * (edit conflict) Your edits and  to Alternate versions of Hulk worked, but they were reverted by another editor so they are not in the current version of the article. See the article history by clicking the "history" tab at the top. If reverted edits is not the problem you refer to then please be more specific. What do you expect should happen that doesn't happen? PrimeHunter (talk) 00:22, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

The Author Of Wikipedia
Who Is The Author Of Wikipedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sixflags101 (talk • contribs) 03:08, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * See FAQ, and if you want the information in order to cite Wikipedia then see Citing Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:13, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * No one in particular is the author of Wikipedia. Everyone contributes to the encyclopaedia, and so can you! See Help:Editing if you're interested in helping out. &mdash; Mizu onna sango15 Hello!  17:29, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Antony Worrall Thompson
In the entry for Antony Worrall Thompson the British television cook, I inserted a sentence (politely) pointing out the inaccuracy of the story he himself tells about his birth. My addition was removed within a day. His birth story is in his Wikipedia entry as a link to an excerpt from his autobiography - he says that he was born during a performance of Romeo & Juliet at what he calls the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon, when his parents were playing the title characters. I would have thought anyone would query the inherent likelihood of this - but the story is disprovable. There was no production of Romeo & Juliet in the season of his birth. On the date of his birth, what was then the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was performing The Tempest. AWT's father Michael Ingham WAS in R & J at Stratford, but in the 1940s, not the '50s, and not playing Romeo. There is no record that his mother Joanna Duncan played at Stratford.

Surely Wikipedia is about provable accuracy, and is not in the business of promoting personal legends? I understand why contentious material or matters of opinion would be deleted. This is not a matter of opinion - the above can be confirmed from the Stratford website, or by contacting the organisation. To me theatre history is important and should not be distorted by fantasy.

Rogersansom (talk) 06:59, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * As User:McGeddon pointed out when he removed your edit, here, our article on Antony Worrall Thompson does NOT contain the story which you claim to be false, so a refutation of it is unnecessary. Accusing him of lying in his autobiography (while plausible, given that it is a harmless and colourful story) is a WP:BLP issue, so you will need the very best quality of secondary sources (see WP:RS) in order to include this. Your own original research demonstrating that the story is untrue won't be enough (see WP:OR). I think you'll just have to leave this as it is, unless this becomes a controversy that the press report upon. AndyJones (talk) 08:02, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. I do not accuse anyone of lying. I imagine the origin of AWT's belief - surely a quite irrational one for anyone who presumably knows what used to be called the facts of life - is having been brought up by an ex-actress single mother who told tall stories. She probably DID play Juliet to her husband or future husband's Romeo somewhere at some time - she was certainly in Donald Wolfit's company with him. For the record, I have no animus against AWT, whom I have only ever seen in photographs. I care very much about the history of Shakespearean performance, about which I know a fair amount and have numerous books that disprove the story. Also, as an actor, I resent the implied attitude so often found in print that anything goes in theatre. Putting on any play is a very detailed and skilled and practical business. If anyone playing that of all parts had ever gone into labour it would surely be as famous as the murder of Lincoln in one theatre or of William Terriss at the stage door of another. Can you imagine an actress, sufficiently pregnant to bear a healthy child, being able to begin the performance as the 13-year-old Juliet? I am disappointed that you think the legend 'harmless'. Is not Wikipedia about demonstrable accuracy?

82.16.224.196 (talk) 10:33, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Our policy on "demonstrable accuracy" is WP:V. You have to provide a reliable, third party source you can cite for your proposed addition. Otherwise, it is simply personal opinion or original research, which is not allowed. &mdash;  The Hand That Feeds You :Bite 17:13, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Page History format
People would now recognise that ever since a couple of days ago there is now a search item at top of each page's history to filter the date and year just like user contributions. Is there anyway through scripts or anything at all that can change this, whether it be delete it or maybe move it to the bottom of the page? Is this at all possible? Thanks, sorry for my 'me knowing nothing' in regard to these sort of things.  Monster Under Your Bed  (talk) 08:01, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Aggh, I can make it disappear (see User:Franamax/monobook.css) but it leaves a big blank spot. And I hadn't even noticed until I read this. Maybe better asked at the technical help desk? Franamax (talk) 08:45, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * And in fact I just copied this thread over, see here to check for followups. Franamax (talk) 08:51, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * And indeed the fix is in. My monobook.css now contains the right code, create your own /monobook.css file with the same contents. When you look at my monobook.css, you will see a standard warning message, don't worry, the code is good. After you create your own file, you may need to bypass your cache. This will only work if you use the standard "monobook skin". There are admins watching here who will make the change for you if you want. Franamax (talk) 10:08, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

1915 locust plague
What would be the appropriate infobox for 1915 locust plague Anonymous101 (talk) 11:11, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I took a look but couldn't find any pre-made infoboxes that are on point. The closest at least by name is Infobox News event, but that is specific to disasters with casualties. So I suggest using Infobox generic and placing the parameters you think are useful for the subject.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:59, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks for looking. I've used Infobox generic. Anonymous101 (talk) 12:42, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Johnny Keane
You show that he died at his home in Houston. He didn't. He died at his farm at Carmine,Tx while playing with his grandsons. When he died his beloved wife, Leila, suffered a severe stroke from which she never recovered or improved.

I am Carl Wilkinson, Johnny's cousin. Because I am family, I have knowledge of these events. You may want to revise your text. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.3.5.130 (talk) 15:00, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * If you can provide reliable sources to that effect, feel free to update the article. If you can't, we must go by what is verified by sources, not what is necessarily the truth. Please also read our guideline on conflicts of interest, although for a simple fact correction it shouldn't be a problem. Paragon12321 (talk) 15:30, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Gadgets in Firefox
Hi there, I'm not too sure if I should ask this here or at the Computing Reference Desk, so if I've picked the wrong place people feel free to move my question over. My question is about the Gadgets in My preferences; is it possible to run the scripts under Greasemonkey? I have a local Wiki and I'd like to use the scripts without installing, because I regularly erase it and start a new installation. It would be enormously helpful if I could run them from my Firefox browser using Greasemonkey to avoid having to reinstall the scripts each time. Thank you for your help. ZapThunderstrike (talk) 18:29, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * If you know how to write JavaScript, all you have to do is find the relevant page with the source of the gadget (not sure where they are though) and copy-paste it into a Greasemonkey file, telling Greasemonkey to execute it on your wiki's URLs. The only problem I could see is that the JavaScript is written for this installation of Mediawiki, so it might reference some things specific to this wiki. Calvin 1998 (t-c) 18:33, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I did try a simple copy and past with the Live Clock, Twinkle and Navigation popups but none worked. I'm quite new to Greasemonkey and I know nothing of javascript, so it would be great if someone could provide a link to a site to explain how to do this; I don't expect anyone here to write an entire script for me, though I'd be eternally grateful if someone did :) ZapThunderstrike (talk) 18:38, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

My article keeps getting deleted
I want to know why my article about MarketLeverage is being deleted. I was told on the talk page that it was blatant advertising, which I strongly disagree with. We have combed over the article time and again to make sure there wasn't any promotion in there--just facts. How much more can I revise it?

In addition to that, I would like to know how other affiliate networks like ClickBooth, Hydra LLC, or Azoogle were able to get their articles approved. In trying to format my article, I consulted those articles to ensure that I was following similar protocol.

Please advise me on which part of my article is considered advertising. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mlrebecca (talk • contribs) 19:38, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * What do you mean by "'we' combed over the article"?  Corvus cornix  talk  20:04, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Reviewing deleted version. Hers fold  (t/a/c) 20:04, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Ok, Mlrebecca, looking at what you had, I'd say it definitely has a promotional tone to it. Since Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, all of our articles must be written neutrally. I'm noticing phrases in your article such as (emphasis is mine):
 * "MarketLeverage is one of the web's fastest growing affiliate marketing networks."
 * "...enables web Advertisers and web Publishers to harness the power of pay for performance marketing"
 * "...is a comprehensive, performance-based online marketing services company."
 * The "Services" section
 * I can see that you were trying to add useful information - and worded differently, that information could be useful - but as it is, the article reads more like a sales brochure than something you'd find in the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Another suggestion would be to look for some more references that are completely unrelated to the company - to help keep our articles neutral, we only allow previously published, independent, reliable sources to back up the information in our articles.
 * One last thing I'd like to suggest here is that since you do appear to have a relationship with the company (what we call a conflict of interest), it may be in everyone's best interests if you asked someone else to write the article at Requested articles. This way, you can certainly help out, but we run a much lesser risk of getting a promotional tone, and help build a larger consensus on what to include in the article. That's all I can offer right now, but please let us know if you have any more questions. Hers fold  (t/a/c) 20:14, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Invisible text
I just edited the article on Walter Nowick and two random paragraphs appeared in the final edit as what appears to be invisible text. How do I get them to be part of the article? ```` —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kanjizai (talk • contribs) 21:24, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Look again. Those paragraphs are not hidden - they're just written on one line. You need to remove the unnecessary spaces before the first sentence in each of those paragraphs. Best, Zain Ebrahim (talk) 21:32, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * The problem was you indented those paragraphs. Starting a line with a leading space causes text to display like this, and run off the edge of the screen:

This is what happens when you start a line with a space.
 * The article has been fixed. Hers fold  (t/a/c) 21:33, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * The whole text could be read by scrolling to the right in your browser but it's bad Wikipedia formatting. I fixed it by removing the leading spaces. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:39, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Article in need of deletion?
The article Mission: Wolf has openly admitted that it has no published sources and is entirely based on the personal experiences of the author. This is seen at the end of the article.Dark hyena (talk) 22:38, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * You can nominate it for deletion on those grounds at WP:AFD. I don't see that it fits any speedy deletion criteria. Hers fold  (t/a/c) 22:42, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * A Google search throws up some hits that might be useful references. I will cut out the obviously unencyclopedic stuff and see what I can find for references. – ukexpat (talk) 00:22, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I have also admitted the article to the ICU. – ukexpat (talk) 00:44, 6 August 2008 (UTC)