Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 January 24

= January 24 =

Refer to ships as it or she?
I checked the style FAQs and Naming conventions (ships) but they were unable to answer my question: do we refer to ships as "it" or "she" here on Wikipedia? Thanks in advance for any insight. 3Juno3 (talk) 02:12, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * See WikiProject Ships/Guidelines. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:25, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you much! 3Juno3 (talk) 02:29, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Convert template not closing
At Fountain_of_Time the convert template is not closing.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 03:11, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I think this change fixes it. 250 ST —teb728 t c 05:50, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I've taken the liberty of fixing the above. Trying to get rid of the non-standard MT. J IM ptalk·cont 08:47, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

How do you search for keywords located in articles?
I know how to find articles that link to specific pages. But I can't figure out how to search for what articles have a specific keyword that isn't wikilinked to another article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Belasted (talk • contribs) 05:09, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * If I understand your question: Put the text you are looking for in the Search field in the sidebar of every page and click the Search button. (There are no keywords as opposed to text.) —teb728 t c 05:58, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Maybe I shouldn't have said "keywords". What I mean is (and I don't know why it's so hard for me to explain) I want to search for what articles have a specific word, not just in the title or that is wikilinked to another article, much like a regular search engine. For instance, if I want to find what articles have the word "calcium" somewhere in their text. Now, I could go to the article for Calcium and then see what pages link to it. But what if I also want pages that mention calcium but perhaps the word isn't wikilinked? Belasted (talk) 17:25, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * It is still unclear to me whether you want something different from the standard search described by teb728. Here is a standard search on calcium: . The first results have calcium in the title but not many of the thousands of other results. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:51, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I got it. Consider this issue RESOLVED. Oh, and thanks for the help. Belasted (talk) 21:11, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

get a substring in a template
I want to get a substring from a variable used in a template, something like substring function in javascript, is it possible?

189.131.150.97 (talk) 06:58, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * You probably want mw:Extension:StringFunctions but it's not running on any Wikimedia Foundation wikis including Wikipedia according to the extension's documentation page. However, if you tell us what you are trying to accomplish, someone might know another way. --Teratornis (talk) 07:21, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't need this anymore, thanks for answer189.131.150.97 (talk) 08:47, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Hello
I need to know where all the template codes are, like how many contributions i did "template". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aidarhaynes5 (talk • contribs) 07:17, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Your contributions can be found here. The full list of templates are here. If you can be more specific on what you are looking for, we can help you better. Cheers.  C h a m a l  talk 07:21, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * If you are asking how to write templates, see Help:Template and Help:Advanced templates —teb728 t c 07:28, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Another possible interpretation of this curiously worded utterance (it's not really a question) might be: "I want a template that will display my edit count (on my user page)." If it helps, we have a userinfo template. --Teratornis (talk) 09:11, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Sarcasm is not helpful, Teratornis. Please assume good faith. --Thomprod (talk) 13:47, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually I was critical rather than sarcastic, and I echoed the puzzlement of the first two respondents. I stated a fact which the above text makes clearly evident. To be sarcastic, I would have to pretend something is other than what it plainly is. For criticism to be unhelpful here, it would have to be the case that the original poster does not care that the first three respondents are unable to understand what he or she wants. That would act against the o.p.'s own interest in getting useful information. Would you expect a person who feels bothered by what I wrote to manage well when, say, he or she experiences the tender mercies of deletionists? (Now, "tender mercies of deletionists" is sarcastic.) Wikipedia is often a cruel place, and I think we sometimes do a disservice to new users by trying to pretend otherwise. Lure them in with a friendly welcome, and then clobber their work. There is a difference between acting friendly and being friendly. I think when I am giving correct information, I am being friendly, even though it might not seem that way to someone who wants something other than correct information. --Teratornis (talk) 21:57, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * sp-contributions-footer is also useful. – ukexpat (talk) 16:48, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Red link appears even though there is definately a page.
On the article for 'Komatsu PC200-8 Hybrid' I created a link around the words 'Komatsu Limted' but it appears as a red link. But if you do a search for 'Komatsu Limited' the page DOES exist. Whats going on please? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dtldinosaur (talk • contribs) 07:41, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * It's "Komatsu Limited", you had linked "Komatsu Limted" (no i). The spelling is important for the link to be added correctly. Article is at Komatsu Limited. Cheers.  C h a m a l  talk 07:45, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Elements song
What is the name of the song using the Periodic Table —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.170.63.159 (talk) 11:45, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Not sure why you asked it under this section on links, but it's called The Elements Song --DFS454 (talk) 11:57, 24 January 2009 (UTC)


 * For future knowledge questions please use the reference desk. This page is about questions related to using Wikipedia.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:03, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Question about adding a new article regarding notability and referencing
I would like to add a new article, but would like to discuss its references and notability before adding it. Is there somewhere I can do this. I am sorry if this is mentioned somewhere, I have read the FAQ's and searched, but have not found the answer yet. The article would come under spirituality or spiritual practice.#

Many thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Waitandsee (talk • contribs) 13:04, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds like you need WP:DRAW. - Mgm|(talk) 14:07, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Thank you very much, I will post there --Waitandsee (talk) 18:19, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

How to display Ming typeface cross-platform
~九尾の氷狐~ (「Sumimasen!」 「Dochira samaka?」) was what I was going to use in my signature, which would look like so: "~九尾の氷狐~ (「Sumimasen!」 「Dochira samaka?」)"

The problem is that with this, the Japanese text '九尾の氷狐' is using PMingLiU font, wich is decidedly windows only... so how do I make text display in the user's native Ming face?

(I was originally worried about the tags, but if you check here, it seems to not break the text spacing at all.)~九尾の氷狐~ (「Sumimasen!」 「Dochira samaka?」) 13:39, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Just leave out the font tag, like this: " ~九尾の氷狐~ (「Sumimasen!」 「Dochira samaka?」) ", which gives this: " ~九尾の氷狐~ (「Sumimasen!」 「Dochira samaka?」)". This looks just the same on my computer. &mdash; Sebastian 22:24, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

It may look similar but it is NOT the same. The default font on many browsers is a thick line font, not Ming. See: Regular:"九尾の氷狐" Ming:"九尾の氷狐" ~九尾の氷狐~ (「Sumimasen!」 「Dochira samaka?」) 23:48, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Adding an External LInk
I have added an external link to a wikipedia page about 15 minutes ago - how long does it take to show up on the page ?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 2008traveller (talk • contribs) 14:26, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * It should appear immediately, though sometimes it doesn't for various reasons. What page are you talking about? Algebraist 14:35, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

It was on the Faro Portugal page —Preceding unsigned comment added by 2008traveller (talk • contribs) 14:38, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * If you mean Faro, Portugal, there is no item of history to suggest the page was edited in the last 24 hours - might you have not saved, only previewed perhaps? - Jarry1250 (t, c) 14:46, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Your edit is now showing up in the page history. --Thomprod (talk) 16:19, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * If you are still not seeing the link, I suggest bypassing your cache, done on many browsers by clicking control+F5.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:27, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I've removed it - and several others - per WP:EL (and in some cases WP:SPAM. Also, the link you added renders, in my fully up-to-date browser, as "Your Browser is not updated. This content requires the Macromedia Flash Player, click on the Link to the Right to download Flash Player.". Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 22:23, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Template help
Two related questions regarding Hasty, which I created some time ago and seems to get some use. First, I would like to know how often it has been used. However, given that use, which is on articles marked for speedy deletion and likely to be deleted in most cases, I cannot figure out any way of searching even with access to deleted articles. I'm pretty certain there is no way, but I wanted to get a confirmation on that from your collective experience before giving up entirely. Second, I was wondering if anyone had the ability to code the template so that when a person used the sole parameter of adding the time of expiration, and the one hour grace period passes, an expiration message would automatically pop up, similar to what happens with expired prods. The automatic message there is in the form: The article may be deleted without further notice since this message has remained in place for five days. The expiration text here would be along the lines of "Note: the requested one hour grace period has expired".--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:56, 24 January 2009 (UTC)


 * FWIW, I've used it, and I'm happy that it exists! &mdash; Sebastian 06:27, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the feedback! I've seen it used a few times by others during CAT:CSD patrol but that's entirely hit or miss.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:24, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Pages created
Does anyone know if there is any other tools/scripts to show how many pages a user has created and what they are, since the one which everyone normally uses seems to be down? --SteelersFanUK06  ReplyOnMine!  16:55, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * http://toolserver.org/~sql/created.php?user=SteelersFan+UK06  C h a m a l  talk 17:04, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * There's one at the bottom of your contributions page. If that one is down, I'm afraid you're out of luck. Patience is a virtue ;) - Mgm|(talk) 17:05, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * That's the one I gave. Seems to be working for me.  C h a m a l  talk 17:07, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * The toolserver one worked. Thanks! --SteelersFanUK06  ReplyOnMine!  17:08, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Rename of articles
I constantly find articles that are improperly named...I wonder if there are any ways to rename the articles? Well obviously it would be too much power granted if a normal member can do that...but is there a fast and efficient way to rename it through other means?

I tried the discussion page but for unpopular topics no one actually read the discussions lol Salmon (talk) 17:41, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Articles are renamed by moving. Any autoconfirmed user (you are one) can do this, unless the page is move protected as is this one. Go to the article you want to rename and click "move" tab at the top. – Capricorn42 ( talk ) 17:45, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * But please see Naming conventions and Requested moves first. Many moves would be inappropriate without first getting consensus, even if you personally feel confident that the page is improperly named. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:46, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Disambiguation
I'm trying to disambiguate Eduardo Parra Murga from Eduardo Parra Pizarro and I've followed this format:

Eduardo Parra may be the name of:


 * Eduardo Parra Murga, Spanish advertising executive and writer
 * Eduardo Parra Pizarro, member of the Chilean rock fusion band Los Jaivas

But when I try to create this intermediate page I get all sorts of warnings that I shouldn't -- maybe because there is an Eduardo Parra page that corresponds to Eduardo Parra Pizarro.

Help!

parraed Parraed (talk) 17:43, 24 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Are you talking about the blue-bordered box at the top of the page when you click on Eduardo Parra Pizarro (and appears on every non-existing [red-linked] article when you are in edit mode), or something else that is displayed as a warning? ~ A H  1 (TCU) 17:51, 24 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Or are you maybe talking about a message if you try to move User:Parraed to the already existing Eduardo Parra? That would require Eduardo Parra to be moved away first and then an administrator to make the move to Eduardo Parra. If there are only two Eduardo Parra with articles then it can be handled with hatnotes instead of a disambiguation page. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:39, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Default English IPA
Hi. If there is no context whether the article is about something that's in a rhotic or non-rhotic-speaking country, which dialect do we default to, when we have an article that requires IPA in English? The article in question is noosphere. Or does it not matter or something because it's a word coined by non-English people? Thanks. ~ A H  1 (TCU) 17:46, 24 January 2009 (UTC)


 * This question might have more success of being answered at Reference desk/Language‎. &mdash; Sebastian 22:28, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I would recommend using IPA-en with the broad transcription recommended at IPA for English, namely . The broad transcription is noncommittal between dialects: The long o,, is pronounced as one pronounces beau, hoe, and poke. And the R-coloured vowel, , is pronounced as one pronounces beer and mere. The template also includes a link to the pronunciation guide. —teb728 t c 02:10, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Fair Use of Commercial DVD Screen Captures
Hi. I would like to take screen captures from TV Show DVDs (one per character, in character) to illustrate an article that is a list of fictional characters of a TV series. I am pretty sure that is OK for fair use (I've found a Wikipedia article that notes such a thing is OK for an animated series, but couldn't anything either way for a non-animated one.) First question, is it OK? Second question is whether anyone can point me to a good example a copyright tag for such a thing? All of the examples of such JPGs that I have found on Wikipedia don't seem to have a copyright tag (or I'm not smart enough to find them...). Thanks for your help. Bill From DDT Digest 20:09, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Reference or template problem on The Bahamas
There is some strangeness in the HDI field in the infobox on the page for the Bahamas but nothing I changed seemed to have any effect. Anyone know how to fix it? Rmhermen (talk) 22:31, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I removed a reference which cannot be placed in that parameter. The template uses the parameter as displayed wikilink text and that apparently fails when it contains a reference:   renders as 49th . PrimeHunter (talk) 23:44, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Rolf Steiner
Is he still alive? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.221.94.82 (talk) 22:50, 24 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I tried a Google search at http://www.google.com/ and found statements that a famous German mercenary by that name died in the 1970s. Have you tried the Humanities 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. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:24, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

ecce homo
i need help in knowing how to pray the ecce homo. i have the chaplet but no good instructions for praying on each bead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.215.136.38 (talk) 22:51, 24 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Have you tried the Humanities 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. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:12, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Vandalism on Eclipse (novel)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_(novel)           found vandalism on first line of plot summary  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.8.159.224 (talk) 22:56, 24 January 2009 (UTC)


 * The vandalism has been removed. You are welcome to revert vandalism on your own. See Vandalism for some tips. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:12, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Strange virus alert trigger when viewing an article
My antivirus software triggers a virus alert whenever I view a particular Wikipedia article, claiming the article page to be infected. I find this very unlikely and presume it to be a false positive, but I do use a reputable antivirus suite so felt this was worth reporting regardless. I realise this is the place for help on how to use Wikipedia so my question is this - should I bother anyone with the details and if so who/where? Thanks, Wiw8 (talk) 23:02, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * It would help to know which page you're referring to. Thanks —Travis talk 23:08, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the reply. Wasn't sure if I should post the details here or not but since you ask - the article is Witch Doctor (song). I use ESET NOD32 Antivirus and the virus alert it triggers every time I visit that article is called "BAT/Bomgen virus". Cheers, Wiw8 (talk) 23:12, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a (rather strange) false positive. Norton doesn't alert me to anything when I visit, and saving and running a scan also does not turn up any viruses. Xenon54 (talk) 02:24, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
 * The "Ooo, eee, ooo ahh ahh, zhing, zhang, walla walla bing bang" virus?!? --Jayron32. talk . contribs  05:24, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Haha :) Yeah, kind of weird. Perhaps something in the article's html code matches something NOD32 looks for in that virus. Anyway I submitted a report to ESET so I'll see if it still triggers it after the next few definition updates. Cheers, Wiw8 (talk) 16:41, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

meta description tags
is there a way to set the meta description tags to pull data from the article content for SEO purposes?

Alexruimy (talk) 23:30, 24 January 2009 (UTC)


 * No, not in Wikipedia as far as I know. If you have your own wiki using the same MediaWiki software as Wikipedia then you can try installing mw:Extension:MetaDescriptionTag. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:51, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

How do I post a video?
I am confused. What do I do if I want to post a video? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ts41596 (talk • contribs) 23:48, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * See Creation and usage of media files and Video policy. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:54, 24 January 2009 (UTC)