Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 April 10

= April 10 =

CAT:CSD
In this category listing, it appears that whenever someone tags a page with a tag as opposed to using a more standardized tag such as db-bio or db-nocontext, the page shows up on CAT:CSD's "alphabetical" listing under the letter M, which is placed at the end of the alphabet. This is very difficult to understand. Can anyone explain it? --Metropolitan90 (talk) 02:59, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * The template deliberately sticks a Greek "μ" in front of the page name. The history page helped me find this archived discussion. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:04, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Template help
Thanks in advance, I need some help with template editing. How come the v and e buttons do not work here? . Also is there a tutorial for templaes?--Khodabandeh14 (talk) 03:14, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * First of all the name of your template needs to match the title of the template space in order for the 'v' button to work. This field should have been: |name = Iranian Festivals


 * I have fixed it for you in this edit, I assumed you simply switched the intended fields by default. The 'd' button points to the talk page. It will be red if the talk page of the template does not exist. I have also fixed it by adding the appropriate wikiproject banner.


 * As for tutorials, don't know, honestly. These pages might help, though:
 * Help:A quick guide to templates
 * Help:Template
 * Help:Advanced templates
 * Template documentation


 * Maybe someone else can help you with that, cheers. :) -- Obsidi ♠ n Soul  04:27, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * To understand complex templates, you will also need to read Help:Magic words and mw:Help:Extension:ParserFunctions. See WP:EIW for links to more pages about templates. Iranian Festivals is a navigation template, so read Navigation templates. There is a lot to know about template coding on Wikipedia. Iranian Festivals is based on Navbox; you don't need to know everything about how the base template works to use it in another template. Read the documentation for Navbox carefully.
 * Note that Iranian Festivals seems to violate the style guidelines in WP:LOWERCASE and WP:CAPS. Those guidelines apply primarily to articles, but most of Wikipedia's template coders follow them for template names too (because the guidelines say "page" rather than "article" and a template is a page), which would imply "Iranian festivals" (second and following words in page titles begin with lowercase characters unless they would normally be capitalized in an ordinary sentence).
 * --Teratornis (talk) 03:10, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

Patroller on Simple English
I'm a Patroller on Simple English.

Is there a similar position on this board?

If so, how do I become one?

EoGuy (talk) 04:07, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * It's not a special user right, if that's what you're asking. Guidelines are here: New pages patrol and WP:NPPLOG. You only need to be autoconfirmed to volunteer for NPP.-- Obsidi ♠ n Soul  05:28, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Speaking different languages
Se me permite hablar idiomas diferentes en la wikipedia? Neptunekh2 (talk) 04:18, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * It is discouraged. Using English makes the discussion more transparent to the rest of the community who may not speak your language. If using another language is unavoidable, it is better that you also include a translation of it in the same post. See Talk page guidelines.


 * No se recomienda. Inglés es más facil por otras personas puedan entender, quienes puede que no hablan su idioma. En caso de que el uso de otros idiomas es inevitable, debes incluir una traduccion en su mensaje. Ve Talk page guidelines. Como ves? Mi español es mierda.  --  Obsidi ♠ n Soul  05:20, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Just to add to this, if you wish to converse in another language, there are other Wikipedias that have help desks and reference desks and the like. If you are more comfortable conversing in Spanish or Japanese or any other language, you should ask your questions at es.wikipedia or ja.wikipedia.  If (as I suspect) you are merely typing english sentences into Google Translate and posting the results here, either to attract native speakers of that language (the good faith assumption) or just to be "cute", please don't.  Machine translations are attrocious for anything longer than one word, and if you really want to attract attention from a speaker of a language, just ask, in English "Is there anyone who speaks spanish natively who could answer this question for me...." -- Jayron  32  05:43, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Global search and replace
I spend a lot of time correcting spelling errors.

The two that most often occur are seperate (should be separate) and recieve (should be receive).

Is there a function I can use that will search them all out and correct the spelling?

EoGuy (talk) 04:22, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * You might be interested in participating in the Guild of Copyeditors. It's a Wikiproject devoted to correcting mistakes like that. They may have specialized tools as well, so if no one here can answer your question, try asking in their talk page.-- Obsidi ♠ n Soul  06:12, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * If you use a Windows computer, the AutoWikiBrowser tool will help you find and fix spelling mistakes more quickly. There's no automatic find and replace; each edit must still be checked before it is saved. For example, mistakes inside quoted text need to be checked with the source, and the article Commonly misspelled words is full of mistakes. If you do try this tool, you may find my working notes helpful. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:17, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

"Bold text" in Ramen
At the beginning of the Ramen article there is a "Bold text" writing, that I'm not able to clear out: I can not found it in wikicode. --Porta seriale (talk) 07:10, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * There was a temporary glitch in a template; it has been fixed now. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:36, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you. --Porta seriale (talk) 08:12, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

referencing problem
I have created a new entry called "Guy Cook" but although I have tried to follow instructions there is still a problem. Can you help? Best wishes Lucien — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lucienyahinna (talk • contribs) 07:59, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I removed your email address, it's not good to have it visible here. About your question, I'll take a look - meanwhile, you can see WP:REFB unless you've done so already, it contains the referencing stuff in a nutshell. Happy editing! Zakhalesh (talk) 08:01, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * And done. The problem was that you had a reference below the reflist, while reflist only works for references introduced before it. I removed the reference, but feel free to replace it, but place it where it belongs in the prose or don't use the ref tag at all and place it at the bottom of the article as an external link. Zakhalesh (talk) 08:04, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia slow?
Hi, I have been experiencing slow Wikimedia sites for a while now. Sometimes pages don't load, I get "connection reset", sometimes it is slow, sometimes the style sheet is missing. This happens on multiple computers. Is there a know server problem? F (talk) 10:39, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I have been having speed problems for a while now. Top level use like reading articles and simple editing seems to be fine, but when I start looking at something deeper like page histories etc things get slower. I dunno if this is my imagination or not, or what's the cause if not. Rehevkor ✉ 11:07, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Sometimes the Wikimedia Technical Blog gives information about server problems. --Teratornis (talk) 15:50, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Image file help
File:Max Shertz Painting 01.jpg

I apologize in advance for posting this here, but I'm at a loss on how to question the copyright rationale for an image file on Wikipedia. I've questioned the legitimacy of an image file on Commons many times, and it's SO easy to do. On Wikipedia, the policies and instructions on what to do and what not to do are enough to drive an editor batty.

The uploader of the Shertz painting image file says it is fair use because it has "educational value". The warning template says it should be used for "critical commentary". In my discussion at WP:MCQ here, one editor told me that WP:NFCI#7 is the applicable policy, but when I followed that up by asking for the procedure for challenging the uploader's assertion, no one responded. In my experience, comments by editors on WP:MCQ are generally helpful, but getting someone to comment isn't always easy. I've looked at WP:FFD, and none of the subst templates mentioned on that page seems to apply to this situation.

Can someone help me out with an answer, or at least point me in the right direction?--Bbb23 (talk) 14:58, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I've never actually followed the applicable procedure myself, but WP:MCQ displays Noticeboard links which links to Copyright problems where the lead section says:
 * "List ... images with disputed fair use rationales at Non-free content review."
 * Have you tried that page yet? --Teratornis (talk) 15:57, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Another approach would be to add a to the file page. This places the file into a cleanup category. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:02, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Also, no need to apologize for asking a question on the Help desk, especially a question that is as well-posed as the question you asked. Even when we think we already know the answer to a question, it never hurts to get more opinions, to increase our confidence that we really do know what the best practice is. Posing a question may inform someone else who is reading the Help desk who faces a similar situation. For almost every problem any one of us might experience on Wikipedia, someone else is probably having the problem now, or will have it in the future. Having all the solutions in writing is the first step to minimize the number of wheels we re-invent. The second step is enabling people with problems to find the written solutions (we're still working on that). The Help desk is more than just a place to ask questions and get answers - over time, it accumulates into a kind of narrative that describes, in detail, everything that is still wrong with Wikipedia, and therefore what still needs to be developed in the system. Why are Wikipedia users having questions that the software itself does not answer? As long as people are still getting confused, that means we can still improve Wikipedia. Imagine if the software was so good that nobody needed to ask a question on the Help desk. I believe that should be our goal, to build a system that immediately answers every question it generates. --Teratornis (talk) 16:17, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you both for the suggestions. I'm not sure which of the two is more appropriate or correct in this instance, but in looking at, the uploader can just remove the tag if he feels the rationale is good enough or if he adds to the rationale. Based on the history of this particular editor and the files, I assume he will do that, and I would have to start again. The Non-free content review page seems to be more in lines with nominating an article for deletion, which may work better (although the note of a backlog is troubling). So, I'm going to try that first. Also, thanks Teratornis for the kind comments about "no apologies necessary".--Bbb23 (talk) 16:24, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Names of Mpindi
What are some of the names of Mpindi clan? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.210.173.34 (talk • contribs) 18:06, 10 April 2011

 Chzz  ► 18:07, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Blue box above editing section
For some reason, on some pages I"ve edited today, including a userspace page and an IP talkpage, I've gotten a large blue box above the normal box for editing. The blue box is about the same sizze as the editing box. Has this been happening to anyone else? Thanks, Buggie111 (talk) 18:12, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Which specific page(s)?
 * What did the box say?


 * It is possibly an edit notice on a specific page - for example, if you edit my own user page, you'll see a notice up top (saying "This is a user page, not a talk page").


 * Could it have been one of those, perhaps?  Chzz  ► 18:14, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Just big, blue and empty. And I'm certain that on a redirected page in my userspace, there was no edit notice. Maybe it was a relic of my browser from viewing my talkpage's edit notice. IDK. Buggie111 (talk) 21:02, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry, missed your other question. The first page User:Buggie111/Dwight B. Heard has been deleted, but the other is User talk:83.31.213.157. After viewing the latter again, I bet it was my browser. Buggie111 (talk) 21:04, 10 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for providing more info. I can't see anything about those particular pages; maybe it is something in your configuration; I notice that if you're using monobook, User:Buggie111/monobook.js is active - and uses User:Macy/FastButtons.js and other calls. It might be one of those; so next time it happens, it would be useful to pinpont it, by a) logging out and seeing if the page displayed the box, and then b) if it does not, then clearing items from your custom js (purging each time) and seeing if removal of one of those fixes it. (Or, I'm hoping others reading this will have ideas)  Chzz  ► 00:30, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

Photo montage
How can I create a photo montage? Or where may I seek directions to help me create a photo montage?  MR.   Pre Z  20:46, 10 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Does Template:Multiple image help?  Chzz  ► 00:31, 11 April 2011 (UTC)