Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 January 2

= January 2 =

Fictional universe of Avatar
There's avatar pandora creature's like thanator that is not a wikipedia article. If you type thanator it goes to the special pages that has Fictional universe of Avatar with thanator in it. These creature are notable enough to have their own article like the mythical cyclops does. Plus it does not break down their physical attributes and all movie appearances in Fictional universe of Avatar. If you look at List of Disney's Hercules characters like hydros pyros and the other titans it does not explain the sequence of events they where involved in or have a separate article for themselves. Is it Okay if I copy the stats and story appearances and add myself from pandora's pedia wiki and make separate articles for the species and everything else. Plus not every pandora plant is not included into the Fictional universe of Avatar. Avatar is still making more avatar movies so these creatures and fauna plants will become more popular.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 02:02, 2 January 2012 (UTC) Its probably good to make articles for these creatures, weapons, and plants because the Fictional universe of Avatar will get to big and will take longer to download, these creature like the banshee will get over 50000 views in one month.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 02:06, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

And there is no picture for all avatar characters, creatures, flying vehicles like the C-21 Dragon Assault Ship, and plants.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 02:15, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * We are not in the business of being an exhaustive archive of everything Avatar, Star Trek, Pokemon, or any other franchise. So, tread lightly.  And you may want to read WP:FANCRUFT and WP:POKEMON first.  Dismas |(talk) 02:16, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I believe fantasy pandora creature's and technology apply to real earthly planet creatures and technology. Pokemon is more off track into just fantasy and is less notable to avatar. The pokemon pikachu is probably the most notable pokemon creature with almost 50000 views a month, but a real life creature could not generate electricity except a eel or another unknown sea creature. Am pretty sure a few billion people have watched avatar in the world not including the universe. So do you guys think it okay to make it. Don't worry I won't make it to detailed or off track.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 02:42, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * We're not saying you shouldn't put it online. We're just saying Wikipedia isn't the place. Try the Avatar Wiki. Jim.henderson (talk) 02:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia has almost everything linking to something. Thanator's sensory quills applies to real life mammals that have sensory whiskers. So these creature trait attribute words of their anatomy will link to real Wikipedia articles compared to pandorapedia which does not explain how these sensors work in real life.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 02:57, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * So, insert links both ways. Special Wiki to Wikipedia and vice versa. Jim.henderson (talk) 03:51, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Take a look at the corollary to what you're talking about. In numerous articles, we have an "In popular culture" section.  These are frowned upon because people will include every tiny instance of A in B.  The mailbox baseball article is an example of this.  The second paragraph, while not a pop culture section of its own, is basically a list of shows and movies that had mailbox baseball in them.  These lists are not meant to be exhaustive and can often be trimmed to just a few examples.  What you're suggesting is to have articles on all these in universe items/plants/animals/etc and try to justify the existence of those articles because you'll list instances of B in A.  It's the Pop Culture lists in reverse.  Dismas |(talk) 03:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Team Rosters for phillips 66ers
Three of my uncles played basketball for the 66ers probably in the 1920s. Their birth name was Michalski but they changed it to Michaels to play basketball. Stanley, Joseph and Peter all from Kansas City, Kansas. Due to their playing they were given a job at the refinery in Kansas City, Kansas. Stan left Phillips to work elsewhere, Joe and Pete both retired from the Kansas City Plant. Have tried all sorts of Google Inquiries but have not been able to find anything about them. They were sports stars in Kansas City and I understand also as members of the Phillips 66ers. Maybe you could lead me to the right location. They have all passed away and I'm 72 years old. Charles Removed personal info — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.136.205.42 (talk) 02:11, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * (ec) Don't post personal information here.  Also, the help desk isn't quite the right place for the question.  Symbol move vote.svg Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps.  RudolfRed (talk) 02:18, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * My attempt at help is to see Portal:Genealogy and Genealogy. there may (and probably is) be lots of helpful info about tracing family trees and the like.  fredgandt  02:21, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Can we use Australian Case Law in U.K
Hi I am trying to find some case laws to help in my defence. I live in the U.K and foung this case PERPETUAL TRUSTEE COMPANY LIMITED v Albert and Rose KHOSHABA and wanted to know if I could use it here please.

Thank you for any help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Apples333 (talk • contribs) 02:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Legal no.png We cannot offer legal advice. Please see the legal disclaimer. Contact a lawyer. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:05, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Seeking article feedback 2
The feedback-giver should be very familiar with the game of chess.Jasper Deng (talk) 03:34, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Creating new article and copyright and more
Iv'e just created a Thanator and Mountain Banshee article I got a message from CorenSearchBot for copyrighting it from [] and I did copyright it. How do I get it approved to copyright who should I ask in the avatar wiki to do this. And how do I add a picture to these articles. Would I have to change the style word format and just add and change the words.Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma (talk) 03:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * You got a message for copying it - you can't 'copyright' it, it is someone else's work, and you must not represent other people's work as your own - ever. As for the article, it isn't remotely encyclopaedic - it seems to be representing a fictional creature as fact. You have repeatedly had Wikipedia policy explained to you, and I suggest you either study it, and work within it, or stop editing - you are likely to be blocked otherwise. AndyTheGrump (talk) 03:58, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * (e/c) You did not copyright it, you copied it from another site in violation of their copyright, or at least you did as to the latter one. Please read that blue link since your post makes me think you do not know what copyright is. I have deleted Mountain Banshee as a blatant copyright infringement under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion. In general, you may use external websites or other sources as a source of information (in fact, we want you to), but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Note also that it's not just a matter of minor changes in the wording. Please see Close paraphrasing. Regarding Thanator, while it is plagiarism and a copyright violation since you did not provide proper attribution, the content may be able to be salvaged because the Wikia site you took it from uses the same free copyright license our content is licensed under (the CC-By-SA). I don't have time right now, but you might take a look at what I did earlier today at Jackie McLeod and its talk page for a start at addressing the problem.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:13, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Please run page size tool on Fluorine
Please report the different numbers for page size for Fluorine. Tool does not seem to work with IE9.

TCO (Reviews needed) 04:04, 2 January 2012 (UTC) -- John of Reading (talk) 08:53, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * File size: 567 kB
 * Prose size (including all HTML code): 115 kB
 * References (including all HTML code): 33 kB
 * Wiki text: 142 kB
 * Prose size (text only): 58 kB (8713 words) "readable prose size"
 * References (text only): 1275 B

Thank you.TCO (Reviews needed) 11:50, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

element of set, how do i do it?
Hi, suppose i wannt to say 2 is an element of the set S. what is the procedure to get the little epsilon i need? thanks76.218.104.120 (talk) 04:42, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * You may want to ask this question at Reference desk/Mathematics. -- Jayron  32  04:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Hey, the OP probably is asking for this in order to help improve our articles, so why not answer here? As our help page Help:Displaying a formula says, you can use &amp;isin; to get &isin;. &mdash; Sebastian 04:56, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * See also (for future reference) WikiProject Mathematics.  fredgandt  05:00, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * &isin; is supposed to indicate set membership? I had hoped when i saw that in rational point it was a typo. It doesn't look like an epsilon and apparently also denotes the sum of two groups. --Rich Peterson76.218.104.120 (talk) 06:38, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Rich, when you enter "∈" in the search box, it will lead you right to our article Element (mathematics), which should answer your question. If you still have concerns about this, you can discuss it on that article's talk page. &mdash; Sebastian 09:26, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * &#917; -  - Upper case Greek Epsilon
 * &#949; -  - Lower case Greek epsilon
 * Not sure if they are mathematical symbols though.  fredgandt  07:12, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * These are used in math, but not for what the OP asked about, so I fail to see a reason for listing them here. &mdash; Sebastian 09:26, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I was bored.  fredgandt  09:32, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Year-end page view tool availability for 2011?
When is the year-end page view tool going to be ready for 2011. I.e, I can see monthly totals for http://stats.grok.se/en/2010/Bon_Iver but not http://stats.grok.se/en/2011/Bon_Iver.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 09:33, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Collaboration of the month nominations
Hello. I nominated Genome-wide association study for WikiProject_Genetics/Collaboration_of_the_Month in the wiki-project genetics. There's not a lot of throughput in this project, but it did manage to get two votes. How is this "election-victory" handled? Should I do something myself, or does it happen automatically (nothing have happened yet, now two days after voting deadline)? --LasseFolkersen (talk) 09:42, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * T'was me who edited your comment (to fix the link). Please don't scowl; my intentions were good.
 * Is there no details on the WikiProject page about how the process should work?  f<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">red</i>g<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">andt</i>  09:53, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Mhmm. There's a link on the nominations page to WikiProject Genetics/Collaboration of the Month/Update how-to. You'll find the instructions there. Congratulations.  f<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">red</i>g<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">andt</i>  10:10, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I totally overlooked that link. I did most of the steps, although it says there is one that requires admin-rights (step 7). If anybody admin, reads this please change. Also there were some other steps I omitted (like removing previous CoTM, because there is none) --LasseFolkersen (talk) 12:35, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * There's a template we can use to get admin help (never used it myself). Follow this link Admin help and read the instructions (I know it's complex but you get used to it). If you don't fancy that complication, admins are here on and off all day, so one is bound to read this.  f<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">red</i>g<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">andt</i>  14:09, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Spelling of D'Arcy
There is an inability to spell surnames correctly.

D'Arcy, d'Arcy or Darcy are the only acceptable forms of the surname. The variant D'arcy only exists in computers or in the minds of the illiterate.

The article about Cecil D'Arcy VC is suspect, if only because of the spelling.

Stanton D'Arcy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.147.44.121 (talk)


 * Henry Cecil Dudgeon D'arcy?  f<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">red</i>g<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">andt</i>  10:45, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * There is actually a redirect from Henry Cecil Dudgeon D'Arcy to Henry Cecil Dudgeon D'arcy. It was created in June 2008. Someone thought about this issue already and it seems to have been decided (one way or another) that the lower case "a" is correct. I suggest starting a slightly less aggressive conversation on the talk page of the article with the disputed name.  f<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">red</i>g<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">andt</i>  10:51, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Could our requester please explain the seemingly incorrect spelling of "Stanton D'Arcy"? HiLo48 (talk) 10:56, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I have moved the article to the common name found in reliable sources, Cecil D'Arcy, fixing the capitalization of D'arcy at the same time. Fred, I wouldn't put too much stock in what redirects, but go straight to source material. In this case, a search of d'arcy in Google Books with the delimiter, "zulu" and then various separate searches of forms of his name in quotes from those results, shows the preponderance of the common form his name and that the "A" in D'Arcy is capitalized.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:09, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * That's been a long standing error there then. I'm really quite rubbish at finding references (I'll get better). I can't seem to judge (am not confident) what a reliable source is. Don't worry about explaining. I'll figure it out some day. Just letting you know why I didn't do more.  f<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">red</i>g<i style="color:#0dd;font-size:10px;">andt</i>  14:17, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Donation
Please can someone tell me how to donate (I have just found out that I'm Bipolar) and I want to shout out and help other people. Kind regards,

Kristian Wade

Kris Wade :-) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.43.119.173 (talk) 11:23, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Hi, this list might be of interest to you Lotje ツ (talk) 11:42, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Hi Kris. Based on your IP address you appear to be in England, so please visit this link If you have any problems, please feel free to follow-up here.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:44, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure if the OP meant a donation to Wikimedia or to a charity supporting people with bipolar disorder. If it's the latter, all we can really do is point you to the Google search results for "Bipolar charity".--  Obsidi ♠ n   Soul   11:59, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

In the News section
I really do not understand the 'In the News' section that is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the Wikipedia home page. Sometimes there is something there but it does not link you to an article or anything about the headline teaser that it represents. Such as today:

Samoa and Tokelau switch to the western side of the International Date Line, skipping 30 December entirely.

There is a link to the 'Samoa' and to 'Tokelau'  and a link to 'International Date Line'  the later being bolder than the other two. But nothing about why the change, and such like that and any new article about it.

This is not the first time that this has happened

(Redacted) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.186.167.74 (talk) 15:06, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Please don't post your email here. As for your question, it's because it's not news. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and can never host news articles. The In the news (ITN) section, despite its name, is actually about encylopedia articles that have been updated because of current events. But it will never link to an actual news story.


 * To quote from In the news: "The In the news (ITN) section on the main page serves to direct readers to articles that have been substantially updated to reflect recent or current events of wide interest. ITN supports the central purpose of Wikipedia—making a great encyclopedia. Unlike Wikipedia's sister project Wikinews, Wikipedia is not an online newspaper and does not accept original works of journalism or first-hand reports."


 * For the Samoa and Tokelau issue, you will note that the bolded article (International Date Line) has indeed been updated to include a mention of their 2011 decision to cross the IDL again. If you want to read actual news stories, the main page for Wikinews is here.--  Obsidi ♠ n   Soul   15:26, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * It seems to me, however, that a piped section link to International Date Line would be in more helpful. —teb728 t c 20:56, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

todays featuread photo
hi, i am a photographer from india, is it any way that i can be a part of todays featured photo as i really want to be apart of it. is there any procedure to go through from which photos arr selected.? thankyu — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.0.10.26 (talk) 15:56, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * See Featured pictures. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 16:27, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Magic word variable for sections/anchors
I'd like to have a template automatically sense whether it is at the top of the page or within a section. Currently, the user needs to add a parameter (section=y) when inserting the template.

Is there is a Magic word variable (like ) for section names, or section levels, or even just a boolean test to determine is the code is in a section? -- Helena srilowa 16:11, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * There is no such feature. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:47, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you. I've requested this feature at Wikimedia. Anyone else who'd like to see this feature can vote for it at: http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=33477 -- Helena srilowa 00:14, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Missing image on Wikicommons
While patrolling, I found a broken red link to an image (File:1 2 2 canal.jpg) in the Transport section of the Shropshire article. Following the link takes me to a page that says the image was deleted in May 2009 because there is a. However, there is no such image at Commons. Can someone please provide guidance on how to resolve this. Can the missing image be found? Or should its link in the Shropshire article be deleted? Thanks. Truthanado (talk) 16:00, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I don't know about that particular image, but Commons has a couple of images (File:Newport-4.jpg and File:Title Roving canal bridge, NewportFile Size 51.84 KBDimensions 500px x 305px.jpg) of the canal at Newport. You could use one of those (either of which might in fact be the original image) in the article in place of the "missing image". Deor (talk) 17:16, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * According to this page, the file was deleted from Commons as non-free (all rights reserved). —teb728 t c 18:41, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Is it OK to go back and changing a non-compliant signature from alternate retired account?
Hello. See Talk:Ross Barnett Reservoir. Notice the flashing signature for posts by user:The Eskimo...that was me as a wiki-rookie. I've since retired that account. I returned to the article the other day wanting to add some new sources, and noticed the horribly distracting sig (which is now kind of embarrassing). I'm a little skittish about editing posts from an old account with my existing one. Can someone advise if it is OK to do so...or at least fix whatever is causing the flashing? Thank you! Quinn <sup style="color:black;">&#10025; STARRY NIGHT 16:35, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Since it is your account, it is fine to remove inappropriate (and annoying) text formatting from your signature. I've [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3ARoss_Barnett_Reservoir&diff=469163308 removed] the blinking. You may want to check if you've used that signature elsewhere and remove the . AWB if you have it would be useful. Goodvac (talk) 18:14, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Looking for a French friend who was deported back to France in 1975 by Vietnamese communist
I've been looking for my friend for a long time but there's no luck.If someones know the websites i can find some information about French who left Vietnam in 1975,please email me at Thankyou and God bless.Son Hoang  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.136.26.27 (talk) 17:13, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * [[Image:Symbol move vote.svg|20px]] This page is for questions about using Wikipedia. Please consider asking this question at the Reference desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. You could always try  for an article related to the topic you want to know more about.  I hope this helps. Singularity42 (talk) 18:26, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi
Pls hw can i get the content in the sun july 7,2007 page 25. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.190.8.31 (talk) 17:22, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * 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. —teb728 t c 17:35, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Moving to Commons
Most of the images I've uploaded were tagged for moving to Commons. While uploading the images the creators are free to choose whether or not to upload the images to Commons. But once the images are uploaded, a bot begins to move them to Commons, an action which I find somewhat contradictious. If it is compulsory to upload the images to Commons, why are the creators given a chance to upload the files to en Wiki in the first place ? Nedim Ardoğa (talk) 19:08, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * There are non-free files that are used in the English Wikipedia under the fair use laws of the US (movie posters or book covers for example). And there are also rare cases where an image may only be legally free in one country but not another. These can not be transferred to Commons, hence the option.


 * The rest (free files) will eventually be transferred to Commons to make it possible to use the images across different Wikimedia projects (including other-language Wikipedias) without having to upload them individually. See Moving files to the Commons for more details.--  Obsidi ♠ n   Soul   19:39, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

a question about some custom vector.css
Hej,

I tried to import some niftly little custom vector.css from the German WP - and it works 50%. I don't know **** with javascript, CSS, and such - Please help to get the other 50% working, too. This is the code :

a.mw-redirect { color: green; } .bkl-link-inner { background-color:#F0E68C; } .bkl-link-sup { display:none; } The first line makes links to redirects display in green writing - this works well also here in en.WP. :)

The 2nd line is supposed to make links to dab pages display with a light orange background.

The 3rd line I have no idea what it is supposed to do.

bkl is German for dab as in wp:dab, so I tried changing the second line to : .dab-link-inner { background-color:#F0E68C; } but to no avail. :(

So would there be a more or less simple way to achieve what the second line tries to do ? Thanks Pardon my German (Fiiiisch!) (talk) 19:17, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * The script User:Anomie/linkclassifier.js may help you, as it colours links to redirects, links to dab pages and a few other types of link as well. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:30, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Exactly what I recommend as well— see User:Anomie/linkclassifier for installation since there are a couple of lines of JS. The CSS is at User:Anomie/linkclassifier.css. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 22:32, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Wow! That is nice, and documented how to get it working - nice! Thank you both very much. Tomorrow I will try to configure it to use not so aggressive colours. :D

Maybe, in a simpler form, it should go into the user prefs/ gadgets - there are surprisingly many dab links in articles, when one specific target was meant to be linked to.

well, woohoo! Pardon my German (Fiiiisch!) (talk) 00:37, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

!vote
In Wikipedia deletion debates and similar, why do people write "!vote" when they appear to mean "vote"? When I first saw it I thought it was just finger trouble, but I've seen it several times since, and I think it must be intentional. I have no idea what it signifies. 86.167.19.92 (talk) 20:36, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * In computer programming, a bang means "not", so "!vote" means "not-a-vote", which is technically true since in many instances !votes that do not have arguments behind them are disregarded in favor of those putting forward an argument with it. — Jeremy v^_^v Components:V S M 20:39, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * (e/c) It is intended to signify that while the person is registering their opinion on one side or another of an issue, everyone acknowledges that the "vote" is not going to be treated as a tally but on the strength of arguments made; Wikipedia works by consensus and discussion, not on pure voting. Please see WP:!VOTE.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 20:42, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * (edit conflict) See also Glossary. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:43, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * (yet another edit conflict, LOL) The exclamation mark is used for logical negation (cf. in certain programming languages: "A != B" means "A is not equal to B"). !vote means "not a vote". It indicates that the user understands that while a straw poll (a votation) is useful for quickly finding out the general opinions of the participants, it will never replace a good discussion. Having majority in a !vote does not automatically make you "win" an argument, nor does it mean that you have reached a consensus. This is an important Wikipedia guideline outlined in Polling is not a substitute for discussion.--  Obsidi ♠ n   Soul   20:49, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Oh, I see, thanks! 86.167.19.92 (talk) 23:01, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Creating Bio Page
My professor has asked me to help him create a bio page on Wikipedia. Similar to his friends/colleagues: Stan Grof, Richard Tarnas, Michael Murphy (Founder of Esalen), etc. He has a draft of his document modeled after standard bio entries.

How does one go about doing this?

Gratitude for assistance! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.7.89.59 (talk) 20:56, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Start with "Your First Article". The first thing to determine is if your professor is Notable.  RudolfRed (talk) 22:24, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * ... and, if he meets that criterion, then you should read Conflict of interest, though that doesn't prevent you from creating the article, and you have already disclosed the interest, so that's a good start. You might like to first create an account so that you can formally register your connection, then all will be seen as "above board".    D b f i r s   23:11, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Read also WP:BLP, WP:V, WP:RS. All articles—particularly those about living people—must be verifiable by published reliable sources. Your professor may not realize that his autobiography needs to be sourced, and that his personal knowledge is not a "reliable source." —teb728 t c 01:34, 3 January 2012 (UTC)
 * The notability guideline has a more specific section Notability (academics) (also called WP:PROF for short). RJFJR (talk) 20:55, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Pledge drive
WHEN is the pledge drive going to be OVER? I'm really sick of seeing the ad at the top of every Wikipedia page. Or is it just a permanent feature now? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.18.236.102 (talk) 21:15, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm currently seeing a "pledge drive is over, thanks!" type of message, so "a day or two ago" is the answer to your question. DMacks (talk) 21:18, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Hello - do you mean the fundraising banner ? answer : create an account, log in, then you can click my preferences -> "gadgets" and check "suppress display of fundraaising banner." — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fiiiisch! (talk • contribs) 21:40, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm not logged in, and I just click the "close" button ("X" at the top right of the banner) and it goes away permanently. 86.167.19.92 (talk) 23:22, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Articles on California Smog Check - one is a treatise on air pollution, one is poorly written
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Smog_Check_Program - More than half of the article, the sections on Environmental Problem, Policy Tools, and Evaluation, are a collection of citations (and some lack of citations) in support of an agenda. Only the Smog Check Process and History sections are objective information. If the authors want to write a treatise on Air Pollution, Wikipedia is not the place to do it.

I expect that Wikipedia, as an Encyclopedia website, to provide unbiased, objective information.

The article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Smog_Check is more on subject, although there are a lack of citations and it is poorly written. One sentence that begins: The state figured that..." is just one example of poor writing.

I don't have the time or expertise to edit an article, but how we flag something that is inappropriate? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Baffled33 (talk • contribs) 22:23, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm not certain, but from your description, the templates unbalanced and copy edit might be the right tags.   Take a look at WP:TC for more options.  RudolfRed (talk) 22:55, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

The use of the word LAME to describe edit wars is offensive to people with physical disabilites.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disability-related_terms_with_negative_connotations#L

Lame is offensive to people with genuine physical disabilities, and yet you flaunt your hate speech here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Lamest_edit_wars

How do you justify this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.21.30.144 (talk) 23:18, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I don't know if this post is meant seriously, but certainly the "Lamest edit wars" page should have been deleted long ago. It is not "humorous" to poke fun at people who have genuine disagreements about things that they feel are important. Some of the entries on that page are extremely ill-judged, such as the inclusion of the "Derry/Londonderry" and "British Isles" debates, to give two examples. I do not see anything very "humorous" in the former, that's for sure. 86.167.19.92 (talk) 23:28, 2 January 2012 (UTC)


 * "Lame" has two definitions (as an adjective), the latter is used in this instance. If voluntarily you choose to read it as the former definition no one at Wikipedia is unlikely to take responsibility or take any complaints seriously.  Я ehevkor ✉  23:30, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * That'd be "no-one at Wikipedia is likely, I suspect you mean Tonywalton Talk 01:41, 7 January 2012 (UTC)
 * As a person with a Club foot can I please officially state for the record that I give absolutely no support at all to limp and bootless arguments that the word "lame" in the above context is "hate speech". The greatest disability anyone can have is a chip on the shoulder. Tonywalton Talk 01:41, 7 January 2012 (UTC)