Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 January 14

= January 14 =

How to contact a user when he appears to not read talk pages (even his own)?
If I'd like to discuss concerns about content that a specific user keeps adding to an article and I'm reasonably sure that this person doesn't read any discussion/non-main page (not even their own talk page), how would I contact them in such a situation? It's not that the edits this user is making are in bad faith, I just don't understand why they're doing what they're doing, and I wish to discuss it with them. Is there any way to contact a user in main space without vandalizing an article? (I thought about an edit notice but had no idea if it would be appropriate since I can't find any stipulations about their use.) - Purplewowies (talk) 00:24, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * If you're reverting them or making other edits to the page you can try using edit summaries to direct them to the talk. It's pretty hard to miss the user talk page banner that appears when you have new messages, so if the editor is being willfully uncommunicative, eventually they'll need to be blocked. As long as you've tried communicating, just go to the next step which is probably one of those administrator noticeboards. — Bility (talk) 00:43, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Seconded. He/she's seeing  this . You're being ignored, willfully.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:04, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * So... I should take it to WP:ANI? Or somewhere else? I'm a bit meek when it comes to issues like this. :-l I also want to make sure I'm not going to put this in the wrong place. - Purplewowies (talk) 21:21, 16 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, I think before we can say "yes, take it to AN/I"; "no take it here" or "do X" with any certainty, we would need to know a bit more about the situation: what the edits are, if they've violated WP:3RR etc. Can you disclose?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:44, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

DYK messup on my part.
I was nominating a new article on the 1887 Halloween tropical storm, but I made a mistype and the nomination page has become messed up. Can anybody help with finding out how to fix it? The page is here Hurricane Angel Saki (talk) 01:23, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Made some changes and put it here. Everything look good now? — Bility (talk) 01:33, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

How do you stop a merger?
Someone posted that the Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service article should be merged with an article about the town it is based in. Several people have opposed the merger on the talk page, but how do you actually reject and close the proposal? 85.158.139.101 (talk) 01:29, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I closed it. — Bility (talk) 01:41, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank You 85.158.138.22 (talk) 01:36, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Inciting edit warring
Can gentle nudging be made to an editor (I have no idea how to not get banished or other threats in retort, if attempt this) Walkabout12 regarding his edit summaries? This editor makes many reverts with no explanaations to explain why. He also has inserted nasty comments on user pages with ad hominem attacks. This deters editors from making improvements, for sure, and appears to provoke emotional response from editors, giving no explanation for his reverts or warnings. People need reasons otherwise editors appear to be stalking or harrasing them. In view of his wiki participation he is most liekely in good faith but needs anudge or maybe his style needs a review. Perceived provoking of editors does not promote good growth. 99.251.114.120 (talk) 02:31, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Two things: 1) This is not the correct place to report problems of this nature. Try WP:WQA instead.  2) When you do report it there, please provide diffs which provide evidence that there is a problem.  -- Jayron  32  02:37, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Dictionary built into Wikipedia?
While using my Kindle Fire, I was reading a Wikipedia article which contained a hyperlink on a particular word within the article. I am not sure how I did this but, upon tapping on the hyperlink (or doing something like this), I was taken to a page with the definition of the word instead of the Wikipedia entry for this word. Sometimes I wish to only know the definition of a word within a Wikipedia article rather than looking at the entire Wikipedia page on this word, so I thought that this trick was quite nice. The problem is, I don't know how I brought up the definition as I did this by accident. Does anyone know if there is a dictionary built into Wikipedia and, if so, what I might have done to stumble upon it? Thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.66.215 (talk) 04:51, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * You were probably directed to Wiktionary. The Utahraptor Talk/Contribs 04:55, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Some articles contain embedded links to Wiktionary entries, and it is hard to tell them apart. For example, grain is a link to a Wikipedia article, and grain is a link to Wiktionary. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:35, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

New Accounts from abroad
Morning, Is it possible to open a HSBC Bank account as a South African citizen? Have deposits put into it in Canada/USA.

Regards Richard — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.242.247.171 (talk) 05:10, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * They have branches in, for example, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Von Restorff (talk) 10:16, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * It is possible to open an account online, but this is often restricted to legal residents of the country where you are opening the account and you will need to provide ID. Unfortunately, HSBC have offices for global banking and financial markets but no bank branch network in South Africa.  You could open a personal checking account in the USA using your Green Card as ID (assuming you are a South African resident in the USA).  You might have trouble opening a HSBC bank account elsewhere, unless you go for HSBC's 'premier' or 'advance' accounts, or their 'expat service'.  These other accounts have significant eligibility requirements (not least the need to maintain many thousands in the account!) See here (premier & advance) and here (expat) for more info.
 * As you probably already know, transferring money internationally is usually subject to high fees, even within the same company. For example, I have two accounts in different countries but the banks are part of the same banking company; I have found a 'cheap' way to transfer money between the two accounts, but it still costs me £7 per transaction.  In your case, it might be simpler to open two accounts with your preferred banks in USA and South Africa, and find a cheap way to transfer money between them.  Astronaut (talk) 08:40, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

adding to the lexicon
I've coined some new words - terms of indearment for my dogs, actually - that are being used in my group of peers as affectionate references towards their partners etc. I've written a short piece explaining all this and included some of these new terms. Just for fun could you tell how would I start a conversation about spreading the use of these new words amongst the wikipedia community or at least finding out if people like them? Cheers Chris — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.73.16.150 (talk) 05:34, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm afraid that Wikipedia isn't created for your purpose of "adding to the lexicon". See No original research for the Wikipedia policy on this.  Perhaps you could find some internet forum to use your new words in.  -- Jayron  32  05:41, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Sorry, Wikipedia is not for things made up one day. Von Restorff (talk) 05:57, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

My pages have been hounded
Dear Team Recently my pages have been hounded unfairly and inarticulately - by LondonClanger - I am wondering if you can ask him to desist form sabotages our pages connected to Darryl Read as he seems to be making a hobby of it! There also further pages just deleted - which looks like robot work deletion - these pages are: Remember a Day (2000 film), and The Orange Illusion, these pages are legit in all ways. Link for Remember a Day: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0279367/ as well as all references, I noted that user Michael Schimdt - has offered to help with the restoration of the Remember a Day page.

This is tiresome work, when users try to sabotage legitimate historical works out of sheer maliciousness, I hope that Wiki find a remedy for this in the near future.

Thanks for your help in this matter sincerely Catwizard777 (Clive Zone) — Preceding unsigned comment added by CatWizard777 (talk • contribs) 08:17, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia does not aim to have a page on every film, but only those that other people have already written about in reliable sources such as books, news reports and such like. An IMDb entry is not enough by itself - I can't see the deleted articles, so I can't comment in detail. This page gives a useful summary; there's lots more at Notability and Notability (films).


 * Could you explain why you use the phrase "our pages"? Is this account being used by more than one person, or on behalf of a group or organisation of some kind? -- John of Reading (talk) 08:45, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree. Not every subject that exists is eligible for an article on Wikipedia: Articles must meet our standards of notability. It wasn’t just LondonClanger who caused the deletion of your articles: They were discussed at WP:Articles for deletion/Remember a Day (2000 film) and WP:Articles for deletion/The Orange Illusion, and the consensus was that the subjects did not meet our notability standards. —teb728 t c 08:56, 14 January 2012 (UTC) Also, IMDb is not necessarily considered a reliable source; see WP:IMDB. —teb728 t c 09:37, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I notice that here you sign as “Catwizard777 (Clive Zone)”, but on your user talk page you sign as “Darryl Read (catwizard777)”. Does this mean that your account is used by more than one person? If so, I’m sorry, but sharing an account is not permitted. —teb728 t c 10:09, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I informed LondonClanger about this discussion. Von Restorff (talk) 10:11, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Not offered Edit links when looking at most recent Diff
Up until today, when I look at the most recent Diff - the changes made between the current version and the previous version, I was offered an Edit link at the start of each section. Now I'm not offered those Edit links.

I see the Edit links on each section when I look at the whole article but it was easier to edit before.

Has something changed? SteveCrook (talk) 09:44, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, and bug 33671 has been logged. See this thread. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:56, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * OK, thanks. It's not just me then :) -- SteveCrook (talk) 21:05, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Can't find the article I submitted about H.T. Lockard
'''Several days ago I submitted an article on H.T. Lockard, an African American jurist who had recently died, but ignorantly, I was not aware of the requirement that I must first register with Wikipedia. I have now registered. Is that article that I submitted lost? Should I submit a second one?''' Slidhome (talk) 10:14, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * You submitted it here (click on the "Show" link). It was rejected because you submitted it as a Category rather than as an Article. —teb728 t c 10:37, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

under The Mistletoe
On the page of Justin bieber's song under the mistletoe. the name of the girl in the music video is missing. And some one is delating it whenever i edit it. the name of the girl is 'Ali Williams'. Pls add thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.203.45.0 (talk) 11:11, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Both the articles Justin Bieber and Under the Mistletoe are semi-protected, so that only registered users can edit them. If you have a change you would like to make to Under the Mistletoe you can suggest it at Talk:Under the Mistletoe - but be aware that any such information will only be added if you can point to a reliable source which gives the information: original research is not acceptable in Wikipedia. --ColinFine (talk) 15:45, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

What have I done wrong to the reference tags?
Hello,

I am trying to edit the Bill Drummond page but the following message has appeared:

"Cite error: There are tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template or a
 * There are a number of features in this particular script beyond just refreshing the watchlist every 60 seconds. Contact me on my talk page if you need help with this specific script.  fredgandt  21:26, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * ReloadEvery Von Restorff (talk) 22:53, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Memory parody song
I just read a very funny Swedish language parody of Memory (Cats song) down at the local pub. It starts out with ''Minne! Jag har tappat mitt minne!'' ("Memory! I've lost my memory!") Should I write the lyrics, along with their English translations, in the article? J I P &#124; Talk 20:43, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * No. Such lyrics are not free to use, so per WP:COPYVIO they should not be in the Wikipedia article.  Additionally, per WP:NOT, even if they were free to use, Wikipedia is not a lyrics database, so it shouldn't be in the articles anyways.  -- Jayron  32  20:49, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Problem with Template:Portalbox
Hi, There seems to be a problem with Template:Portalbox - it's set to redirect to Template:Portal box which in turn redirects to Template:Portal. In an article it gives 1. REDIRECT Template:Portal rather than the portal boxes. I thought the double redirect migtht be the problem but fixing that it didn't seem to help. Hybrid2712 (talk) 20:54, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Your fix was good, but it may take the system a while to rebuild the affected pages. I have restored your fix and then purged the page American cuisine to force it to be rebuilt, and that one looks ok. Give it a few hours. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:16, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Service in Nevada
Why is it that your 3G service goes out every 2 weeks in NV zip 89301? I spend 45 min every 2 weeks reporting this to Verizon wireless. This service is realy not mantained up here. Whu is that?


 * I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 3.8 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. -- Jayron  32  20:57, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Shared account
I was going to leave a message at User talk:CatWizard777 of my concern that the account may be shared by Darryl Read and Clive Zone, but I could not find a uw- template nor even a policy statement that shared accounts are not allowed. (The closest I could find was that a username cannot indicate a shared function.) Am I wrong about shared accounts being banned? —teb728 t c 21:29, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Here is the link o the policy on sharing accounts, WP:NOSHARE. GB fan 21:34, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I looked at that page but stopped reading too soon. —teb728 t c 01:13, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Please dont review article yet
Can you please take the two copies of the article for the Port of Hastings Development Authority out of the review queue please. It's not ready yet. I'm still getting used to the template. I'm still working on it. Many thanks. Con Belacoski (talk) 22:05, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Can you provide the links to the two articles? In any case: if they're declined you can keep working on them and resubmit them when ready. Jarkeld (talk) 22:08, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I see Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Port of Hastings Development Authority; where is the other one? —teb728 t c 01:11, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Experienced Article Writer Needed
I request that an experienced article writer look over my two submissions, e.g., (1) H.T. Lockard and (2) Lincoln University School of Law, whip them into shape and see if you can get them accepted as Wikipedia articles. Judge Lockard was the first African-American to hold public office in Shelby County, Tennessee; to be appointed a Criminal Court Judge in Tennessee; and to work on a Tennessee Governor's staff. He was forced by the practice of Segregation in the American South in the 1940's to obtain his legal education outside of his home state of Tennessee, and he thus attended and was graduated from the Lincoln University School of Law.


 * Lincoln University School of Law was established in 1939 in St. Louis, Missouri by the Missouri General Assembly in response to Gaines v. Canada, a United States Supreme Court decision which mandated that the state either permit African-Americans to go to the "whites only" law schools or pay their tuition to go to an out-of-state law school.  So the establishment of the Lincoln University School of Law constitutes the only law school in the United States to have been established as a result of a lawsuit.  The school operated until 1955, which was after the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed the "separate but equal" doctrine (and justified creation of the law school in the first instance).

I believe both articles to be noteworthy and appropriate subjects for inclusion in an encyclopedia. Thanks for your help.

Slidhome (talk) 23:08, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Is your first article User:Slidhome/H.T. Lockard or something else? Where is your second article; I don't find it anywhere. (Or is it just the indented paragraph above?) —teb728 t c 01:04, 15 January 2012 (UTC)


 * If TEB728's guess is correct, then here's a sample of it:


 * It was said of him that he "could be meaner than a snake. . . . He wasn't ugly, he wasn't loud. He didn't take the kind of stand-in-the-doorway kind of position that would reverberate across the country. But people knew he would not retreat."


 * Who said this of him? And where?


 * You have to say which part of the article comes from which of the sources you list at the end. You do this via "references" (footnotes). -- Hoary (talk) 10:20, 15 January 2012 (UTC)