Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 October 8

= October 8 =

questions about creating new article
I want to create a new article an automotive accessories company and it is based on Walnut, California. I am not very sure about the notability and reliable sources. What do I need in order for my article not to be delete? —Preceding unsigned comment added by K2motor (talk • contribs) 00:08, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * I think two of the best places to look for answers on that subject would be at WP:NOTE or WP:CITE. - Regards, Gaelen S.Talk • Contribs 00:14, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Deletion of picture
i am trying to delete my picture lifted ranger.jpg, it was a mistaken upload —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeepcomanche1 (talk • contribs) 00:11, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I assume you mean File:Lifted Ford Ranger.jpg. Are you wanting to delete the picture entirely? If so, you can add db-self to the image description page to request deletion. This request is not guaranteed to be granted, but as the image is not in use, and the request is made in good faith, I see no reason to decline it.
 * If, on the other hand, you are wanting to return the picture to the version with the truck, you can click the revert link in the file history.  Doktor Mandrake  00:19, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Starting a numbered list at something other than 1
I want do do something like this:


 * ==section heading one==
 * This is the first section. It has two items, numbered 1-2.
 * # first item
 * # second item
 * ==section heading two==
 * This is the second section. It has three items, numbered 3-5.
 * # third item
 * # fourth item
 * # fifth item

How do I do this? #'s don't work, they produce numbers 1 and 2 then 1, 2, and 3. davidwr/ (talk)/(contribs)/(e-mail)  02:23, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Why not just manually type the numbers? You can indent with colons. So:
 * ==section heading one==
 * 1. first item
 * 2. second item
 * ==section heading two==
 * 3. third item
 * 4. fourth item
 * 5. fifth item--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:46, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * I would recommend the same thing. The only alternative I could think of would be to use HTML, but this would make editing more difficult for those not familiar with  tags and the like, so it is probably best avoided.  Doktor  Mandrake  02:52, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Help:List has HTML examples if you do want to go that route. ---—  Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 03:15, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * third item is exactly what I need. Thanks. davidwr/  (talk)/(contribs)/(e-mail)  17:29, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

When to use "et al" in a list of authors of a citation
Is there some guideline for when to use et al in an author list of a citation? In other words, after how many authors should it be used? Thanks. --Bob K31416 (talk) 02:48, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Although there is no consensus on using one particular style, APA style is considered to be widely accepted. From the APA Style article:
 * "With three to five authors, the first reference to an article includes all authors. Subsequent citations in the same document may refer to the article by the principal author only plus 'et al.' However, all authors must be present in the references section. (Emphasis added)"
 * Similar guidelines are given for six or more authors.
 * Regards,  Doktor Mandrake  03:00, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually, no. As you're probably aware, the citation guideline points to a number of popular citation methods as being appropriate for use on Wikipedia. Depending on which you chose, you can take a variety of positions. In the APA style, for example, all authors must always be listed in the references section, with et al. only being allowed in in-line citations. In the MLA style, on the other hand, you can chose to omit all names but that of the first author for articles with more than three authors, or you may include all authors. What is consistent (as far as I'm aware) is that if you are going to use et al., you only name the first author. Someguy1221 (talk) 03:01, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * and the author's name or first entry (title if no author) is alphabetically sorted by the last names. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 04:38, 8 October 2009 (UTC).

When using citation templates, all authors should be entered so that the metadata is preserved. You can limit the number of authors displayed with citation by using display-authors. This is undocumented, but workd with cite book as well.


 * I have a supplementary to that: what if there are ten authors? The cite journal and related templates only provide for nine. In such cases, is the following permissible?
 * |last7=Green |first7=G.G. |last8=Henry |first8=H.H. |author9=Ink, I.I.; James, J.J.
 * --Redrose64 (talk) 10:05, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Good question. I suggest asking at Wikipedia talk:Citing sources. The citation/core meta-template could easily be expanded if this is an issue. ---—  Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 10:27, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Have raised q at Wikipedia talk:Citing sources --Redrose64 (talk) 12:41, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Want to Place a BIO for a professional athlete/trainer by his request
I have a professional MMA trainer that has asked for some assistance in creating a BIO page for him. He is mentioned in many other MMA pages & his name should have links to his own BIO page I'm sure but nothing has been created for him. How do I go about doing this and who approves, etc. the info? What do I use to upload the info (MS Word style or other more intricate html programs?)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hockeygal4ever (talk) 07:26, 8 October 2009 (UTC) Beverly aka hockeygal4ever


 * Articles are written in Wikitext (AKA, Wiki Markup), so text copied from Word or a HTML editor would not show as you intend. I recommend reading WP:How to edit a page and WP:Your first article before proceeding.  Also, check our notability guidelines for biographies, particularly those for athletes, to see if it is appropriate to create an article about this person.
 * Note that all articles, but particularly biographies of living people, need to be neutral, and reliably sourced. Finally, as you are doing this at the request of the subject, you should also be aware of our guidelines for editing with a conflict of interest.
 * I apologise for throwing a lot at you, but if you would like to discuss this further, feel free to leave a note on my talk page, or join the Help Chat by following the link at the top of this page. Regards,  Doktor Mandrake  07:39, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, first of all, you need to read the General Notability Guidelines and Notability Guidelines for Athletes. Assuming that he meets the criteria for notability, can you find reliable sources of information about him: "Wikipedia articles should rely primarily on reliable, third-party, published sources" (quoted from Wikipedia's Guidelines on reliable sources). Please note that a very common mistake is to copy text from a website - as a general rule, this is not allowed (very few websites have a copyright license compatible with this) - if a page is a copy from a website, it'll usually be deleted very quickly!


 * Assuming that this all shows that an article needs to be created, please follow the advice below. No one specifically approves articles - but if it fails to meet the criteria, any editor can propose for it to be deleted (see Wikipedia's Deletion policy, which gives reasons for deletions, how to avoid deletions and processes for deletion).


 * [[Image:Symbol move vote.svg|20px]] Please see Your first article. If you'd like help going through the steps below, try the Article Wizard.


 * 1) Ensure that you have an account and you are logged in. If you don't have an account, create one
 * 2) Make sure the subject is notable enough to have their own article
 * 3) Find references
 * 4) Make sure no article on the subject exists under a different title by typing the subject into the search box to the left (←) and clicking 'Search'
 * 5) Type the page name in the search box to the left (←) and click 'Go'
 * 6) Click 'Create this page'
 * 7) Create the article, including all your references, making sure you adhere to the Manual of Style and our article layout guidelines
 * 8) Be aware that Wikipedia deletes thousands of new articles for failing to adhere to our policies and guidelines. New articles by new users are at extra risk of deletion, due to new users' unfamiliarity with our rules. Consider gaining experience by editing existing articles before attempting to create new ones.


 * If you have any other questions, either leave a message here or contact me. Regards, --  Phantom Steve  ( Contact Me,  My Contribs ) 07:48, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Editing Page Title
The name of the article I created is a proper noun, however upon creation I forgot to capitalize the second word in the name. How do I capitalize the second word in the article title? I have seen "magic words" that allow for lowering the case of a word, but none for capitalization. Also, the tag is not working for me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vosotros (talk • contribs) 08:29, 8 October 2009
 * You can move the page; see WP:Move. —teb728 t c 08:40, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I have moved the page. I'm not sure why isn't working - perhaps it's disabled for the English Wikipedia? --  Phantom Steve  ( Contact Me,  My Contribs ) 08:51, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * See WP:DISPLAYTITLE. It's only intended for changes which cannot be made by simply moving the page. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:06, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Redirect importance
What determines the importance of "NY" redirecting to "New York" and not NY (disambiguation)?--Mikespedia (talk) 10:35, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * From a quick look, the chances are very high that anyone typing for "NY" is looking for the American state with that two-letter abbreviation, rather than the alternatives at NY (disambiguation), such as North Yorkshire or the IATA code for Air Iceland. Even I, as a Brit, know the two-letter abbreviation for the state, whereas I'd never use "NY" for North Yorkshire ("N Yorks" perhaps). BencherliteTalk 10:41, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * See WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:44, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

CAN I COPY?
HY,,,

I AM CONFUSED AT ONE QUESTION OF MY MIND THAT CAN I COPY ANY ARTICLE/CONTENTS FROM WIKIPEDIA AND PASTE TO ANY OF MY SITE OR BLOG? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dsinfotek (talk • contribs) 12:17, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * First of all, please refrain from using all caps - at best it is merely hard to read, and at worst can be considered 'shouting' and therefore rude. To answer your question, yes you can reuse the content, provided you abide by the terms of the license - that is, attribute the source appropriately, and allow your text, including any modifications, to be reused under the same terms.  Full details can be found at Reusing Wikipedia content.  Regards,  Doktor  Mandrake  12:21, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Help
where can i find the list of school, college, university, library & research center with address? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.50.26.10 (talk) 13:07, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Without knowing your location, it is hard to say! As a general rule, articles about mose larger towns and cities have a section about educational establishments in the place - or the article about the county/state may have something suitable. However, this is the Help Desk, which specialises in answering questions about how to use Wikipedia, not to answer knowledge questions:
 * [[Image:Symbol move vote.svg|20px]] This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the 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. You could always try  for an article related to the topic you want to know more about.  I hope this helps. --  Phantom Steve  ( Contact Me,  My Contribs ) 15:05, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Special page editing
How do you go about getting a special page edited? It would be very nice to have a reminder on Special:Newpages for editors that "all articles that you have looked at should be marked patrolled, whether you marked them for deletion or deemed them acceptable, unless you are not sure" (like it says on Template:uw-patrolled). I keep going to look at a seemingly unpatrolled article, only to find that another editor has already tagged it for deletion, and it would be convinent to not "duplicate efforts". Ks0stm (T•C•G) 16:07, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * You don't edit pages in the Special namespace, as they are built by the MediaWiki software. The messages are in the MediaWiki namespace, in this case at MediaWiki:Newpages-summary; discuss your changes on the talk page. If you don't get an answer soon, try at the Village Pump.


 * To find messages like this, go to Special:AllMessages, set Show all items per page, Go and wait a bit. You can then search the page for parts of the message text. Bits may be in wikimarkup or HTML, so you might have to try a few searches. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 16:21, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Closing a deletion review
The deletion review for Felicia Tang is still up even though it's no longer necessary. I asked for it to be closed, but no is responding! How do I end it?SPNic (talk) 19:14, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * I cannot find such a DRV request. Can you provide a link please? Regards  So Why  19:27, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * There wasn't a DRV. It was an AfD with a keep result - Articles_for_deletion/Felicia_Tang_(2nd_nomination). The AfD notice has been removed from the article, and a note placed on the talk page giving the result, the AfD has been closed (as of 07:32 this morning or something like that). I'm not sure what SPNic is talking about, as I couldn't find a DRV and one isn't necessary. --  Phantom Steve  ( Contact Me, My Contribs ) 19:33, 8 October 2009 (UTC)


 * It's at the very bottom of Deletion today under Deletion review.SPNic (talk) 20:03, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm really not sure what you were trying to accomplish. I've gone ahead and removed it. The Articles for deletion discussion was closed as keep. (I think you were trying to get the AfD closed as speedy keep, but I really can't tell). Deletion today isn't a page to edit anyway; the most recent discussions that are created at the proper pages are transcluded onto there. Xenon54 / talk / 20:18, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

wikiadud
How do I create an article? * Go ahead and try—If you do decide to write an article immediately, please read our policy on conflicts of interest, then read our guide to writing your first article, which will repeat some of the good advice above. Then please use the Article wizard, which will help you through the steps. I urge you to accept the option to save your first draft in your user subpage, which will reduce the chance your work will be deleted before it is ready.
 * Writing an article for Wikipedia is harder than many people realize. Over 99% of all articles submitted by someone with no other editing experience in Wikipedia are deleted. Even professional writers find that the format and style needed for a good encyclopedia article are different than what might be appropriate for other venues. You could:
 * Get someone else to do it—If your only goal is to make sure that an article is added to Wikipedia, you can request that someone write an article on the subject.
 * Start by editing other articles—If you are interested in becoming an editor at Wikipedia, our experience demonstrates that it is better to start by improving existing articles, which will help you get a sense of how this place works, and then writing your first article from scratch. A good place to visit is the Wikipedia backlog, where there are literally hundreds of thousands of articles needing help from editors. Find an article in a subject area you know, and add a source, or a reference, or simply help write it better.

-- SPhilbrick  T  23:35, 8 October 2009 (UTC)