Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 March 2

= March 2 =

cannot login to Wikipedia
username codestone paassword email

everytime I create a new account, as soon as the account is created I cannot use it. this problem began about 5 months ago when a login was recovered after several weeks since then the logins are premanently blocked. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.49.50.104 (talk) 03:00, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Removed password and email. If you have any accounts on other websites with the same password, change them immediately. Xenon54 (talk) 03:08, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * This is a help desk for the English Wikipedia. At Help desk/Archives/2009 January 10 you said you had logged in with two user names BraveLittleHawk and LittleHawk but they are not registered in the English Wikipedia. There are many other wikis and Wikipedia languages. At which website are you creating accounts and trying to log in? And how are you directed to create a new account? The username codestone was created at the English Wikipedia on 4 May 2008. It has no edits. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:36, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Help:Logging in may be of help. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:38, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Nonsense in Burn Hall School page
Looks like someone inserted nonsense in the Burn Hall School article. I removed some obvious crap, could someone please take a look and rewrite whatever useful text was deleted by the abuser? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by SpaceRocket (talk • contribs) 04:09, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Done. In the future, it would help if you'd provide a link to the article that you're talking about such as Burn Hall School.  This way, people can just click right on that link instead of having to go to the search box or look through your contributions to find the article in question.  Dismas |(talk) 04:27, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * You can do that by putting double brackets around the article title .. Burn Hall School would then look like: Burn Hall School. You can find more about linking here — Ched ~  (yes?) 07:43, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

speech topic
anyone know were to go to get somethings on the speech topic"handicap is not a problem if one has the determination".i dont have any idea what to write .please help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.199.7.62 (talk) 05:05, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * We can't do your homework, but maybe you could get something from our articles on Disability and Determination. Good luck! ~user:orngjce223 how am I typing? 05:49, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

PDF file map
Is it possible to upload this PDF file and import it into an article.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 05:14, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Programs like Corel and various other PDF converters might give you what you're looking for, but could you just link to it, or perhaps do a screenshot (providing there was no copyvio)? — Ched ~ (yes?) 07:39, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Go to WP:Upload.Smallman12q (talk) 14:57, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I converted it with Adobe Reader 8.0, Scansoft PaperPort 9.0 and Microsoft Paint on my old laptop. I was unable to do it on my new laptop with Adobe Reader 9.0 and Paperport 11.0. Go figure.  I had the same problem with my taxes this year and pre-2008 forms.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 15:06, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * JPG is designed for photographic images (the P in JPG). Your file contains text and line drawings which JPG is poor for. Converting to GIF would probably give a better result than File:JCCIC-2009 Inaugural Map.JPG. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:16, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Tools has a link to Appropedia:Help:Porting PDF files to MediaWiki. I haven't tried it. If you want to display the image in the PDF file in an article then the best solution may be to convert the pdf file or part of it to an image type listed at Help:Images and other uploaded files: PNG, JPEG, GIF. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:07, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Garbo - German Actors
Is there any reason why Greta Garbo isn’t included in the list of German Actors (Category:German_actors)? Please note, this list includes both actors and actresses, so it is not a sex/gender thing.
 * Because she's not German by any means? If you read Greta Garbo's article, you'd know that she's Swedish. And please sign your posts. -- Wh ip it !  Now whip it good! 05:35, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * She has appeared in German films but German actors refers to the actors and not the films they make. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:50, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

File:New York Islanders logo (1995–97).svg
I'm experiencing an issue with an image. I just recently received a message on my talk page stating that the image (mentioned in subject title) is not being used on any articles. However, currently the New York Islanders page is using it (near bottom). I tried refreshing to no avail. Thanks in advance. 05:27, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * It now shows as used (maybe as a result of my doing a null edit on the article). —teb728 t c 05:54, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Someone keeps undoing my corrections
I am a new user and am trying to make important corrections and additions to the page about Kentucky author Gurney Norman. Someone keeps undoing my page and reposting the incorrect page. Why is this happening? The corrections are important. What can I do?Spudsparo (talk) 06:06, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Hello Spudsparo, I've left you a welcome message on your talk page. Some of those links may help you get an understanding on how wikipedia works.  What article are you asking someone to look at? - (I will try to look through history, and see if I can find an answer for you - and be back shortly) — Ched ~  (yes?) 06:19, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * You appear to be involved in a content dispute at Gurney Norman. It also appears that you are familiar with how to revert edits made by another editor. Not being familiar with the subject matter, I don't feel qualified to supply an opinion on the content.  It is good procedure to discuss the changes on the article talk page (may be marked discussion or talk on the tabs).  If you have questions, you could approach the editor who is also making changes here.  I will close with the note that when dealing with an article about a WP:BLP (biography of a living person) - content should be referenced by reliable resources.  If you are unable to resolve the issues on the talk pages, you can seek further assistance at: WP:DR — Ched ~  (yes?) 06:34, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Hi, Thanks so much for looking into this. The content I am supplying is (indisputably) correct, so I will try to communicate with Badagnani on the talk page as you suggest. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spudsparo (talk • contribs) 06:44, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * No problem, best of luck ;-) — Ched ~ (yes?) 06:57, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Answered on talk page. Neither of them appears to be providing references. _ Mgm|(talk) 09:05, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

An update from Spudsparo (talk) 20:41, 2 March 2009 (UTC): I have added references. Thanks to all for your help to a new userSpudsparo (talk) 20:41, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Easy template problem
The template I'm having problems with is Template:PhylomapA. It's pretty straightforward, but I can't figure out why the parameters aren't working. There's a demo at my sandbox. I'm sure it's something silly, but any help is appreciated! -ΖαππερΝαππερ BabelAlexandria 06:18, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * a relevant page is the ImageMap explanation at mediawiki. -ΖαππερΝαππερ BabelAlexandria 06:22, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Admins protecting their own userpages
Why do virtually ALL admins here fully protect their userpages? 89.242.183.73 (talk) 08:07, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure about the "ALL" part, but many of the admins are involved in reverting vandalism, and when it's persistent - they must block people to prevent further disruption to the site. Given their high rate of visibility to vandals, they are often subjected to having their pages vandalized.  That means instead of building a better wikipedia, they have to spend time fixing the vandalized page.  It's simply a matter of "Better to just lock the door" ... than to have to come in and clean up every 10 minutes. Why would you want to edit another users (admin or not) pages anyway?  all ... IMHO — Ched ~  (yes?) 08:24, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm an administrator and if I'm the target of a vandal I ask another administrator to temporarily protect my userpage. I rarely see admins protect their own userpage. - Mgm|(talk) 09:00, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * There really aren't a lot of good reasons to edit an experienced user's userpage. I have mine protected because it avoids this, this, this, this, this and many others, all retaliation for one admin task or another. Recentchanges patrollers and users who deal with ethnic dispute messes, fringe theories and other contentious areas have it worse. One user moved my userpage to User:IAMLAME (lol, he got me) and many other instances which are now unavailable from the page history since someone who was trying very hard to figure out who I am, did in fact do so, and I had to delete earlier versions of my userpage based on personal information posted. The protection also has the side effect of avoiding newish users posting to your userpage rather than your talk page by accident, which has happened to me a number of times.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:04, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * In the case of User:Curps, his user talk page is protected. Why on earth would he do that? 89.242.183.73 (talk) 19:25, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * He's taken a "very long term Wiki-vacation", and his talk page has suffered vandalism while he's been gone. He did not protect his page, Jéské Couriano did. Xenon54 (talk) 19:28, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry if it inconveniences vandals intent on placing libellous material on my talk page, but after wasting time undoing the repeated assaults of vengeful vandals, I protected my user page. If someone sees something on my user page which should be changes, they are welcome to call it to my attention on my talk page. Especially if one is on vacation, disturbing pictures or statements left on a user page by vandals might be assumed by others to actually represent the views of the editor whose page it is. Edison (talk) 19:34, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Degree symbol (superscript)
I'm trying to type map coordinates in a query ("new section") I want to post on the Ref Desk but can't find the degree symbol among the various copy/paste text edit options. What to do? -- Deborahjay (talk) 10:12, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * It's the eighth option under 'insert'. Algebraist 10:16, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Car Dealerships
What is the estimated cost for a dealer to buy a car from a manufacturer? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.6.250.199 (talk) 16:24, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Gonzonoir (talk) 16:34, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

releasing it to the web
I have wrote a bio on me but I can't seem to release it. Because some of my friends from Syracuse can't find it. How can I release it so it can be read in the web? Thanks Boca247 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Boca247 (talk • contribs) 16:36, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * The page you created is on your talk page, not the main article space. To put the article in the main space would require a page move. However, the article is not ready for the main space. I suggest you look at the biography guideline and conflict of interest information before proceeding. TN X Man  16:45, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Arnold M. Zack
I don't know what happened to my earlier request for help, but here I go again. I wrote the entry at the suggestion of several clients who thought I should be listed. I am not familiar with Wikipedia and apparently failed to adhere to your protocols. I can assure you the entries are all accurate and confirmable, even though the one commentator seemed to challenge my veracity. I don't really need the entry, my resume is readily available from a Google search and at age 77 I am no longer bent on building a resume. I dont have the knowledge, experience or interest to spend considerable time to fix the entry.If some one could do it, or tell me how to do so I would be most appreciative.Otherwise, just delete it.

Arnolsd M.Zack —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zackam (talk • contribs) 16:59, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * It is not the "veracity" that is at issue. The article Arnold M.Zack has several problems. First, you wrote it - per our conflict of interest guidelines users are strongly discouraged from writing articles about themselves because of the extreme difficulty in maintaining a neutral point of view; as a consequence, it reads like a curriculum vitae and not like an encyclopedic article, and is very promotional in tone and IMHO should be speedily deleted as such; there are no references to indicate that you are notable - a list of books and Harvard bio are not reliable sources as that term is defined on English Wikipedia. – ukexpat (talk) 19:31, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

How to prevent a vicious circle of account creation and blocking
As a mediator in conflict areas, I often encounter new users who start with some angry edits, but who, after some mediation, learn the ropes and turn into normal editors. Now a situation happened that seems inevitable; in hindsight I'm wondering why I haven't seen that happen before: User:X1 (name changed) got blocked for "trolling" (I don't know what actually caused it; I only see a couple of opinionated, but legitimate talk page contributions in the user contributions), and created user:X2. That got blocked again, ... and so on.

In all that time, I haven't seen any behavior of the socks that would be blockable in itself. So, whatever the user did initially to get them indef blocked, he/she learned to behave now. Blocks should not be punitive, but preventive, and there's nothing to prevent now anymore. All we got out of this is a confusing diffusion of user histories, a lot of admin time spent on researching and blocking, and a lot of nice user names which were rendered unusable in the process. How can we stop this vicious circle? &mdash; Sebastian 17:29, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * If a user doesn't commit the "crime" they received the initial block for, there is no reason for checkusers to investigate the user's IP history and if they create the same username with a different number appended on the end, they should disassociate themselves from the previously blocked account by choosing something entirely different so the link isn't made by username. If you don't know what the trolling was that got them blocked, ask the blocking admin. With a bit of luck they'll remember. - 87.211.75.45 (talk) 17:40, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Users who stop bad behavior don't get checkusered on their new accounts, and so never get blocked again. In fact, for some stuff (like username vios) we recommend abandoning the old account and starting a new one.  Secondly, the creation of "sockfarms" (not just one new account, but often hundreds) is of itself disruptive, especially where those farms are being used as "good hand/Bad hand" accounts, i.e. maintaining some "vandal" accounts and some "good" accounts".  Such behavior is intolerable, and such blocks are applied to the person, and not to the account.  Finally, in order to be unblocked, a user needs to convincingly let us know that he does not intend to perpetrate the violation.  With a user who is creating a rediculous number of sockpuppet accounts to dodge a block, they need to convince administrators that they have no intention of creating more socks to dodge the block.  This only can take time, you can't show up a few hours after your last fresh sock block and apologize, you need to PROVE that you intend to abide by the rules.  And it does happen.  I have personally shepherded back into the fold 3-4 recidivist sockpuppeteers when they agreed to abide by the "one person one account" idea.  These people do get unblocked, but not when they keep doing the violation they were blocked for in the first place! --Jayron32. talk . contribs  18:04, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you, that's very good advice! I'll post a note on the user talk page. &mdash; Sebastian 18:10, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Uploading new image
I'll preface this by stating that I haven't done much editing of Wikipedia. But I did create an SVG version of File:EffectOfTariff.png but I don't think I have the rights to change it, or have somehow completely overlooked how to. How can I replace that old png with a snazzy new svg? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gandhizero (talk • contribs) 19:23, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Your account must be autoconfirmed (at least 4 days old and 10 edits) before you can upload files. – ukexpat (talk) 20:41, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Gubernatorial elections?
There are a lot of pages about United States governors that include the word "gubernatorial." This is originally a word to describe Arnold Schwarzenegger's governorship, but it's not a real word, and definitely shouldn't be on all of the US governor election pages. Any ideas for what might be going on or how it could be fixed?

Examples: Kansas gubernatorial election, 2006, Virginia gubernatorial election, 2005, Governor of Wisconsin, New York gubernatorial elections.

I'm concerned that if I'm not just hallucinating, this is incredibly widespread and will probably require sysop involvement. Thanks for the help. AnEmptyCageGirl (talk) 19:33, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * "gubernatorial" has 358,000 Google News hits for all dates, including 185,000 before 2000, and 10,800 before 1900. I don't know where you have your information from but it looks like a real word to me. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:47, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Oh, weird. Okay, then. I'd always heard of it as a slang term, so I guess it never occurred to me that it could actually have a history. I still think it's a horrible abuse of the language (like "yoghurt," ugh) but if it's real then I'm happy with that. Thank you! AnEmptyCageGirl (talk) 20:15, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * You may also want to see Wiktionary entry. TN X Man  20:17, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Briefly, gubernator is the original Latin word (originally meaning "helmsman") that has been anglicised into "governor". However, the adjectival form "gubernatorial" still retains the original Latin root. All this is probably to be found in the links posted above, but I am a Latin nerd... – ukexpat (talk) 20:33, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * On "yoghurt": see also yoghurt and yoghurt. —teb728 t c 20:39, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * (outdent) Yep, gubernatorial is a real word. On the other hand, if you start seeing governator in real articles, then you can start worrying :) r ʨ anaɢ talk/contribs 09:43, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not American and did'nt know "governator" but it's mentioned in Arnold Schwarzenegger and maybe what AnEmptyCageGirl was thinking about. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:18, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Missing footnote links
While reading a recent "on this day..." article about Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game, I noticed that several of the footnote links in the main Wilt Chamberlain article produced a link to "ESPN File not found". Specifically footnotes 3, 7 and 14. Should these footnotes be corrected or deleted? How are old footnotes handled within Wikipedia? Pardon me if this is covered in a FAQ but I could not find an answer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Salazar45 (talk • contribs) 19:52, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Please see Dead external links and the template Uw-deadlink which I created upon request to advise users not to simply delete dead external links. Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk)!
 * After some searching I found that all 3 links work if "static." is inserted before espn.go.com. For example, http://espn.go.com/nba/news/1999/1012/110905.html can be replaced with http://static.espn.go.com/nba/news/1999/1012/110905.html. But ESPN doesn't give that information. What the hell were they thinking when they broke a huge amount of links and made a useless message to look at the site map? At least it was useless to me. I went to the Internet Archive to check that the url once worked and then used the archived headline in a site search with Google on espn.go.com. I don't know how many Wikipedia articles this affects but based on a brief look at it could be hundreds. If nobody else volunteers then I will look into this issue later today when I have more time. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:41, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * If you need a hand, just drop me a line and we can split up tasks so we don't edit conflict.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:25, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Many ESPN links still work. Maybe a bot could assist in sorting it out. I'm not going to edit for at least 2 hours if you want to look at it before that. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:40, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * In my personal experience, I've noticed that links that begin with "sports.espn.go.com" are fine, but the older "espn.go.com" links were removed a few months ago. Of course, I have no way of knowing if that's universally true, but it's one possibility. Didn't know that adding "static" to the old links makes them work again; that's a useful tip.  Giants2008  ( 17-14 ) 00:27, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I have posted to Bot requests/Archive 25. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:36, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Canadian & American Government Parties.
I am a Canadian and my question. In Canada, The colour for Liberals is Red. The colour for Conservatives is Blue. What colour is the Demograts? What colour is the Rebublicans? My email address is Thanks Gordon E Mayhue, Truro, Nova Scotia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.137.86.220 (talk) 20:11, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * In the U.S. we generally associate blue with democrats and red with republicans. However, this is not any type official party line or color. It actually is a rather recent development (from 2000 I believe) resulting from the colors used on television during the past three elections to demarcate states or regions that have a majority for one party or the other. See Red states and blue states and Political colour. Note that in the U.S. Democrats are associated with a donkey symbol, while Republicans are associated with the elephant.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:35, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * (e/c)In the US the colors are not official, but the Republicans are red and the Democrats blue, which is contrary to most other places where red is usually the colour of left-of-centre parties (like the British Labour Party) and blue for the right-of-centre (British Conservative Party). – ukexpat (talk) 20:39, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I thought the association was fixed in the late 1990s. But Fuhget is correct that this is a fairly recent development: I remember reading that when the television networks broadcast the 1976 US election results, at the time the Democrats were red, & the Republicans were blue. And in response to Ukexpat, I for one enjoy the irony of seeing the Republican Party associated with the same color that invokes the evuhl spectre of Communism. (Let's all say it together now: Newt Gringrich is a cowardly Red!) -- llywrch (talk) 21:45, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I will note, however, that most American socialist, syndicalist, social-democratic and communist organizations still use the color red with all its historical associations. -- Orange Mike  &#x007C;   Talk  22:07, 3 March 2009 (UTC)


 * It's media thing, and therefore inaccurate. All right and center-right parties of the world have blue as their color (whether official or not), while their left-wing counterparts are red. Here is the opposite, and quite frankly it irritates me, as a Republican, to be associated with the color of socialism/communism. It's horrible! --96.232.58.180 (talk) 01:22, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

book references
what is the correct way to reference a book?. LOC permalink ok googlebooks html etc —Preceding unsigned comment added by Varnesavant (talk • contribs) 21:08, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Do WP:CS and Cite book help? – ukexpat (talk) 21:14, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Image gallery
Is there a tool (like all the edit counters) that allow you to see all the images you uploaded? Like the one on Wikimedia Commons. This tool is no longer working (for me at least). --Ted87 (talk) 22:21, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * On your contribs list, there's a pulldown menu for "namespace". Change this to the "File" namespace.  That should show every edit and/or contribution you have made to any image files.  --Jayron32. talk . contribs  22:30, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * (e/c) For a gallery of all uploaded media files, go to your contributions, then go to the very bottom of the page and click on "Files uploaded". Cheers.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:31, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank you and thank you. --Ted87 (talk) 22:34, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Question about a speedy delete
User:Citizenmeyer created Kevin meyer, with content identical to the IMDB page on this person. So three potential issues: copyvio, COI, and probably not notable anyway. I've done a speedy for copyvio, but is that correct? I'd be grateful if someone would have a quick look. I'm wondering whether IMDB is copyright, for example, and should I have mentioned the COI? Itsmejudith (talk) 23:45, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * If it's a word-for-word copy, then a copyvio tag is appropriate. The COI tag is also OK because if someone cleans up the article (thus nullifying the copyvio tag), then the COI tag would need to be there. TN X Man  23:51, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your help. Itsmejudith (talk) 20:36, 3 March 2009 (UTC)