Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 February 9

= February 9 =

Highly inappropriate language
Hi, I suggest you look up Bolter in Wikipedia. Dandg-os (talk) 01:05, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * ✅ Someone vandalized the article. I have reverted it back to the last good version.   GB fan  talk 01:08, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

How can I reclaim my account?
I have a wikipedia userid. I would like to know how to reclaim my account after not logging in for a long time, have forgotten my password, and have since changed ISPs so I now have a new email address and do not have access to the email that is associated with my wikipedia userid? I suppose i could establish another new account and attempt to usurp my own old userid but that method seems so pedestrian. Is there a clean way to regain access to my account/userid? Thanks in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.48.100.114 (talk) 01:42, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Without access to the old e-mail account you are scuppered. Your only option is a new account and then try usurpation. – ukexpat (talk) 01:47, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm afraid not; if you don't have your password, don't have your old email, and didn't have a WP:Committed identity, then there's no way we can verify that you used to have that old account. Assuming your account had a decent number of edits, I can't imagine they would let you usurp it, though I could be wrong about that part.
 * Best to just create a new name, and add notes on both talk pages "claiming" the old account. If no one ever disputes the claim, there will be a link, just not a technical one. And if the old account posts to dispute the link, then... you've got some 'splainin to do!
 * One other idea. Do you have any accounts with the same name on other Wikimedia projects that you still do control?  Or, does your account's user page link to an account offsite somewhere that you do control? (I only ask because then usurpation might be more likely; you still can't use that to get your account back) --Floquenbeam (talk) 01:53, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I'll give it a try.

Unified login
The unified login for my username has been successful on 60 or so non-English Wikipedias. I am now thinking of visiting them all and adding a message saying I don't understand their language and redirect people to my en.Wikipedia userpage. However, for six languages the same username seems to have been registered separately. Of the six, three (de, sr, zh) seem to have made no edits at all, and the other three (hr, no, vi) have made just a couple edits each over 3 years ago. Is there a way to WP:USURP the username on these other Wikipedias if I don't know the relevant languages? Astronaut (talk) 04:09, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Is there a specific reason why you want to register on those other wikipedias? If you don't speak those languages, wouldn't you be swatting on the name. and have no edits like the users you're attempting to usurp the username from? Tiggerjay (talk) 04:44, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * With the unified login, I only have to visit a non-English wikipedia to suddenly be registered there. A few of them now have messages from other editors and I thought it would be a good idea to redirect all such comments to my talk page here on en.Wikipedia.  It's only really for the sake of completeing the migration to unified login that I thought it might be a good idea to try to usurp the six others.  See m:SUL for some more reasons why this might be a good idea.  Astronaut (talk) 05:51, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * If your username is already taken somewhere then you will not be registered if you visit there. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:12, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, I know that. That is the problem with the six that I cannot migrate to my unified login.  I also know it is possible with some of them (de.Wikipedia for example) to request usurpation.  Unfortunately, my German and Norwegian are very poor and I don't understand the other languages at all.  I was rather hoping there was a centralised way to request usurpation (in English).  Astronaut (talk) 01:53, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
 * If you are never going to log into those wikipedias, why usurp the accounts? Differently worded, why get a logon to a site you'll never use? Nobody from de.wikipedia will blame you on en.wikipedia for something you've done, and those users won't be able to create a unified login that will bump you.  I don't see the point unless you're one of the people who NEED to complete things you start, and then simply translate your problem with a translation tool.  The admins will probably laugh at the poorly-generated grammar and word choice, but they'll understand (and probably ask you the same questions I have). --Nutarama (talk) 00:42, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Trouble is, there's a diskussion in my name on a wiki I've no idea about which it might be (xcept it seems to be african), and going there I AM logged into said wiki (any idea which language ig: is?). Now I'm a bit confused - thought that would not be possible once I got a unified account. Any comments on that one, please? --G-41614 (talk) 09:12, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

Finding the source of information in a wiki article
Dear Wiki,

I found some data that interests me in one of your articles. How can I find the source of this data? I already looked for it in the References of the article, but all of them are dated years before the time mentioned in the article for the data of interest.

Best regards, Wiki reader. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.65.188.186 (talk) 06:36, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * All information should have a little number nearby, which looks like this: . This number may be directly beside the sentence or may be several sentences later, so continue reading until you see one. If you click on this number, it should take you to the source of the information. If the information is not in the source, you may remove the sentence, mark the sentence with (this produces ), or bring the matter up on the article's talk page. If you are unable to edit the article, type editsemiprotected on the article's talk page and someone will come by to edit the page for you.  Liquidluck ✽ talk  07:52, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * But in practice very many articles do not have these little numbers. If the lack of them or the fuzziness of (or nonexistence of or other problem with) "sourcing" of an article concerns you, you may wish to (a) improve the article via your own research or (b) raise questions about it on its "talk page" (which you'll reach by clicking a link saying "Discuss this page"). -- Hoary (talk) 08:26, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * You can also check the page history to find when it was added. Maybe a source was indicated at the time in the edit or the edit summary or other contributions by the same editor at the same time. You can also ask the editor on their talk page but some editors are no longer active. If you say which data in which article then we can also try to find out. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:07, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

I would like to know why you and other companies seem to not want to print the truth about something to let the public know even if you have been told otherwise.
I would like to know just why you are not allowed to publish genuine information even if it might be against information that has been published on your site? Isnt it right that the truth should be known and not hushed up as it is being done so in this country by the corrupt British government? It is totally unfair if people like this can guard the truth being told to the public even though it might discriminate against the information you are given as the truth can be total deformatary against the British government for example and they could be prosecuted if people were to know the real truth.Thenewrobinhood (talk) 07:07, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Please see WP:Battleground and WP:GREATWRONGS. LeadSongDog come howl  07:53, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Also see the essay Truth and Verifiability. The latter says in its first paragraph The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth—what counts is whether readers can verify that material added to Wikipedia has already been published by a reliable source, not whether we think it is true. --  Phantom Steve / talk &#124; contribs \ 08:19, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * And see also WP:NPOV for guidelines on neutral point of view. The very contents of your question above betray the fact that yours is not neutral. – ukexpat (talk) 16:22, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * As a basic synopsis of the problem, how do we know that what you are claiming is The Truth beyond your own claim? From the point of view of other people, how are we supposed to know the difference between The Truth and one person's own personal delusions?  So, lets say that you are actually telling The Truth on this matter.  Lets say someone else comes along, and tells us BLATANT LIES! about the same topic.  How are we, as uninformed readers, supposed to judge which person to trust?  If its just two different people making opposing claims, by what metric do other people decide who is right and who is wrong?  The answer is that we need to place some sort of faith in reliable sources of information.  If there is no such thing as a reliable source, if NO source of information can be trusted, then there is no point in maintaining an encyclopedia like this at all.  So, we place our trust in sources generally regarded as reliable, and go from there.  -- Jayron  32  16:44, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * What you are posting at Television licence is not The Truth, but one person's opinion on the validity of the legal basis for TV licensing in Britain. Whether or not he has given you permission to reproduce it word for word is not relevant: he is the copyright holder and he would have to go through the process of donating his words to Wikipedia under a suitable licence before they could be used verbatim (see Donating copyrighted materials), even if they were appropriate for that particular article.  In fact, his words are an essay setting out his point of view, not the type of neutral content suitable for an encyclopaedia.  If a campaign against the licence based on his arguments attracts significant media coverage, or if his views are published with a sufficiently high profile by reliable third-party sources, then one could make a case for mentioning this public debate in the article with suitable citations.  Ka renjc 18:33, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * The whole thing was a copypaste, including the permission statement that was permitting someone else to publish it! User talkpage warned. DFTT.LeadSongDog come howl  19:35, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

music
Looking for a song that came out around 1965 to 1975.Was a man and little girl singing. The part the little girl always sung was the chorus, " Daddy don't be mad god and the rain will bring it back." It is a country song and I remember it from when I was a little girl around the age of 7 - 10. that's about the last time I heard it too.. I would appreciate it if you could help me find out who sang this song all those years ago... Janetrosser (talk) 09:06, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Symbol move vote.svg Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about 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. --  Phantom Steve / talk &#124; contribs \ 09:09, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I do not understand sending a enquirer to an internal site when an external site (in this case, Google) will answer a question better and faster. The enquirer is asking after lyrics. Many sites are better suited to this than the editors of Wikipedia. 71.234.215.133 (talk) 09:45, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * The denizens of both the Entertainment Reference Desk and the  Humanities Reference Desk have a good record for finding lyrics. They use both internal and external sources. It is a the right place to take such a question. (I have often wondered why, given that this Help Desk deals with "how to use WP.en", and thus likely with new users, the regulars here don't just move questions like this one to the correct desk and leave the question title and a link here. That would be a lot of help, I would have thought.) Bielle  (talk) 16:54, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Come to think of it, there ought to be a way to just add a tag here and have a bot make the section move and related edits. Anyone care to do a bot request up? LeadSongDog come howl  19:17, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm sure that the new user (such as myself) would have loved to understand where to best ask the question. Maybe the heading here should say "How to Wikipedia" instead. ANSWER: "It'll Come Back" I think written by Glenn Martin and recorded by Red Sovine in 1974. Nice song and sentiment. I hope this is what you are looking for. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SC1WikiContributor (talk • contribs) 00:45, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Updating of a page
Dear Helpdesk

The information on the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singita_Game_Reserve is factually incorrect and I can't update the page as I work for the company that is being referenced.

I do not want to add any opinions or views, just add some more information and correct the facts. Please can someone point me in the right direction?

Thank you & I look forward to hearing from you. Catherine Biggs (talk) 09:41, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Your best option would be to discuss this on the article's talk page (here) and explain the situation. Please make sure that you have some reliable, independent sources showing the correct information - it is this verification which will allow editors to know that the information is incorrect as it stands and what the correct information is. --  Phantom Steve / talk &#124; contribs \ 09:46, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Dear PhantomSteve,

Thank you for your response. Yesterday I did add that to the article's talk page and was sent a warning message as I work for the company. The username that I was logged in on was Singita Game Reserves. As you can see, I have now changed that username. Will I be able to edit the page now? I went into the discussion page and the editor AlmostReadytoFly has made the following comment: ''An editor who works for the reserve (Catherine Biggs (talk)) has expressed concern that the article is incorrect. Her information on developments was removed as the text was copied from another site (see this talk page's history). AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 12:00, 9 February 2010 (UTC)''

I did not copy the text from another site, the text is from my copy deck that I keep on my computer. I am really getting very confused and don't know what to do re updating the information. Please can you help me? Thank you Catherine Biggs (talk) 13:13, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I do apologise. I was trying to make it clear to other editors that you had a problem with the article as it stands. Because the text is the same as on this website, someone removed it because it looked like a Copyright violation. I guess that's because you also posted the same text from your copy deck to the other site. I'll edit my comment there to try and make it clearer.
 * As for re-updating the information, for now I'll put a link to the other site on the talk page. It might be usable as a source to rewrite the information. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 14:12, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Thank you AlmostReadytoFly, that makes perfect sense - irony is, I updated that site too! We are affiliated with ATTA and I try and keep all our copy standardized. Ok, so if I understand you correctly, I must just leave everything as is now and hope that someone picks up the info and updates the article?Catherine Biggs (talk) 14:24, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I think so, but if you have other info such as press clippings, you should post links to those as well. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 14:37, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Freeze Panes - Top Row in Tables
Could we implement an option where the top row in a table (the one with labels) would scroll along with the broswer window when viewing long tables? Microsoft Excel has a similar feature called "Freeze Panes." It's rather annoying to have to scroll back up to recognize what a column means and we have many pages of long tables where I think such an enhancement would greatly aid the user experience. For example Assembly of the International Space Station TheFutureAwaits (talk) 10:04, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I think this question would be better suited to Village pump (technical), however I doubt that it would get much support for two reasons;
 * Wikipedia strives to be as compatible as possible, so we keep the 'mark-up' as simple as possible. This allows the pages to be read on all kinds of devices.
 * Huge tables are best avoided, and wherever possible information is presented in prose form.
 * I do see what you mean on the article Assembly of the International Space Station - if there was a simple way to lock the headings, I agree that it would be useful, but I don't know how it would impact on compatibility. Smappy (talk) 15:49, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Sorry, couldn't resist. :P — Bility (talk) 18:54, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

fas
I would like to start a new article under this title. I intend fas as a technical term specific to ancient Roman religion. How can I do it? There are already more than ten pages that use the word as an acronim. Thank you for the help.Aldrasto (talk) 12:10, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Is it the meaning mentioned in Fasti? The disambiguation page Fas could add a link to Fasti. I don't know whether it is notable enough for its own article. If it is then see Disambiguation. It could for example be called Fas (ancient Rome). PrimeHunter (talk) 12:25, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

In search of a Director/Producer
www.jomococo.com

The trajectory of TITLEMANIA by Brother Jomo Coco is to titivate the development of one-world and titillate the one-world society.

A Director/Producer is urgently required for the production of the film TITLEMANIA. 92.11.51.235 (talk) 13:08, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Hello. I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our roughly three million articles, and thought that we were directly affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is a help desk for asking questions related to using the encyclopedia. Thus, we have no inside track on the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the left hand side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:12, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Help archives
The Help Desk Archives at seem only to go up to December 2009. I am reliably informed that it is now February 2010, and I strongly suspect that there have been questions and responses here in the last month-and-a-bit. Anyone know where they have gone and how to fix the archive? DuncanHill (talk) 14:57, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * The archives were made but the links to them are updated manually on that page. I have added January and February 2010. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:12, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Thank you. DuncanHill (talk) 15:41, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Disability Compatibilty feature on product pages
Hi Wiki,

I would like to offer suggestion for Wiki to consider adding this "Disability Compatibilty" feature on any products (TV, HDMI, auto, etc) that would help users to see whether if that product is compatible with specific disabilty or not. This also would allow companies to include that info as well for their product.

For instance, if one wants to know if they can use closed caption with HDMI cable. On the List of Display Interfaces page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_display_interfaces, it would include a column that shows if it's compatible with CC decoder or how it is done. For the auto, it would include compatibilty for disability with wheelchairs and where to get this.

I would like to see this on product pages so how can I do this?

Thanks, B --Beastcave (talk) 15:05, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Firstly, please note that Wikipedia is not a manual, so this information may not be appropriate. As with all information, you will need to provide references to independent, reliable sources. If there are sources for the information (such as reviews in magazines - not from the manufacturer themselves) - then a mention might be appropriate.


 * The List of display interfaces is just what it says - a fairly simple list, leading to detailed information in each article. I don't think that the CC information would be appropriate on that list. It might be appropriate to create a List of display interfaces that support closed captions, but I think that the most appropriate place for this info is in Closed captioning - there is already some information there, and perhaps you could add to it. I hope this helps, and this is merely my opinion - I hope that others will give further ideas. In addition, you could start a discussion in talk:Closed captioning, perhaps. Best wishes, Smappy (talk) 15:36, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Essjay44/Ian Cutler
I have written this article and would like to add it to Wikipedia, I have used your article wizard to start it and there are numerous mentions of Ian in other pages so I wanted to put his own page up (I am his wife). However I have written the article and cannot see how to upload it so it is viewed by everyone (also want to add a photograph), I have read through your notes but nowhere in my article does the word move appear to be able to upload it. Can you help please.

Essjay44 (talk) 14:58, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * This article is currently in User:Essjay44/Ian Cutler - that is the title, and the location - it is within your own userspace. If it were simply called Ian Cutler, it would be a 'live' article.


 * You cannot move articles until you have made at least 10 edits, and your account is 4 days old - this is called auto-confirmed. Once your account is auto-confirmed, the 'move' option will appear, however...


 * Before you make it live, I suggest that you make sure that the article meets the requirements - I'm not sure that, currently, the references are independent and sufficient to establish notability - please read about reliable sources. Because of your stated conflict of interest, you should also read WP:BESTCOI.


 * If you aren't sure, please put, followed by your request for further help, onto your own talk page - that is, on User talk:Essjay44. That way, you can ask someone else to check it for you, and see if they think it would be OK to move to the live area. Good luck, Smappy (talk) 15:26, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Possibly unfree files
Hey all.

I recently submitted a possibly unfree file (PUF) for review. You can find it at. I, however, missed some of the later comments (the unsigned one, and BQZip's), until the PUF was closed and it once more appeared on my watchlist. Since I am still forthright in my belief that to host the file is illegal, and that, given time, I am sure could convince others of this, what is my best course of action?

Normally, I would look at deletion review, but since "DR is not AfD take two", I am hesistant - arguably Fastily has done the right thing here in closing as keep and yet we still host an illegal image.

Thanks, - Jarry1250 [Humorous? Discuss.] 15:29, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Open a new case. I agree with you that it was incorrectly closed. The entire problem of not having the rule of shorter term in the US is exactly that items that have fallen out of copyright in their source country can still be copyrighted in the US. US law is not superseded by the Berne convention. —Th e DJ (talk • contribs) 16:01, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I have reopened the listing at Possibly_unfree_files/2010_February_9. - Jarry1250 [Humorous? Discuss.] 16:43, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Printing Pictures with Articles
My system (if that is the word) is somehow set to NOT showing or printing pictures when I browse Wikipedia. How do I set it to show pictures?Ellyzahm (talk) 17:52, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Is it just on Wikipedia? If it's on all webpages, you could try checking "Show pictures" in the Advanced tab of your Internet Options in Internet Explorer, or "Load images automatically" the Content tab of your Options in Firefox. If it's just when you're printing, you may need to check the "Print Background Color and Images" box in File → Page setup. — Bility (talk) 18:36, 9 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Do you use Firefox? Can you see images in another browser? In Firefox it's easy to accidentally block images on a site by right clicking an image and then clicking the wrong option. With Firefox you may need (possibly some details depend on the version): Tools - Options - Content - Load images automatically - Click the "exceptions" button and delete http://upload.wikimedia.org from the list - Highlight - "Remove site" button. See also Troubleshooting for another possibility. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:43, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Dear Bility and PrimeHunter,

It turns out that it was my setting on Firefox. Thank you for your help!

can't save to sandbox
Hi--I'm new and writing my first article. I used the Wizard and picked sandbox, but when I go to save, it says it will be publicly available and to use sandbox instead... I tried it again to be sure I didn't make any mistakes - same result. So then I created a user page and my own sandbox, but the result when I try to save is the same. How can I resolve this?

Thanks for your help

Lkcarnes (talk) 21:34, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Does the page you are getting say "Your edit has triggered an automated filter because it looks like you're just testing out editing. If you were intending to make a test edit, try using our sandbox instead..."? or one of the other two abusefilter messages you find with this search?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 21:55, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

jobs
Can you work for wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.74.14.164 (talk) 22:18, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), which runs Wikipedia and its sister projects, is a non-profit organization largely funded by donations and, as such, does not have an extensive paid staff. Currently WMF employs 33 people. As WMF expands, there are job openings from time to time; see Job openings for information. Xenon54 / talk / 22:29, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * And see the Philip Greenspun illustration project. Most people who work for Wikipedia, of course, are unpaid volunteers. You did not specify exactly what you meant by "work". Another way you might get paid to work for Wikipedia is to set up your own wiki where you would publish all your content first, under the same free licenses as Wikipedia, and then later you could contribute it to Wikipedia. You would be free to put Google AdSense on your wiki or try any other legal method to generate revenue from it. --Teratornis (talk) 04:02, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Templates
Is there any way I can make the main words of of a template a different color than the background? Mr. Prez (talk) 23:04, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Sure. Just like this, or this (see in edit mode to view the two different codes used). See web colors for a list of colors.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:08, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Alright, but all I need is to know what to type in to get this to work, for example, to change the background of a template, I type in "|basestyle = background: red", or yellow or whatever color I want to change it to. I just need something like that. Mr. Prez (talk) 00:05, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Can you please post the name of the template you wish to edit, what text in it you'd like to change, and what color you'd like to change it to? It's much easier to provide the fix (if I can't someone else surely can) than to speak in the hypothetical. For example, in the two templates you last edited, you can change text to another color in both of them using either of the two methods I highlighted above, so I don't know what you mean or why that explanation isn't sufficient without knowing what you're trying to do.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:08, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
 * OK, here it is.

LA Ink I'd like to change the letters to red so I can change the background to black and have the words be visible. Mr. Prez (talk) 01:55, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Okay, I think what you are looking to do is something like the code below; take the code, go the template, replace the existing code and click "show preview" to see what it will look like. I'm not sure how to change the colors of "v d e" in the title bar to make them more legible given the color change. I'm also quite unsure you should do this, unless you're planning to use this as an example to take and use for some purpose on your userspace without the category. Templates like this are standardized for a reason.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:03, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks, it worked. Mr. Prez (talk) 12:08, 10 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Ouch! I am not sure that either is/would be very easy on the eye... – ukexpat (talk) 02:52, 10 February 2010 (UTC)