Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 February 15

= February 15 =

It is posible to delete unfair my user/sandbox page ?
Corruptcopper (talk) Hi there. I ask some help to you because someone vandalise-deleted my user/sandbox page User:Drokstef/Sandbox under some strange (wrong-supposed) motives and i don't have any idea how could someone do something like that, i mean delete a article on my sandbox-page, an article which i've worked a lot of it and it has all the notable and reliable reasons to exist on Wikipedia. I don't know what can i do, but i ask you to help me to recover my page and my article which i consider very reliable. Please take a look about my deleted article on User:Drokstef/Sandbox which was deleted two days ago, to verify the notable and reliable reasons and see how an notable article was deleted only just someone had some wrong-supposed motives. Thanks a lot. Drokstef (talk) 00:50, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It appears the admin JzG has deleted the sandbox with the reason "User space copy of multiply-deleted article; user is almsot certainly the lead singer of the band, has no other contributions, appears to be inactive now. WP:NOTMYSPACE." Your best bet is to ask the admin on their talk page to discuss with them. TN X Man  00:54, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * The page has now been undeleted for a short time, the user has been notified that it will be nuked again in one month; the content in question has been deleted and endorsed, the user requesting help is the lead singer of the band which is the subject of the article, and has no other contributions other than promoting the band. WP:NOTMYSPACE and WP:CSD, WP:CSD, WP:CSD and of course WP:VSCA apply.  Guy (Help!) 20:32, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

policy on naming convention
Hello, I've searched the Manual of Style, but I can't find the answer I'm looking for. Is there a policy on how the title of a (British) public house (i.e. a "pub" or bar) should be presented? The building in question is called "The Huntsman" - should it be in inverted commas, or italicised; and should the first word ("the") have an upper- or lower-case "t"? Dom Kaos (talk) 01:16, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Do you mean the title of the page itself or when using the name with the article? – ukexpat (talk) 01:20, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Within the article, and halfway through a sentence Dom Kaos (talk) 01:30, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Since it's a proper noun, it should be capitalized like any other building. For example, "While established in 1492, the Huntsmen has been rebuilt 42 times". This is seen in other articles, such as Empire State Building or Eiffel Tower. TN X Man  01:33, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I don't think I asked my question very clearly - I meant should it be "the" or "The" ? And is there any convention about whether the name should be italicised or put in inverted commas? Dom Kaos (talk) 01:40, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * No problem. The "the" should be lower-case and no commas or italization (is that a word?) should be used. TN X Man  01:48, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It's "italicisation" (or "italicization" if you prefer to spell it that way). Xenon54 (talk) 01:57, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Ah, noted. Thanks! TN X Man  02:02, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you :)  Dom Kaos (talk) 01:51, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

AFD template help
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:14, 18 February 2009 (UTC) I messed up the template on Articles for deletion/List of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 Victims can anyone fix this because I have attempted to fix it but with no luck. Thanks, Spikydan1 (talk) 02:11, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It looks good to me in all three places (the article itself, the AfD log, and the AfD page). What about it seems to be messed up? TN X Man  02:13, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * On the deletion page there is a box that says "AfDs for this article: Articles for deletion/List of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 Victims". No other deletion oage has this box... Spikydan1 (talk) 02:15, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * If you scroll through the list of AfD's in today's log, you'll see that a few other discussions have this box as well. Mostly, it's a box that displays previous nominations (if there were any). If there's only one, you can ignore it. It doesn't hurt anything to have it there. To quote a guy I know, "Everything is fine, nothing is broken." :P TN X Man  02:23, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I know who killed me
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:14, 18 February 2009 (UTC) Dear sir madam, I am concerned that your article on i know who killed me cites dakota moss as having a mother who is on crack cocaine. This information was not in the film please could you take it out of the article I am concerned that orvganised crime is using your article to trap people. Yours sincerely Someone who has written a paper citing dakota moss's father as having been a crack addict. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.155.89.19 (talk) 02:34, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * This desk is for asking questions about using Wikipedia. You would have a better chance of having your question answered by discussing it on the article's talk page. TN X Man  02:39, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Can I use text for my web site?
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:14, 18 February 2009 (UTC) Can I use text from Wikipedia for my web site? Jtts20a (talk) 05:16, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * You can, with certain caveats. See WP:Reusing Wikipedia content for more info. TN X Man  05:23, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Data Communication
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:14, 18 February 2009 (UTC) what is difference between ASibus,Canbus,Devicenet,Modbus,Profibus,Hart and Foudation Field bus?Gangadharkothari (talk) 06:10, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Have you tried the Computing section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps.  TN <b style="color:midnightblue; font-size:larger;">X</b> Man  06:22, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Denzel Washington is hacked
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:15, 18 February 2009 (UTC) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denzel_Washington —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.255.223.7 (talk) 08:49, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Vandalism reverted. Thing is, you vandalized it too.  C h a m a l  talk 08:55, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * That theme song from the TV show "Rawhide" keeps running through my head ... "trollin trollin trollin, keep those dogies trollin ..." — Ched (talk) 09:10, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Missing out the word 'the'
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:16, 18 February 2009 (UTC) Why do we almost ALWAYS miss out the word 'the'? Filper01 ( Chat,  My contribs ) 10:48, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Is this something to do with a Wikipedia article? If not, the best place to ask this would be the languages reference desk, since the help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. Cheers.  C h a m a l  talk 10:54, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm also unsure what this refers to but maybe this is relevant: Naming conventions. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:07, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Most articles no not have "the" or "a" at the beginning of its title, but I've seen at least one that does: The Holocaust. ~ A H  1 (TCU) 17:22, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

new flight roots
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:10, 18 February 2009 (UTC) is ryanair intending to have flights to and from carcarson france - aberdeen. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.170.84.147 (talk) 11:37, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 2.7 million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the left hand side of your screen. If that is not fruitful, we have a reference desk, divided into various subjects areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck.  C h a m a l  talk 11:42, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Uploading album covers
I use wikipedia quite a long time. But just today I created and account. I was looking around for some old singles and I found a song called "Boogie Oogie Oogie" by "A Taste Of Honey". I saw that the b-side and the cover was missing, so I created the account in order to offer something to wikipedia myself! :) I added the b-side title ("World Spin") ok. Then I scanned the cover of the single, which I own, and tried to upload it too. But I failed, 'cos like I saw, I have to be in a special group in order to upload photos. The 4 days rule is not a problem, but the "edit 10 articles first" is. That means I have to make 10 half additions and then start over again to upload the covers. And I am talking only for covers 'cos I am a vinyl collector and I am sure I can find many articles in which I can add old covers (especially 7" singles). I'd also like to ask about the possibility of more simple explanation in the tutorial on how to browse the uploaded pictures and embed them in the code. I'm thinking about adding some non-existed singles, and I wouldn't like them to be "stubs"!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by JohnMalisianos (talk • contribs) 12:50, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, the 10 edits requirement isn't too much of a burden. You can click here to be taken to a random article and find 10 grammar errors to correct. You only have 7 more to go. To search for specific files/images, go here. Uncheck "article" and check the box named "file". If you find an image that Wikipedia needs (and you are autoconfirmed), go ahead and upload it. You can then put the image in an article by typing File:ACDC Back in Black.png (or whatever your image is titled). Finally, to create article about singles, read this handy guide to your first article. TN <b style="color:midnightblue; font-size:larger;">X</b> Man  15:26, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you very much. You were very helpful and I appreciate that. Now it's time to search my collection to see what I must create! :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by JohnMalisianos (talk • contribs) 17:15, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * No problem. If you other questions, feel free to ask here or on my talk page. TN <b style="color:midnightblue; font-size:larger;">X</b> Man  17:20, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Category Deletion
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:10, 18 February 2009 (UTC) Where do I ask a question about a category that has been deleted? 173.32.11.67 (talk) 12:59, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It depends on the question and category but you can ask it here including the category name. Then we can either answer or direct you to a better place. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:11, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Ok, what happened to the catogory called: List of Controversial Films? 173.32.11.67 (talk) 13:27, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * There never was such a category. Categories are not usually named "List of...". This is the main category for films. You can find all the subcategories under that as well. Cheers.  C h a m a l  talk 13:47, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * There was once an article called Controversial films which was deleted. Is that possibly what you are referring to?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:58, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * There was also a category Category:Controversial films, which was also deleted, following this discussion. Algebraist 14:05, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Category:Controversial films and similarly named categories have been deleted at:


 * Categories for discussion/Log/2008 December 14
 * Categories for discussion/Log/2008 October 24
 * Categories for discussion/Log/2007 December 1
 * Categories for deletion/Log/2006 January 23
 * Categories for deletion/Log/2005 December 26.
 * Please don't recreate any variant of it. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:12, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Ok, since the thing about the category has got a reason for deletion, what about the article of controversial films? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.32.11.67 (talk) 14:51, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It was deleted under WP:CSD, so calling it an 'article' is probably a stretch. Algebraist 14:53, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * So... have we exaustated the discussion about controversial films? 173.32.11.67 (talk) 14:57, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * The consensus on Wikipedia seems to be that there is no call for a category or list of controversial films. While consensus can change, I would suspect that nailing down a criteria of "controversial" is what's keeping Wikipedia from having a list/category. TN <b style="color:midnightblue; font-size:larger;">X</b> Man  15:29, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The only content of the "article" Controversial films was a chronological list of wikilinked film titles (many with wrong target) with year in parentheses: The Kiss (1896) The Birth Of A Nation (1915) ... (films omitted) ... The Da Vinci Code (2006) United 93 (2006)

There were no sources, criteria, discussions or anything else. It was deleted 10 minutes after creation and had only been edited by the creator. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:33, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Talk pages
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:11, 18 February 2009 (UTC) Hi, guys. I have never seen something like this before. An editor has created a talk page, "Talk:Ergo Computing," for an article that doesn't exist. I assumed that there was something at WP:TALK that would be a rationale for its removal, but that is not the case. The best I could come up with was that the talk guidelines seem to assume there is an associated article page. I'm not totally certain about this, but my gut instinct tells me that such things shouldn't be. Is there some way that A)This talk page can be removed for policy reasons, and B)WP:TALK and/or WP:TALKPAGE can be altered to require that an article exists prior to creating a talk page. Thanks -71.207.122.36 (talk) 15:03, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Oops. Problem solved. That was fast. I guess part B is still relevant, but thanks anyway. -71.207.122.36 (talk) 15:09, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * (e/c} Hi. This is very common. When an is article is deleted, as Ergo Computing was a few hours ago, sometimes an associated talk page is left behind without being deleted. This can be because the administrator simply missed it, because the page contains a significant deletion discussion not logged elsewhere, or for other reasons. You can tag such orphaned talk pages for deletion, where appropriate, using the template db-talk. In any event, the page in question is now deleted.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:12, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Saved text doesn't reflect edits made
After I entered footnote references in the article "Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company," and then saved my edits, I noticed that the saved text had lost several sentences and done away with a subhead, in addition to which there's now a red tag indicating that the ref. bracket at end of a cite is missing. I've double checked what I typed and can't find any missing ref tags, nor can I get the saved text to match what I've typed. Could you let me know what has happened to the text and how I can fix this so that it accurately reflects the edits I just made? Something about the way I was entering the refs gave a command I didn't mean to give. Thanks! Megavoice (talk) 16:08, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * You forgot to close the last ref in the lead. It looked like tag to disappear. I've also added reflist to the bottom of the References section, so all your refs will show up. Xenon54 (talk) 16:16, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

That was fast. THanks! Megavoice (talk) 16:25, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Having your own wiki?
Hello! I was wondering, is it possible to have your own private wikipedia? I see few people having their own, and I would like to have one as well as a preparatory database for my upcoming novel. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.140.183.164 (talk) 19:16, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * You can, if you install MediaWiki (the software that runs Wikipedia) on your own web server. Head over to MediaWiki's website to find out more. Help on installation can be found at the MediaWiki sysadmin hub. Xenon54 (talk) 19:21, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * And if you don't have a own web server I think you should be able to use Wikia to host it. &mdash; CHAN  DLER #10 &mdash; 19:31, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.140.183.164 (talk) 19:36, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * As a related question (well sort of related), I notice pdf files never seem to be uploaded to wikipedia. Is that because they are a proprietary format?  If you have your own wiki running the same engine, can users upload pdfs which can then be linked to in articles?  TastyCakes (talk) 19:50, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * It is possible to restrict which file types can be uploaded in an install of MediaWiki, as mentioned at Help:Images and other uploaded files, but I'm fairly sure the main reason pdfs don't get uploaded to Wikipedia is that they shouldn't be - WP is not a repository of documents, and the only files that need to be uploaded here are images to be used in articles. Confusing Manifestation (Say hi!) 23:08, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Hmm, is the MediaWiki engine capable of being used as such a file repository? TastyCakes (talk) 00:38, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Certainly. But PDFs do not repose on Wikipedia because (among other reasons) we can't easily track who edits them, which is necessary to comply with the GFDL. --Teratornis (talk) 01:04, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

(undent) And to the original poster: if you want to use a wiki to write your own novel, and you don't need the world to see it, you can install a personal wiki. The MediaWiki software that powers Wikipedia works fine as a personal wiki. See mw:Manual:Wiki on a stick. However, a word of caution: many features on Wikipedia are not present in the bare-bones MediaWiki software. It takes a lot of work to make your own wiki be anywhere near as fancy as Wikipedia. But if you just want to take rough notes, and be able to track all your changes, bare-bones is probably good enough. --Teratornis (talk) 01:04, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Jade Goody
Under what policy exactly is Jade Goody famous? She has done nothing. She went on a reality tv show 3 times. Does this constitute notability? There are plenty of people more worthy of an article imo, such as my great-grandfather who was influential in helping Max Theiler derive a vacine for yellow fever, yet his contribution is completely forgotten by wikipedia. What's wrong with the world? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.167.62 (talk) 19:42, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Irrespective of your personal views on Goody's notability, she has been the subject of a lot of coverage in reliable sources, and that's enough for WP:BIO, particularly the alleged racist comments about Shilpa Shetty. You can suggest that an article about your grandfather be created by asking over at articles for creation. – ukexpat (talk) 19:47, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * If you can find two newspaper articles (other than obituaries and suchlike) that mention your grandfather by name and refer to his work, then he's probably notable enough for WP. This criterion causes an extreme systematic bias known as "recentism." In an attempt to combat recentism, we really need folks to look into the old newspaper archives that are slowly becoming available. I hope you are successful in finding some references. If you are unable to find two newspaper articles (or other published documents) then please consider creating an article about your grandfather on one of the biography wikis that do not have a notability requirement. -Arch dude (talk) 22:07, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * On the other hand, notability is often a fuzzy borderline. There are countless articles on Wikipedia which are either non-notable but have an article, or entirely notable but lacking one, although new articles are always being created. ~ A H  1 (TCU) 17:19, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Is there a magic word for this? (template question)
I am working on a cleanup template right now that goes on the top of articles that need to be translated (Expand language, which generates templates like Expand Spanish). As part of the "toolbox" at the bottom of the template, I want there to be a link to a machine translation of the needed article into English, so that there is a starting point for translators. This works fine for one-word article titles. (I use http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fes.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F&sl=es&tl=en, where is the name of the article title in  the foreign language- here, spanish.) See Fuerteventura for an example. The problem is with multi-word titles, because the spaces in the article titles need to be turned into underscores for the URL to work properly. See Santos Balmori for an example of the problem. Is there any way to do this with a magic word, or will it require template users to retype the article name with underscores inserted. Also, is there a way to detect if the article title has spaces, so that the link will show up only for one-word titles? Thanks, Calliopejen1 (talk) 20:01, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Never mind, found it. (urlencode) Calliopejen1 (talk) 20:30, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * You might find something useful to draw from at Translate wikipedia. --Teratornis (talk) 00:57, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

article send
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:12, 18 February 2009 (UTC) I want to any article send to my friends? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Javed niaz (talk • contribs) 21:25, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * You could just e-mail them the link to the article page.... – ukexpat (talk) 21:44, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Sid Ryan
HI...I made a few additions to Sid Ryan but they have been deleted. the reason for the addition was to balance out the number of sources quoted pro and con in wikipedia. They have been deleted..perhaps im not adding them correctly..can you help me? Porterxx (talk) 21:35, 15 February 2009 (UTC)porterxx


 * The edit history of the article shows why your changes have been reverted. Please discuss on the article's talk page. – ukexpat (talk) 21:44, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

title capitalization
Hi everyone! I was trying to contribute a new article about an organization, but I can't figure out how to make every word of the title be capitalized. I'm fairly new to creating pages, but I do have a bit of WP experience. I'm a little rusty. Any help would be awesome! Thanks! Fixipedia (talk) 22:35, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * If you haven't created it yet then just create it with capitals. If it already exists without capitals then move it. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:09, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

ahh. it's just that I created it by searching for a nonexistant article, and clicked "create". When I had entered my search terms, I didn't capitalize properly. Duh! Thanks, PrimeHunter! Resolved! Fixipedia (talk) 23:54, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Warning of quick deletion of a photo
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:12, 18 February 2009 (UTC) I just now discovered a warning that my photo is a candidate for quick deletion, but I do not understand why. It's at this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:6308-340DisneyLandChopper-R.jpg

I have read all the FAQs that might relate, but nothing explains why that notice is there. Would appreciate any help on this. EditorASC (talk) 23:19, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It appears that your photo is an exact duplicate of a photo on Wikimedia Commons. You can see it here. Whenever there are duplicates of images, it is preferred to have the image on Commons instead of here. TN <b style="color:midnightblue; font-size:larger;">X</b> Man  23:55, 15 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I am not sure how it got into Commons; I cannot even sign in thereit doesn't recognize me when I try.


 * That photo is used in several articles. If that photo is deleted, then won't that eliminate it from those articles too?  Also, the one in Commons contains a horrible photoshoped version, where someone tried to colorize it.  That one should be tossed outit is an atrocious perversion. EditorASC (talk) 00:45, 16 February 2009 (UTC)


 * The photo may have been moved to commons as it's freely licensed. Once at commons it can be used on Wikipedia's in all languages. Once the image on en.wikipedia is deleted the image at commons is automatically displayed instead, readers will notice no change at all. As an example of this - File:Heading the ball 1419.jpg and the infobox image from London Eye are images I uploaded to commons, if you click on them you are actually seeing the images there - they doesn't exist on Wikipedia and haven't ever been uploaded here. To be 'recognised' by commons you should enable your Single User Login, this will allow you to access all Wikipedia's and other Wikimedia wiki's with your current username.and password. Please also note that when you uploaded the image, you stated a license that allows anyone to edit this as long as they attribute you which both versions do. Nanonic (talk) 01:05, 16 February 2009 (UTC)


 * OK, thanks for that info. I finally had to create a separate user account, to log into Commons.  My main concern was that if they deleted the original photo, that would kill the links to the articles.  Glad to know the software will automatically compensate.


 * And yes, I know I licensed the photo to all others. I still think that photoshop version stinks and putting it in any Wiki articles will not be beneficial to the "quality" reputation of Wiki.  Looks like a 5th grader painting on the numbers......... EditorASC (talk) 02:08, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

creating an account
Corruptcopper (talk) 16:12, 18 February 2009 (UTC) I have tried three x to create an account. Each time I am told that there is an error. I have entered what is asked. What is the problem?

69.126.186.2 (talk) 23:39, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
 * There could be several problems. You could be entering the captcha incorrectly, or your browser could be acting up. You can go to WP:ACC and request an account be created for you. Xenon54 (talk) 23:47, 15 February 2009 (UTC)