Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 April 11

= April 11 =

My IE6 and mobile both crashes when visiting a page
The Page "WP:N Things not to write your article about", can we divide it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 113.142.17.142 (talk) 00:24, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * The link is WP:N things not to write your article about. A split can be discussed at Wikipedia talk:N things not to write your article about. See Splitting. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:31, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * The point of the list on that page is that it is absurdly long. Splitting it would destroy the joke. Maproom (talk) 09:48, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Infobox editing
Hello, I tried three times today to edit the infobox in the article on Niall Ferguson in order to show is religious affiliation. However, I cannot get the information to display. What am I doing wrong? — Preceding unsigned comment added by CurtisNaito (talk • contribs) 01:26, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * The article uses Template:Infobox scientist. The parameters are documented there. There is no parameter for religion. It was removed at Template talk:Infobox scientist. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:51, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * It is inappropriate to discuss a person's religious affiliation in an article unless it is relevant to why they are notable, or something that they themselves have made a public point of. Since there does not appear to be any mention of his religion in the article itself, it is unlikely that it could be appropriate to insert it into the infobox even if the template allowed it. --ColinFine (talk) 10:18, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

cats
What breed of cats begins with an "a" ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.28.123.115 (talk) 06:16, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Abyssinian, American Bobtail, American Curl, American Shorthair, American Wirehair, Asian, Australian Mist. — O'Dea  06:37, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * See also List of cat breeds and http://www.messybeast.com/breeds-a.htm. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:07, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

want know reality?
I am from Nepal and want to know that I got a mail from cocacola company that I got the prize of GBP 500000.00 from the email draw is this real or fake? I am from poor family and dont have much money for extra expenses. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.187.16.1 (talk) 06:21, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * This is not reality. The reality is that American sugar-water companies do not get rich by giving away British money in Asia. Nice to hear from you in Nepal. — O'Dea  06:35, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a scam to me, IP. Don't trust it, as it will more then likely make you pay lots of money to find out you have not actually won a prize. Sorry. Mr  little  irish  09:15, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm afraid it is a scam. Reading Internet fraud will alert you to some of the many ways in which dishonest people will try to rob you over the internet (though it doesn't seem to mention this kind). http://www.snopes.com/fraud/fraud.asp will tell you about some more. --ColinFine (talk) 10:24, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Cognos Reporting using big data
How to Create Reports using Bigdata, what are the advantages by creating this  type of Reports. how can we create Reports by using Big data — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.54.134.178 (talk) 10:19, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * This page is for asking about using and editing Wikipedia. We don't appear to have an article about Bigdata, so I suggest you ask at our Computing reference desk, and somebody there might have some knowledge of the subject. --ColinFine (talk) 10:26, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

IP user breaching 1RR restrictions set out at WP:NCMAC
Greetings Wikipedians, There is an IP user who has started to breach 1RR restrictions as set out per WP:NCMAC. The user has been advised twice not to edit the reference to "Macedonia" to "Republic of Macedonia" on articles such as Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 and also Template:Eurovision Song Contest 2012. What strikes me as odd, is the IP has accused myself of making up this ruling over naming conventions, when in fact it was a ArbComs decision. The same IP user has also requested this article be moved, which again is going against decisions set out at ArbCom. What action (if any) should be taken now? Wesley ☀  Mouse  10:30, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Bring it to the Admin noticeboard I think. Mr  little  irish  10:41, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you! I'll make my way over there immediately.   Wesley  ☀  Mouse  10:44, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Highly important -
someone has entered the school wikipedia page describing how the school is full of drug takers etc. it is highly porblematic and wonder if we can trace who made these ammendements as we are currently considering legal possibilitie.

We have traced the IP from teh log on the page.

Will go in and attempt to edit, but is there a way we can protect the page to stop students inserting things like buggery as the subjects offered at the school?

Thanks and kind regards — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.45.121.95 (talk) 11:59, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * If the vandalism is persistent, see Protection Policy and Requests for page protection. When you say "we are currently considering legal possibilitie", you need to read Wikipedia's policies on legal threats. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:17, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Please tell us what article you are here about. We can issue blocks of specific IPs as well as IP ranges where warranted. Please see Help:Reverting for how to remove these edits, Help:Page history for how to determine which edit by which person added what material, Template messages/User talk namespace for warning templates and Administrator intervention against vandalism for a place you can report obvious and persistent vandalism, Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents for reporting more complex case, and Requests for page protection to request blanket protection of the article.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:20, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I suspect the OP was talking about the vandalism to St. Stephen's International School. Their only other contribution was to partially revert some of the vandalism.  I have taken it back further.  Is that an improvement?  Astronaut (talk) 15:19, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Regarding my merger request
Hello, only a short while ago, I requested that several stub articles of a repetitious nature on several members of the ruling dynasty/family of Amb (princely state) be merged into the main article, which already contains a quantity of material on these rulers and these may, possibly be expandd further therein. I also left comments and reasons for my request on the relevant/appropriate talk pages. However, I havent received and response so far from anyone and I am not sure what to do--is mrging these stubs a good idea, as it might create some confusion on the existing main page? or would it be preferable to perhaps request deletion of the stubs so that the main article may thus be developed separately? Im not yet fully confident about these modalities and technical aspects and would be grateful for help from some experienced editor, thanks. Khani100 (talk) 12:33, 11 April 2012 (UTC)Khani100
 * Merger discussions are rarely fast, especially on comparatively obscure articles such as these, and the discussion has only been in place for a few days. Give it a couple of weeks before assuming that you aren't going to get any responses. It would also be an idea to place a Merge from template on the destination article. You could perhaps consider notifing an interested WikiProject: WikiProject India and WikiProject Pakistan both cover the article in question. Yunshui 雲&zwj;水 13:22, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Dear User:Yunshui, thank you for your comments and advice! I have already notified both WP India and WP Pakistan about my requested mergers and shall for the time being await some further response/s. Regards, Khani100 (talk) 06:02, 12 April 2012 (UTC)Khani100

The powder coating process
Hello,

The "The powder coating process" is a very informative article. Thank you.

Now to a question - In the "Part preparation processes and equipment", The second and third paragraphs talk about chemical pre-treatment, and the fourth paragraph begins "Another method --. I'm a bit confused.  From the article I'm led to believe that either one does the chemical pre-treatment before applying the powder, OR one uses abrasive blasting but not both.

From readings that I have done as well as speaking with applicators it seems one first uses an abrasive blasting procedure and then one can ALSO use a chemical treatment (phosphating) for added pretreatment before applying the powder.

By the way, I am having a mild steel railing fabricated, and then want to have an applicator apply a textured polyester-TGIC powder.

Your thoughts and clarifications would be most appreciated.

Richard Krause — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.79.200.227 (talk) 13:12, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Hi, thanks for your question. This is the help desk, designed to assist users with using Wikipedia; as such, it is unlikely that you'll find anyone here who can help>. I suggest you ask your question at the reference desk, where someone with more specific knowledge can answer your question. ItsZippy (talk • contributions) 13:20, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Link for toolserver edit count
Please and thankyou. Mr little  irish  16:01, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Do you mean this? You can access that from the link at the bottom of your contributions page. ItsZippy (talk • contributions) 16:18, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I do mean that, and I just found it. Thanks, and have fun with the mop. You missed a spot :P Mr  little  irish  16:34, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * There's also a list of them at WikiProject edit counters. benzband  ( talk ) 16:37, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Does not cite sources?
The article on Habits of Mind does not cite any sources. How do I add a tag to this effect to the article? Thanks!Rafmildenhall (talk) 19:19, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Nevermind, I figured it out: Category:Articles lacking sources Rafmildenhall (talk) 19:19, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I have proposed the article for deletion.--ukexpat (talk) 19:26, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Image help
I uploaded File:Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill.jpg and while it appears fine there, it looks blurry in the article (Maria Hill). Can someone explain to me what is going here? Is this a problem with the image or a problem with the wiki syntax? Thank you.--TriiipleThreat (talk) 19:23, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I think that's a result of the image being scaled down to a thumbnail.--ukexpat (talk) 19:28, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

New Editor
I recently added a list of references which included books, publications and lectures to the artist, scientist and scholar Todd Siler's wiki page. There has been a noted COI along with two citations regarding appearance of an advertisement and external links on the page. Although there may appear to be a COI, adding links and verifiable published references I considered to be neutral.

I am desperately trying to understand how I can rectify this situation as I fear it may cause great embarrassment to Dr.Siler, which was not my intention. My hope was to enhance the educational value of his work to a wiki audience by adding links and references, which are all verifiable, published works. I did not write the original page and did little to edit it, I merely added. I am now simply afraid to do anything to the page for fear of making more mistakes.

It needs to be cleaned up. Some helpful editors went in and fixed the references as well as downsized the external links. I am grateful for that. Can I solicit help from the community for continued cleanup to restore the page to an acceptable version?

Should I just remove all my edits and give up? I seek advice and help from more experienced editors.

This has been a difficult experience.

George Cabe (talk) 19:28, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Some advice given by others at above.--ukexpat (talk) 19:31, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I see that the only article you have ever edited is Todd Siler.


 * If you intend contributing to Wikipedia for the sake of Wikipedia, then start by editing articles on people or subjects that you are interested in but not connected with, doing uncontroversial things like improving punctuation and grammar, until you have more of a feel for what makes a good article.


 * If you plan to make a living by changing articles on behalf of clients, be aware that this is not permitted. Maybe you will find ways of keeping a low profile and getting around the prohibition; but you've made a poor start.


 * If your only interest is in the Todd Siler article, then I think it would be in everyone's interest, including your own and Dr. Siler's, if you backed off and let others sort out the article. You could leave a statement in the article's talk page saying you are doing this. Maproom (talk) 22:04, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * It appears that I did misunderstand your meaning when you said "citation" above, for which I apologise (we don't use the word in that sense in Britain); but the advice I gave there stands. I think you again misunderstand the purpose of Wikipedia: it is not here to "enhance the educational value of his work to a wiki audience". The purpose of Wikipedia is to collect and report what others have said about him (assuming he is notable, i.e. several independent reliable sources have discussed him). Anything more would be either promotion or original research, neither of which is acceptable. --ColinFine (talk) 22:26, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Advertisements/"Ad Choices" are covering article content
On the mid to lower left-hand side of the page for every article has an advertisement that covers about 2 letters of each line of words. Also, you cannot 'x' out of the advertisement or relocate it. It's obstructing my view of the information I'm trying to read. Could you please fix this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.57.89.186 (talk) 20:46, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * See RFAQ.--ukexpat (talk) 20:51, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Animated flag
here. There are so many flags of most of the countries around the world. Why Vietnam's flag is one of the few that don't have any animated flag? Can someone make an animated one for Vietnam flag? Or tell me who has ability to do this? Or can someone tell me an easy way to just turn a flag into one of those animated flags so i can do it by myself. Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.128.159.236 (talk) 20:48, 11 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Animated flags came up recently, but I'm having trouble finding it; I remember the user who created many of them is inactive. Dru of Id (talk) 21:29, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

DATE ERROR
THE ARTICLE ON "Kim Cattrall" SAYS SHE GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL IN 1332. I DID NOT THINK SHE WAS THAT OLD. THANKS. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.142.100.221 (talk) 21:39, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the note. That was some vandalism that someone did a little over 20 minutes ago. I have now reverted the vandalism and warned the vandal.


 * Regards,


 * &mdash;{&#124;Retro00064&#124;&#9742;talk&#124;&#x270D;contribs&#124;} 21:47, 11 April 2012 (UTC).

North Carolina/South Carolina border dispute
Does anyone know about the dispute over the North Carolina/South Carolina border dispute going on, near the town of Clover (used to be in SC, but is now in NC). How will this affect the NC/SC pages, the cities/towns, roads, etc.? Also, isn't there a page about U.S. state border disputes? I tried to find it, so I could ask there, but I couldn't find it. Thanks! Allen (Morriswa) (talk) 22:33, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * As far as I have seen this only affected 30 houses and a gas station not an entire town. Rmhermen (talk) 23:13, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Something like that. Anyway, I guess we should keep watching this, in case it gets bigger (like, affecting the town of Clover, as I heard somewhere).
 * By the way, I don't think I'm getting alerts on my watchlist of all changes. That is why I didn't reply sooner. I just came to the page, looked for my post (to see if there were any replies, and posted. Allen (Morriswa) (talk) 02:37, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I have edited the page The Carolinas to add some information about the new survey, but I haven't put anything there lately. That might be the place to start.— Vchimpanzee  ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 20:17, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

Need to merge (delete actually) an article
I created Poster Museum at Wilanow, then found out there's an existing article on the same museum called simply Poster Museum. The "Poster Museum" article is a very short stub, so could that one be deleted, while the Poster Museum at Wilanow replaces it? There's no point in creating a redirect out of "Poster Museum" because that will confuse readers looking for general information on poster museums, like a list, rather than this particular museum in Poland... thanks. OttawaAC (talk) 22:58, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * What I would suggest is retaining the page history but moving the pre-existing article to an alternate name that probably should exist as a redirect, maybe Poster Museum at Wilanów and then redirecting that to the article you created. Alternatively, since you are the only contributor to the newer article, you could simply replace the content of the existing article at Poster Museum with your new content and then it can be moved together to the newer, better title. Note that this would not be possible from a copyright standpoint if people other than you had edited the new page. I'd be happy to then take care of the move (drop me a note on my talk page) or you can request it using db-move, but only you can replace the content at Poster Museum with your new content, or proper attribution would be lost.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:33, 11 April 2012 (UTC)--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:26, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I've just dabbed the link in National Museum of Poland and changed the redirect at Muzeum Plakatu w Wilanowie to point to the article you created.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:29, 11 April 2012 (UTC)