Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2013 August 31

= August 31 =

boron fuels (Zip  Fuels  or  HEF  High Energy Fuels)
This article  should  contain  some  reference  to  a  non-fiction  book entitled,  "The  Green  Flame," published by  The  American  Chemical Society in 1991. In it, the author, Andrew Dequasie, describes  the day-to-day work of producing boron fuels,  the causes of  the many accidents  that occurred, and why the project was abandoned. The book also has two chapters describing the bachelor life of the times. Mr. Dequasie was a chemical engineer on the project from 1953 until its close in 1959.76.127.200.56 (talk) 02:06, 31 August 2013 (UTC)Andrew Dequasie


 * If you think you can improve an article, you are normally welcome to edit the article; but in this case, because of your conflict of interest, you would do better to make your suggestions on the article's talk page Talk:Zip fuel for uninvolved editors to implement. --ColinFine (talk) 23:22, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

The nuances of edit warring
Hello esteemed colleagues!
 * Short version: If an editor reverts your submission, but after a week or more refuses to participate in resolving the content dispute, is re-submitting the content considered edit warring?
 * Long version: A week or so ago I made some edits to the television series article The Big Bang Theory, objecting to certain wording in the Critical Response section as WP:SYNTHESIS. Another editor disagreed, and reverted my edit on the basis that it disrupted the flow of the section, but didn't address my complaint about the phrasing being WP:SYNTHESIS. On this basis I reverted his edit and started a conversation on the talk page, and wrote in great detail my complaint. He then reverted my resubmitted edit, and said (in essence), "it's not synthesis", but didn't elaborate on why it was not synthesis.  I wrote another reply, but he didn't respond.  I've sent him two Talkbacks to invite him to continue the unresolved discussion, but he hasn't participated.  In the meantime, I've invited community members at WikiProject Television to participate in the discussion, but nobody's gotten involved.  My question: Is it okay to resubmit the changes without it being considered edit-warring?  It seems silly to me to request a 3rd opinion if he's not actively engaged in the dispute.  I've also had a lengthy conversation with some folks at WikiProject Film who feel that similar wording in film articles constitutes synthesis.  Thanks,  Cyphoidbomb (talk) 02:50, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Page Hemu: dispute on the fact if Hemu was a Brahmin or Vaishya by birth
Present references no. 4 & 5 on the para 'Early Life' are not correct and acceptable as they do not talk about Hemu's birth, parentage, genealogy, family tree etc. which can confirm that he was born in a Vaishya family. The two references call him a Vaishya because Hemu was a businessman, which is true and acceptable. We must mention on the page that by birth, he was a Brahmin as his family was a Brahmin family. His father Puran Das was a Purohit who performed Hindu ceremonies and rituals as mentioned and widely explained on talk page. Please help correct the wrongs. Sudhirkbhargava (talk) 07:44, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * The best place to discuss this is at Talk:Hemu. I see that you have already been discussing it there. Maproom (talk) 08:52, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Descartes and his findings.
The work of Descartes laid the foundations of learning of the brain's ability to develop a greater understanding of the spiritual sensory qualities out of which and at this time a philosopher and seer has been created with new writings of reality. These are at present been submitted to academics in high standing for debating at this time and comprise of the following:- (Understood to belong to all peoples) The Christian philosopher and seer’s writings of the imminent Spiritual Intervention by universal law.

A breakthrough in metaphysics reveals a greater understanding and enlightenment of the human brain acting as a spiritual sensor and has finally brought about a number of most learned people in high places to debate the truth of the new philosopher/seer statements. The following are written at this time. Transition to a world of peace and plenty for all peoples will show a natural path of eliminating those who support wars and others who practice evil will realise that they will die also, if they do not change. Within a very short period, those who promote war and suffering will die in their thousands, coming as a thief in the night to do so. Armies will then be disbanded and weapons scrapped for ploughshares, as already written of. Such progress for peace will be carried out by the new enlightened people chosen who are left to understand and promote the new reality. This new writing is also for those who wish to understand the reality as our final time of reckoning is about to take place and repent our evil ways and withdraw from wars and live in the new peace by acting now this day.. No change in the physical world will take place in itself and the normal everyday progress of life with new spiritual values benefitting all children worldwide will then continue. Enlightened people will fill the vacancies left by evil people and carry out the new work of Government alleviating their suffering people. These same people of the greater understanding will take over the running of different Countries in a learning curve of the new reality of bringing peace and plenty. The organising of feeding starving peoples will be a priority to allow the hungry millions to survive and no longer suffer the on-going human evil of degradation as at present, by the sheer poverty of mind that creates wars and suffering in a continuous failure to live in peace - that is a universal law. The new practical everyday values written of, by Christ who fulfilled the universal law, had his works corrupted by many, will then be truly established and prevail. All resulting progress of enlightenment will continue until His Second coming when the world is ready to celebrate His glorious return. Amen. Thomas. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tglen (talk • contribs) 11:33, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * This is the help desk for Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Do you have a question about using or editing Wikipedia? -- John of Reading (talk) 13:06, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Protect my article
How i can protect my article for editing other person. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.178.173.80 (talk) 11:53, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * First off, it's not your article. However, if there has been a lot of unconstructive editing to one article by several different people, you could file a request at WP:RFPP - but you'll need to make a good case. -- Red rose64 (talk) 11:56, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Number alignment and format in table cells
In a table with numbers in each cell, how does one ensure consistent format (i.e. number of decimal places displayed, thousands separator, etc) and alignment (around the decimal place) when the numbers may have no, one or more decimal places in them? See North American Bridge Championships  Thanks Newwhist (talk) 13:47, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Hey Newwhist. The template automatically places commas in the correct spots. As to decimal places, I agree that it looked a bit odd with some numbers not having any decimal places and others only going out one place so I manually added two decimal place everywhere. Does it work for you now?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:20, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks but it still looks weird to me without alignment around the decimal place. Is there a template that does this automatically, i.e. adds the thousand separator and alignment around the decimal place?  In the interim, I will add right justification to the cells in columns with numbers.   Newwhist (talk) 14:30, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi, Newwhist! Did you read the advice at Help:Table? Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 21:44, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, I did read that when first looking for help but found that such an artificial approach - making a number by sandwiching two numbers together - was asinine and more problematic than simply adding a decimal point and two significant digits after each number in the table. I am moving on to other things but will keep an eye out for better templates. If anyone encounters this help desk request and can help further, please feel free to contact me at my userpage.  Much thanks and Wiki-on.  Newwhist (talk) 13:59, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

where is my Company ?
I was writing some short facts about my company intraphase.

After half an hour it was gone ? How come ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Solomio500 (talk • contribs) 14:35, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * For a start, read Conflict of interest. As to 'what happened', did your material comply with Wikipedia policies regarding notability, neutrality, sourcing etc? I've not seen it, but that is the usual problem. AndyTheGrump (talk) 14:40, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * According to your contributions log this question here is the only thing you have ever done on Wikipedia. The most likely explanation is that you didn't correctly save your edits or you were not logged in when you did it so that it doesn't show up in the log for your username. However it happened, you should take a good look at the conflict of interest guide page. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:50, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * This help desk is at the English Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org. Our logs only show edits here. You wrote da:Intraphase at the Danish Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:03, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Ted Bundy's article
In his infobox it says "Cause of death: Homicide (execution by electric chair)". Is an execution a homicide? Japanesehelper (talk) 14:50, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, it is. Please see Homicide. -- Neil N   talk to me  14:53, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

How do I get out ?
How do I cancel my log-in to wikipedia and completely remove my log-in page, talk page, etc. I want to get out completely. I have started to receive abusive messages from complete lunatics and regret that I ever had anything to do with this...G4oep (talk) 15:16, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * See Courtesy vanishing. AndyTheGrump (talk) 15:19, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * The current content of your talk page is quite bland and unremarkable - I see no sign of "abusive messages from complete lunatics" at all. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 15:26, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

it is my opinion of that that matters to me. Your reply is unwelcome and in no way answers my question. — Preceding unsigned comment added by G4oep (talk • contribs) 15:39, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * User accounts can not be deleted, it can be renamed as mentioned above at Courtesy vanishing. Your userpage has been deleted and you mat blank your talk page if you desire, but we do not delete User talk pages, see WP:DELTALK.  GB fan 16:24, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

It is not possible to delete user accounts, as all contributions must be assigned to some identifier; either a username or an IP address.

All Wikipedia editors have the right to leave Wikipedia for good (ie, permanently). The usual way to leave the Wikipedia project is simply to stop editing. Your contributions remain in Wikipedia. If you wish to resume editing at a later date, you can simply start again by logging into the same account. Old accounts that have any significant edits are almost never deleted or recycled to new users.

If you decide to make a fresh start and do not wish to be connected to a previous account, you can simply discontinue the old account(s) and create a new one that becomes the only account you use. Discontinuing the old account means it will not be used again; it should note on its user page that it is inactive— for example, with the tag —to prevent the switch being seen as an attempt to sock puppet.

Editors seeking privacy per their right to vanish can have their accounts renamed and their user pages and (in some cases) user talk pages deleted. --  Gadget850talk 23:17, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Template question
In case there are any template knowledgeable editors watching this page, I posed a template question here-- SPhilbrick (Talk)  16:28, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Question answered, thanks ✅-- SPhilbrick (Talk)  18:47, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Redirect from feodary
I tried to link the term feodary in an article in which the term is used to mean an officer of the ancient Court of Wards, and found that the term 'feodary' redirects to a page titled 'Vassal'. The latter is one meaning of the word, but there is also the completely different meaning mentioned above, and it seems the entire term 'feodary' shouldn't be redirected to the page titled 'Vassal'. Is there a solution to this? Any help would be much appreciated. NinaGreen (talk) 16:34, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is not a dictionary. If we have an article covering a common meaning of a term, and no articles about other meanings, then a redirect can be OK. If the target is wrong for your use then you can omit the link or consider a piped link to a better target. Do you know which meaning is most common, and whether articles at Special:WhatLinksHere/Feodary use the vassal meaning? PrimeHunter (talk) 16:59, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your help. I suppose I could use a piped link to the article on the Court of Wards and Liveries, which mentions the feodaries, which were very significant in the Court's administration, but I see that the page on piped links states that 'It is generally not good practice to pipe links simply to avoid redirects'. The two meanings of 'feodary' are entirely different, with the meaning 'vassal' dating principally from the Middle Ages, while the meaning relating to an official of the Court of Wards dates from the Court's origins during the Tudor period. Perhaps I should just unlink the term unless there are other suggestions. NinaGreen (talk) 17:25, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * 'It is generally not good practice to pipe links simply to avoid redirects' refers to the situation where you pipe to the redirect target, so using the redirect would have achieved the same. You can pipe to another page. You could also create a disambiguated redirect like Feodary (court) or whatever. That could also be used in other articles. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:10, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * If there is a term that has two different meanings, and you find a redirect for only one of them, you can change the redirect to a disambiguation page, as I have now done for Feodary. If at some later date you decide to make Feodary into an article, that disambiguation page can be moved to Feodary (disambiguation), and the new article can be made at Feodary. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 00:06, 1 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks very much to both of you for your help. NinaGreen (talk) 15:39, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

Cancellation of account
I was wondering for now I would like to cancel my account. I don't know how to use this site for me to write an article. I wrote one and you deleted it. it was a movie review of my own personal opinion of the movie. The movie was called Blubberella. I feel it shouldn't have been deleted so that's why i just want to delete my account with you. Bye. Norman Bloom..... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.237.240.236 (talk) 17:57, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * You can't delete accounts. See the similar question a few up from here.  RudolfRed (talk) 18:11, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Personal opinions are unremarkable and run afoul of our policy against original research. That is likely why your article was deleted.  Cyphoidbomb (talk) 20:05, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

It is not possible to delete user accounts, as all contributions must be assigned to some identifier; either a username or an IP address.

All Wikipedia editors have the right to leave Wikipedia for good (ie, permanently). The usual way to leave the Wikipedia project is simply to stop editing. Your contributions remain in Wikipedia. If you wish to resume editing at a later date, you can simply start again by logging into the same account. Old accounts that have any significant edits are almost never deleted or recycled to new users.

If you decide to make a fresh start and do not wish to be connected to a previous account, you can simply discontinue the old account(s) and create a new one that becomes the only account you use. Discontinuing the old account means it will not be used again; it should note on its user page that it is inactive— for example, with the tag —to prevent the switch being seen as an attempt to sock puppet.

Editors seeking privacy per their right to vanish can have their accounts renamed and their user pages and (in some cases) user talk pages deleted. --  Gadget850talk 23:16, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

Van Nuys
Development in the new century[edit source]

Growth of the new town of Van Nuys, 1911. Real estate development once again boomed. In the "biggest land transaction ever recorded in Los Angeles County",[56] a syndicate led by Harry Chandler, business manager of the Los Angeles Times, with Hobart Johnstone Whitley, Isaac Van Nuys, and James Boon Lankershim acquired "Tract 1000", the remaining 47,500 acres (192 km2) of the southern half of the former Mission lands—everything west of the Lankershim town limits and south of the old furrow excepting the Rancho Encino. As the Los Angeles Suburban Homes company, they laid out plans for the towns of Van Nuys, Marion (now Reseda) and Owensmouth (now Canoga Park, West Hills, and Winnetka), a system of highways, and eventual incorporation into the city of Los Angeles. In the "Sale of the Century" in November 1910 they sold the remaining livestock and non-land assets of the Lankershim Farming and Milling Company at auction. The Los Angeles Times called the auction "the beginning of a new empire and a new era in the Southland".[56][57]

I believe there is an error here: Isaac Van Nuys and James Boon Lankershim sold their shares in Track 1000 to Harry Chandler and Hobart Johnstone Whitley (not bought them with Chandler and Whitley).

Reference: from HJ Whitley page: Whitley's syndicate purchased from wheat magnate, Isaac Newton Van Nuys the 47,500-acre (192 km2) ranch comprising nearly the entire south half or the San Fernando Valley. The price was $2,500,000 - just under $53 an acre. From this land he built the towns of Van Nuys, Reseda (formerly Marian) and Canoga Park (formerly Owensmouth). In one of the most bold "boomer" sales techniques, Owensmouth (now Canoga Park) simply borrows an English tradition and suggests that the Owens River, some 200 miles away, had simply been redirected to the San Fernando Valley.[22]81.138.7.234 (talk) 18:00, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * If you have a suggestion for an article, please add it to the article's talk page, or just be bold about it. RudolfRed (talk) 18:11, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

EPUB book downloads
How do I download the books | on this pageas EPUB? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Drogonov (talk • contribs) 18:30, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * See Special:Book. --  Gadget850talk 18:36, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Don't know how to use that. --Drogonov 12:19, 1 September 2013 (UTC)


 * If you choose a book from the category, and then pick "Open in Book Creator", it will let you choose the download format. --ColinFine (talk) 23:29, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Horizontal lines (blocked users)
I'm getting these odd horizontal lines on some elements, like the lines you see after a revdel. So, for example, on my watchlist I see horizontal lines in the entry where I put a block notice on an editor's talk page. The lines are through diff, hist, the talk page, and rollback. Same problem with the block log for that user. Looking more at my watchlist, I only see these lines when it relates to blocked users. This is new, though. What's it all about?--Bbb23 (talk) 20:37, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * I blocked an IP earlier today, so I've looked at the relevant portions of my watchlist: there are no horizontal lines. -- Red rose64 (talk) 21:23, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Heh, next time I want to block someone, I'll ask you to do it. :-) Please go to this page and tell me if you see a horizontal line at the upper left across "User page".--Bbb23 (talk) 21:41, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi, random editor here. I do not see a horizontal line across User page. Using Chrome. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 22:29, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Shortly before posting here you added a script called markblocked so if blocked users are marked for you then I guess that's why. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:32, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Oh my, I did it to myself. I had no idea what the script did. I won't go into why I added it. Thanks for figuring it out.--Bbb23 (talk) 23:13, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

A numbered list that can include more than 1 count in one line
Hi :-)

I'm primarily active on the wikisource websites -- transcribing and uploading texts and books and what not. we've run into a problem there and i was hoping some of the veteran wiki-users here could possibly help.

Without muddying the issue too much i'll stick to keeping the question simple and if it's necessary to elaborate on the particular situation i'll be happy to. but basically, here it is.

we need a form of code that allows for automated numbered lists (which is regularly carried out in wikicode using the '#' sign) but has the flexible option of including within it more than one count. so that it possible to present on screen a list like this:
 * 14. yada yada yada
 * 15 - 16. yada yada yada yada
 * 17. yada yada yada

currently i know of no way to make an automated list that doesn't necessitate a one by one running list. does anyone know of something? or can anyone make a template that would allow for this?

thanks to all for your help. blessings,--Roxette5 (talk) 23:00, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Hello! Try this:


 * # Fifteen
 * # Sixteen
 * # Sixteen


 * Which results in:


 * Fifteen
 * Sixteen


 * Good luck! --NaBUru38 (talk) 00:15, 1 September 2013 (UTC)


 * NaBUru38, I think you didn't understand what Roxette is asking for. Roxette, after having a look at MOS:LIST, I don't think that there is a way to do what you're looking for with MediaWiki.  I don't know how but I think it will require a special template to be made for the purpose.  Dismas |(talk) 02:10, 1 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you NaBUru38, it does offer me a second alternative atleast. To manually type a line with two or more numbers and then reset the numbered list using the code you gave me. but Dismas is right. I want one line to have 2 counts on it using code ideally without having to do it manually for each line. Dismas, who can i turn to to make a special template for this? I don't have the know-how to do it myself. Are there any veteran programmers here who'd know how to do it?--Roxette5 (talk) 07:59, 1 September 2013 (UTC)
 * The wiki-markup  yields the HTML  construct - an ordered list. The items comprising an ordered list are numbered as a simple sequence of integers or letters; in HTML it is not possible for the list item marker to be a compound symbol, including a range such as 15 - 16., see the table of examples here (search for "Examples for values 1-3 and 3999-4001 "). -- Red rose64 (talk) 08:42, 1 September 2013 (UTC)