Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2011 August 12

= August 12 =

Living person signatures for articles
Is there any official guideline or policy regarding the inclusion of an image of a BLP subject's signature? I found WP:Signatures of living persons, but it appears to only be a proposed policy at the moment and I'm looking for something a bit more concrete. I have letters of congratulations from attaining Eagle Scout, and I notice that some of the people I got them from have articles where the infobox does not yet include a signature (examples being David L. Boren, Jane Lubchenco, Bill Graves, Mike Rowe, Dan Glass, Scott Pioli, Warren Faidley, and Gary England). So, basically, what are the best practices for uploading signatures for living person infoboxes are at the moment and am I in a situation to where some (which?) or all of these (and perhaps a couple others I don't remember sent a letter) would be suitable for uploading under whatever guidelines there are? Ks0stm (T•C•G) 05:51, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * In my view, a signature is hardly ever encyclopaedic, and would certainly be only if the signature itself had been reproduced and discussed in secondary sources. Also, signatures in letters you have received are almost certainly copyright. Don't do it. --ColinFine (talk) 07:54, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree and see also a recent, related, BLPN discussion here. – ukexpat (talk) 13:49, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Help
ineed help.. my name is brandon barnes someone has taken my computer and phone hostage. i canot ger rid of him. literrally feel as though im the kidnapped child in a movie he has shut down everything that he can. bank accounts have been opened. my small twon police ave drug their feet horrinlz, meanwhile ive got 2 new xredit cards? he sent hundresda of photoshopped pictures to me knowing we're in a long distance relationship.over (Redacted) and ever — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.205.10.81 (talk) 09:55, 12 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I am sorry to hear about your problems. However, this is the help desk for the English Wikipedia and we can only answer questions dealing with Wikipedia. As we are all volunteers here, I fear no one here is qualified to help you with that. Furthermore

We cannot offer legal advice. Please see the legal disclaimer. Contact a lawyer. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 10:10, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * By the way, posting your phone number here is a bad idea. Miguel AG (talk) 13:38, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Watchlist disappeared
Or, rather, all but 21 of about 1,000 articles. I culled maybe 20, 25 yesterday, as I've one before, but this has never happened before. Is there anyway to rollback and restore an older version of my watchlist? Was this a tech thing or could I have been vandalized? --Tenebrae (talk) 13:28, 12 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I haven't heard of this before. An older watchlist cannot be restored. Others cannot see or change your watchlist. Did you use Special:Watchlist/edit? It says "When checking or unchecking multiple titles, holding the shift key allows you to select consecutive checkboxes by clicking each end of the range to be checked." Is there any chance you accidentally selected nearly the whole list this way? PrimeHunter (talk) 15:13, 12 August 2011 (UTC)


 * It's possible. Ah, well. Fresh start! Thanks for replying. With regard, --Tenebrae (talk) 00:35, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

May I ask YOU to help me to sign in?
Dear Sirs,

At the beginning, I would like to convey my best and kindest regards to you.

May I ask YOU to help me to sign in?

My name is: Dr. Eng. Mohammed Darsi Abdulrahman Nedham

My E-mail Address is: [redacted]

It is really my great honor to work, deal and cooperate with people like you.

Wishing YOU all the best…

Yours,

Dr. Eng. Mohammed Darsi A. Nedham Yemeni Geology and Stratigraphy Network http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3690695 (Owner, Founder and Manager) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.200.172.225 (talk) 15:00, 12 August 2011 (UTC)


 * We don't write our email addresses. In order to sign in you must first create an account at Special:UserLogin/signup. If you have problems then please describe them. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:04, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * [[Image:AROBAZE.png|20px]] Please do not include contact details in your questions. We are unable to provide answers by any off-wiki medium and this page is highly visible across the internet.  The details have been removed, but if you want them to be permanently removed from the page history, please email [mailto:oversight-l@lists.wikimedia.org this address]. --Nathan2055talk-review 17:07, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

numbers in Tables
We have a numbered table at International recognition of South Sudan, which is hard to maintain. Is it possible to have an authomatic numbering field (like # in normal makeup) that would make the numbering automatically? Tnx! L.tak (talk) 15:30, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * What does the number in the "#" column represent? Is there any point in keeping it?  Chzz  ► 18:04, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Strange appearance of wikilinks
On the page BBB, do the wikilinks for "Bonded by Blood", "Brendan B. Brown", "Biotic Baking Brigade" and "Bredbandsbolaget" appear to anybody else in red despite leading to an existing article? If so, why is this, as there doesn't seem to be anything special included in the markup that could cause this. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 16:42, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * They all look blue to me. Not sure what you are seeing.  GB fan please review my editing 16:46, 12 August 2011 (UTC)


 * They normally turn purple if you've visited them before. If your monitor's color is off, the purple may easily appear to be red. -- k a i n a w &trade; 16:49, 12 August 2011 (UTC)


 * The strange thing is it seems to appear only on this page. For example, I visited List of polygons, polyhedra and polytopes and there this effect does not occur. I could upload a screenshot, if that would help (although I am not sure if this could be seen on the shot). Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 16:54, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

I uploaded a screenshot of the appearance. I am using Safari on Windows 7. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 17:05, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I'm actually seeing the same thing as Toshio on that page, it looks like a redlink that you have already clicked on, not quite as bright as a normal redlink. It is only on that page, not on other pages that link to the same page. Very odd. I've never viseted any of those pages, and I'm using google chrome (also on Windows 7). Quasi human  &#124;  Talk  17:10, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I brought up the page using Safari and Windows 7 and they I even tried and clicked through to the links and then back to the page, the color does change just not as red as it does in your screenshot. If you click a different link and then go back to the BBB page does that turn red also?  GB fan please review my editing 17:13, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I clicked on two other links and they simply turned from light blue to dark blue. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 17:15, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I've marked the image to be moved to the Wikimedia Commons because it's under a free license. Thanks, Nathan2055talk-review 17:17, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * If you clear your history so your browser doesn't think you have been there do they stay red? GB fan please review my editing 17:25, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Tried a different browser & getting same thing, actually getting the same issue on CCC. Quasi  human  &#124;  Talk  17:29, 12 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I cleared my browser cache and they still appear red. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 17:31, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * And I also have this issue on CCC. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 17:33, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * You might want to ask the question at WP:VPT
 * I brought up the question at WP:VPT. Toshio Yamaguchi (talk) 17:54, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I purged the page and it fixed it. At least some of the redlinks were recently created (last several days) and the disambig page seemed to have some horrible caching or something. Killiondude (talk) 17:56, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Looking for son
I am looking for my son--His name is Richard W. West, 56 years old, was born in Richmond VA 11/29/1954--He is living in MT Holly NJ but I don't know where?? Can you find his address for me? If you can// Would you please send it to my e-mail address (Redacted) Thank You, Very much--John B. West Jr. (Redacted) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.166.90.101 (talk) 18:58, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 3.7 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. GB fan please review my editing 19:01, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

My editing didn't print the way i Wanted
I said what i had to say eloquently & simply - however it came up in a wrong format. Is it possible for one of you wonderful Volunteers to correct it for me or somehow teach a newbie to upload my posts by Drag & Drop or blogg etc.

I would like to contribute many more Articles to Wikileaks  My personal website is : https://sites.google.com/site/kyatasplace/home/thoughts and I'm on Twitter as Twitisist   Facebook Chris Kyata Yowell.

Thank you in advance for your consideration, Kyata Kyata (talk) 19:52, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * We have nothing to do with Wikileaks.-- SPhilbrick  T  20:10, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * BTW, re Moby Grape, this isn't Facebook. Sorry. -- SPhilbrick  T  20:12, 12 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Despite the name, Wikipedia is nothing to do with WikiLeaks. Your edit to Moby Grape was removed, because on Wikipedia, we only add facts that can be verified through reliable sources; we do not offer opinion or original research, and we stick to a neutral point-of-view.  Chzz  ►  20:17, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Remove my old edits from my autobiography
A few years ago, I made a few edits to the "Rudy Rucker" article about me, wanting to add some additional information. But as a result the article discussion page sports a warning. I'd like to remove this warning by removing my old edits, but this isn't readily done, as trying to remove an old edit pops up a warning that this would need to be done by hand, owing the existence of layered-on later edits. And if I were to try and remove the edits by hand, I would create yet more signs of author-editing. What to do? Rudyrucker (talk) 20:42, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't think removing your old edits would invalidate the talk page template. A Wikipedia contributor named "Rudyrucker" still exists that may be personally or professionally connected to the subject of the article, just as the template message states. You'll always be in the article's history anyway, even if someone were to revert your edits. By the way, are you also User:Rudyr? — Bility (talk) 20:58, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Uploading a picture (Does not belong to me)
I have a picture that does not belong to me but have all information for giving credit to the photographer and licensor of the photograph. How do I upload this and change the picture on a wikipedia page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.196.12.18 (talk) 21:20, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Is the current article's image in the public domain or freely licensed in a suitable fashion for our use? Is the image you want to upload and use in its stead freely licensed or in the public domain? (given what you've asked, I suspect not). There are three types of images we can use here: without any problem the two I've just detailed, and fair use images. But fair use is sharply limited. If the existing picture is freely licensed or PD, then we probably can't use the image you want to upload at all, because there's a free equivalent, even if the existing is not as good an image. For more on fair use and its requirements, please see Non-free content criteria. The fact that you have all of the crediting information is good, but it does not address the issues I am speaking about. Note also that even if you have express permission to use the image here from its owner, that does not get you home; our licenses require that our images be freely licensed so our end users can take and use them (even for commercial purposes), so long as they give the attribution required by the free license the image bears. More tailored information can be provided if you give specifics about the copyright status of the image you want to upload, and tell us what image you hope to replace.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:18, 13 August 2011 (UTC)