Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2009 September 21

= September 21 =

Can't upload an image
I'm trying to upload a new version of File:Pac10-Uniform-UO.PNG and I keep getting some message about there already being a file by that name on Wikimedia Commons.

It says the following:

Upload warning

A file with this name exists at the Wikimedia Commons. You can:

* go back and upload this file to Wikipedia using a different name. * upload it to Commons, if your intent is to replace the image that already exists with a better version. File:$1 $1

The problem is that there's no file by that name on Wikimedia Commons.

Any help would be appreciated. --Kevin W. 22:35, 20 September 2009 (UTC)


 * The recent software update broke it. Reported as ; hopefully it will be fixed soon. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 22:49, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks. --Kevin W. 22:52, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

how to fix a missing link
Under the list of books he's written on the Wikipedia page about "IRVING WALLACE" is a hyperlinked book title "THE SEVEN MINUTES". When you click it, it says there is no such page and invites you to create one. But there IS a page for that book ... I don't know how to install the broken link. Thanks for any help.
 * Fixed. --Kevin W. 23:13, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

How to place several sources under one note so that article doesn't look cluttered?
The article about Pinochet has about 7 sources in the lead to reference a single line, which makes it look very cluttered.

How can we place several sources under one?

I saw it somewhere. But I can't remember what page it was.

In advance, thanks for your time and help. Likeminas (talk) 00:57, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure it is possible to do what you are asking. I know it's possible to reference one source multiple times, but not multiple sources all at once. Xenon54 / talk / 01:35, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * You can't. There are nine cites for an eight word phrase. Surely some of these could be used elsewhere or not at all. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 01:45, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm testing an option, looks promising, will report after a RL meeting interruption ends-- SPhilbrick  T  12:22, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Well technically you could do something like, thus placing all the references into one superscripted citation number but it wouldn't allow pretty formatting in the references section, would disallow naming and using any of those references again except by separate entries, and would be deceptive in that no one would know multiple references had been used until they looked at the references section.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:45, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Here's an example I just worked with the first paragraph of the Pinochet article. The word "fascist" had eight references. I used the new citation style as documented in wp:LDR, and separated each of the references by a line feed. (I also converted the website references to the proper citation style, although I don't know whether the publisher of Google Books references should be Google Book or the publisher of the book).

It isn't beautiful, but it removes the ugliness from the main text, and makes it reasonably clear that the citation is made up of multiple references.

I also added bullet points—does that add or detract?-- SPhilbrick  T  13:04, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Just in case someone stumbles across this when reviewing archives, the link to my sandbox will probably not still have the example. After discussing with the editor, the approach was implemented in Augusto Pinochet, see the footnote after "fascist" in the opening sentence. In case that article gets changed, here's a link to how it looked after first implementing. To Fuhghettaboutit, I hadn't considered that it might be deceptive, but I don't consider that a major concern. I doubt many people will see a claim referenced, and decide to dismiss it, without looking, on the basis that there's only ONE reference.-- SPhilbrick  T  13:56, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Question
How do i find some Open tasks that need to be done in the maintenance department, I want to Split articles, Update articles, Cleanup articles and so on.--Michael (talk) 01:21, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Maintenance details various stuff that needs doing. Algebraist 01:30, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your help. --Michael (talk) 07:33, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank-you  -- SPhilbrick  T  17:10, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Automatic update
Is it possible for me to set a bot (preferably a pre-existing bot) to automatically purge a page's cache at certain intervals?  Intelligent  sium  01:52, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * It's not possible for a bot running on Wikipedia to do that. (Perhaps there is a local program or a script you can use.) Purging is a completely local procedure. It forces the browser to download the latest copy of a page, because its cached (i.e. stored on your hard drive) copy of the page has become out-of-date. Xenon54 / talk / 01:58, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Intelligentsium is referring to Purge and not Bypass your cache. I don't know the answer but you can try asking at Bot requests. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:10, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * There is a program called "CCleaner" or even a commerical one like "Window Washer". Both these programs can clean up the cache. South Bay (talk) 03:34, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Those programs are unrelated to Purge which is what Intelligentsium wants. The page User:Intelligentsium shows the time of day but it becomes obsolete if the page is not purged regularly. The page has a purge link but somebody has to click it. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:10, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

I need Help But not exactly about wikipedia
I run Currently A wiki, Well im in charge of Reviving it,However like 4 days ago i recieve massive vandalism. Im not an administrator in the wiki And the one and only that is an administrator have abandoned the wiki 2 years ago. what can i do?

User:Envidia
 * Depending on how the Wiki is set up, you should be able to edit the vandalism out. However, if you are not an admin and the admin cannot be contacted then there is nothing else that can be done, as you cannot be made an admin except by another admin. --  Phantom Steve  ( Contact Me, My Contribs ) 06:38, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Who put you in charge of the wiki? --Teratornis (talk) 09:39, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
 * What part of Steve's answer do you consider unreasonable or illogical? →Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 09:45, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Em.. I think they mean that to the original poster - as in "who left you in charge of the wiki we are discussing and where are they and why can't they help you?" --Cameron Scott (talk) 09:48, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
 * The indention had me confused. I better go catch a nap. →Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 09:50, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Manupatra account on wikipedia
I am owner of Manupatra Information Solution Pvt. Ltd, and http://manupatrainternational.in, http://manupatra.com are my website.

I want to add my company information on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manupatra, but I am getting copyright violation issue.

Please do needful for adding information to manupatra account on wikipedia.

Regards Manupatra —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.160.177.194 (talk • contribs) 05:16, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * If the company is notable, then you can request an article to be created. As you are the owner of the company, there is a definitely conflict of interest and it would be hard for you to write an article using a Neutral Point of View. Please note that unless we have specific permission to use information from your website on Wikipedia, we can't use it. For information on using text from your website on Wikipedia, see WP:IOWN. --  Phantom Steve  ( Contact Me, My Contribs ) 06:42, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Even specific permission to use content from your website on Wikipedia is not enough. Wikipedia does not accept permission for use only on Wikipedia because Wikipedia content itself is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; so contributions must be licensed under a compatilble license—one that allows reuse by anyone for anything. Beside that, probably your content would read like an advertisment, which would be unacceptable no matter what permission. —teb728 t c 07:20, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * See FAQ/Organizations for a lot more info. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 11:49, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Is there a way to check the content of a page before it was deleted?
Out of curiosity, I decided to look up my own name on Wikipedia (I am not a famous person or anything of that sort, and I don't think there's anyone famous with the same name.) To my surprise, there used to be an article, but it was deleted half a year ago after a request from the creator. So I'm rather curious now as to what its content was. Though it will probably turn out to be about someone else, or nothing in general. But if it's possible, I would like to know how I could see it.

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Seleucus (talk • contribs)


 * Only an administrator may view the content of deleted articles. You would need to let us know the name of the article so an admin could look into it.  However, since identifying the article in question would cause you to reveal your real name, I would counsel against this.  It is likely that the article was about another, unrelated person anyways.  -- Jayron  32  06:23, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * There's another option. Make a few thousand more edits, keep your block log clean, become familiar with the various policies and guidelines, then submit your name to become an administrator. That way you could look at the entry without revealing your name. We all win! (OK, partially kidding.)-- SPhilbrick  T  12:06, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Citing References
What do I do if I want say that I watched the episode on TV and I want to say where I saw it?--Mikespedia (talk) 09:23, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * It depends. Sometimes Cite news would be appropriate, sometimes Cite interview. What kind of show was it?--Unionhawk Talk E-mail Review 11:47, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * You probably want Cite episode. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 11:48, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Can we upload PDF file on Wikipedia?
Dear Wiki,

Can we upload PDF file on Wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bidarmenthe (talk • contribs) 09:29, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't think so. By the way, this site is called Wikipedia, not wiki. A wiki is any website using wiki software; there are thousands of them.--Unionhawk Talk E-mail Review 11:44, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * It's possible to upload PDF files but it's inappropriate in many situations. See Creation and usage of media files. Encyclopedia articles cannot be in pdf format. What do you want to upload? PrimeHunter (talk) 13:56, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Changing my account name
I would like to change my account name from Marcdraven to Marc Draven. Can you please tell me how to do this ?? Thank you Marc Draven


 * See Changing username. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 12:04, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Contact an author
I would like to know how to contact the author of a photo on Wikipedia Commons to get the licence to publish it in a printed book written by me for students. Thank you Msz67 (talk) 12:34, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * The author of the photograph will be listed on the picture's description page. If it is on Commons, however, you probably do not need to request permission, unless you wish to use it under terms not covered by the free license under which it is currently licensed.  Which picture is it? ∙  AJCham  (talk)  13:19, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

It is "Gypsum var. selenite from Andamooka Ranges - Lake Torrens area, South Australia" under the article "Gypsum". Thank you for your help. Msz67 (talk) 14:49, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * It is not called Wikipedia Commons. Images displayed at the English Wikipedia must either be uploaded to the English Wikipedia or to Wikimedia Commons. The former sometimes has stricter licences but the image you want is at the latter: commons:File:Gypsum var. selenite from Andamooka Ranges - Lake Torrens area, South Australia.jpg has license information. It was made by User:Noodle snacks who also mentions license information on the user page. The user is still active and can be contacted at User talk:Noodle snacks. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:08, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * As long as you abide by the terms of the licence (attribute the author and release the image under the same licence), you needn't contact User:Noodle snacks, as permission is already granted per CC-BY-SA 2.5. ∙  AJCham  (talk) 15:12, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Mexican Army.
Does the Mexican Army have a national march? if so is it Zacetacas by Genaro Codina. ?86.1.246.190 (talk) 13:11, 21 September 2009 (UTC)archie.g


 * This page is for help with using Wikipedia itself; for questions on specific subjects, you'll want to check our Reference Desk. I've copied your question there, to Reference desk/Humanities. Best, UltraExactZZ Claims~ Evidence 13:31, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Posting to discussion board
Is there away to post a sandbox to discussion board? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tlcookcarney (talk • contribs) 14:17 21 September 2009


 * The usual way to link is to put  User:Tlcookcarney/Create my own sandbox  on the place where you want the link - the result is a link to that page, in the form User:Tlcookcarney/Create my own sandbox. If you want to transclude the contents of one page onto another (within your userspace - don't try this in articles or elsewhere until you know what you're doing!), type    (note the different brackets) onto the receiving page. Does that help? BencherliteTalk 14:26, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Like to help?
To those who regularly monitor this space - someone created a template urging people to ask for feedback at the feedback page, which is a great idea, but that page isn't as closely watched as this one. Perhaps if this page is caught up, you could take a glance at WP:FEED? I see several requests without responses yet and I need to concentrate on RL this afternoon.-- SPhilbrick  T  17:18, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Archive searches
I've included an archive search feature on my talk page. But there aren't any hit when I search for something. Could someone look at the code at the bottom of the edit page to see if it's set up correctly. If it is set up correctly then could it be that the archives have only been on these pages since this afternoon and that the search results are based on visited pages? Dr Dec ( Talk )    17:42, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * I would say the fact that the pages have only been there for a few hours means they are not yet indexed - check again in a few days and if the search still does not function correctly, then there may be another problem. As far as I can tell the code appears correct. ∙  AJCham  (talk)  18:30, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Great, thanks for the reply. One question though: what exactly does it mean for a page to be indexed, and what does that entail?  Dr Dec  ( Talk )    19:07, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Indexing a page for search means that a database used by the search engine is updated about contents of the page. For example, for each word in the database there may be a list of all indexed pages containing that word. Such things are needed for large databases to avoid having to search through all text of all pages each time a user searches a word. See more at Index (search engine) (an encyclopedia article with many things not relevant for Wikipedia's internal search). Reindexing after each edit is not practical. Instead a lot of changes and new content is added to the index periodically. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:43, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks a lot  Dr Dec  ( Talk )    22:11, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

"Unjustify" tables wording
In "My Preferences" page under the "Appearance" → "Advanced Options", I chose to justify paragraphs, but there is a problem, it justified the wording in tables/wikitables as well. How can I unjustified it ? Is there any soluion ? Can someone provide me with some hints or codings ? Thanks. Arteyu ? Blame it on me !  19:28, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Page layout
I've just added a graphic to my page page using the template. But it seems to have put the image in the middle and then put everything below it. I want my table of contents and my user boxes to be level with the image. Any ideas? Dr Dec ( Talk )    22:15, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

 Intelligent  sium  23:47, 21 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Oh, I understand now. You were using the template. To have it level, just put the image under your userboxes, TOC, and whathaveyou.  Cheers --  Intelligent  sium  23:57, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Nice image. I think that was one of the first things I added to my iPhone.-- SPhilbrick  T  01:15, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

I've followed  Intelligent  sium  's advise and moved the picture box. But that has had the effect of moving the service medal and the user boxes up to be level with the animation. SEE HERE. The table of contents is still too low and the text is too. If the TOC and the text moved upwards then it'd all fit together nicely. Maybe there's another template that I could use? Dr Dec ( Talk )    12:16, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I believe technical restrictions prevent the TOC from normally being above a certain point. If you could do without the TOC, you could use, which is a magic word that would prevent a TOC from being created. This is the only way I can think of to move the text up whilst maintaining the level of the other images. If you choose to do this, you might want to align the image left, so as to allow the text to begin at the top of the page.  Intelligent  sium  00:16, 23 September 2009 (UTC)