Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2010 October 17

= October 17 =

please fix agar so that the Google results do not begin with the contents of the multiple image template
When I do a Google search for "dog", the correct thing happens: the Google search snippet comprises the first words of the article lede. However, when I do a Google search for agar, the WRONG thing happens: the Google search snippet comprises the text in the multiple image template at the top of the page. This is a problem, because a casual read of the Google result would mislead someone into thinking that agar was a popular Japanese red bean jelly! 128.59.26.169 (talk) 00:29, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I moved the image template to under the first paragraph, which should solve the problem. It may take a while before Google reindexes its search.  -- Jayron  32  00:35, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Thank you, Jayron32, that solves the problem. But now I'm wondering -- shouldn't there be a solution that doesn't require moving the template? I raised the example of dog because that's an article where a template (Taxobox, in this case) appears before the article text, but the caption text (in its "image_caption" field) does not appear in the google search. Meanwhile, the text in the "footer" field from the multiple image template on the agar page does. Might we need to make some sort of coding change to multiple image? Or is that in Google's hands? 128.59.26.169 (talk) 01:19, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * You'd have to find someone who knows how Templates work. For me, they are fantastical creatures which produce varied and wonderful bits of magic.  However, there are people who could answer your question and/or perform the fix. -- Jayron  32  01:32, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't know how Google selects the text snippet but it may be a complicated algorithm. If I search on a word that only occurs in the image caption at Dog then I see the caption, for example . "Dog" doesn't occur in the caption but if I search a single word which is both in the caption and article text then Google chooses the article text in my experiments at Dog. However, shows the image caption, probably because the terms are closely together there and far apart in the article text. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:52, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * PrimeHunter, that's really interesting! In light of your response, I'm concluding that this is a bug in Google's algorithm.  I'm calling it a bug, because, when a person searches for a word that is the title of a wikipedia article, and when that wikipedia article does appear in the search results, I expect that the brief snippet that google provides for that article should ALWAYS be the first sentence of the lede of that article.  (In the case of agar before Jayron fixed it, I simply can't imagine what justification there might have been for giving that spot to the caption about Mizuyōkan, even if it was above the lede.) 128.59.26.169 (talk) 03:22, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

IMDb
When (if ever) is the Internet Movie Database considered a valid source, and when isn't it? I ask because I recently read a Wikipedia article that linked to a corresponding IMDb page full of misinformation. The IMDb can be a great resource, but it is fallible. Minaker (talk) 05:35, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * IMDb is useful as an external link, and possibly as a source for a) basic information (such as actors in major parts, director, writer, studios, etc) about b) major studio films. Basically, if its the sort of stuff you could get by watching the film itself, its probably OK.  It isn't OK for the trivia stuff, which is fairly random and unreliable.  -- Jayron  32  05:42, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Jayron, what you say makes sense, but are you giving me your opinion about when IMDb is acceptable, or are you telling me official Wikipedia policy? Minaker (talk) 05:48, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Have you looked at the archives of WP:RSN? --ColinFine (talk) 12:59, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it's enough to make you dizzy. Check out this thread, and as the name of the thread implies, there are many others. See also the specific failed proposal, Citing IMDb. FWIW, I mostly agree with Jayron. I use IMDb for casts and credits, but not for biographical information (see Template:BLP IMDB refimprove), particularly not for the trivia. And you can't always confirm what IMDb says using other sources. For example, IMDb may show that so-and-so has an uncredited part in a movie, but it might be very hard to confirm that. You certainly can't watch the movie to do it, and there is often a dearth of information on such things in the mainstream press.--Bbb23 (talk) 15:42, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

O.K., forgive me for seeming dense, but just so I'm clear -- not that anything other than my own understanding is riding on this, but -- you guys are still giving me your own opinions or your own personal interpretations, right? Bbb23 is right, the archives at WP:RSN aren't really useful for finding a definitive answer. From what I can understand about the failed proposal, Wikipedia officially has no official policy on the IMDb, so it all comes down to how one interprets RSN rules and how they'd apply to that site. Am I right? Minaker (talk) 18:40, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Just because there's no policy specific to IMDb doesn't mean that the principles in other policies, like WP:RS, don't apply. As in many instances, you have to use some editorial judgment in their application. That can include your interpretation of the many previous conversations about IMDb at WP:RSN.--Bbb23 (talk) 20:18, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Contraction rules
Where do I find a description of how to deal with contractions? E.g. whether or not "don't" should be expanded to "do not". --Mortense (talk) 08:41, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * See Manual of Style: "In general, the use of contractions—such as don't, can't, won't, they'd, should've, it's—is informal and should be avoided." Zzyzx11 (talk) 08:44, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Should one refer to this place in edit summaries? If so, how? "WP:CONTRACTION"? --Mortense (talk) 09:01, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * That'd probably be helpful to those unfamiliar with the rule on contractions. And yes, WP:CONTRACTION is an appropriate way of referring to the guideline.  Giftiger Wunsch   [TALK]  09:02, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Recovering the password
Hello, colleagues. The problem is that I had lost password to my account and e-mail was not filled. Is it possible to recover the password or change e-mail on the basis of identification. I have some proofs that I am the owner of that account: the same ip and some indirect proofs. The main question, is it possible to identificate account with me or I should now make a new one?--81.25.53.96 (talk) 08:53, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * No, it is not possible. If you did not register an e-mail with the account, there is no way to recover or change the password. You will have to create a new account. --ColinFine (talk) 13:01, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * If you have a Commited identity, you can use that to prove that you are the owner of the account and have the password reset; anything short of that is unlikely to be secure or reliable enough to prove that you are the owner of the account. You should just create a new account.  Giftiger Wunsch   [TALK]  18:43, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Having suffered a computer mishap, I lost all "cookies" from my personal machine, but my passwords were recorded elsewhere. When I tried to log in on my Wikipedia account, however, I found that the system no longer accepted the password associated with my identifier ("Tucci78") and repeated requests to have a new password sent to my e-mail address ("rmtuci78@gmail.com" - which I have tested and found to be functional) have resulted in no response whatsoever. I therefore suspect that Wikipedia's own record of my e-mail address has somehow become corrupted. To the best of my ability to discover, there is no way for me to communicate this problem to a Wikipedia administrator and get it resolved. Any suggestions? -- Tucci78

== Cite error: There are tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template or a   but this will only work if DISPLAYTITLE matches the actual page name except for a few details like italics and capitalization of first letter. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:31, 18 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, correct ... that worked perfectly.  Thanks!   (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 01:25, 18 October 2010 (UTC))

Biography disambiguation
Hello,

I read (maybe too quickly?) the disambiguation section, but I did not find what I needed. Actually, I put a person's full name between double square brackets in order to create a link for a future biography.

But I had to cope with the following problem: there already exists a biography about someone else with exactly the same first and last names. So, is there a means to deter the link from directing to the wrong biography? Of course, I could remove the square brackets until the right article is created, but I wish there exists a more elegant means (e.g. a redirection toward some kind of generic "still to be created" page).

Thank you in advance, Best regards. S. Gassama 15:58, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

P.S.: in my example, it concerns a mathematician, and there already exists a soccer player with the same name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kabiro1979 (talk • contribs) 15:58, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * What is the name of the mathematician you wish to write about? DuncanHill (talk) 16:01, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I could guess that Kabiro is referring to Moussa Ouattara, from their contributions to African Mathematical Union. Albacore (talk) 16:10, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * You could create the page Moussa Ouattara (mathematician) if he were to meet the General notability guideline. I would suggest creating a rough draft in your user space first, at User:Kabiro1979/Moussa Ouattara (mathematician), so the page won't be deleted before it's ready. Albacore (talk) 16:15, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Consider what a future article may be called and make a piped red link. For example,  which renders as Moussa Ouattara and links to Moussa Ouattara (mathematician) where a page may be created in the future. Note that What links here can also be used on red links, for example to see whether somebody else has chosen the same name in a link. Special:WhatLinksHere/Moussa Ouattara (mathematician) currently only shows a link here from the help desk. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:13, 18 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi everybody! Thank you for this good (and complete!) piece of advice. See you :-)

S. Gassama 18:27, 18 October 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kabiro1979 (talk • contribs)

Sorting a table
I would like to know if it is possible to do what I am trying to do in the chart given below as an example. Is it possible to make this into a sortable table, so that each column can be sorted? In other words, I would like the table to be able to be sorted by the person's name as well as by their age. The problem seems to stem from using the "multi-column" (colspan) command, which somehow screws up the sorting features. I recognize that I can "undo" the multi-column spanning ... and create a Table with seven columns (superlative, name, age, name, age, name, age) ... but that would not make a particularly aesthetic or effective chart (i.e., it would be hard to read and understand). Does anyone know of a way to fix this issue, so that it can sort the way I would like? Or is there any "back door method" that can achieve this? Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 16:09, 17 October 2010 (UTC))


 * Help:Sorting is thataway. WikiCopter (radio &bull; sorties &bull;  images &bull;  shot down) 23:55, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, I saw that. There's a lot of computer code that I cannot make heads or tails out of, at that page.  Is there a Reference Desk or Help Desk (like this) that is specific to Wiki Tables?  Or is this the correct Help Desk for a question of my type?  Thanks.   (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 00:17, 18 October 2010 (UTC))

C.I.D. (TV series)
Take a look at Aakhri Chunauti section.It looks like a blog or something story spoiler site.At Wikipedia, The complete detail of Single Episode isn't required.Are those contents worth to be kept? Max Viwe &#124;  Wanna chat with me?  16:36, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Whether it needs that much detail I don't know because I don't know the series. However, stylistically, some of it is inappropriate, particularly Part 8 (the longest), which uses exclamation points, contractions (omitting the apostrophes), emoticons, the phrase "to the good of all Fans", and just poor English. I really like Part 9, which is empty.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:41, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

How to make screenshots like this?
I would like to take screenshots for Wikipedia and my website that look like with the transparent background and such, but I'm not sure how. I know about the Alt+Printscreen combination, but I'd like to make them in this quality. --IceSickleSHAKE (talk) 17:36, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * You can ask the user who uploaded how he did it. But see Remove border and Commons:Template:Remove border. Some users don't like images that have borders, and they crop them. --Teratornis (talk) 18:38, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * says "This image was taken using WinSnap". We don't have an article about WinSnap but its website is easy to find: http://www.ntwind.com/software/winsnap.html. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:50, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

TV Sports Information
When watching football or other sports the info center you put in the corner showing the score and teams and other info is so SMALL you can not really make out the score or other information. You need to make it larger so we can see the info.

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.178.60.7 (talk) 17:43, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 million articles and thought we were 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 for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right 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. -- Bk314159 (Talk to me and find out what I've done) 18:11, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

To the extent you are looking at a Wikipedia article or even looking at some other website, many browsers allow you to adjust the font size of the web page. A common method to do this is to hit the key combination Ctrl+ (as many times as you like until the size is to your satisfaction). Ctrl- reduces the size, and Ctrl0 resets it to the default size.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:22, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Is this question about the "info center" that appears on a television screen? If so, it has nothing to do with Wikipedia. The questioner should direct the question to the people who run the television channel. Another possibility is to sit closer to the TV, or use a spyglass or pair of binoculars to get a closer look at it. --Teratornis (talk) 18:30, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

How to ask a question about the content in an article
If you have a question about the validity of the information in an article, such as what the source is, when none is given, where and how do you ask that question?Diane1976 (talk) 18:54, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * You can ask on the talk page, add a template next to the unsourced information, or try to find a source yourself. If you feel it shouldn't be included without a source, you can simply remove it, and if it's a contentious statement about a living person without a reliable source, you must remove it.  Giftiger Wunsch    [TALK]  18:58, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * See also Verifiability, Help:Using talk pages, and Help:Page history if you want to find out who added it under which circumstances. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:38, 17 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Best way would be to search through the article's version history to see which user added the information, then ask them on their talk page. -- &oelig; &trade; 01:34, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Recieving content of deleted article to my email
I would like to recieve the content of the deleted article: List of Six Feet Under deaths to my Email. i did'nt find some place else i can ask for this request for an administrator. if this isn't the right place, please remove it from here and write me on my talk page where did you remove it to. Many thanks, Rhone - Talk 21:14, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * The usual approach is to make a copy to a user subpage of yours, assuming there are no problems such as copyvio or attacks in the deleted material. There's a number of admins who read this regularly, so i suspect someone will help you out shortly.-- SPhilbrick  T  21:36, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * thank you for your answer. in my home wiki (he) it is not accepted to copy a content of a deleted page to a user subpage and that's why i asked for sending the content to my email. anyway, it would by lovely if an administrator would copy the content to user:Rhone/List of Six Feet Under deaths. thanks a lot. Rhone - Talk 21:45, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Too late - I've emailed it! It was deleted after a deletion discussion, so no copyvio or other issues (so far as I'm aware). Do be aware, however, that if it's recreated in article-space it's highly likely going to be speedily deleted. TFOWR 21:52, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
 * special thanks! Rhone - Talk 21:55, 17 October 2010 (UTC)