Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2014 February 10

= February 10 =

Help with a variable link within template
(Just a heads-up, this is Wikia related.) I need to make a link that will change depending on the page it's on for use in a template. Specifically, my issue is that I'm trying to make an "upload a new version" link in this template. Here on Wikipedia, the syntax for that is https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=(FILENAME)&wpForReUpload=1 whereas on Wikia, it's http://(WIKI).wikia.com/wiki/Special:Upload?wpDestFile=(FILENAME)&wpForReUpload=1. So, slightly different, but the same basic parts. The code I attempted to use was, which is supposed to output (using this page as an example) http://(WIKI).wikia.com/wiki/Special:Upload?wpDestFile=Help_desk&wpForReUpload=1 with the link saying "uploading a new version". But its output (here, too) is to write everything after the first underscore in what the fullurl was *meant* to display plus what the link was supposed to display as (so for this page: "desk&wpForReUpload=1 uploading a new version"). The link it *points* to is everything before the first underscore (so here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Upload&wpDestFile=Help (though this wiki, when using that code, converts it into the /w/index.php url where Wikia does not)). What, if anything, have I done wrong? (I tried testing the link syntax itself alone on a filepage on the wiki I've made the template for, and it seemed to work, but...) Help? - Purplewowies (talk) 00:25, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * returns the name with spaces and not underscores. You want  for use in url's. See mw:Help:Magic words. By the way, your Wikipedia versus Wikia url is actually just two different ways to achieve the same in MediaWiki, at least in Wikipedia where https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=(FILENAME)&wpForReUpload=1 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Upload?wpDestFile=(FILENAME)&wpForReUpload=1 give the same result. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:12, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I figured they'd work the same way (and I knew they did in Wikipedia), but I was playing it safe by using the exact url syntax as the interface link (under the revision history) that Wikia is using. (And actually just tested, and Wikia changes use of /w/(pretty much anything) to /wiki/(everything that was after /w/), so anything that spits out w/index.php won't work correctly there.) I didn't even realize that PAGENAME returned it with spaces (don't know why I didn't, since I did know of PAGENAMEE), but I guess I learned something new today! - Purplewowies (talk) 01:23, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * It appears Wikia is simply configured to omit /w so http://(WIKI).wikia.com/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=(FILENAME)&wpForReUpload=1 would work, while /w in a url is expanded to /wiki. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:47, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * ...Huh. I didn't even think of omitting /w... (Why am I making templates with complicated syntax when simple URL stuff doesn't cross my mind?) - Purplewowies (talk) 01:55, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Referencing errors on The Race of a Thousand Camels
Reference help requested.

On the article "The Race of a Thousand Camels" I added a few urls and ended up getting a message from the reference bot due to the fact that it was cited incorrectly. How do I fix this?

I also got a message saying that I somehow created a missing references list on the article of "Susan Kay". What should I do?

Thanks, TheInformativePanda (talk) 00:25, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * See Help:Referencing for beginners.  should always come before reflist.  is placed where the reference is used and not where it's displayed. If a reference is general to the article and not for a specific statement then it can be placed in a references section without . PrimeHunter (talk) 00:56, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Help with in-line citation formatting
HI there,

I was just wondering if I could have some help as to why I have the message about in-line citations at the top of the page? Can I get some help with that? How do I go about correctly formatting them? Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Tayla Alexander — Preceding unsigned comment added by SiobhanEnright (talk • contribs) 01:08, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * The assertion that the inline citations are not properly formatted was made in this edit. by User:Bonnie13J. You could post on that editor's talk page about the reason for the banner. Jc3s5h (talk) 01:17, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * We don't make an external link to the home page of a referenced site. We generally either make a single external link directly to the referenced page, or no external link at all. If Wikipedia has an article about the website or publisher then you can optionally wikilink that as in The Sunday Star-Times. You can also use citation templates like Cite web and Cite news, but this is not required. The documentation says "may be wikilinked if relevant" about the fields for website and publisher. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:57, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * i changed the tag to be the "linkrot" tag - which if you click the "linkrot tool" it will help you automagically fill in a lot of the citation details. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  02:43, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

False attribution of edit
I have just had a message claiming I edited a page about a school on Wikipedia, with my IP address, making rude comments about it.

I didn't do this, so why is it being attributed to me?

If I was making allegations against schools I would be using witness statements and reporting them to the local Safeguarding Board, not making puerile comments on wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.109.71.99 (talk) 02:41, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * A person's IP address changes. The person who made those edits had your IP address at the time.  If you'd like to be rid of those messages and make sure any future messages are actually intended for you and you only, then you should look into creating an account.  See WP:ACCOUNT.  Dismas |(talk) 02:46, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * The messages at User talk:88.109.71.99 are from March 2012 (you may have seen a "You have new messages" banner because the messages had not been read by the IP address before now). The box at the bottom says "This is the discussion page for an IP user, identified by the user's numerical IP address. Some IP addresses change periodically, and may be shared by several users. If you are an IP user, you may create an account or log in to avoid future confusion with other IP users. Registering also hides your IP address." You can click the "diff" links at Special:Contributions/88.109.71.99 to see the old edits the messages are about. PrimeHunter (talk) 02:51, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Trina Robbins
I am Trina Robbins. I have tried simply editing my Wiki page, but it is very hard, and there was very limited space for me to explain why I was editing. First of all, I did NOT create Vampirella's hairdo, only her costume, and NOT for Forrest J. Ackerman, but for cover artist Frank Frazetta. Next, I am very tired of the misinformation about Aline Kominsky and Diane Noomin. Contrary to what Kominsky writes in her memoirs, they did NOT leave the Wimmen's Comix Collective in 1975. Anyone who will take the trouble to actually LOOK AT copies of Wimmen's Comix will see that they are in almost every issue (some of which were edited by me) up until the last issue in 1995. Furthermore, at my invitation as editor, Noomin contributed to both my pro-choice anthology, "CHOICES" and to my AIDS benefit anthology, "Strip AIDS USA." At that time, Kominsky had already moved to France. I sent her invitations to contribute in the mail, which she never replied to. There is a comment in the history section that the commentor does not know who I am. He or anyone else from Wikipedia may phone me (I am listed in the San Francisco phone book) and I will give them my home address, and they are welcome to come to my house and see for themselves that I am Trina Robbins. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.61.72.198 (talk) 04:26, 10 February 2014 (UTC) As I said on the talk page "The article now says Robbins designed the hair and the costume - do you have a verifiable reference we can cite referring to the costume, the hair and Jim Warren?" Wikipedia requires information to be verifiable in reliable, independent sources - this allows any reader to check the information, at any time of day or night (without phoning you up). So, to repeat the question, do you have a reliable, independent source, to verify that information? As for your assertions that Kominsky's memoirs are incorrect, if these have been published by a reliable publisher, not self published, this will also need references to disprove. This can probably be done by citing specific issues of Wimmen's Comix (issue number, date, page number etc.) showing that she was still a contributor. Arjayay (talk) 09:04, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the invitation (I am the editor who said we do not know who you are) but a) I live in the UK so San Francisco is rather a long way, and b) Wikipedia does not work like that.
 * google books has several, but I seem to have closed that window. one is a book published by Robbins so we know that she does not take credit for anything but the costume. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  13:14, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * here it is and then this too  --  TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  13:30, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * and even if Kominsky is published, her autobiography should not be used as a source for controversial claims against another person with whom she has a conflict of interest. third parties would need to validate such claims. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  13:33, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Please also check out this Autobiography. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  13:59, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Microsoft software screenshot
Hi, Why does not Wikipedia use normal fair use tag but uses "used with permission from Microsoft" tag for Microsoft software screenshots? Is it not enough to use normal fair use tag for Microsoft products? --Puramyun31 (talk) 09:36, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * I'm not an expert in image use by any means but I see that we get the screenshots from Microsoft. If you follow the screenshots link on the license, you come to this page which specifically states, under the terms of use for their license, "You must include the following statement: "Used with permission from Microsoft."".  So it seems that they issue them under a specific license where you must use that specific phrase. Dismas |(talk) 09:44, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * I wondered that whether the permission overrides fair use rights so we have to use "used with permission from Microsoft" tag. Also, this ios screenshot file page uses normal fair use tag, not "used with permission from Apple" tag. --Puramyun31 (talk) 10:01, 10 February 2014 (UTC)--Puramyun31 (talk) 10:01, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * As far as I understand it (and again, I'm not an expert here), you can release an image under your own license and create your own terms for use. It's just up to the person using the image if they want to follow through with whatever terms you set forth.  If they don't then they can't use the image.  So, it seems that either A) Apple doesn't have a repository of screenshots that it releases or B) they do have a repository but don't have that particular restriction or C) our Apple screenshots aren't from Apple and thus don't carry that restriction.  The image you used as an example says that the uploader created the screenshot and didn't get it from Apple.  Thus no need to use Apple's license, whatever it is.  Dismas |(talk) 10:17, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Windows own licence does not appear to require low-resolution images - so I assume we can use high-res images, using their licence; whereas we can only use low-res images under a claim of fair-use. A lot of images like File:Windows 7.png have been reduced to low-res - but I suspect this is just because Wikipedia editors are used to making all screen-shots low-res. Arjayay (talk) 10:42, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Software_screenshots --AKlapper (WMF) (talk) 12:01, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

"Changed visibility of the article feedback tool"
This is a really dumb question. Over the last few weeks I've been getting this as an edit I've apparently made on articles I recently visited (it's happened two or three times):

"Changed visibility of the article feedback tool on "[name of article in question]" ([Visibility=Enable for all users] (indefinite)))"

I haven't knowingly clicked on anything to do it (although sometimes I'm quite clumsy with my tablet) and I don't even know what it means. Why isn't it visible to everyone anyway? Any idea how I've done it and what difference it makes anyway? DeCausa (talk) 13:50, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Article Feedback Tool was changed to small scale deployment after RfC. Still strange that you've been enabling it if you haven't been on the feedback pages, because that's the only place where the "switch" is, AFAIK. - Purplewowies (talk) 16:26, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * You must have clicked "Enable feedback" in the toolbox to the left. See Article feedback/Version 5/Feature Requirements. PrimeHunter (talk) 16:41, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia mobile - keyboard doesn't appear
I use the Wikipedia page with Android 2.3.5 and the stock browser.

In the past couple of days, when I tap on the search bar, the keyboard does NOT appear.

I noticed also that the search bar and matching results look different from before. You must have redesigned it but something's wrong.

Can you, or I, do something about this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.1.65.108 (talk) 21:02, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * The technical village pump could be a good first stop: WP:VPT --  TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  21:46, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

How do I delete a page in my user space?
Can I personally delete a page in my user space or do I have to ask an admin? For example I'd like to delete some subpages of my sandbox. In particular this page. But I'd like to know about how this works in general too. Thanks. (If you answer please ping me ). Thanks. Contact Basemetal   here  23:44, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * - you can't delete page in your user space (otherwise vandals could move articles into their userspace then delete them, which would cause all sorts of problems), but if you put db-user on them then an admin will delete them for you. I've deleted the one you linked here. Hope this helps. BencherliteTalk 23:51, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Only admins can delete pages. If you want a userspace page deleted (as long as you are the only significant contributor to the page), put the db-self template on the page, and an admin will come along and delete it. Deor (talk) 23:52, 10 February 2014 (UTC)


 * I put the templates at the top of two pages I wanted and they're still there. How long does this usually take? The pages are User:Basemetal/Size and duration information for musical works (proposal) and User:Basemetal/sandbox/Varg. Contact Basemetal   here  16:47, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
 * ✅ Gone now. You actually followed directions too well. tl is a template used to provide a link to anotehr template (it means "template link") so db-user is a way of referring to Template:db-user. to actually USE the template, just put it name between pairs of braces, like . DES (talk) 17:07, 12 February 2014 (UTC)