Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 June 22

= June 22 =

gif "movie" image malfs on Mozilla
The moving image Young.gif works o.k. on Safari and also on IE Explorer, but something is making it show a large black rectangle as the last image in the series, making what would otherwise look like an unending process seem to be interrupted.

I will see whether editing the image carefully on my Mac will make any improvement. I do not have the best software, however. 152.17.53.105 (talk) 00:53, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * File:Young.gif looks fine in my Mozilla Firefox 3.0.11. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:11, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The file also displays fine for me in Mozilla 3.0.11 (no black block breaking the cycle). Are you using an older version - or perhaps have an add-on that's interfering? --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 01:17, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Phantom Lapboard
I an the CEO of Phantom Entertainment, which makes the Phantom Lapboard. Every time I try to update the page a bot removes all my edits. Many new items need to be written and the website url is wrong. How can I change this?

John Landino Phei.comeback (talk) 01:34, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * For the record, this user emailed me asking a similar question after I posted uw-coi on his userpage. I responded to that email with advice, the relevant portion of which is below:


 * Hi John. The best thing to do when you have a conflict of interest with regards to a topic you wish to edit, is to add the information you would want to add to the article, to the article's talk page (in this case, that would be here). On that page, add the information that you would like added to the article, and cite it - to reliable, third-party sources wherever possible. When you have done this, other editors who do not have a conflict will be able to add the information in a neutral, encyclopedic manner. If you feel able to add the information to the article yourself in a neutral manner and keeping the right tone, feel free to go ahead.


 * If you have any further questions or need help, feel free to contact me, either by email or on my talk page.


 * Did I cover everything? Dreaded Walrus t c 02:06, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Also see FAQ/Organizations. --Teratornis (talk) 03:15, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * And WP:Spam. – ukexpat (talk) 15:01, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

(top)
What does (top) in front of a contribution mean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shraktu (talk • contribs) 07:02, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * (top) stands for Topmost. If a contribution is marked as top, it means that that contribution is the current version of the article. In other words: its the last contribution to that article.  Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 07:09, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Large Appearances [Resolved]
I see everything, text, images... very large, Is this just me or is it something new from the Wikipedia? --- Scarce  ||||  You shouldn't have buried me,   I'm not dead --- 07:55, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Images almost seemed blurred also --- Scarce  ||||  You shouldn't have buried me,   I'm not dead --- 08:00, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * There has been no change that i am aware of - Did you by any chance change your monitor's resolution? Or did you accidentally zoom in your browser (Ctrl + Mousewheel)? Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 08:02, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Uh! I'm such a fool! I've been scrolling a lot and I've been resting my hand on the left side if keyboard. I had no idea you can zoom in like that. Awesome! You have made my day! Smiley.svg Gosh you're wise, You're WikiYoda! I'm adding you to my favorites list! --- Scarce  ||||  You shouldn't have buried me,   I'm not dead --- 09:06, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Glad to help ;) Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 09:51, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

The "user contributions" link
In the toolbox isn't there anymore. Well, it is for a moment when I go to a user page, then it disappears. I don't see anything in the recent changes of MediaWiki pages, so what's going on? ÷seresin 08:48, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * If it's there, then disappears, then it's being removed by javascript. Perhaps one of your custom scripts is interacting badly with a sitewide change. Try selectively disabling them to find the culprit. Algebraist 09:45, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Monobook
Per:Monobook.js. User:TheDJ/Qui. The script their isn't known to be bad or "malicious" is it? --- Scarce  ||||  You shouldn't have buried me,   I'm not dead --- 09:33, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Its a fine script - i have been using it for quite some time with no side effects. Also, a short evaluation of the script source reveals nothing potentionally harmful.  Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 09:39, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Sub pages allowed in the user space.
Is there a policy about specifically what is allowed in user subpages. I have found the policy on user pages and the policy on subpages but I am not clear about user subs. I saw a user page that was never intended to be of use to the project. It is the users schedule for a trip. Should I nom for deletion? Should I just leave it alone? Should I post a link here for others to look at? Thanks.--Adam in MO Talk 10:16, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * In this case we have the WP:NOTWEBHOST policy - Pages that are not related to wikipedia (Such as social networks, communication, blogs, and so on) should indeed be tagged for removal. This is actually partly covered under WP:UP. I would suggest placing a PROD on the page first, as WP:NOT is not a valid reason for a CSD tag.  Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 10:22, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * PROD is only for mainspace articles. Userspace pages can be nominated at Miscellany for deletion if there is no valid reason for a CSD tag. You can try contacting the user first and give them a link to User page. See User page. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:16, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * O yes... we were talking about a user page - been a while since i patrolled those. Thanks for catching that prime :). Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 11:42, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * WP:User page applies to all pages in the user namespace, including subpages.  hmwith  τ   16:51, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Wikify table
Could someone please wikify this table? I am very poor at wikimarkup!! Thanks a lot. --Siddhant (talk) 10:19, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Track listings are not presented in tables; see WikiProject Albums. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 10:29, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I changed the article and swapped the HTML table for a wiki table, and used italic text instead of bold text for the song names. Did you mean anything like this when you said it should be wikified?  Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 10:31, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I reformatted it. Song titles are in quotes, albums in italics. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 12:47, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Admin
Is there anyway I can get a free admin coach? Looks like the coaches in the admin coaching program are all taken --- Scarce  ||||  You shouldn't have buried me,   I'm not dead --- 11:51, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * The best bet is to sign up at WP:ADMINCOACH and wait for a position to come available. The other option is to approach an admin willing to admin coach directly, but this is not always possible. Best, Peter Symonds ( talk ) 11:55, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Hmmm... the list of admin requests is kind of mess, meaning it probably isn't updated, so I'm sure I'll never get one there! I guess I might just have to post an ad on my user page --- Scarce  ||||  You shouldn't have buried me,   I'm not dead --- 12:07, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

How do I find the thesaurus on Wikipedia?
How do I find the thesaurus on Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by LLane18 (talk • contribs) 12:41, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * There is no thesaurus on Wikipedia, as Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. Wiktionary incorporates a thesaurus. Algebraist 12:44, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * If you are looking for a page about thesaurus then its as simple as clicking the link i just added. If you are looking for thesaurus functionality, then perhaps our sister site wikitionary can help. Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 12:56, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Reverting without seeking consensus
I'm having an issue in the European Union article. I've created a new map, which I think is better than the previous one and I've explained my reasons in the talk page. However, a group of editors keep undoing my changes without making any comments. I know we are supposed to work through consensus, but what can I do if the other editors are not bothered to discuss the issue or even to put an edit summary? Is it ok to keep reverting them as if it was vandalism? (I've already reverted three times today) Any suggestions? Thanks, Laurent (talk) 13:47, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * This sounds more like a content dispute. If the editor(s) refuse to discuss the issue on the talk page, you may want to request a third opinion. Also, did you try dropping a note on their talk page? If they won't discuss the issue, then I don't see why they should complain. TN X Man  13:57, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Unsure of article placement?
> I am trying to create an article about the National Barbecue > Association but I am not sure which sub-category to place it under... > I would like to place it under the sub-topic "Non-Profits" but am not > sure how to accomplish that. 65.214.103.203 (talk) 16:44, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, 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.


 * As for the placement of the article in a subcategory, simply add to the article. An example of adding a nonprofit category would be:    Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 16:52, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Don't worry about categorisation yet, make sure that your subject meets the notability criteria first. – ukexpat (talk) 16:55, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

how to post a biography
I have read the "Your First article", "Manual of Style (biographies)" and sample biographies, but cannot find the "sandbox" or "user page" needed to get started. after i log in, from the main page, where do I go to set started entering the material for a biography, please? thank you Minnaolive (talk) 17:47, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * 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. Algebraist 17:50, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * You can use User:Minnaolive/Sandbox as a sandbox, and User:Minnaolive is your user page. To create content there just edit and save something there. —teb728 t c 19:38, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I have created the sandbox for you by adding the User sandbox template to User:Minnaolive/Sandbox, and I added a link to it on your user page. – ukexpat (talk) 19:52, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Health questions on reference desk.
i know we are not suposed to ask for medical advice on the reference desk but this confuses me. Am i alowed to ask questions such as what compresion bandage works the best or is that considerd to much of a health question. What if it isnt a question about a serious health issue such as cliping finger nails to short or getting a briuse from stubing my toe i understand that there would be leagle problems with a serious health question but what if it isnt. could i ask a question like "is it ok to not have a rest day in my workout rotine and insted never work the same muscles 2 days in a row". thanks it would be appreciated if the rule about health questions was more specific when refuring to health and if it had some sugestions.--76.235.193.24 (talk) 18:05, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * The place to discuss the reference desk is WT:RD. Algebraist 18:08, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I think it depends on whether you're asking for directions on what to do or whether you're asking for what could happen. For example, asking "What happens if I clip my nails to short?" could be OK, because there are specific things that can happen. Asking how close to clip them or whether or not it's dangerous is probably asking too much. TN X Man  18:10, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Similarly asking "Is X a symptom of disease Y" is acceptable; Asking "I got Symptom X, do i have disease Y?" is not. You can actually check this by asking yourself: "Am i asking a knowledge question, or am i asking for advice or a judgement?" If the answer is the former, it ok to ask it at the reference desk. If not, then its a medical question and should be avoided. Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 18:25, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Yet another way to put it: If a responder needs to diagnose your health problem, make a prognosis about the future of your health, or suggest treatment for your health problem, then you shouldn't ask the question. The RD responders are not supposed to make a diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment recommendation. --  k a i n a w &trade; 18:39, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Asking a question isn't necessarily dangerous, but acting on the answer could be. Anybody can edit Wikipedia, so there's no telling what sort of an answer you might get. Even if by some miracle you got an answer from a qualified medical professional, you may have asked the wrong question. That's why physicians need to examine patients directly. A patient who has no medical training might pose a question in a misleading way. As an extreme example, someone might ask what birth control pills to take, without mentioning that he is male. The responder might assume only a woman would ask such a question, and never think to check that assumption. This problem would be less likely to arise if a physician can examine the patient. --Teratornis (talk) 03:07, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

What's the tag for a broken link? [Resolved]
A web site that was being used as a source is either down or defunct. What's the tag to indicate a broken link? A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 18:08, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * dead link. Algebraist 18:09, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Jeez...why couldn't I remember that? Thanks!  A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 18:51, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Policy on People Articles
Hi. Is there a policy that says who can have an article on them selves (not user page). Eg. Can an ordanery person have an article in the main namespace about them? --Lcawte (talk) 18:57, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, there is a policy: Notability (people). Algebraist 19:01, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * If you don't qualify for an article on WP, there are other options such as Wikipopuli and Wikibios. – ukexpat (talk) 19:48, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Notability (people) is a notability guideline, not a policy. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 18:26, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Internet Explorer 8
The above buttons {cite, bold, signature, etc) does not seem to be working in my version of IE8. Please help, Tyw7 ‍  ‍‍ (Talk  ●  Contributions) Leading Innovations >>>  21:21, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * They work fine for me in Firefox, Chrome and IE 8.0. Is there any chance you disabled javascript? The buttons require it to be enabled. Excirial ( Contact me, Contribs ) 21:27, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The buttons work when I log out. -- Tyw7 ‍ ‍‍ (Talk  ●  Contributions) Leading Innovations >>>  21:49, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * You have a lot of entries in User:Tyw7/monobook.js. Try removing them and bypass your cache. If that fixes the problem, then add them back a bit at a time until it breaks ago. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 22:07, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Which section is causing the problem? -- Tyw7 ‍ ‍‍ (Talk  ●  Contributions) Leading Innovations >>>  22:11, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Even clearing the page does not work. -- Tyw7 ‍ ‍‍ (Talk  ●  Contributions) Leading Innovations >>>  22:13, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

There is a yellow error on page error on the botton left of the bar. This is what it says: Webpage error details

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) ; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) Timestamp: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:14:34 UTC

Message: Expected identifier, string or number Line: 4 Char: 1 Code: 0 URI: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Gadget-Friendly.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript?227

Message: Object doesn't support this property or method Line: 1697 Char: 2 Code: 0 URI: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:AzaToth/morebits.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript

Message: 'Namespace' is undefined Line: 30 Char: 1 Code: 0 URI: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:AzaToth/twinkleimagetraverse.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript

Message: Expected identifier, string or number Line: 60 Char: 2 Code: 0 URI: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:AzaToth/twinklebatchundelete.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript

Message: Object doesn't support this property or method Line: 598 Char: 3 Code: 0 URI: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:AzaToth/twinklefluff.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript

Message: Unexpected call to method or property access. Line: 83 Char: 3 Code: 0 URI: http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/edit.js?227

-- Tyw7 ‍ ‍‍ (Talk  ●  Contributions) Leading Innovations >>>  22:15, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Hm. It looks like your JavaScript is desperately in need of fixing. Are the edit toolbar buttons appearing at all, or are they simply unclickable? I'm worried that there might be some underlying problem, and per the above, I haven't a clue why your browser is unable to parse something as simply as MediaWiki's edit.js. Might I suggest sticking with another browser? That should fix the problem, at least temporarily. The Earwig  (Talk &#124; Contribs) 00:19, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Also, may I ask that you tone down your signature a tad? It appears very large on screen and takes up at least three lines in the edit window. Thanks! TN X Man  02:04, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, they appear, but is unclickable. However, when I logout, I can use those buttons.  I have blanked the my javascript js but that doesn't work. -- Tyw7 ‍  ‍‍ (Talk  ●  Contributions) Leading Innovations >>>  03:33, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Where do I ask questions about wikiedia, ut not aout using wikipedia?
Where do I ask questions about wikiedia, ut not aout using wikipedia? For example, I want to ask gently technical questions about "how many Megaytes (or mebigibyte) Wikipedia:RfA was in 2008, and how many has it been so far in 2009?", and similar questions. These arent about using WP, and they don't seem to be (or maybe I'm wrong) suitable for reference desk. Thanks. 82.33.48.96 (talk) 21:49, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * If you have questions about specific areas of Wikipedia, it's usually best to ask them on that page's talk page. For example, questions about RfA should be asked at the RFA talk page. If you don't get an answer (some pages are less frequented than others), just ask here and we can point you in the right direction. TN <b style="color:midnightblue; font-size:larger;">X</b> Man  21:55, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

NO MARKGORMLEY?!
Alright. I'm pissed off okay?

I have been listening to this, God, this ... Amazing man's music. His name, is Mark Gormley,

Today, I was looking around and saw, HE HAS NO WIKI PAGE.

Fix it, NOW.

Love from, Anon —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.34.211.75 (talk) 22:05, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * We have had such an article in the past, and it has been deleted (on five separate occasions, by four different admins) for failing to explain what makes Mark Gormley important enough to appear in an encyclopedia. If you think he deserves an article, write one yourself, but make sure you show why he satisfies our notablity guidelines. Algebraist 22:09, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * You can request articles to be created here.  Zoo Fari  22:11, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Wow, he's not even on Deletionpedia. For a deleted Wikipedia article not to appear on Deletionpedia, it must be pretty bad. Mark Gormley's Web site is a case study in peacock language, not that that would disqualify him by itself from having an article here. It might be deliberate humor for all I know. --Teratornis (talk) 19:19, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I think I get it now. Mark Gormley appears to be the inspiration for an internet meme whereby people compete to see who can offer the most effusively overblown praise to this decidedly uncharismatic performer. The actress in his low-budget, low-production-value YouTube video that I just watched is pretty cute, though. --Teratornis (talk) 19:27, 24 June 2009 (UTC)