Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2016 March 22

= March 22 =

Revealing IP addresses
I just want to make an important comment. Wikipedia posts IPs when readers make comments. If the poster is making comments from any nation that believes in free speech, there should be little to worry about but for those who are in nations with dictatorships there is a real threat to personal privacy and possibly even safety. By posting IPs, what does wikipedia intend? Wkipedia is endangering many people around the globe even if those posters comments aren't threatening in any way. It would be better to hide the IP details and list guest as the poster. Should wikipedia wish to release that IP information upon request, well that is up to wikipedia. I have to wonder if there are some governments hunting down posters on wikipedia by using IP information. If anyone suffers human rights violations due to this weak idea to show IPs, wikipedia cannot claim it is not an accomplice to what happens. If your staff can't understand the danger, maybe you should try living and posting online under a dictator. There are many nations where you can have this experience. Just hide those IPs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.131.210.82 (talk) 05:26, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * One of the many advantages of creating an account is that if you edit logged in, Wikipedia posts your username instead of your IP. —teb728 t c 06:02, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia needs to know who made each edit, and what other edits that person has made. Attributing all IP edits to the same "guest" would make it much more difficult to track vandalism which is sometimes a problem here (though the OP at Thammasat University is obviously a genuine editor).  Hiding all IP addresses would make it harder for volunteers here to revert vandalism.  Wikipedia prefers users to create an account to maintain anonymity, but allows users to disclose their IP address if they prefer to edit this way.  See WP:Why create an account.    D b f i r s   08:45, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

Help:Cite errors/Cite error included ref
please someone change theri_film page info in music section — Preceding unsigned comment added by Srivinaidu (talk • contribs) 06:18, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

✅ Eagleash (talk) 06:55, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

Random Article
Hey Guys, I was trying to find something to edit, so I clicked Random article. Instead of bringing me to one, it brought me to a page with the url https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random and which only displayed the capitalised word NULL on it. Is this occurring to anyone else? If not, is it my software? If anyone can help, I would be very grateful. Thanks JoshMuirWikipedia (talk) 06:37, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Yup, I see the same. Something's broken. Maproom (talk) 06:50, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * There are several similar reports at Village pump (technical). It's also at Phabricator, so the technical people are on to it. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:57, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

I am unable to log into a wikipedia
When I logged in to the wiki (Kerbal space program wiki) I was able to see my ip address but not the account that I'm using. I treid logging intomy other browser but it didn't work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by NHPluto (talk • contribs) 07:09, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Is the question about wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com? That site is nothing to do with Wikipedia. This page is for questions about Wikipedia. Maproom (talk) 07:16, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * The Kerbal Space Program Wiki appears to have a Helpdesk here. Perhaps they could be of assistance. —teb728 t c 09:00, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com is powered by the same MediaWiki software as Wikipedia so it looks similar but there is no box saing "a WIKIMEDIA project" in the lower right corner. It is not run by the same organization and does not share accounts with us. A wiki is just a type of website and there are thousands of independent wikis. If you have not created an account there then you can do that. http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/User:NHPluto shows the name NHPluto is available. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:24, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * No, I use the wiki account http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/User:PlanetBuster2246 instead of using NHPluto and logging into that site only shows my ip address and not my user account. I've used IE, Chrome & Firefox to log in but it just shows my ip. NHPluto (talk) 18:26, 25 March 2016 (UTC)
 * We still have no control over Kerbal space program wiki. It's an altogether different site, run on a different server by different people. It just happens to use the same wiki software. Apparently Kerbal space program wiki requires logging in even to ask questions at the Help desk. If you can't log in to your old account, have you considered making a new account and asking questions at the Help desk? J I P  &#124; Talk 18:52, 25 March 2016 (UTC)
 * (edit conflict) It's an independent wiki run by somebody else. It's possible they have problems with their account administration but we don't have access to their servers. I have no account there. http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Special:RecentChanges shows there are still users able to edit. You could try asking for help at http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Kerbal_Space_Program_Wiki:Helpdesk (no posts since October) or create a new account. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:59, 25 March 2016 (UTC)

How to take my staff out of social media
I would like to take my name mom and day out if social media because I haven't done anything in this country so far so I don't know why they put my staff there I would like to please take my name out of there because I know someone  put my name in there please can you help or what can I do to prevent that from happening  thank you so much  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FB90:40AD:869F:0:27:F89C:6101 (talk) 14:19, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Hello anonymous user. I'm afraid you have come to the Help desk for Wikipedia. We have no connection with any social media. You will need to apply to whichever social media it is (Facebook? Twitter? something else?), as nobody here can help you. Sorry. --ColinFine (talk) 18:07, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

Bing Results show Old Logo
Hello - When you search for our company "Ice Miller LLP" on Bing, the featured Wikipedia results show our old logo. However, there was no logo uploaded into the Ice Miller LLP page. I upload our new logo File:Ice Miller LLP Logo.jpg but the logo does not show up on the Ice Miller LLP Wikipedia Page, and it was not updated in Bing. Can you help? Thank you. KK — Preceding unsigned comment added by IceMiller (talk • contribs) 16:56, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, we have no control over what Bing shows- they take their images & information from a number of sites, one of which is Wikipedia. Therefore, Wikipedia cannot so anything to change what Bing shows. You would need to contact Bing directly to try and get this changed. Joseph2302 (talk) 17:17, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * We have no control over what Bing does. You will have to take up Bing's display of information with Microsoft. Also, you will have to change your username. See WP:USERNAME for what is allowed and what is not. Using a business name is one case that is not allowed.  Dismas |(talk) 17:15, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * logo (here). 2600:1004:B016:7C7A:B593:8214:4AE9:5155 (talk) 17:20, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Incidentally, I think that logo should be tagged as PD-textlogo - as noted on commons:COM:TOO that kind of simple coloured text is not generally considered copyrightable.Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 17:24, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Done and tagged with Mtc--ukexpat (talk) 21:34, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * See also HD/Bing PrimeHunter (talk) 18:57, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

Adding a WWII Veteran to the list of survivors?
I do I get my Dad's name added to the list of WWII survivors, he is 99 years old. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rsaiani (talk • contribs)


 * You didn't provide a link to the list you're referring to, so I'm not sure what list you were looking at. That said, normally people aren't listed on our lists unless they have an article first. Dismas |(talk) 17:13, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * For everyone else's benefit, posted List of surviving veterans of World War II to my talk page.
 * Now that I know what list you're referring to, I can confirm that the people on that list all have articles. Notice that none of their names are red links. So, the people have been determined to be notable per Wikipedia's definition of that term. If you father is notable enough for an article, see WP:BIO, then you could suggest there be an article written at Requested articles. You should probably not write that article because you have a conflict of interest. Dismas |(talk) 17:42, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

How do I get a chart/table to sort ordinal numbers correctly?
How do I get a chart/table to sort correctly? The column has entries like this: 1st; 2nd; 3rd; 4th; etc. When it sorts, it will sort like this, however: 10th, 11th; 1st, 20th; 21st; 2nd; 3rd; 4th; 5th; etc. It is obviously sorting by using the "characters" instead of the numerical values. What do I need to do to make the sort accurate? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:37, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi, . Looking at Help:Sorting, I don't see a way of managing this. You can get it to sort numbers by number rather than alphabetically, but it looks to me as if the following text (st, nd, rd, th) will break that. I may be missing something though. --ColinFine (talk) 18:14, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * I asked a very similar question previously. Here: Help desk/Archives/2016 March 18.    In that discussion, I was told to use a command that looks something like this:   |data-sort-value="0"| .  Is that command of any use here?  Or is it inapplicable for some reason?  Thanks.   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 18:47, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Joseph A. Spadaro@undefined The standard solution (and really what the template is designed for) is to use Template:nts. If you are sorting, st, 2nd and th it *will* come out in that order.Naraht (talk) 19:18, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Naraht (talk) 19:18, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I tried that.  It did not seem to work.  So, I assume I had a typo.  What would be the exact thing to type as the cell entry?  The entries would be 1st Academy Awards, 2nd Academy Awards, etc.  And I also want it to include the Wikipedia link to that article.  So, what exactly should I be typing?     To have the sort correctly, plus the Wikipedia article linked.   I tried st Academy Awards and nd Academy Awards, etc.  That sorts correctly, but does not create a blue link to the article.  Help?   Thanks.   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:30, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * An alternative workaround might be to use a hidden column for the sorting, if the above solution can't be made to work.   D b f i r s   21:13, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Ah. Didn't know they were links... Yeah, the data-sort-value might be worth a try, got it in a sandbox?Naraht (talk) 01:10, 23 March 2016 (UTC)


 * The very last chart at the very bottom of this page: User:Joseph A. Spadaro/Sandbox/Page80.  Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 03:52, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Looks like you've got it working.Naraht (talk) 11:08, 23 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes, I found that alternative way. I still wanted to know if you can combine your way (using the Template:nts) with a blue-link Wikipedia link.  Do you know if that's possible at all?  Thanks.   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:52, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
 * . No clue. The other option would be to use Template:ntsh (h for hidden, still generates the invisible sort key, but not anything obvious) in front of the blue link entry, but you'd have to type the number again. So 23rd Annual whatever Naraht (talk) 17:55, 23 March 2016 (UTC)


 * OK. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:58, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:55, 24 March 2016 (UTC)

Draft in userspace
I'm new to wiki editing and I'm unable to grasp some of the terms used here. Hence this (probably basic) query:

Is my draft in the userspace hidden from others? How long do I have before it could be deleted or edited? In other words, how and where can I pen an article or draft a fresh page free from intervention by other users and/or wiki admin, until I feel ready to put it up?

Tia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by PradhaNarasimhan (talk • contribs) 19:55, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Generally, there is nothing on Wikipedia that is truly hidden. However, we generally don't mess with drafts, either in the draft namespace, or in the user namespace, unless the content is obviously vandalism, or copyright violations. So, there's no rush. Start now, and finish whenever. Just make sure that when you submit your article that it meets the guidelines for notability and verifiability. Otherwise, you might find your draft rejected. If you need help with anything specific, feel free to ask. Also see the welcome I left on your talkpage. Thanks! -- The Voidwalker  Discuss 20:03, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * If it's in your userspace (that is, it's a subpage of User:PradhaNarasimhan), then it is effectively a draft, but it is not what we generally call a draft. An actual draft looks like this: Draft:Mary Spiller. Either way, anyone can see it, but they will only delete it if it contains something illegal, like a copyright violation or a libellous attack. Also, anyone can edit it. The rules are a bit vague here, my own view is that improving a draft is allowed and encouraged, while editing something in another user's userspace is a bit rude. Maproom (talk) 20:07, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Please, see Help:Userspace_draft and also User_pages. Ruslik_ Zero 20:09, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Exactly as noted above, drafts are granted significant leeway unless they are copyright violations, vandalism, attack pages and other forbidden content – and the draft you posted at User:PradhaNarasimhan/Kalyani Varadarajan was a blatant copyright violation. Please don't do that again.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:50, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Liza Jacqueline
Hi, is this twitter account from the same person who voice Bloom in winx from the Fox dub? see: https://twitter.com/lizajkaplan --Maxie1hoi (talk) 20:06, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

uploading images
Hi.

I tried to up load images into the common using Photosynthesis at the category. I uploaded three images, but since there is no photosynthesis category, I am unable to search for the files and include them in an article. As a result, I tried to reload the image files, but I am unable to because the Wiki system says that the file has already been uploaded. I need help on how to retrieve the uploaded files or on how to get around the existing uploaded files.Plant Stress Doctor (talk) 20:23, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Hello, assuming you uploaded the files to commons whilst logged in you will find them listed under 'contributions' (link at the very top of the page) in the same way as Wikipedia, or you could search for the file name you gave them when uploading. Eagleash (talk) 20:27, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Here is a list of your contributions to Commons. Normally, you would note the filename you uploaded it with. Maproom (talk) 20:29, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

initial screen
The initial startup screen has an unwanted background which says files are encrypted with RSA-2408 and AES-128 ciphers. Also the unwanted background upon startup may be _help_instructions bitmap image. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.251.200.34 (talk) 21:51, 22 March 2016 (UTC)


 * The initial startup screen for what? I don't see anything like this for the main page of Wikipedia; so either you're talking about something which isn't Wikipedia (in which case this is the wrong place to ask - this is the Help Desk for questions about editing Wikipedia) or something else (such as your browser) is interfering with how Wikipedia is displayed. Can you explain further? --ColinFine (talk) 22:48, 22 March 2016 (UTC)