Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 January 5

= January 5 =

daniel fromenglish to japanese
I just want to know my name in japanese but in english letters. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.130.115.6 (talk) 01:15, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * This is Wikipedia's help desk. This page is intended to answer questions about Wikipedia, not general knowledge questions, which should be directed to the reference desk. You can either ask there or go to a website such as Google Translate. Xenon54 / talk / 01:20, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Adding a Legion Of Merit Recipient
My name is Ronald Gaskin and I would like to add my name to the list of recipients of this award. I can provide proof if needed. What do I need to do?

In am Sundance1949 - a new member.

I tried to add my name to the list... not sure if I got it right. Please advise

I have (3) Legions of Merit and would like to be on the List - I can provide proof, retired 1 Sep 09.

Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sundance1949 (talk • contribs) 01:24, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually the way you added is not correct and I have removed the entry. The way to add someone to the category is to create an article on the person and then add the category to the article. But creating an article on yourself is discouraged because of the conflict of interest. Also the article should be created only if you are notable. If you have any questions let me know.  GB fan  talk 02:08, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Also note the box at top of Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit and see WP:MILPEOPLE. It appears you are mentioned at the end of Meal, Combat, Individual ration for eating a forty-year old pound cake. It may seem unfair to only be noted for that in Wikipedia but it is apparently a popular story. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:07, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Hi my name Is Craig
I have a question what Is the hottest part of a blow torch flame? Is It no.1  Beyond the tip of the Inner air cone or 2 The base? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.36.166.246 (talk) 02:00, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * You might find what you are looking for in the article about Blow torch. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at Wikipedia's Reference Desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except about how to use Wikipedia, which is what this help desk is for). I hope this helps. --Mysdaao talk 02:21, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Possible Incorrect naming
Similar question to Jan. 1st's 1.10 question about 'User:AllanVLacki/"Santa Biondo"' - when I finally move my article from user subpage to live, will the 'User:Sputtnik/' disappear and leave just the title "John Scott Biddle"? Thanks. Sputtnik (talk) 02:16, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, when you move the page, you can remove the "User:Sputtnik/" part to rename the page "John Scott Biddle", which will put the page into the article namespace. --Mysdaao talk 02:30, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Links not working
Two links in my article, 'Log Canoes' and 'America's Cup Hall of Fame' are located in Wikipedia, yet my links appear red. Why? Thanks. Sputtnik (talk) 02:28, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * 👍 Jeffrey Mall (talk • contribs) - 02:37, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * You beat me to it. Link names must match the target article (or a redirect) exactly. You can ensure this by copy-pasting from the target to the edit box. There are different characters curly ’ and straight ' where Wikipedia prefers the latter. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:44, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

I was falsely accused of "vandalising" an aricle I never even knew about.
I use Wikipedia very often for information, but I very rarely make edits. Minutes ago, while I was researching something, I got a message that was a warning not to make useless edits and/or "vandalise" articles, the example being that I had recently made such a negative change to the article "BlogTV." I don't know what BlogTV is and have obviously never even visited the page. How could this have happened and why? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.71.212.135 (talk) 04:44, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * It's from July 2008, by somebody else on the same IP address. No worries, you can ignore it.  Grsz 11  04:57, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Well thank you very much. One last tidbit: Should someone else on this IP adress need to be banned, what happens to me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.71.212.135 (talk) 05:06, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * You, should you have had the foresight to create an account for yourself would be perfectly safe. If, perchance, you had not created an account for yourself, would then be unable to edit.  So, if you are concerned about being unable to edit because other people have vandalized articles and got your IP address blocked, simply create an account for yourself, and this problem goes away.  Creating an account is free, and entitles you to additional tools and several other benefits not availible to unregistered users. -- Jayron  32  05:13, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

I have had an account, the password to which I forgot. Whatever, I'll make a new one eventually. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.71.212.135 (talk) 05:23, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * See also the box at the bottom of User talk:76.71.212.135. The edit to BlogTV is here. Wikipedia knows that IP addresses can change so most blocks on IP addresses are for a short time. If you give an email address in your account while you have access to it then you can have a new password mailed to it at the login screen. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:46, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Clearing an image cache internally
I uploaded a new version of File:Ilanalost.jpg a while back, yet the old version still shows at the article Ilana (Lost). At first, I just thought that it was my browser/computer, but I have since viewed the page on other computers—even one in another country—and the image will not refresh. Thanks, – thedemonhog   talk •  edits  05:16, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * As it is not just on your computer, you don't need to bypass your browser cache, which would normally be my first suggestion! My next suggsetion would then be to purge the page - this forces the wiki software to rebuild the page completely. However, I have tried that, and Ilana (Lost) is still showing the original version of the image (13:51, 11 December 2009) rather than the current version you uploaded (07:21, 24 December 2009). I'm not sure what to advise you - I'm leaving this message more for others to let them know that I've already done the "normal" methods for solving this problem! Any ideas, anyone? --  Phantom Steve / talk &#124; contribs \ 08:08, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I see the new image now. The image servers were a bit busy tonight (globalusage extension was enabled again), so that might have been a factor in the delay. —Th e DJ (talk • contribs) 11:18, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * (e/c) We are in the twilight zone here. This image has strange powers and I believe we should all just back away slowly. I tried the normal things everyone had already done, purging both pages. Then I performed both a null edit and a dummy edit; no luck. So then I deleted the prior image and purged; no go and figured it was some type of job queue issue. The deletion actually occurred. The deletion log entry is accessible. Why am I saying this? Because here's where it gets other side of the looking glass bizarre. I went to restore the prior version I had just deleted and got an error saying something like "this cannot be restored this is probably because someone has already restored the image". I then navigated back to the image and it was restored but there's no log of the restoration. Never seen anything like this. Afternote: as DJ notes, it's now working, but still doesn't explain the restoration strangeness.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:33, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

12th day of Christmas
12th day of Christmas When do you take decorations down? before the 12th or on the 12th or after the 12th? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.240.109.135 (talk) 09:04, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * [[Image:P question.svg|20px]] This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Miscellaneous 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. Someguy1221 (talk) 09:06, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Hiding a controversial edit by doing a minor edit straight after
Is there a name for, or any guidance about, the practice of doing a controversial/major edit to an article, then doing a minor edit straight after so that the controversial edit doesn't appear in people's watchlists? (This is just a speculative question, and doesn't pertain to any disruptive editing that I'm aware of.) NotFromUtrecht (talk) 09:16, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm not aware of either a name for it (other than "trying to pull a fast one"!) or any guidance about it. It's something that Recent Change Patrollers may well notice though (especially if they are using automated tools). However, it's not something that a bot or anything could pick up - I quite often find that someone does a major edit (or any edit) on an article, and then immediately afterwards does a minor edit to fix up a typo they hadn't noticed when they previewed - like a couple of times when your edit on Raw Dykes was followed within a minute or two with a minor edit (not that I'm suggesting anything, it's just an example I saw in your contributions!) It's something which people just need to keep an eye out for from time to time. --  Phantom Steve / talk &#124; contribs \ 13:01, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm not aware of any. Consecutive edits where the last is minor is common with no intention to hide something. Help talk:Minor edit would be the place to suggest something. Under Watchlist in preferences you can choose "Expand watchlist to show all changes, not just the most recent". And all diffs show the time and editor of the previous edit. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:58, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * You can also choose to hide minor edits in your watchlist - provided the editor marks them as minor, of course. --ColinFine (talk) 19:13, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the helpful advice. NotFromUtrecht (talk) 10:33, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

Can we kill external links eyetest?
Can the eye-test for adding external links be removed, to reopen full contributions from visually-impaired users? Can registered users be switched over to URLBLs or some better anti-spam system? —Preceding unsigned comment added by AaronJumper (talk • contribs) 09:48, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Those systems are also in use. Unfortunately, that is not enough :(  When you have made at least 10 edits and your account is 4 days old, the CAPTCHA test is lifted. —Th e DJ (talk • contribs) 11:25, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

wikipedia-for Mr. Jimmy Wales
Who on earth can drive in the dark with a failed steering system ie the car "free wheeling" and can came out alive with only 6 stitches on the forehead?

On 26th Sept 2009, at about 5.45am (still dark) on the middle lane of a three lanes, express highway, at about 90km/hr, all lights suddenly went off and the steering wheel rattled furiously, totally lost control of the car, swayed left, then reversed on to the 4 wheels and over to the right and stopped there.

The weather was good, no rain, no cross wind, no oil spill and light traffic.

What could have happened? Is it EPS-ECU Failure? If so, can somebody out there can give a logical and scientific explanation. Much appreciate with diagrams and drawings too.

This is a truth statement. Not something out of the Twilight Zone.

Thank you.

BL Goh —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.133.17.245 (talk) 12:27, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Have you tried the Science section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. Don't expect Jimmy Wales to answer though. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:37, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Incorrect information
I edited the information on Bishop Rhoades. His father (and mine as I am the Bishop's sister) was the cousin of state senator James Rhoades. It was incorrectly stated that his father was the brother of the late state senator. This should also be editied in the synopsis that comes up describing the article.

Robin McCrackenRobin McCracken (talk) 13:14, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I see your edit . I'm not sure what you mean by the synopsis describing the article but if it is the former version being displayed on search terms in Wikipedia's search function or an external search engine then it will automatically be updated when the article is next indexed by that search function. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:19, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

PDF export in English.
Hello! In Italiano and Español Wikipedia, on the left, there is a "print/export" box, with the option "Download as PDF". I think it is immensely useful, but I am unable to find it in the English Wikipedia, only Italian and Spanish. Why?

Thank you very much! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.133.111.176 (talk) 13:19, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Logged in users have the link. I'm not sure why it is restricted to that. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:30, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The features that "download as PDF" is part of (Collection and create a book functionality) are only available for registered users on the English Wikipedia. This was per request of the English Wikipedia community that judged that the book functionality was too complicated to bother casual readers with. —Th e DJ (talk • contribs) 13:41, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

editing biographical entry on now deceased person
Dear Wikipedia, I am the original author of an entry,that should be changed to reflect his death on May 4, 2009, in New York. However, I cannot find back my original user name, and have created a new wikipedia account. I am not sure if that is the reason, or if it is due to administrative locking, but I am unable to edit the first paragraph of the entry to reflect the subject's death. Please advise, thank you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_A_Clemente Cmclemente1 (talk) 14:09, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Click the "edit this page" tab at top to edit the lead. Help:Section shows other methods. This is the same for all users. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:23, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Incidently, if you were the creator of the article, then your user name was . If you know the password, then you can log in with that. If not, as the account would appear to have an e-mail address associated, then you can request a new password - enter your username on the login screen and click 'E-mail new password', which will send a temporary password to your e-mail address that will allow you to retrieve your account. If you no longer have access to the e-mail address, there is nothing that can be done, I'm afraid.
 * However, I should point out that you only had 8 edits on that account (all in March 2007), so if you can't remember the password (or don't have access to the e-mail address), just continue using your current account. --  Phantom Steve / talk &#124; contribs \ 14:30, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I have fixed a couple of formatting points in the article:
 * you had included a, but there was not a  - which will take as long as typing the template details above! You could also add a category (e.g. Category:2010 deaths) at the bottom of the article. It just strikes me as creating more work in the short term - others will tidy up the references, and probably add more if required, as well as details of the cause of death etc. Just my 0.02 --  Phantom Steve / talk &#124; contribs \ 20:29, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Actually, I'm warming to Andrew's idea. The problem with your argument is that in some cases the death may require a number of edits distributed through the article: only rarely will these individually be difficult or awkward, but there could be a lot of them. I think a box at the top which says "This person died on .... The article may not yet have been updated to reflect this fact" (with a reference of course) might be helpful. --ColinFine (talk) 20:58, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * If Wikipedia ever got a successful ticket system, it would drive Mechanical Turk out of business for all but the poorest users ;) So I think this is worth continued thought.
 * A successful ticket system must meet two conditions: (1) adding the ticket must be more appealing than doing the work without the ticket to some sizable group of people; (2) the existence of the ticket has to create a post-ticket workflow that is more efficient than doing the work without the ticket.
 * Here, I think (2) is uncontroversially a home run, since pages with tickets will be transcluded into a central to-do list, whose items would be popular to work on (in the sense that the work is vegetative but important).
 * The uncertainty surrounds (1), but I also think that is satisfied. Adding tickets is addictive because it's vegetative (thus, attractive to middle school students?). Also, it can be done in assembly-line style just by doing a google news search for "dies".  In fact, we could write an external program that makes adding tickets even easier: it tries to find wikipedia articles that relate to a given newspaper article; it takes the existence of an open ticket into account when deciding whether to present a match; the user just has to click "Create a ticket" or "Ignore".  Also, the program can do the very important work of categorizing biographies with, e.g., Category:2010 deaths. Since Google already includes Wikipedia articles in Google News, it wouldn't be hard to write.
 * On another occasion, I created a ticket system that more obviously meets condition (1). You insert, onto an article's talk page, refideas, which lets you identify encyclopedic, public-domain sources that can be assimilated into that article by someone with no specialized knowledge in the area. The template then transcludes the article to this category, which becomes a watering hole for non-specialists looking for meaningful work. (Here's a fuller explanation.) It still hasn't taken off -- but I think that's because I'm too busy to promote it.
 * I'll collect feedback for a few days, then I'll add a thread on the village pump. Andrew Gradman talk/WP:Hornbook 03:45, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

adding pictures
If i think i can get a better picture on a certain page, How can i use a link to make a picture appear? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rkashyap98 (talk • contribs) 19:55, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Help:Images and Picture tutorial. --Teratornis (talk) 20:21, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * If you want to upload an image from your computer for use in an article, you must determine the proper license of the image (or whether it is in the public domain). If you know the image is public domain or copyrighted but under a suitable free-license, upload it to the Wikimedia Commons instead of here, so that all projects have access to the image (sign up). If you are unsure of the licensing status, see the file upload wizard for more information. Please also read Wikipedia's image use policy.
 * If you want to add an image that has already been uploaded to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons, add  to the area of the article where you want the image to appear – replacing   with the actual file name of the image, and   with a short description of the image. See our picture tutorial for more information. I hope this helps. --  Phantom Steve / talk &#124; contribs \ 20:22, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Committed identity for dummies...
Hello! I want to publish my committed identity, but just can't find HOW! I have read all the pages, could generate without problems the SHA-512 key string, but I can't publish the darn thing! Could you please give me a simple step-by-step sequence like "go to XYZ page | paste this here and that there | press ENTER"... I've spent all the night on this thing and so far I earned only a headache... I don't mind the "look" of the outcome, colors etc... I just want to put an end to it!

Thank you so much! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yvangr (talk • contribs) 22:52, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
 * After you've used a program or gone to a website like jsSHA to generate your hash, add the following code to your userpage: . Ideally, your hash is based on a phrase that some random hacker would not be likely to know or find out in case of an attack on your account; for example, "My name is Michael Kohler and I live in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany", or "I have a cocker spaniel named Farfel" as opposed to "My name is Xenon54". Xenon54 / talk / 23:00, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure why you want to publish your committed identity, when this is only your second edit on Wikipedia! Oh well... you need to create your user page User:Yvangr and use one of the following templates on it: User:Anomie/Userbox committed identity or Template:User committed identity - if you go to either of those links, there is documentation on using them --  Phantom Steve / talk &#124; contribs \ 23:02, 5 January 2010 (UTC)


 * For example, mine is, see the bottom of my user page. – ukexpat (talk) 23:03, 5 January 2010 (UTC)