Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 December 27

= December 27 =

redirects tagging
I've noticed that when you tag a redirect with a deletion/discussion tag (like for WP:RFR), the redirect doesn't work anymore. Is there a way to get around this? flaminglawyerc 01:20, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Isn't that the way it should work? So that the reviewing admin is taken to the redirect originating page rather than the redirect target page? – ukexpat (talk) 01:30, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I guess you meant WP:RFD and not WP:RFR. I also think it should work this way but for another reason: To attract attention to the discussion from users who may be interested in the topic. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:59, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I hadn't thought about it like that. I guess that's the way it should be. flaminglawyerc 20:31, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Writing an article
How do you write a new article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.253.177.149 (talk) 03:42, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * [[Image:Symbol move vote.svg|20px]] Please see Your first article.


 * 1) Ensure that you have an account and you are logged in. If you don't have an account, create one
 * 2) Make sure the subject is notable enough to have their own article
 * 3) Find references
 * 4) Make sure no article on the subject exists under a different title by typing the subject into the search box to the left (←) and clicking 'Search'
 * 5) Type the page name in the search box to the left (←) and click 'Go'
 * 6) Click 'Create this page'
 * 7) Create the article, including all your references, making sure you adhere to the Manual of Style and our article layout guidelines
 * 8) Be aware that Wikipedia deletes thousands of new articles for failing to adhere to our policies and guidelines. New articles by new users are at extra risk of deletion, due to new users' unfamiliarity with our rules. Consider gaining experience by editing existing articles before attempting to create new ones. C h a m a l  talk 03:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

If you are sure you should create your article after reading all of the above, then go ahead. If you are unsure, then, after creating an account, you can then create a sub-page in user space. For example, if your user name is Foobar987, your user page will be User:Foobar987. If your new article is to be named "Blatification" then you can initially create it at User:Foobar987/Blatification. After you create the article and get it up to a standard you are happy with, come back here and ask for someone to review your article. We will then help you to make sure your article is OK according to our strange and wonderous rules. We may even help fix the article or help you to find someone to assist you. Once the article is good enough, you can move the article to "mainspace:" that is, use the "move" feature to change the name of the article from User:Foobar987/Blatification to just Blatification. This approach works because by convention a subpage of your user page is not required to follow all of the rules of a mainspace article. (Note, however, it must still adhere to some fundamentals such as no copyright violatins and no personal atacks.) -Arch dude (talk) 04:16, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Binomial authority for article
Where can I find out what the binomial authority for American spider beetle is? Schuy m 1 ( talk ) 06:05, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Head on over here. Happy editing!  Cheers,  Jake Wartenberg Talk 06:57, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

rating articles
is there any way to rate an article for poor or strong article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.77.26.175 (talk) 06:07, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * The Version 1.0 Editorial Team has some suggestions/guidelines for assessing articles. Calvin 1998 (t·c) 06:13, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Note that the rating scale may vary slightly in some Wikiprojects though. For example, some Wikiprojects don't have the C-class category.  C h a m a l  talk 06:29, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Siddha Yoga
I made a template for the above article, but when I try to edit it, I get the page saying they don't have a template with exactly that title. What have I done wrong? Also, when I type, it doesn't work. What's wrong?

I created the template by taking the Blue Mountains template and modifying it. Was that the problem?

Sardaka (talk) 10:40, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * The only template your account has edited on the English Wikipedia is Template:Blue Mountains topics. You don't have edits to any deleted templates and there is no sign Template:Siddha Yoga has existed. Maybe you didn't save? PrimeHunter (talk) 12:50, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * You created the template on the article's talk page at: Talk:Siddha Yoga. It might be a good idea to re-create it as a user subpage. – ukexpat (talk) 16:18, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Category name correction
While correcting typos I ran across "Category:Colombian Control Insitutions" which should be "Institutions" of course. I'm not sure how to change it as there is no "Move" tab. It appears that there are two articles pointing to the category as misspelled. LilHelpa (talk) 14:39, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Follow the instructions at Speedy renaming. --Schzmo (talk) 14:59, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I've speedily renamed it, since there seems no need for discussion or bot support. Algebraist 15:00, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

forced un-alphabetical list within categories
I am tidying up Category:Festivals by country and want the new Category:Arts festivals by country to appear at the beginning, along with Category:Music festivals by country. How can I force it out of the alphabetical list? I was told to ask here. Thanks for any help. BrainyBabe (talk) 17:38, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * See Categorization. Algebraist 17:41, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you! I've achieved partial success, but it appears a strange asterisk has crept in, and I can't see where. Could you have a look? BrainyBabe (talk) 17:51, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * It was always there, just at the top. It occurred because the other two categories were forced to the top with the sortkey '*', while you used ' '. If it's undesirable, you could kill it by changing them all to ' '. Algebraist 17:57, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Done, thanks.BrainyBabe (talk) 18:30, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Who is watching
Does WP have a "Who is watching page" capability? -hydnjo talk 19:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Nope. See Perennial_proposals.  Cheers,  Jake Wartenberg Talk 20:03, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Admins do have access to Special:UnwatchedPages which shows which pages aren't being watched, but for the obvious reason this isn't widely available. GbT/c 20:04, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * (e/c) It may be that stewards and/or developers can see that, certainly the software can do this, but it is not an ability that is granted to any regular users or admins. We can only guess from the contributors to an article, who is likely to have it on their watchlists.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:05, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Obviously my paranoia as to who's watching me is acting up. Thanks all ;) hydnjo talk 20:13, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

publishing my CV in wikepedia
Hello,

I have posted my Cv for wikipedia under the title EDITA TAHIRI, taking into account the criteria of notable persons. my applicateion has been declined as copyright. I HAVE FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTION AND WROTE IT IN PROSE. But the content might be similar to the one published in Kosova assembly website, of which I am the author, as I am member of parliament. In fact, content is suppossed to look like the other as it is a CV for my work and contribution for the changes in the Balkans since the end of Cold War.

I would appreciate your advice.

Happy holidays,

Edita —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sh1956vlpo (talk • contribs) 20:17, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Please read the policy about autobiographies to be certain that you're not in violation. Also, it's generally better if someone other than yourself starts an an article about yourself. -hydnjo talk 20:36, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * (e/c)Wikipedia is not the place for "posting a CV", it is an encyclopedia for articles about notable subjects. Couple of other points. First, you are strongly discouraged from writing articles about yourself because of your inherent conflict of interest. If you really are notable, someone will write an article about you sooner or later and I see that you have already put in a request at articles for creation. Second, if an article is written in an overly promotional tone, as one would expect from a CV, it will be speedily deleted. There are other options, Wikipopuli and Wikibios for example. Hope this helps. – ukexpat (talk) 20:36, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * You appear to be asking for clarification of the response in Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Submissions/EDITA TAHIRI. Please read our WP:COPYRIGHT policy as the canned response says. Wikipedia cannot duplicate content from another Web site unless that site explicitly permits free copying. For example, some U.S. government Web sites declare their content to be in the public domain, such as this one. --Teratornis (talk) 20:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * It should be noted, though, that if the subject is in fact a member of the Assembly of Kosovo they are automatically deemed notable. -- Orange Mike  &#x007C;   Talk  14:08, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Indeed so, but even then such an article has to comply with all the other relevant policies and guidelines. – ukexpat (talk) 19:03, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Regarding the copyright issue, all content on Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This is a free license under which all of our users can modify the content, and redistribute it for use elsewhere. Accordingly, we cannot use copyrighted text by permission. Instead, the copyrighted material has to be released into the public domain, the GDL or a free license compatible with the GFDL. In order to do this, you have to change the external website to remove the copyright, or send an official email from the website domain name releasing it to permissions-en@wikimedia.org. See Donating copyrighted materials for more on this. So, even if you are the owner, we can't use the material in its present form. You must release it and you must do so in a manner that shows you have the right to do so, which the methods mentioned allow (meaning that just saying you are releasing it here, is not enough).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:50, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Also, biographical articles do not need to be written in ALLCAPS. ~ A H  1 (TCU) 22:17, 28 December 2008 (UTC)
 * No article should be written in all caps, for that matter :)  C h a m a l  talk 14:27, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Maybe we have a language problem. The term "CV" caused me to think it would be a quite differently formatted thing. In fact it's formatted more-or-less like a proper Wikipedia biographical page (modulo Wikification). If copyright is the only problem, then the author only needs to release the material under a suitable license or into the public domain and the problem is solved. Michael Hardy (talk) 19:15, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Editing an Author's Name in the Reference List
This is a fairly simple question, but I cannot, for the life of me figure out how to do this.

On the page for "Strange Overtones" by David Byrne and Brian Eno, the Los Angeles Times writer TJ Kosinski is incorrectly referenced as "T. J. Kosinski" at the bottom of the page in the reference list.

This is a simple, small change that I would like to administer, but I can't seem to figure out how to fix it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by TJ Kosinski (talk • contribs) 20:29, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * First go to the article page at Strange Overtones, then click the edit tab. When in edit mode you will have to read through the article text to find the relevant in-line references -- they will be sandwiched between tags. Edit the reference in each instance that it occurs, if more than one, add a suitable edit summary in the box, click Preview to make sure it looks ok, then click Save. – ukexpat (talk) 20:41, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I feel like a dunce for not being able to figure that out on my own, but I really appreciate the direct and prompt help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by TJ Kosinski (talk • contribs) 20:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * No problem, marking as resolved. – ukexpat (talk) 21:48, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Meta References
Are references and sources to other Wikipedia's sister sites (like Wiktionary) allowed? Like this article for example, which lists its corresponding article on Wiktionary as a source. This could be problematic, as Wikipedia discredits itself as being a reliable source. Though the example in this case is trivial, I'm sure the same problem could be encountered elsewhere. Any thoughts on this issue? — Kortaggio   Proclamations   Declarations  22:07, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Sourcing other wikis is generally a bad idea; you should source their sources instead (and actually read those first, and reference them not the wiki). If they don't have sources, they probably aren't reliable; if they do, you may as well save readers a level of indirection. (Of course, you can link to sister sites as a see-also sort of thing; just not as a reference.) This applies whether the other wiki is a Wikimedia wiki, or third-party. See WP:SPS for more details. --ais523 22:24, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


 * There's some grammar issues here, also in the question, so I'll be a bit more specific. It's okay and even desired to link to other MediaWiki wikis bu they're not reliable sources so they can't be used as a reference. What is okay now could be edited at any time. Instead, use the references the article cites. - Mgm|(talk) 12:19, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Getting information changed
Hi, I'm a little confused after reading the help page. How do I get information changed? There is an article about my great grandfather William Reid the football player and his date of birth is wrong, among other thing. Thanks, Christine —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.241.144.75 (talk) 23:22, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
 * See How to edit a page. Note that we have some guidelines which frown upon certain types of editing patterns by those with a conflict of interest. However, much of the article on your grandfather is unverified, failing to cite to any reliable published secondary source for the information. It should not be a problem for you to make information correction changes. What you should avoid as an insider is promotional sounding edits. Avoid glowing praise; removing critical material that is sourced; that sort of thing.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:58, 28 December 2008 (UTC)