Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 March 11

= March 11 =

Wikipedia won't let me edit articles. WHAT DO I DO?
Today, I tried to edit the article 'List of WWE personnel'. The edit tab was nowhere in sight! What do I do? Thank you.209.213.145.236 (talk) 01:12, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * That article may be semi-protected due to frequent vandalism. -- Orange Mike &#x007C;  Talk  01:17, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * List of WWE personnel is semi-protected. Click the "View source" tab for instructions. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:30, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Don't receive password reminder for forgotten password
Yesterday, I attempted to login, but apparently I used the wrong password. I asked for a password reminder, but I received none. When I attempted to login today, I received a message that you sent a password reminder within the past 24hrs, so your system must be aware of my request. Please advise.

Mark E. Harder — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.21.105.29 (talk) 01:04, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * The mail may have been misidentified as spam. Try to check spam folders in your mail service. Your mail provider may have a spam folder if you log in to their webmail interface. The old password will still work if you get an idea what it was. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:34, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

broken markup, what's the problem?
At the article Murphy Martines, the infobox on the right seems to have a problem -- it is showing something that looks like markup for the filename above the photo. Can someone take a look at it and see what the error is? RudolfRed (talk) 02:19, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Fixed. Many infoboxes add their own image code and only want the filename. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:42, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks! RudolfRed (talk) 02:52, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

How do you find someone when you only know a last name?
How do you find someone when you only know a last name?

When you enter a surname in the search box, you don't get results for people with that last name. This is probably the biggest flaw in Wikipedia's choice to use the format 'First Name Last Name' for entries about people instead of the conventional 'Last Name, First Name'.

OLEF641 (talk) 05:33, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Hi. You could try the categories. Who are you trying to find? :) Starfleet Academy   Hail my ship  05:48, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * This is not a problem with the format of titles, but with the foisting on users by default of the awful Vector skin interface (still mad about this almost two years later). One of the "features" was to remove the choice between using the go and search buttons as separate and easily seen functions, defaulting everyone to use of the go button function, unless they know of the arcane way to force a search by clicking on the last item in the drop-down list (which says "containing..."). You can still find a person using "go" since it will switch to search results if it does not find the exact entry in the database, but will take you to the article if it exists. An example: say you're looking for Omar Bradley but can't remember his first name. You type in Bradley and end up at Bradley. Crap. So then, if you know a little about him and place a likely search term, say , you will get search results since there is no article by that name in the database. But if you had the search button, typing just Bradley would find him without this extra hoop. As I said, you can still do this by clicking on "containing...", but most people don't notice the feature or realize what it's for.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 06:45, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Log in problem
I was previously logged into Wikipedia, but my login has expired. I tried to log in again today, but was told Wiki did not recognize my user name and/or password. I submitted a form for a new password, using my current e-mail address, but did not receive a new password. When I tried again, I received a message "only one password may be sent in 24 hours." This is frustrating. Any suggestions? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.136.132.177 (talk) 07:02, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Are you sure you used the correct username? Go to an article you edited, click the history button, and find your username in the history to make sure. Regarding the sending of a new password, did you check your spam folder?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 07:13, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * If you give an existing username but wrong password then you should get "Incorrect password or confirmation code entered". Are you trying to log in here at http://en.wikipedia.org and what is the username? PrimeHunter (talk) 12:36, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Usernames (and passwords) are case sensitive. I imagine if you requested a new password for an account that you spelled incorrectly, or for which a different email address is recorded, you might not receive an email at all.  Astronaut (talk) 15:36, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Deleted pages in own userspace
Is there a way for me as a non-admin to get a list of all deleted pages in my userspace? -- Toshio Yamaguchi  (tlk−ctb) 10:18, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

If I should better bring this up at Botreq, just let me know. Perhaps a bot op with a bot account having an admin flag can do it or a sysop can via AWB? -- Toshio Yamaguchi  (tlk−ctb) 12:14, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Changing font
How do you change the font on a page (using the tag?)? Thanks! Allen (talk) 13:41, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * You can, but why do you want to? What is wrong with the normal font on Wikipedia pages?  Astronaut (talk) 15:32, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * is deprecated. Help:HTML in wikitext says: &lt;font&gt; (deprecated) : Indicates presentation with a particular font color, typeface and/or size.
 * PrimeHunter (talk) 15:42, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * First, I wanted to change the font because of this: I have an OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheet that I wanted to import into Wikipedia. I wanted it to be as closely a mirror of my spreadsheet as possible (keeping as much of the formatting as possible).  It has different colored font and different types of font (Arial Black, Modern, Comic Sans, etc.).  How do I get this accomplished?
 * Second, what do you mean that is "deprecated"? It did change the font color.  Allen (talk) 17:43, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * The tag is deprecated, and should be replaced by CSS. However, most browsers will probably support a lot of deprecated tags for a very long time. See Font family (HTML), but the actual rendering will depend on the font installed on the reader's system. ---—  Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 18:47, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * That still doesn't answer my question: How do I get the table to look just like my spreadsheet? Allen (talk) 19:06, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * What is the subject? Do you have a draft version? Is it about fonts? Generally, there is a desire for a standarized look in WP articles. See Manual of Style. If the potential article is about fonts, it may make sense to include a sample, but if not, it may not be approriate. Have you read ban Comic Sans-- SPhilbrick (Talk)  21:07, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * The subject of my spreadsheet is roads (all Interstate and U.S. highways past, present, and future), not fonts. I could upload a copy of the spreadsheet so that someone could help me.  Would that help?  The reason that I use different fonts is that it is easier to do that than normal formatting (besides, the bold, italics, underlining, and some other "normal formatting" is used for other things in the spreadsheet).  Please let me know how I can assist you.  Allen (talk) 21:22, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Please do not do this. It will make it difficult for anybody but you to edit the table. --ColinFine (talk) 21:28, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * ColinFine, can you please clarify what you mean by that? Allen (talk) 21:41, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Font support varies between browsers, and Wikipedia allows reuse of our content in any media so readers may not even use a browser. See Manual of Style/Text formatting. Please find another way to present the information. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:20, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Guideline / help page for writing help pages
I would like to create a new page in the help namespace. Is there a general guide on how such pages should be written? -- Toshio Yamaguchi  (tlk−ctb) 14:23, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I don't know of any but you may find WP:PROPOSAL applicable to some extent.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:31, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Is Help Project/guidelines what you're looking for? Dru of Id (talk) 14:33, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I feel that something like Help:Non-free content is needed. I am not going to bother with enforcement of NFCC for a while, it causes too much stress and drama, but I thought the creation of such a page might be helpful and (hopefully) uncontroversial, but I haven't created any pages in the Help namespace yet and thus want to have some guidance on how such a page should be written and structured. -- Toshio Yamaguchi  (tlk−ctb) 14:40, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

PS: We really need something like WP:WikiPsychiatrists as I must be suffering from WP:Obsessive–compulsive NFCC enforcement disorder. -- Toshio Yamaguchi  (tlk−ctb) 15:39, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

911 response - claims we invaded AFGHANISTAN. Ii think we invaded IRAQ! AFGHANISTAN CAME LATER.
I did a "BING" search for 911 terrorists and I arrived at this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks.

The second paragraph states: "Suspicion quickly fell on al-Qaeda, and in 2004, the group's leader Osama bin Laden, who had initially denied involvement, claimed responsibility for the attacks.[1] Al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives for the attacks. [The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had harbored Al-Qaeda.] Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers. In May 2011, after years at large, bin Laden was found and killed.

[I don't think this is correct. I watched news sources as our troops invaded IRAQ, with confused looks on their faces as IRAQI civilians tried to attack the line of American tanks driving unarmed pickup trucks at the tank line, essentially committing suicide as they were gunned down in their vain attempt to keep the troops out of their country.]

This is the first time I've found what I consider to be an error in a Wikipedia page. Your contributers do a fantastic job and I've been surprised many times by coverage of the smallest facts. Please check this fact as I don't have the best memory for history - but when I've lived it I remember it better.

Thanks for being available whenever I need you. I never appreciated encyclopedias many years ago when they were just big expensive books with pesky salesmen going door-to-door selling them.

Jessica S, Naples, FL USA. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.3.139.47 (talk) 14:42, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Hi Jessica. The place to post about this is at the article's talk page: Talk:September 11 attacks.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:47, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * With major subjects like 911, there are many articles that expand on the information. Take a look at War in Afghanistan (2001–present) which says it bagan on October 7, 2001 in response to 911 and with the aim of "...dismantling the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and ending its use of Afghanistan as a base".  The Iraq War wasn't started until March 20, 2003 but the reasons for it were much more complex.  Part of the problem was the "...Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was issuing rapid orders to his aides to look for evidence of Iraqi involvement", but also my own government's September Dossier and Iraq Dossier, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, and Colin Powell's summary to the Security Council just 2 days after the latter dossier was published, led to an overwhelming call for the invasion of Iraq.  Astronaut (talk) 15:27, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Hoverbox Suggestion
Hi, This is Srikanth K N from India. I got one idea while using Wikipedia. We can use little description of any link while we place our mouse point towards link.

Eg: If Philanthropy word is present in paragraph, then if our mouse point goes to that word it should display the small description of the word like Philanthropy is " Love of Humanity". Then after clicking the click it will take to page which describes that word completely.

Regards, Srikanth K N — Preceding unsigned comment added by 180.215.22.89 (talk) 15:11, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * If you signed up as a user, you would be able to turn on popups. It will cause a popup box to appear when you hover over a wiki-link.  (I also removed your contact details to protect your privacy from scammers).  Astronaut (talk) 15:30, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Hmm, thanks; the popup is cute all right, but larger than the usual hoverbox or tooltip often seen in programs. Smaller boxes would be appropriate as default for all readers, not just us insiders. I suppose implementing it in small form would be too big a job for Village pump (proposals). Jim.henderson (talk) 15:44, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Nominating another User
Hello, how can i nominate another user for Autopatrolled right ? The user has created about 100 good articles. TheGeneralUser (talk) 15:54, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * If they want the right they should ask themselves, you shouldn't be nominating them. You can tell them about the right on their userpage, then if they decide they want it they can ask.  GB fan 16:02, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * From Requests for permissions, "Unlike other requests, any user may nominate an editor for Autopatrolled, even without that user's consent" -- John of Reading (talk) 16:07, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * (e/c) Use the "add request" link in the appropriate section at Requests for permissions, but in the next edit window delete  and write the name of the user instead. Preview to see if it looks right, then save. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:07, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * User:M.casanova has created many articles for many months now, and the Autopatrolled page says that one can request the flag for another user. I can leave the note on the user's page for this matter. Maybe the said user does not know that they can obtain this right. The user is originally from Italian Wikipedia. Many of the articles that the user created have ended up for proposed deletion, but hardly none are being deleted as they qualify to being kept. There can be a way in which the user can be granted this right. TheGeneralUser (talk) 16:13, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your help on this John of Reading :). TheGeneralUser (talk) 16:25, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Forgotte my Password
World24: I cant recover my Password, need help. Thanks
 * If you didn't add an email address to the account, there isn't anyway to retrieve the password. For more information please look at Help:Logging in  GB fan 17:24, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Self-promotion in userspaces?
I came across a user (MargiePearl) who has contributed nothing except self-promotion to her own sandbox. I placed a userpage warning notice on her talk page, but she has not taken down the self-promotion (this was about two days ago). Should I remove the self-promotion from her userspace, or should I just let it go? Sleddog116 (talk) 18:05, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Consider filing at Miscellany for deletion per WP:NOTWEBHOST. Dru of Id (talk) 18:14, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

I have 14 different butterfly pupa images
They are found here: http://death-pengwin.deviantart.com/gallery/33908728 I took the pictures, my wife manages a butterfly house. I can not upload them to wikipedia because I do not meet the requirements. I give full permission to use them for ANY purpose. If someone could upload them to their relevant page, I would appreciate it. They are pictures of: I can crop, rename or whatever if it is needed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Uncle-malaria (talk • contribs) 18:06, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Papilio Palinurus,
 * Archaeoprepona Demophon,
 * Idea Leuconoe,
 * Morpho Peleides,
 * Graphium Agamemnon,
 * Hypolimnus Bolina,
 * Heliconius Melpomene,
 * Drydula Phaftusa,
 * Chilasa Clytia,
 * Pathenos Sylvia Lilacinus,
 * Caligo Eurilochus,
 * Atticus Atlas,
 * Papilio Thoas,
 * Heliconius Doris.


 * Thank you for your offer. Please upload them to Commons where they will be available to all Wikimedia projects. Commons does not have an autoconfirmation requirement so you should be able to upload immediately.--ukexpat (talk) 00:36, 12 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Based on http://toolserver.org/~quentinv57/sulinfo/Uncle-malaria I guess you are also the Commons user Uncle-malaria. I suggest you unify your accounts at Special:MergeAccount. This feature was introduced in 2008. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:55, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

Canvasing to a degree but not what it sounds please read
Hey all, I want to know if it be fine for me to canvas to a degree projects and some users who would be assiocated with this. it is to witha realible source i am just wanting to get as mny users particate in it as possible and not all users follow relaible source notice board

the praticaulr one is Reliable_sources/Noticeboard as i say i jsut ant to try get as much opinion it as possible, but i dnt want to canvas if it be against rules as i say i aint canvasing for my own good just for peopel opinion to get a consesus on what the above source-- Andrewcrawford ( talk  -  contrib ) 18:12, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

A bug - doubling the homepage info - in infobox writer
The infobox writer seems to produce a bug - doubling the homepage info. Example given: Susanna Moore. I'd like to know why this happens - and how it is fixed. Thanks. -- Justus Nussbaum (talk) 18:36, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * When you have a problem with a template, try reading the template documentation. Per infobox writer: Do not use syntax such as or Great person . The proper syntax is: http://www.example.com/ . ---—  Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 18:41, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Okay, helpful! - I couldn't have imagined that such a simple wiki-syntax was excluded. And didn't know where to look it up. Wiki-technicians should foresee those situations as the normal case and add better hints to point at the problem-solving template. -- Justus Nussbaum (talk) 19:23, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * There's no lightweight string-parser function available in wikipedia right now...it's actually pretty intensive to have the infobox look at the entered syntax and recognize whether it's plain-URL vs wiki-markup. And each infobox is written on its own, so there's no consistency among what each one wants, so new-editors and long-standing ones alike are reduced to the common denominator of reading the documentation for each once we all realize that this is a specific field that really needs RTFMing for use. DMacks (talk) 13:13, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

ref desk archive missing question
While searching the reference desk archive, I found an anomoly in the archive. The index for February 6 shows two questions, but when I go to the Feb 6 archive page, it only shows one.

See the index here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Entertainment/February_2012#February_6

And the archived page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012_February_6

RudolfRed (talk) 19:12, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * This diff might explain it. -- Toshio Yamaguchi  (tlk−ctb) 19:40, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * It does, indeed. Thanks. RudolfRed (talk) 20:10, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

User reverted changes
A user has reverted changes, there is nothing incorrect with the edit, but the user has reverted it. If they wanted to fix up the language, thats fine, but to revert to something that is outdated by over six months seems absurd. The user that is a so called subject matter expert clearly does not know the subject as well as they think they do. I am not making up events, I am trying to update a page I can see needs it and am only trying to help keep pages up-to date. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Itsddp (talk • contribs) 19:24, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Did that other user make any comments about why he was reverting it? WP:EDITSUMMARY is an important way to communicate the intent of an edit. Did you cite a source for your updated information? Verifiability policy is more important than having the absolute latest information if that newer material does not have a reliable source to support it. If you tell us what actual page you are editing, we can look at more specifics... DMacks (talk) 19:34, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * There are a few guidelines that come to mind here including WP:OR, WP:RS, and WP:COI.
 * We could provide better guidance if you told us which article you're referring to. Generally though, it's best to handle content issues on the talk page of the article in question.  Or possibly contact the other editor directly at their talk page.  Dismas |(talk) 19:37, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * If you are referring to this revert, the other editor explained in their edit summary that your addition was unsourced, as in fact it was. In a biography of a living person anyone may remove unsourced material. If you want to add that, you must cite a reliable source that verifies your addition. It is not truth but verifiability that qualifies content for inclusion. (I must say though that for a biography of a living person, the whole article is poorly sourced.) —teb728 t c 07:28, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

New website
i am in the planning stage of making a new website, it primary function is to give visitors information and hopefulyl give them realible information by myself or people i would employee contact compaies for the information so get a direct soruce of the infomration and my website publishing it, i cant give details of the site as it still planning stage and would not want the potential of someoen stealign my idea so to say. However what my question is, if it was deemed by user of wikipedia to be a relaible source and then editors are using it for articles, as very keen wikipedia editor i would wan tot help other editors, basically would there be any sort of problems with me developing code soa user could say press link that says wikipedia code and it gerenates the code that be used on wikipedia to disply th information obviously they need ot be warning in place as my site wouldnt be ble to kwno about any current references int eh page it jsut be able to creaete teh code based o the information from ym site soa user would not need to create the code themself.

so would thre be any poetnial problems with this, nothing hs been deicded about the website if it might even start nor if it does what whether it would do this it just ideas just now in my head but thought i would ask-- Andrewcrawford ( talk  -  contrib ) 19:48, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * There would be no problem with users generating the appropriate reference code on your site but you'll have to do quite a bit of work to have the site become a reliable source.  Good luck, Dismas |(talk) 19:59, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm sure a feature would be welcome if your site is considered to be a reliable source. The general code for citations to websites is this:  Hers fold  (t/a/c) 20:01, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * i do not jsut mean code that geenerateor a cite refer to the site, which i only do if it was deemed realible and i kno there be a lto of work to be done to make it realible and to pass erication checks, but take this page for exampe List_of_channels_on_Virgin_TV it is list of chnnel on virign meid atv service, so say my site was about that it isnt but this is a good example, so say in may this year virign add 60 new channels and remove 15 from various caterogy of that list that would eba lot of work for editors to make the new code to add the channesl and work to rmeove the old channels, what teh code i make my site generate would be so to say if it was hosting the channesl on virign on teh day of the change the user would come on and press the link for generator wikipeda code and instead of them doign all teh chnge themself it generate teh entire code need to change the page quickly and much mroe easily it would also reduce the chance of human eorrr where mistake in teh code copy and pasting or acutally put the data in could be wrong, this i the type of wikpeida code generation i am on about but goign on your postive comments so far i think it wouldnt be any objections to it-- Andrewcrawford ( talk  -  contrib ) 20:08, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Please will you spell-check your questions. They are very hard to read. --ColinFine (talk) 21:42, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Welcome to my world of dsylexica ;) i cant read easily ever day, ill admit i never bothered to spell check those but sometime si do try but since i am dyslexic when ever present with words either one options or loads i never know if there right because they look wrong to me if it one word option when i do bother to check i general pick it but i have no idea if it is right or not but with multi options i never know hat to pick-- Andrewcrawford ( talk  -  contrib ) 21:54, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * I see. I'm sorry. I guess you're giving us what you see. ;-)
 * In answer to your question, I don't know the answer, but what you are talking about is effectively a bot, so you might find WP:Bot policy helpful. --ColinFine (talk) 16:00, 12 March 2012 (UTC)


 * dnt worry about it, i am coming to the genreal consesu that society thinks english is the most importnat thing in life rahter it isnt unless it is a english type of exam and it be proven by brain scienis that people only read read teh first and last letter and they dnt need the inbetween letters to acutally read the sentance. anyway thanks for pointing me ot that, although it owuldnt be running as bot on the site i suppose it would be acting likea bot so ill read up on the guidelines i want to keep myself right but at the same time try give user better experiance of my site and to help editor who might use it to have less work-- Andrewcrawford ( talk  -  contrib ) 19:20, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

What's the correct wikipunctuation for antiAmericanenergy?
How do we punctuate the phrase 'anti American energy' so it complies with MOS, as in accused the president of being "anti-American–energy"? I used an endash and an emdash but I'd like some other opinions or guidance. --  Kenatipo   speak! 20:09, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Anti-American should be hyphenated. I don't think that energy should be hyphenated, though I cannot say definitively without the context. ItsZippy (talk • contributions) 20:45, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * It's in the third paragraph here:  --  Kenatipo    speak! 20:54, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks, that's very helpful. I see that the phrase is a direct quote from this source. When we use direct quotes, we keep the formatting and spelling from the source (even if it's wrong). The source says "anti-American energy", so you should use that in the article. ItsZippy (talk • contributions) 21:09, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Zippy! That didn't even occur to me, and, it solves the problem.  --  Kenatipo    speak! 00:21, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

Inappropriate link in a political party page
The page for the UK political party the [Liberal Democrats] has been defaced with a link to the "join" page of a rival political party.

I have no idea how to remove the link, as it appears to have been added into the disambiguation rather than the page itself, and I am not wiki-savvy enough to know where or how to fix.

Arguably, the link is spam, and it is certainly not NPOV to have a political party recruiting from another political party wiki page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.19.27.89 (talk) 20:10, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Removed by another user as spam prior to your post here; evidently you were viewing the previous version. Dru of Id (talk) 20:21, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

help with personal attacks
how can I request warning to be sent to a user? Anonymous user 50.113.47.75 has repeatedly made inappropriate and false statements that qualify as personal attacks in response to deletions (with references cited) I have made to the article on Virginia Military Institute. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bob80q (talk • contribs) 21:13, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

you could go toa admin but i think you coudl aslo leavea warnign the user of the bad behaviour and repeat offense could result ina ip ban or ip bloick ban if they where to be trying to evade-- Andrewcrawford ( talk  -  contrib ) 21:25, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Put a warning on the user's talk page - though since this is an IP user, other people may use it and see the message. For available warning templates and how to use them, see WikiProject user warnings. --ColinFine (talk) 21:47, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * I can't really see where those supposed personal attacks were made by the IP. On the contrary, Bob80q seems to be removing valid attempts at discussion on the article talk page. --Saddhiyama (talk) 21:51, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Could someone please format a hatnote properly for me
I just made a change to the hatnote at Title III. But I don't know how to do hatnotes properly. Would someone take a look and please do any necessary fixes. And I'll learn based on what you do. Thank you. 149.101.1.118 (talk) 21:39, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * ✅ Dru of Id (talk) 21:57, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

first article mistake
I wanted to write my first article, checked all the info and read for ages to check I got it correct but forgot to log in first - yes okay, I know that was really silly but I was concentrating so hard on getting the article right, I missed it. Now I'm not able to get back to it to edit it! Any ideas folks? M — Preceding unsigned comment added by Newforestpotter (talk • contribs) 23:25, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * I see you created User:Newforestpotter/Perrinet sansom after posting here. Do you still need help? If you log out and click Special:MyContributions then you can see edits saved by your current IP address (which may have changed since last time you visited Wikipedia). For privacy reasons I cannot see your IP address so I cannot check it for you myself. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:07, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

Where is appropriate place to consult about advertisement like a content ?
Hi, admin! Currently on article Clavia, possibly advertisement/promotion of their new product (Nord Drum) are seen. I already added tag on article, however, editor try to quickly delete tag. Where is appropriate place to deal the problem ? We need opinion of third persons. best, --Clusternote (talk) 23:27, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * For a third opinion, that would be WP:3O. But have you tried to work it out with the other editor yet?  That should be your first step.  Dismas |(talk) 23:30, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I know discussion should be first, however, on previous discussion, this editor repeatedly try to confuse the discussion, and it is hard to deal for me. --Clusternote (talk) 23:38, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * P.S. Note that above expression is not the personal attack but the objective fact: On Talk:Clavia, he/she have forged even my consultation to Help Desk as "dispersion of discussion". --Clusternote (talk) 23:59, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
 * When you say the other editor tried to confuse the discussion, that is an example of what Wikipedia calls a “personal attack.” Comment on content, not on the contributor. If you were confused, you can say that, but do not say what you think someone else tried to do. —teb728 t c 06:39, 12 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Please keep personal attacks and other BS out of this. Thanks. --OpenFuture (talk) 23:42, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Another editor sanitized a direct quote in Steven Landsburg article - what to do?
Earlier today I edited the article on Steven Landsburg to include a direct quote from Landsburg's blog about the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke situation. A later editor, only identified by an IP address, modified the quote to sanitize it. What to do about this? I don't want to get into an editing loop.

Here is a link to the difference, as well as the ref to the blog itself: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steven_Landsburg&diff=481399986&oldid=481387130

It appears this other editor's only contributions to Wikipedia have been modifications to the Landsburg entry over the past few days. Trudyjh (talk) 23:54, 11 March 2012 (UTC)


 * WP:CENSOR seems to be the applicable guideline. If you find yourself in an edit war over something, then try dispute resolution at WP:DR RudolfRed (talk) 00:01, 12 March 2012 (UTC)


 * : Thanks for your reply. In looking at that editor's (24.93.31.196) talk page (I didn't realize before that there were talk pages for IP addresses), another editor, Gamaliel, has been trying to contact 24.93.31.196 about his removing material from this article and gotten no response.  Is Formal Mediation the way to go now?  I suspect 24.93.31.196 is going to continue to distort this article and not respond.

Trudyjh (talk) 00:11, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
 * The article has been semi-protected for a brief period. -- Orange Mike &#x007C;  Talk  00:24, 12 March 2012 (UTC)