Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 January 27

= January 27 =

Finding specific Wikimarkup
Many people on Wikipedia use relative image sizing of thumbnails to respect logged-in registered user's preferences where they have bothered to set them. Unfortunately, over at our sister project Wikivoyage the discussion about introducing this image syntax seems to have both been sidelined and stalled.

I'm trying to find occurrences of "|upright=" within 20 characters of "thumb" so that I can see the earliest use of relative image sizing of thumbnails in a Wikivoyage article to bolster the case for introducing this syntax more widely there. Does anyone know of a tool or simple method I could use to search with, please? --118.93nzp (talk) 04:23, 21 January 2014 (UTC)


 * You could download the complete edit history of every article and search it locally. The file is only 320 MB compressed, but expands to 65 GB, so you might be limited in the tools you can use. Here's a short Python 2.x program that will search for approximately what you're looking for.


 * You would use it like this:

7z x -so enwikivoyage-20140117-pages-meta-history.xml.7z | python find_thumb_upright.py
 * -- BenRG (talk) 08:54, 21 January 2014 (UTC)


 * One can alternatively use more elegant tools. → Σ σ  ς . (Sigma) 09:53, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Thank you both for your helpful replies!

Unfortunately I am such a computer ignoramus that I fear your solutions are beyond my abilities. I assume that I need some programming or Unix skills to use them, do I?

I was rather hoping for some search engine like beast that I could get results from if I knew the correct search syntax.

All I really need is diffs with the first half dozen or so uses on Wikitravel that migrated to Wikivoyage... --118.93nzp (talk) 03:56, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

LinkedIn offer
I've been invited by one of my clients to connect up. I'm having trouble figuring out what the consequences are. I'm not a member. Will it make me one? What else will it do? Clarityfiend (talk) 05:12, 27 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Take into account that your client might not be aware of the invitation. LinkedIn might be sending invitations from his account to the people he may know automatically. So, not joining might go unnoticed.
 * If you decide otherwise, and you sign up, you might expect to get connected to people you don't want to get connected, to get you CV seen by all kind of people and to been accessible online for ages (even if you delete your LinkedIn profile). But you could also find new clients or re-connected with people you lost contact with. OsmanRF34 (talk) 11:39, 27 January 2014 (UTC)


 * To answer the specific question, yes, so far as I know, the only way to "connect" is to become a member. Being a LinkedIn member is a bit like joining Facebook, but with fewer jokey meme pictures and more resume-like forms to fill out. Matt Deres (talk) 21:33, 27 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:33, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Until you get used to the LinkedIn interface, it's very easy to think that the results that come up when you let it look at your address book are all LinkedIn members, and invite them without realising that you're just asking them to make an account. MChesterMC (talk) 09:52, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Surely that is only if you let LinkedIn rummage through your email accounts, Facebook, Twitter, etc. There are privacy settings to prevent that from happening.  Astronaut (talk) 17:49, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

getting your password for sympatico email address
Is there a way that I can get my dad's password for his sympatico email address? I totally forgot what it was and I usually check his email by using Microsoft Outlook, the program in the past Windows before 8 came. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.22.67 (talk) 15:46, 27 January 2014 (UTC)


 * You may be able to reset it using this procedure. If you don't know that information, you'll probably have to phone Bell. 87.115.241.113 (talk) 17:52, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

8-tuples of 4 hex digit numbers
At times when you display a Wikipedia article history, instead of the Wikipedia user name (for registered users) or the IP address (for non registered users) you get something like this 2605:a601:448:cf01:d857:6ccf:a737:a59d. (I take it this is a sequence of 8 numbers in 4 hex digit format).

What are those things and how can I get my own edit to be displayed under such a token?

Contact Basemetal   here  17:37, 27 January 2014 (UTC)


 * I am revising the heading of this section from What are those 8-tuples of 4 hex digit numbers in Wikipedia article histories and how can my own edit show up like that? to 8-tuples of 4 hex digit numbers, in harmony with WP:TPOC, point 12 (Section headings). Please see Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines.  The new heading facilitates recognition of the topic in links and watchlists and tables of contents.
 * —Wavelength (talk) 17:42, 27 January 2014 (UTC)


 * See "IPv6".—Wavelength (talk) 17:42, 27 January 2014 (UTC)