Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2016 April 3

= April 3 =

Editing a partially blocked site--Rugrats
I am a longtime registered Wikipedia user. I signed in as instructed. It shows I am signed in at the top of the page. It still tells me I have to sign in or register in order to edit the site. I know of no previous problems that would block me. What have I done wrong? Is there a malfunction? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimbarry1946 (talk • contribs)


 * The Rugrats article is semi-protected which means that it cannot be edited by editors who are not yet auto-confirmed. It takes 10 edits and four days for that to happen. The protection was probably put on there due to vandalism in the past, though I haven't checked the article history yet to confirm that. I would suggest you try improving a different article while you're waiting to be confirmed. Dismas |(talk) 02:51, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * First, you refer to yourself as a longtime registered Wikipedia user. This is your only edit from this account.  Do you really mean that you are a longtime unregistered Wikipedia user who has created an account for the first time?  Did you previously edit Wikipedia from a different account?  If so, why did you just create this account?  If so, read the policy on multiple accounts.  Second, the article was semi-protected more than four years ago due to vandalism.  I have requested unprotection.  At this point, the vandal has almost certainly either been blocked, gotten tired of vandalism, or moved on to something else.  In the unlikely event that the vandal returns, the article can be protected again.  Robert McClenon (talk) 17:25, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

info-en@wikimedia.org
Hello name is sean selear, I was wondering if there was anyone that can start an article on my band Destructive Decisions. we established in 2007 working with different band members in the past leading the band that is finally transformed to the current. playing at big venues along with big name bands Less than Jake, Pipebomb, Killer, and Living Colour, with some of the bandmates of living Colour recording 2 tracks on our CD.. April 15th playing with Living Colour, Kaleido, and Blind men driving.. We are all located in Orange County NY with current band members Jeff Selear 2007-Present-Lead/Backing Vocalist/Rythem Guitar Sean 'Visor" Selear 2007-Present-Lead/Backing Vocalist/ Bass Guitar  Rich "Youngblood" Bowe 2010-Present- Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals and Greg Feller 2015-Present- Drums/Percussions.. Past members Chris Viola- Drums/Percussions 2007-2015 Brian Krause- Lead Guitar 2007-2010. There was Altercations with band members in 2010 almost causing the band to break up entirely with brian Krause eventually leaving the band but mainly getting married and moving to London . Please contact me at [redacted] if this can be arranged, And if theres any information that you need please let me know and ill be happy to answer or help...  Thank you


 * Hello, . I have removed the spaces at the beginning of your posting: that is why it appeared in a box and didn't format properly. I have also removed your email, as it says at the top of the page.
 * To start with, can I clear up a couple of misconceptions which many people have about Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not a medium for publicising anything - good, bad, commercial, non-commercial. It contains neutrally-written encyclopaedia articles, which summarise what independent people have already published about the subject. The subject of an article has absolutely no control over what goes in the article, and anything that the subject says or wishes to say about themselves is of no interest to Wikipedia unless independent commentators have written about it.
 * Having got that out of the way, let me tell you what you can do. Start by reading Your first article. Then look for sources which are reliable (eg major newspapers or magazines, or books from reputable publishers: not social media, blogs, forums, or home-grown websites), completely unconnected with your band (not your own website, or anything which derives from an interview or press release from your band) and substantial (not just a listing or notice about a performance or album). If you can find at least two or three of these, then your band is notable in Wikipedia's special sense, and we may have an article. If not, don't bother: no article will be accepted at present, however it is written. Note that what you have done, or how popular you are, are not relevant: we are only interested in whether people have thought it worth writing at length about you.
 * If you find your band is notable, then you need to read about Conflict of interest to see why you are not encouraged to write the article yourself. However, you may do so, as long as you declare your COI and work hard to make sure the article is based 100% on what people unconnected with the band have written about it, and not at all on what you want to say about it. Use the article wizard to create it in Draft space, and when you think it is ready, submit it for review (which is likely to be quite searching, because of your COI).
 * I would advise you to start by getting some experience editing existing article before you embark on the difficult task of creating a new one. Happy editing! --ColinFine (talk) 10:48, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Profile

 * Heading added ColinFine (talk) 10:48, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

How do I upload profile? Tayoeno (talk) 05:53, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * please see my answer to Sean, immediately above. --ColinFine (talk) 10:50, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

How do I make the bottom row to be double in height, by using the "rowspan=2" command?
Here is a table. How do I make the bottom row to be double in height, by using the "rowspan=2" command? What exactly do I need to type? And where? I want the height of the bottom row to match the height of the top row (with the column headers of Year; Name; State). Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 06:21, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * The  command doesn't do what I think you want it to do (its use is shown in Table). I think you want , which produces the table below:


 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

!width="100"| Year !width="200"| First Name and Last Name !width="200"| State
 * 2000
 * George Washington
 * Alabama
 * 1962
 * Abraham Lincoln
 * California
 * 1987
 * Thomas Jefferson
 * Wisconsin
 * - style="height: 49px;"
 * Total
 * Total of 3 Presidents
 * Total
 * }
 * Total of 3 Presidents
 * Total
 * }
 * }

Note that I have explicitly set the height: I don't know of a command to set the height to specifically twice text height. crh23 (talk) 08:47, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Two follow up questions.  (1) What does the "rowspan" command do?  I thought that it made a cell span across (up and down) 2 rows?  No?  In other words, it doubles the height of the row.  No?  (2) I see that you used a height of 49 px on the bottom row.  How do I know what the heights of the other rows are?   Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:32, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:06, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

How do I disable sorting for only one column in a table?
Here is a table. How do I disable sorting for only one column in a table? (But still leave the sorting ability enabled for the other two columns.) What exactly do I need to type? And where? I want the very first column (Number) to not be able to be sorted; and I want the other two columns (Name and State) to be able to be sorted. In other words, the first column will always be "frozen" in its present order of 1, 2, 3. If you sort the Name Column or if you sort the State Column, the very first column (Number) should never move; the numerical positions of 1, 2, 3 will remain constant or "frozen" in that order (1, 2, 3). Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 06:30, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * it's not possible in some pretty or always-working way (at least using standart wikitables). You can disable sorting for first column by changing  to  . And most probably you would want to add   to line before  . See also Help:Tables. Technical note:, it wouldn't be too difficult to create a Lua module for that, right? -- Edgars2007  (talk/contribs) 08:39, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Adding the  class to the headers that you don't want to be sortable is the correct way to do this, as far as I know. I don't think it needs a Lua module. — Mr. Stradivarius  ♪ talk ♪ 08:52, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * no, he's thinking about completely freezing the "number" column, not just disabling sorting feature. Read the last sentence (before "Thanks", of course). OK, I don't see a very good reason for that, if table contains only such data, but it may be useful in other cases or even in this case, if there is more data columns. -- Edgars2007  (talk/contribs) 08:58, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Ah, I see. This isn't something that can be done in Lua, though. The sorting function is implemented in JavaScript, and all that we can do from wikitext or in Lua is to use the API to the JavaScript provided to us by MediaWiki. In the case of sortable tables, that is adding the "sortable" and "unsortable" classes. To change the functionality of the algorithm like Joseph A. Spadaro is suggesting would require someone to program it in JavaScript and then to make an interface to that JavaScript code available to all readers, perhaps by adding a new class name. (I suppose it's possible that such a feature already exists, but if so, I am not aware of it.) — Mr. Stradivarius  ♪ talk ♪ 09:12, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Yep, just add unsortable, per the table below:
 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

!width="100" class="unsortable"| Number !width="200"| First Name and Last Name !width="200"| State
 * 1
 * George Washington
 * Alabama
 * 2
 * Abraham Lincoln
 * California
 * 3
 * Thomas Jefferson
 * Wisconsin
 * Total
 * Total of 3 Presidents
 * Total
 * }
 * Joseph2302 (talk) 09:18, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Total of 3 Presidents
 * Total
 * }
 * Joseph2302 (talk) 09:18, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Joseph2302 (talk) 09:18, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * The numbers are not fixed when other columns are sorted. The only current option to achieve that is a separate table only containing the number column. It will be misaligned if the row height in the sortable table varies. See Help:Sorting and T42618. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:25, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I did see all that. And I did not understand a word of it.  So, is this something that cannot be done?  I don't think that "cutting and pasting" two different tables right next to each other looks good.   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:38, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * In short - yes, this currently can't be done. -- Edgars2007  (talk/contribs) 20:10, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:06, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Is it possible to add zebra stripes to a Wikipedia table?
Is it possible to add zebra stripes to a Wikipedia table? This Wikipedia page (Help:Sorting) offers an external link (way at the bottom; the very last one). Here is the link: https://www.organicdesign.co.nz/How_to_put_zebra_stripes_on_sortable_wiki_tables. And the link at that page says it is possible. But I am computer illiterate and don't understand what it is telling me to do. It says that I have to copy some Java Script code somewhere. Huh? So, is this possible to do? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 07:04, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * If it's OK, that you'll be the only person, who sees those stripes (when you're logged in to Wikipedia), then yes, it is possible. But as that table will go in article namespace (I assume), I wouldn't suggest using style, that will be visible only to you. Otherwise if you still want those "stripes", you'll have to put them manually before each odd line with such code: . So the table would look like this:


 * -- Edgars2007  (talk/contribs) 08:52, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I don't understand. Why would it be visible only to me and not everyone else who reads the chart?  Also, if I have a table with 100 entries, you are saying that I have to manually add in 50 of them with a different "background color code"?  I was assuming that is what the Java Script code is for.  To do all that work for me, so I don't have to type in 50 separate color codes.  No?   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:42, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Will try to explain not technically. That code from external link only changes how the table will look like. To have this style visible to all users, who looks at the table, not only you, code has to be included in global enwiki style file here (with additional code here). Of course, you can make a suggestion there, but I wouldn't be very optimistic with that. If you give me your table then I can add that  with Excel. -- Edgars2007  (talk/contribs) 20:18, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Here it is: User:Joseph A. Spadaro/Sandbox/Page71.     Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 22:46, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:06, 6 April 2016 (UTC)

Wi-Fi in Moscow Metro
I am editing from it now - I think it should be blocked as open proxy. 185.79.102.234 (talk) 11:44, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Open proxy reports are dealt with at WP:OP crh23 (talk) 21:33, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Merge requests
It seems odd that controversial article rename requests are done in WP:REQMOVE but there is nothing equivalent for article merges. Consequently as merge discussions generally don't get much interest they can drag on for months or even years.--Penbat (talk) 15:44, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

How to create an article
I was just wondering if I could create an article, in contrast to just editing one. User:24.45.136.166
 * Read WP:Your first article. However, creating an article is the most difficult of Wikipedia tasks.  In particular, finding reliable sources and formatting them as references are not easy tasks even for experienced editors.  Also, if you want to contribute more to Wikipedia, I suggest that you create a registered account, which has several advantages.  Unregistered editors can submit draft articles at Articles for Creation, but registered editors will have a consistent contribution history, as opposed to having your IP address change frequently.  My advice is to create an account and learn more about Wikipedia by contributing to it by improving articles.  If there is a particular topic where you think an article is needed, you can create a draft and submit it, but you would do well to ask for help with it.  This is a reasonable place to ask for help in improving a draft article.  Robert McClenon (talk) 17:13, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Which revision of an article was nominated as good or featured?
I would like to know what is the last revision of an article that was nominated with good or featured quality. Where can I see this information (eg. for Argo Tea)? Faltur (talk) 17:24, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Looking at the page history, the Good Article icon was added at 16:49, 3 December 2011‎ - Arjayay (talk) 17:31, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Not a good way to find it for large articles with many editions, such as Sociology. What about a page with a log that contains the list of nominated revisions? I saw something similar somewhere, but I don't remember it now. - Faltur (talk) 18:06, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Typically that information, because it is special, gets added to the article talk page with an template.  So, see the talk page and look for Article milestones.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 18:20, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Nice, this answers my question. Thanks for the help!Faltur (talk) 18:27, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

New Welcome Templates
What is the proper place to propose a new "welcome" template for new editors? I think that it would be useful to add one particular template, for editors who appear to have come to Wikipedia to create one article on one topic (themselves, their company, their band, etc.). I would like to suggest that, for them, a "welcome" is in order that both asks them to read the conflict of interest policy, and also says that if they want to contribute constructively to Wikipedia, they are welcome to edit existing articles and to learn about Wikipedia by contributing to it. Robert McClenon (talk) 17:28, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't know about proposing new welcome templates, but Twinkle's list of welcome templates includes welcomeauto and welcome-COI. —teb728 t c 18:21, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I see them now that I scroll down. The COI template is the one that is in order in most of the cases that I am trying to address.  There are a large number of new editors who come to Wikipedia for a single purpose, to create an article on themselves, their company, their band, whatever.   If I think that the wording should be revised, do I discuss on the template talk page?  One consequence of the large number of promotional one-time editors is that they skew editor retention metrics downward.  (To the extent that they are retained, sometimes, that is itself a minor negative, because they occasionally retain themselves to fight in order to get their article accepted, which is just a nuisance.)  It might be a good idea to welcome them to contribute to Wikipedia in other ways.  Robert McClenon (talk) 18:31, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Collapsible list
Template talk:Collapsible list

So the gist of my idea that I've yet to get any feedback or help yet on is whether "it (is) possible to have a "show" button that will un-collapse, for instance, bundled images that are in different places on an article (in a table, specifically)? My specific issue is that my structure images in my tables spread out the table quite a bit, and if there were a single point at which they could all get bundled, so the table's values could be referenced more easily, it'd be a wonder." Let me know if I am explaining myself clearly or try clicking above for my original posted subtopic @ the collapsible list template talk page on what it is I suggest, and whether or not it can be utilized with the extant template wiki-codes in current use or if the idea is viable in a new template of some kind. Please someone give me the scoop on whether what I am trying to get implemented has any hope for being a viable option for me. Nagelfar (talk) 19:13, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

News stories
If somebody was included in a news story that is developing, can I cite this on that person's wikipedia page? Polish editors refuse to do this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pacezg (talk • contribs) 20:46, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Is this a question about the Polish Wikipedia? If so, it has different rules than the English Wikipedia.  In the English Wikipedia, information about a developing news story may generally be included if the news story is attributed to reliable sources, except that with regard to a "person's Wikipedia" page, which presumably means a biography of a living person, the policy on biographies of living persons policy should be strictly enforced.  If this is about the Polish Wikipedia, they have their own rules.  Robert McClenon (talk) 21:54, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Note also that pages with developing info should include the tag seen here: . --2600:1004:B052:1CA3:ED8B:985A:2CA0:E0A4 (talk) 02:44, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Category problem
Dear editors: this article: Big Dave has a formatting problem with categories. I can't seem to find the place to fix it. Is this transcluded in from somewhere, or am I just missing it?&mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 23:23, 3 April 2016 (UTC)
 * All fixed with [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Big_Dave&type=revision&diff=713422966&oldid=710525983 this edit]. I honestly don't know why that is what broke it since I can't make heads or tails of that template's documentation. If there is someone that knows how infobox comics meta series works I would like to know as well for future reference. --Majora (talk) 23:45, 3 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Majora.&mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 10:58, 4 April 2016 (UTC)