Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 March 8

= March 8 =

Extension:VariablesExtension
Is the VariablesExtension available on en:wikipedia. If not how likely is it that it will be loaded in the near future. --DRoll (talk) 22:41, 7 March 2009 (UTC)
 * It is not currently installed. As to whether it might be, 7865 contains the relevant discussion. Algebraist 22:47, 7 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the info. Oh well. --DRoll (talk) 02:58, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

How do I fix this rectangle?
Please, how do I remove that long black rectangle off to the side?
 * I removed an empty table. - Erik Baas (talk) 01:28, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much. -- A talk / contribs 01:31, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Searching Watchlist Pages
Is there any way I can do a search limited to only those pages on my watchlist ?

For example, suppose I have 1,000 pages in my watchlist and I want to search for any of those containing the text string  . Can I do that ? Thanks. - Grogan deYobbo (talk) 01:50, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * If anybody knows how to do this, I will give that user a barnstar. See WP:EIW for the most complete list of links related to searching Wikipedia that I know of. Restricting search to pages on your watchlist would probably pose a special challenge for the third-party search tools, since I would not expect other sites to have access to your watchlist. However, it is possible with Google Custom search to specify a list of URLs to search, but this would require you to manually transcribe the list of pages on your watchlist into whatever input format Google Custom accepts. Figuring out how to do that could burn up ridiculous amounts of time, but in the long run it might be useful to have mastered the technique. In the case of the specific example you mention, searching for coord missing, I don't understand why you would want to restrict the search to pages on your watchlist. You could just as readily work through the backlog of pages under Category:Articles missing geocoordinate data by country, putting in the coordinates for as many as you like. If an article needs coordinates, how does it matter whether the article is on your watchlist? Fixing a problem in one article is as good as fixing the same type of problem in another. Wikipedia needs more people who will just fix problems, rather than spend time hunting for some particular problem to fix. In the time it takes to figure out how to search for certain types of articles that are missing coordinates, you could probably add coordinates to a dozen articles that don't require any searching to find. Imagine going to a starving country with a truckload of food, and driving around endlessly looking for certain people to save. It would be better to just feed the first starving mob you find. Wikipedia is like that, a world filled with crying needs everywhere we look. --Teratornis (talk) 04:06, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, thanks. Apologies if my question has touched a nerve - I assure you it was quite innocent.  I will check out the resources on the link you gave and report back if I find an answer. - Grogan deYobbo (talk) 05:43, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Considered myself as vandalizer- OOPS
I previously used twinkle to revert some vandalism on Harriet Tubman, but I made a goof and reverted my earlier revision and used the vandal button. Everything is fixed now, however, is it a big deal that I used the vandal button? Does this stay in my record (OH PLEASE SAY NO!)?  Zoo Fari  03:05, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I can't see why, you realized your mistake and fixed it. All admins have done this at some time (if they don't admit it they are lying). Sometimes the best way to learn is by making an error.--Platnuimblonde (talk) 03:10, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Don't worry about it. I've had to revert myself (using the normal rollback button, omg!) a few times. It's one of those "oops, messed up" moments, but you fixed it, so there's nothing to worry about. Cheers, Hermione1980 03:17, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * It does stay in your edit history and is visible to anyone, but it's not a big deal; it's just a mistake and nobody's going to hold it against you. You reverted youe own edit, just imagine how embarrassing it is to revert someone else's edit by mistake (something that happens very often to vandal fighters) :D  C h a m a l  talk 03:31, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Mistakes happen. I once accidentally unscheduled a featured article of the day, "identified as vandalism", for a few seconds. Some admins have accidentally blocked themselves. — TKD:: {talk}  04:53, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * It can always be worse. You could always delete the Main Page. TN X Man  05:02, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * That's not the worst to have been deleted. Deleting the Sandbox shut down Wikipedia. The Destroyer of the Wiki Barnstar was created for the occasion.. Here is another editor saying OOPS: . PrimeHunter (talk) 14:02, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

BOOK / OLD / RARE
PLEASE HELP ME WITH MY BOOK.. I HAVE A BOOK WITH THE MAP OF AFRICA ON FRONT AND ALSO THERE TRIBEL IMAGE'S ON FOUR CORNER'S ON FRONT OF BOOK .. IT'S LEATHER OR RAWHIDE ONE ?? WE HAVE PIC'S. I SHOWE'D MY BOOK TO A BLACK BISHOP HE WAS VERY INTERESTED .. TOLD ME TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE BOOK THAT HE HAD NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT IN HIS LIFE.. I LIVE IN LENOIR NC 28645.. AND I NEED HELP WITH THIS BOOK.HOW DO WE SEND PIC'S SO U MAY SEE?? Honeytcb (talk)
 * Was the book written by Wikipedia? Sorry, but this is not the location to ask these questions. Perhaps you should contact the publisher (which I'm pretty sure it is no Wiki)  Zoo Fari  04:37, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Did you read our Book collecting article? You can try asking on the Reference desk, but first please try to formulate a specific question. You want to "FIND OUT ABOUT THE BOOK", but you did not specify what you want to find out. For example, do you want to find out who wrote it? When they wrote it? Who printed it? Who may have owned the book before you? What the book means? Whether the book might be worth something? What the book says? The last question is easy to answer - just read the book. If you have pictures of the book, you could possibly upload them to a consumer-grade photo sharing site such as Flickr. I do not recommend that you try to upload pictures to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons, because you are months of serious study away from being able to do that. Probably your best option would be to visit a book dealer, who could tell in one glance whether you have something, although only an honest dealer would tell you what he or she actually knows. An unscrupulous dealer might tell you the book is worthless, offer you a low price, and then flip it for millions of dollars. Of course the odds of that being a possibility are probably lower than the odds of being struck by an asteroid. --Teratornis (talk) 04:58, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Oops, I misread (hard to read capital letters with texting-style phrases). I had thought the question was about the book. I agree, if you are interested in sharing images, you can do what was specified above without uploading to commons. I encourage you to communicate with the book authorities, which will infinitely answer your questions.  Zoo Fari  06:16, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

cree language
what is the cree name for mother
 * [[Image:P literature.svg|20px]] This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Language 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 and ask away. You could always try  for an article related to the topic you want to know more about.  I hope this helps. X  clamation point  06:01, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Reading Wikipedia to a Blind person
An elderly friend is blind and does not use a computer. Is there any equipment or a service that can access Wikipedia and convert the text to speech? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.88.251.25 (talk) 07:05, 8 March 2009
 * There are some articles where a spoken word version is available. See Spoken articles for the list of articles that have a spoken version. Not all Wikipedia articles have this, though. Cheers.  C h a m a l  talk 07:09, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * See WP:EIW for example there is a WP:JAWS. --Teratornis (talk) 07:29, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Moving to Commons
Hi there, I was wondering if someone could move File:West island.png to the Commons, that I can use it for the de.Wikipedia. I have no idea how to do that properly. Thanks in advance and regards from Germany, Yellowcard (talk) 13:12, 8 March 2009
 * The easiest way is to use CommonsHelper. See this page for instructions. Xenon54 (talk) 13:22, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Hey, thank you, that's a handy tool! Yellowcard (talk) 14:57, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Cite Error
I am trying to create my first page - on the British sculptor George Halse. When I started on this I followed the instructions to create the references first so added one - Farningham, Elizabeth, George Halse Sculptor 1826-1895, Doncaster, 2002 ISBN 0954237919. I got an error message when I hit save but then thought I had dealt with the problem. So I then went on too enter the article with references embedded in the text using the wiki tools. However when I tried to save the page I again got the error message and my article text seems to be lost. Can you tell me what I am doing wrong? And how I can modify the page so that I can put up the article? The message below is what I am currently seeing on the George Halse page: Cite error: tag, you need an additional template to display the reference. I've added a to help with that. However, there doesn't appear to be any other content listed and another editor has requested the article be deleted. If you want to start adding content, I'll be happy to help you with any questions. TN X Man 14:54, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Many thanks Tnxman307 for the speedy response and explanation, I'll see if I can now add the fuller text and get back if I need more assistance. Gunxgirl


 * (edit conflict) The error message was displayed because the page had no tag or . See for example Referencing for beginners. References should be sources for the article text and an article must not consist solely of a reference. If you are unable to save the page with more text then maybe it is because you try to include external links without being autoconfirmed. You should become autoconfirmed after making one more edit. However, before becoming autoconfirmed you should be able to save external links after answering a CAPTCHA. By the way, you add an article to a category by editing the article and not the category, for example placing  at the bottom of George Halse to add it to Category:Old Paulines. You can read about this and more at Tutorial. You can also try out things in a personal sandbox like User:Gunxgirl/Sandbox. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:13, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for this additional info about my mistake. I will make a note of this for future reference. I have since been able to add the text I wanted to put in about George Halse - it needs further improvements and additional links. Many thanks all. Gunx girl


 * See Help:Cite errors. I'm going to start a discussion on the talk page there about making this message more useful. --—— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk  -  18:06, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * You can take notes on your user page: User:Gunxgirl or on a user subpage such as: User:Gunxgirl/Notes. Many experienced Wikipedia editors rely on their user pages to keep track of what they are doing, and to inform other editors. Please read Wikipedia: The Missing Manual - it explains most of what a new user needs to know about Wikipedia, and how to find out the rest. --Teratornis (talk) 18:25, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Could someone review my first article before I submit?
My very first article became a spam :) so it would be a big help, thnx, Balazs Csorjan dr.
 * It appears your article has already been deleted as advertising. The best place to start would be Wikipedia's policy on advertising and promotion. Basically, Wikipedia does not allow advertisements. All articles must be written from a neutral point of view and must be supported by independent reliable sources. TN X Man  15:13, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Tnx Tnxman, I did it and rewrite my article - but could somebody review it before action?
 * We can review your article, but it does not appear to be posted anywhere. The best idea is to post your article in a sandbox first, make improvements, and then move it to the mainspace. You can create your own sandbox by clicking on this link: User:Csorjan/Sandbox. It's a redlink at the moment, but as soon as you put some content there, it will be blue. Also, don't forget to sign your posts on talk pages by typing four tildes (~). TN X Man  15:53, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

That's it, many thanx! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Csorjan (talk • contribs) 18:28, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

wiki page
can i make a new wiki page
 * 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. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 17:13, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Additionally, you have to be autoconfirmed to create an article. Alternately, you can request the article to be created at Articles for Creation. Hermione1980 17:19, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually, creating articles does not require autoconfirmation. Once you've created an account, you can create articles right away. Autoconfirmation is required to move pages, upload images, and mark pages as patrolled. TN X Man  17:54, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Oops. My bad. Hermione1980 19:58, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm always mixing those up too. It's hard to keep track of the creeping erosion of our sacred principle #3. --Teratornis (talk) 03:23, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Watchlist limit
Hi. Why is it that, when I manually enter a time period limit in the 'days' parameter in my watchlist, I cannot go back more than 30 days? I do not want to use the other alternative, which is to view *all* of my watchlist, because that would comprise of more than 3,500 entries (including talk pages). Does anyone know a way around this barrier, or why it's in place? Thanks. ~ A H  1 (TCU) 18:32, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Clicking "all" on the watchlist only gives 30 days. See Help:Watching pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:54, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

save my image!
I uploaded an image:

File:Wikiert.jpg

and it says there is no copyright status and it will be deleted in a week if there is no copyright image tag added... How do I add it after I've uploaded it? Somebody respond quickly please... My image's days are numbered! Wikiert T S C 18:40, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Image policy isn't my thing, but I think everything will be fine if you just edit the image page to add the template GFDL-self. Deor (talk) 21:06, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Add the provided code above me.  Zoo Fari  23:12, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Documenting current state of research
I'm writing an article about virtual camera systems and I would like to incorporate to it the current state of research in that domain. I know that original research is not allowed, however the academic papers I will base myself on are well known and cover a period of about 10 years. I also think that this section will help understand what a camera system is and how it works. So are these kind of things allowed on Wikipedia? (just prefer to make sure before I start writing). Thanks. Laurent (talk) 19:50, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
 * If you are using peer-reviewed academic papers as reliable sources, then your article might not be original research. I say "might not be" because it is possible to synthesize multiple published sources into new conclusions which do not explicitly appear in any of the individual articles. It's impossible to answer your question because it is not specific enough. The only way we can tell what you mean by "these kinds of things" is to see your article, or enough of it to see where the rest is heading. We already have a rather poor-quality Virtual camera article. Is that what you have in mind? Read Wikipedia: The Missing Manual and especially Help:Wikipedia: The Missing Manual/Editing, Creating, and Maintaining Articles/Creating a New Article before starting a new article. Something like half of new articles get deleted, and the risk is inversely proportional to an author's knowledge of Wikipedia. --Teratornis (talk) 03:20, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your answer. This is the current draft of my article: User:Laurent1979/Sandbox/Virtual_camera_system. The section I'm wondering about is "Camera system implementations" because it's not based on existing videogame camera systems (since we know nothing about their implementation) but on academic papers. The aim is to explain how virtual camera systems work, as I don't think there's anything on the topic on Wikipedia. Laurent (talk) 20:24, 9 March 2009 (UTC)