Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive 115

Getting an Article to GA
Hi, I am requesting help getting: Great northern tilefish to GA status, is there a check list or something that can show where and how I can improve that article.? Any help would be appreaciated. Thanks --Prabash What?   13:39, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
 * You might find these criteria helpful. Good luck  Flat Out   let's discuss it   13:44, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you, I'm going to give it a read, and contribute to the article a bit more then I'm going to nominate it. Thanks --Prabash What?   13:47, 16 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi PBASH607. If you feel the article meets the GA criteria linked above, to the best of your ability, you can always request a peer review before making the nomination. There's a perpetual backlog at both peer review and good article nominations though, so staggering them might mean a very long wait. Once you nominate for GA, unless it is quick failed or promoted immediately, you will get a list of improvements needed to pass – the very checklist you're looking for. Note that having glanced at the article, I highly doubt it would be quick failed. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:52, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the help guys. --Prabash What?   19:37, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

1848 in Switzerland
Hi,

I was wondering if this was indeed a mid-importance article, or if, as it was when Switzerland became a federal state, if it could possibly be a high importance article to the project.

Thanks, Mat  ty. 007 09:10, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi Matty. I think you make a valid point but it is not really a subject for the teahouse. Better discuss it at the project talk page or at WP:RfC.--Charles (talk) 09:15, 16 June 2013 (UTC)


 * OK, thanks. I will do that now. Mat  ty  .  007  09:19, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

How to become an administrator?
How to become an administrator?SecurityUser1 (talk) 07:02, 16 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi SecurityUser1~ Welcome to the Teahouse! See here. You need to be nominated (self-nomination is also possible). cheers ⊾maine12329⊿   talks  ✿ wiki  07:04, 16 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi SecurityUser1! Just to add to what Maine12329 said, as someone who recently went through the process I'd suggest the most important thing you can do is work on articles and gain experience, in that the primary thing which people will be looking for is evidence of working collaboratively and productively within Wikipedia. So you'll need something like 12 months experience on Wikipedia before putting your name forward. Personally, I think being an Admin can be useful, because you can do a little bit more to help, but what Wikipedia needs the most is people who can help develop and maintain articles. :) - Bilby (talk) 07:19, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

AfD or PROD?
I'm not clear on what the difference is or which is appropriate to use, it seems like AfD = discuss then delete if there's consensus, vs PROD = delete if nobody objects.

Notnoteworthy (talk) 02:32, 16 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hello, and welcome to the Teahouse! Generally speaking, PROD is what you would use if you anticipate that deleting an article is going to be relatively uncontroversial, whereas AfD is where you would go to start a discussion as to whether something should be deleted. When in doubt, go to AfD. It's good to get consensus. If you have a specific article in mind, I could take a look and give you my personal advice too. Happy editing.  Go  Phightins  !  02:52, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
 * There is also the consideration that articles deleted by PROD can be undeleted on simple request to an admin. Articles deleted by consensus will only be recreated if convincing reasons are put forward.--Charles (talk) 09:24, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Creating a new article

 * Re: Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Trishna

This is my first attempt on creating a article here. It is on a sail boat and it's account of the circumnavigation done by it. Among the reasons the article has been rejected is that it should conform to the Wikipedia:WikiProject_Ships/Guidelines. After going through these guidelines, are these applicable to small sail boats too?

Since the event predates the archival of newspaper articles online in India (which happened around the year 1999/2000, how can I provide references with the cuttings from papers which I have scanned with me?

Amreshwar Pratap Singh 16:52, 14 June 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ayepee99 (talk • contribs)


 * Thanks for the question. On the referencing issue, use the Cite news template, filling in as many of the parameters as possible so that a reader can identify the source, find it and read it for themselves if they so wish.--ukexpat (talk) 17:06, 14 June 2013 (UTC)


 * He, Amreshwar. For the question on the Ships project, you really need to ask that at WT:WikiProject_Ships. On the references, ukexpat is right: there is no requirement that references be available on line, as long as readers can in principle get hold of them (eg by ordering them from a library). --ColinFine (talk) 09:36, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Zack Norman article
Hi, below is the link for the most recent revision of the article I wrote on actor/producer Zack Norman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Zack_Norman I submitted it over a week ago, but it seems to be lingering in limbo. Can someone please help me out? I've revised the article at least four times according to Wikipedia editors' instructions, and just sincerely do not understand what I'm still doing wrong, if anything. Thanks so much. Matzohboy (talk) 00:44, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * The article doesn't seem to have been submitted. You can tell when an article has been submitted because it will have a large yellow box with "Review waiting".  I have submitted it for you.  &mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 01:00, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much! I really appreciate it.Matzohboy (talk) 01:09, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi, Matzohboy. Please just be aware, it will still take a week (or longer), most likely, for the article to get reviewed.  Thanks for coming to the Teahouse.  We are glad you did. Gtwfan52 (talk) 05:46, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Removing the orphan status
Hi -- the article I created has an "orphan" status. I added a number of links to it from withing other Wikipedia articles, where it made sense to do so. But that has not altered its status. Does it take time? Jjunecobb (talk) 23:32, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi, Jjunecobb. You'll have to manually remove the orphan tag. Just hit the edit button and remove something that looks like . King  Jakob  C2 23:39, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Citing a url containing "=" symbol
Hello, I'm wondering how can I cite a source that contains the symbol, "+" in the url. Thanks. Datdyat (talk) 21:38, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hello there Datdyat! Thanks for being awesome and helping make sure Wikipedia has citations :) In answer to your question, try using Percent-encoding. Specifically, replace every + sign with %2B, and every = sign with %3D. --LukeSurlt c 21:50, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hello and welcome to the Teahouse ! I'm assuming that you are having an issue with = inside one of the Cite templates.  The trick is to make sure that you have the URL declared as a URL and it should look something like: http://url.example.com/index.php?title=Example&lang=en The other options are Percent-encoding like  mentioned making sure to replace | = { } and spaces with the appropriate codes. You could also use = ! in place of = and | respectively. Good luck! Technical 13 (talk) 22:41, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Was there ever an article on 'The Amazing Atheist' (YouTube personality)?
this question concerns the united states (english language) wikipedia

'The Amazing Atheist' is (in my opinion) vulgar and expressive. He is also (in my opinion) irritatingly logical.

His name is TJ Kirk. His YouTube videos are poignantly entertaining (to me anyway). I suspect maybe he was considered once for an article and rejected/deleted?

Would there be a way to find any history on rejected/deleted pages, or to confirm the lack of any pre-existing page?

Also, are YouTube personalities notable enough for Wikipedia? What makes a person 'notable'?

thx CherylJosie (talk) 20:51, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi Cheryl, in regard to your main question, yes. If you click on the red link of The Amazing Atheist you'll see the deletion log for the page. You'll see that content under this title has been deleted four times for various reasons. If you want to view such logs for any other article title, try searching using Special:Log as I have done here. Several things other than deletions are also logged, as you can see if you experiment with that search tool. Cheers --LukeSurlt c 21:07, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hey CherylJodie, welcome to the Teahouse. Whether a subject deserves an article is not based off whether one thinks the subject is vulgar. After all, we have an article on rape, even though most people think it is vulgar. Notability is based off of whether reliable third party sources have talked about the subject. Many YouTubers are considered notable because they have been mentioned by reliable sources like newspapers.  nerd fighter  21:12, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * While logged info about a deleted page can be browsed, the edit page history of the page is hidden when a page is deleted. It's not erased entirely, but it is only visible to Administrators and not "mere mortals" like you or I. If a page is "undeleted" (rather than simply recreated) the edit history is restored. --LukeSurlt c 21:12, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Ah, thanks. I did see the 'red link' but every time I followed one in the past it led to a message saying, 'would you like to write an article on' or something like that. This is the first time I have seen a red link that pointed to a deleted page. Intuitive but not obvious. --CherylJosie (talk) 21:53, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

How do I determine current status of a submitted article?
Hello, On 6-13-13 I submitted a brief article, my first Wiki submission, (about Trumba) and I can't tell if it is still in the queue for review. How can I determine what the status of my submission is? If/when it is published will I receive an email notification? Thank you, tessa060304 Tessa060304 (talk) 19:58, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the question. Your draft is at User:Tessa060304/Trumba and as you will see it is still waiting to be reviewed.--ukexpat (talk) 20:25, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hello and welcome to the Teahouse ! I've moved your draft to WT:Articles for creation/Trumba and cleaned the submission to put the template at the top of the page.  I would expect your draft to be reviewed within the next two weeks as there is currently a backlog of submissions waiting to be reviewed.  Feel free to drop a note on my talkpage if it isn't reviewed in a couple weeks and I'll make sure it gets done promptly.  Happy editing!  Technical 13 (talk) 23:59, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Figuran Osman
Anyone knows who is this Figuran Osman. In bono's article says that if anyone add that name to the alias section will be blocked??  Miss Bono    (zootalk)  19:25, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hmmm... I'm guessing it had some problems with people adding "Figuran Osman" as an alias of Bono for some reason. It's an unnecessarily aggressive notice in that article, I'll edit it to be more polite. :) --LukeSurlt c 20:02, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * thank you, LukeSurl. i had never heard about that Figuran Osman nickname for Bono, maybe Melicans, Theroadislong or Y2krazyjoker4 knows about that. I will ask.  Miss Bono    (zootalk)  20:27, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * My guess is Bono has never called himself that; and it was added to the article as a joke (maybe by people with a friend called Figuran who likes to wear sunglasses). For several reasons, Wikipedia is very careful about what it says about living people, hence why adding unreferenced content to such an article may warrant a serious response. --LukeSurlt c 20:32, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * As I recall, about 5 years ago an editor alleged that Figuran Osman was one of Bono's nicknames used for his political activities, it was never backed up with a reference and it was continually added in a disruptive manner leading to the warning message being inserted in the article.Theroadislong (talk) 20:37, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

my page got redirected
I am very new to wiki, please bear with me. I successfully edited 2 pages and started a third after I typed in a search for the topic and wiki did not already have it. The page was called Certified Dog Trainer. Today I am on Wiki making minor edits (adding a link) and the page is no longer available and is being redirected to Dog Training. This redirect has been done by someone named Cindamuse (I believe) according to the edit history of the page. She appears to be a skilled Wiki person, which is fine, I just want to know what error I made so I can fix the problem. I'm assuming I would use talk page to ask her, but I went to her page and saw no place to ask a Q or have a talk. Is this appropriate use of talk? If so, how do I begin a conversation with her? If not, what else should I be doing to follow up on this article of mine? Thanks! 18:41, 17 June 2013 (UTC)~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmdogma (talk • contribs)
 * Hi, Mmdogma and welcome to The Teahouse. You are correct that if you want to discuss what was wrong with Certified Dog Trainer, you should use User talk:Cindamuse. Click on "New section" at the top of the page, and explain your problem as you did here. Be polite. There may be a way to get the article back. And remember, it's not your article.— Vchimpanzee  ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 19:06, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * And I took a brief look at the article. There are a few minor things like capitalization and the use of "There is" and "There are". The biggest problem is the lack of references. Ideally, everything in the article should come from a source which is identified at the end of a sentence, paragraph or section. You would put information about that reference inside, and at the end of the article the heading ==References==, with either  ought to do the trick. Put it underneath the topicon codes and it should work. Yunshui  雲 &zwj; 水  13:42, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I should add: if you leave the tag unclosed (i.e. with no  code at the bottom) then it will simply wrap the entire page. What you're trying to do is fine (it's just that you're trying to wrap the topicons, which confuses the software), but the above code, with no closing tag, is just a lot simpler. Yunshui  雲 &zwj; 水  13:46, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * In fact, sod it; I've just gone ahead and done it for you. Yunshui 雲 &zwj; 水  13:47, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you!!  Miss Bono    (zootalk)  14:02, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Proper technique for editing a live stub article in userspace
Greetings, all. Nice place you've got, here!

I'm doing pretty well for myself, finding most of the documentation and playing around in Userspace. For the most part, almost all the answers to my questions are already out there, I just need to search for them, and find time to read it all. There is one thing, however, that's leaving me perplexed. I think the reason for that, is that the editing model used for Wikipedia may not have anticipated my kind of usage though, in software development, it's done every day.

Generally, when you edit a code module in a large project that's under a revision control system (RCS, which is actually quite like a Wiki), what you do is first "check out" the code (like checking out a library book), edit it as much as you like, then "check it back in". It seems like Wikipedia has only half this model.

All the new user articles seem to be geared for creating brand new articles out of thin air. But it's much more likely, these days, that a new user, like myself, will want to expand an existing stub article into a full feature. I'm not talking about a minor edit. I mean essentially a whole new article, but built on an existing stub, rather than just thin air. I understand the idea of creating a new article in userspace, submitting the article for review, then moving it into mainspace. I think that's a very good model, giving newbies a chance to get their feet wet, taking as much time as they need, before the experienced folks start criticizing them, but then being able to get constructive comment when they're ready, working cooperatively with experienced editors. Excellent model, imho.

But what if you want to take a live stub into userspace (retaining the edit history), turning the ugly ducking into an ugly swan (Very rough draft, nowhere near finished! The majority of the stub text appears in the Transparent Anatomical Manikin (TAM) section.), submitting the article for review (thereby turning it into a beautiful swan) and then move it back into mainspace? The first move, live stub to userspace, (actually a copy, not a move) is known as a "check out" and the second move, userspace to finished article in mainspace, is known as a "check in". If I understand things correctly, WP only implements the "check in" part, but not the "check out".

Of course, one foreseeable shortcoming of this approach is that the live stub could be edited independently while the userspace copy is being developed. This can be avoided by placing a banner template indicating that an article has been "checked out", with a link to the userspace page, and recommending that proposed edits be discussed on the appropriate talk page. Another shortcoming is having one user monopolize a page for an indefinite time, but there are ways to control this.

The problem of not checking articles out is that the edit history of the original stub gets lost, like in my case. I actually stopped developing this article, once I realized about the edit history problem, so that I don't get myself in too deep into having to re-do it properly. I'm sure I'm not the first, nor the last, to join WP with an RCS mindset. I suspect it's been debated long and loud, but as a newbie, I'm blissfully ignorant of such debates. What has been the consensus on this issue?

Perhaps some of you experienced and wiser folk could create a page on expanding a stub article for newbies, with the model of editing in userspace and seeking review, like you currently do for new articles. As part of that idea, I noticed that the template links the words "expanding it" directly to the edit action, encouraging newbies to make their first draft on the live article. I'd think it should link, instead, to the article that I'm asking for someone to write, to guide us newbies on how to do this safely. Of course, anyone who really wants to, can just dive in, and directly click the edit tab. But the link on the template seems to beg for a how-to article. I know I could really use some guidance on how to do this properly.

Any thoughts / ideas / pages on this??

Thanks!!

Djdubay (talk) 13:10, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I wonder if tagging the stub with  is enough to give editor time to work on the article while it remains live.  Flat Out    let's discuss it   13:18, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Most of the articles are just edited "live". In my experience the best way to edit a live article is to make small related changes and then save the article, leaving it in a still readable format.  If you have a new source to add, type it into the appropriate spot and save. If you want to add headings, add them and save - but don't do both in one edit. Taking the article away to user space, as you pointed out, messes up the edit history.  On the other hand, making changes all over the place in one edit can cause wasted work if you or another editor don't like the result.  If you have a whole new paragraph to add, you could develop that in your sandbox or user space and then copy the paragraph into the article when you have it the way you want it.  Because you wrote the whole paragraph yourself, the fact that you may have changed the words around several times in your sandbox isn't important to the edit history. The same thing goes for an infobox or table that you are trying to make work - the sandbox is your friend! &mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 13:57, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi Djdubay


 * Thanks for your question! Reading your comments, it seems like you're well on your way to being a Wikipedia editor of the first order :)


 * Articles for creation is actually a bit of an anomaly on Wikipedia. The vast majority of content is added to "live" articles, with no review process before this happens - indeed one could consider all "live" articles to be under continual review and revision.


 * With this in mind, and considering that you seem to be a careful and mindful editor, I would stringly enourage you to be BOLD and make your edits striaght to the live article. This way, other editors can collaborate with you most easily. I'm pretty confident that your edits will be of high quality and a great plus for the article as soon as you make them.


 * I'm going to add Manakin to my watchlist. I look forward to seeing you improve this article - and I may chip in a little bit. :) If you have any technical or procedural questions etc. there are plenty of people here who will help you out.


 * Cheers --LukeSurlt c 13:59, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Deletion
Good morning anf Happy belated father's day, for all dads here. I need to delete this file: File:MissBono's fav eyes.png‎  Miss Bono    (zootalk)  12:23, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Done. Just a reminder of what I indicated the other day in more detail: the standard method to request deletion of pages you created (that are not in your userspace) is to tag the page with db-g7, db-self or db-author. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:33, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Shortening the URL
How do I shorten the URL so that i can add the site as a reference. Which references can be considered useless?? aish.ego (talk) 08:44, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hello there aish.ego!
 * Generally you do not need to shorten a URL that you wish to use as a reference. The best way to reference a website is with an inline citation and the cite-web template, (or another of the family of "citation" templates if it is more appropriate). Instructions on how to use these templates can be found on Citation_templates and linked pages from there.
 * Personally, I use the ProveIt tool, which adds a little box to my editing interface which makes referencing a lot easier. Instructions on how to install and use ProveIt are found at User:ProveIt_GT. I would strongly recommend giving it a try.
 * I hope this is helpful. If this isn't quite what you were looking for, please reply with some extra details on your problem and we'll see what we can do.
 * Cheers! --LukeSurlt c 11:55, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * As per your second question Which references can be considered useless?, please see Reliable_Sources for information on what the community considers a useful source. --LukeSurlt c 11:58, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks aish.ego (talk) 08:11, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

how to make this page get approved Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani
i've given lot of reference and citations for this page Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani, please can anyone help getting this page approved. 2.49.104.39 (talk) 06:19, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Welcome 2.49.104.39, are you editing the article under another username? I cam't see any edits that you have made from this I.P and therefore I am having trouble finding the draft article you are referring to. Can you provide a link to the page you are working on?  Flat Out   let's discuss it   06:27, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

sorry this is the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Mohammed_bin_Abdulla_Al_Thani Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani (talk) 06:50, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank-you. I notice that your username is the same as the subject of the article. Please be aware that editing articles about yourself or someone you have a close connection with can cause problems in maintaining a neutral point of view and is therefore not recommended. I draw your attention to a message on your talk page from SarahStierch who explained that creating an article about yourself is a problem. I also recommend you make yourself familiar with conflict of interest.  Flat Out   let's discuss it   07:15, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Another reply: The page is Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani. As the banner at the bottom of the page says, Articles for creation is backlogged, and it may take several days for a reviewer to get to your draft. —teb728 t c 07:19, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * what is the procedure to transfer this page to another account so that the username does not match the Article Name

2.51.124.46 (talk) 12:55, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi. I'm afraid your last question misses the point. It doesn't matter where the page is (and TEB728 points out that there is a copy at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani, so presumably the copy in a user subpage is now irrelevant). The point is who wrote it, not where it is. Judging by your user name, it appears that you are the same person as the subject of the article. If this is true, then the article is an attempt at an autobiography, which is strongly discouraged in Wikipedia: see Autobiography for an explanation. --ColinFine (talk) 16:26, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I would like to change the focus a little—away from it being strongly discouraged to write an autobiography to why it is discouraged: Many people (I suspect including you) confuse Wikipedia with a social networking site where anyone can write a self-flattering profile. Wikipedia is not like that; encyclopedic biographies here are about notable people and are written from a neutral point of view. It is not just a matter of avoiding puffery like “positive footprints”, “premium-experience”, “extensive business profile”, “adventurous traveler”, “passionate mountaineer”, and “dedicated mission”—even if the wording were neutralized, your whole intent is clearly promotional. And since your “sources” are press releases, it is not possible to tell if you meet our notability guideline even marginally. It is our experience that people are simply unable to write acceptably encyclopedic autobiograpies. —teb728 t c 04:53, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Talkback
Dear editors: With this new "notifications" feature, is it no longer necessary to leave talkback messages, or are there situations in which  this would still be useful? &mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 01:24, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi Anne Delong and welcome. I believe that if you have your notifications set to let you know when your username is mentioned, then you will know when you get an answer here at Teahouse (as long as your username is edited as a link). In these cases talkback is obsolete but the editor leaving you a talkback can't know your settings.  Flat Out   let's discuss it   01:32, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Well, as far as I know, I haven't changed any settings, or even knew I could do it. They just appeared one day.  Since I am mainly sending messages to new users about the pages they are creating at Afc, can I assume that (1) the default setting is on, and that those who turn it off don't want to be notified?  &mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 04:19, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I checked this out and 'mentions' is a default notification setting as you suggested. Assuming every answer links the user correctly and assuming they haven't disabled the setting they will receive a notification. One good aspect of teahouse talkback is it's easy for new editors to find their way back to the question they asked.  Flat Out   let's discuss it   05:12, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * It is if people remember to link to the relevant section on the page, but one still sees quite a number of Teahouse Talkback messages without the section link. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:12, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I wasn't meaning Teahouse talkbacks; I have a lot of new editors leaving messages on my personal talk page.  Answering on the same page keeps the discussion all in one place, but then I have been finding their talk pages and leaving talkback messages.  More experienced editors probably know enough to watch a page if they were expecting a reply, but beginners might not.  I just wondered if this kind of talkback is still needed. &mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 12:39, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

How to join a WikiProject?
How does one join a WikiProject? Is it easy? I have already joined a WikiProject, but I am still unsure. Image2012 (talk) 12:42, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi Image2012 and welcome. Normally there is a list on the project's page that you can add your name to. Is there a particular project you're interested in?  Flat Out   let's discuss it   12:46, 16 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi =) After finding the WikiProject you want to join, once you leave your name in their roster you, you've joined it. Just look into what the project needs help with, and feel free to engage in their discussions etc ⊾maine12329⊿   talks  ✿ wiki  12:53, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Hi there! A wiki project is a group of editors working toward making their topic significant in Wikipedia, there are literally tons of them. You may join a Wiki Project of your choice depending on your knowledge and expertise, to join a Wikiproject is pretty simple, just go on the main page of your selected Wikiproject and put you name on the list of editors. Remember to be a great contributor and help your wiki project to the fullest! Cheers --Prabash What?   13:33, 16 June 2013 (UTC)


 * If the WikiProject has a userbox, adding it to your userpage will add your userpage to the 'category' of members...for example, User WP Lists will add you to . You can also manually categorize yourself by just adding the cat to your page. Revent (talk) 04:13, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

BStars
How a user earn one of those barnstars??  Miss Bono    (zootalk)  20:04, 14 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Welcome to the Teahouse again, Miss Bono. Barnstars are typically awarded whenever anyone feels that someone else has done great work at something. You can see concrete examples of things you might award a barnstar for here ;). King Jakob  C2 21:56, 14 June 2013 (UTC)

Miss Bono, Barnstars are awarded by the way a user contributes to Wikipedia. This can be defined by their behavior to other users, or their actions towards improving an article. --Prabash What?   03:58, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi, again, Miss Bono. Barnstars are awarded at the personal discretion of the editor awarding it.  I see you have gathered quite a few already.  You do good work.  You will get more, I am sure. Gtwfan52 (talk) 07:53, 16 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you all. Hehehe, Gtwfan52 I wish :)  Miss Bono    (zootalk)  12:20, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Picture
Hello, I've just uploaded this picture, can someone check if the licence is ok. You might delete it if it doesn't meet some licence policy File:Ali Hewson and Bono in 2010 EDUN in a Louis Vuitton campaign.xcf  Miss Bono   (zootalk)  17:57, 12 June 2013 (UTC)


 * I thank that image fails criterion #1 of the WP:NFCC - an equivalent free image could be taken to illustrate the article.--ukexpat (talk) 20:00, 12 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks. ukexpat. It has been deleted now :)  Miss Bono   (zootalk)  12:35, 14 June 2013 (UTC)


 * I'll just let it hide. -- 19:58, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Account deletion
I made an account and my mom said that the page's title was too personal, so I made a new account. How do I delete the old one? -- 20:54, 15 June 2013 (UTC)
 * You can't delete an account, but it can be renamed. See WP:RENAME for details. This is the best solution if you and your mom want to get rid of any trace of that account name. The easiest thing is to continue using your current account and completely abandon the old one. People won't notice it if it is inactive.  Cullen 328  Let's discuss it  21:50, 15 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Yeah, but what if I already have the new account (which I do) and want to merge the old one or something? Will rename still work? -- 16:25, 16 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Answer to my own previous question: No. Darn, but is there anything else I can do? -- 16:28, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi XndrK, You can't merge them. Renaming will work in the sense that you can change the too-personal username to something else. This change applies only to the way your name appears on history pages and logs; it would not affect the way past signatures appear on talk pages and forums (like this one). If these signatures are important to you, you could edit the signatures, BUT doing so would make a connection visible in diference listings between the old signature and the username you use to edit them. I hope that is clear enough. —teb728 t c 07:39, 17 June 2013 (UTC)


 * You might find the Guidance for younger editors page useful. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 17:41, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

The article I wrote is completely my work--it is on my page at my son's website
The reviewer indicated a problem with copyright. My article on Isaac Penner was written by me and posted on my page at my son's website www.1nikon.com. If Wikipedia needs permission for copyright my son will provide it to you. This is my original work and belongs to no one else. It is posted on my page at www.1nikon.com. What is the reviewer's problem with copyright? CantiagueCantiague (talk) 01:56, 19 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi Cantiague, and welcome to the Teahouse! Does the advice about Donating copyrighted materials help you at all? --Demiurge1000 (talk) 02:09, 19 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hello Cantiague, and welcome! To answer a question you didn't ask, but which you will likely soon need answered: Things written for other purposes outside of Wikipedia is rarely appropriate for Wikipedia for several reasons.  First, Wikipedia is written in a very specific style, with a very specific purpose, and unless the text was written specifically for another encyclopedia, it is unlikely to be useful at Wikipedia.  In the first case, all text at Wikipedia needs to obey several key principles.  First, all text must be verifiable.  That means that everything written at Wikipedia needs to be able to be verified by having been previously published in scrupulously reliable sources like books, magazines, journals, and newspapers.  When you write for Wikipedia, you cite your sources, usually by use of footnotes, so others can verify what is written here.  Secondly, all text at Wikipedia needs to be written from a neutral point of view, and text written for other purposes, especially text written by someone for their own personal website, is unlikely to have that neutral point of view.  Thirdly, Wikipedia text needs to be organized, formatted, and styled according to Wikipedia's manual of style.  However, this is a minor problem compared to the other two.  It is very rare to find text published on a personal website which is, itself, properly footnoted and tied to other previously published reliable source material.  Assuming that a) the text written on your son's website is already properly written, formatted, and of an appropriate point of view, if you did want to lisence it for use at Wikipedia, instructions for doing so are at this page, which will walk you through the procedure for donating previously published material to Wikipedia.  However, before getting that far, you should consider all of the potential problems with the text, and consider writing new text from scratch, carefully citing the sources along the way, which will stand a much better chance of being accepted.  I hope that helps!  -- Jayron  32  02:19, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Nominate event for anniversary on Main Page
How do I nominate an important event for mention in the "This Day in History" box on the Main Page? 22:51, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


 * The page Selected anniversaries might be helpful for you to view. There's specific rules for inclusion at WP:OTDRULES. It seems you just need to be bold and add it yourself. — Mike moral  ♪♫  00:35, 19 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I was wondering about that. 02:26, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Help with talk archive?
I put an archive box on my talk page with auto set to yes. Will it archive itself? 20:48, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Xander, welcome to the Teahouse. No your talk page won't archive itself.  The yes is used for updating the archive box when new archive pages are created, not for creating those archive pages in the first place.  For automatic archiving you need to employ a bot like User:MiszaBot III or User:ClueBot III to do it for you. NtheP (talk) 21:01, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks. 21:21, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

FA Article
What should I have to do to nominate this article for FA??  Miss Bono    (zootalk)  19:35, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * If you think it meets the Featured article criteria, you can submit it at Featured article candidates. If you're not sure, you might want to submit it for Peer review. -- Ypnypn (talk) 20:01, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


 * See WP:FA for links to the necessary pages.-- Gilderien Chat&#124;List of good deeds 20:09, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


 * I want a review.  Miss Bono   (zootalk)  20:27, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Did you know...
I have created a new article. How do I post it on Did you know...? Can I just add it or do I need the assistance of an administrator?--Taiping Tulip (talk) 14:52, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Welcome to the Teahouse, Taiping Tulip! To nominate something for "Did you know", follow the instructions at Template talk:Did you know. If your article has no problems and meets all of the DYK criteria, it will be added to the DYK "queue" and show up on the Main Page. They may ask you to fix things. Happy editing! ö   Brambleberry   of   RiverClan  15:18, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

What does this word mean?
I was translating Ali Hewson's article into Spanish and I have this word 'eejit' I know it means something like 'fool' but can get the exact word for Spanish.. Can anybody help me? <span style="font-family:'Arial',cursive"> Miss Bono    (zootalk)  12:51, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi . As far as I'm aware "eejit" is roughly equivalent to "fool". It's a mild insult almost always used in a friendly context, and it usually refers to a person who does stupid things, rather than someone of generally low intelligence. You'd probably get a more expert opinion if you asked at the Language Reference Desk. ---LukeSurlt c 13:20, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi Miss B, 'eejit' is often used as the pronunciation of 'idiot' as spoken by someone with an Irish accent, see eejit. Often done as mimickry by people imitating an Irish accent. NtheP (talk) 13:44, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks, NtheP. I understand that now. I don't have access to wikictionary though :( <span style="font-family:'Arial',cursive"> Miss Bono    (zootalk)  14:23, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

post a photo over the map on a city/page
How can I post a photo over the map on our village's city page? How can I embed photos into the text of the page?

Thanks here is our page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valatie,_New_York thank, Vaaltje Vaaltje (talk) 11:06, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi Vaaltje. To post a picture above the map, input the title of the image after the text, without the File: prefix (e.g.  ). To add pictures to the text, use the code   at the place where you want the image to appear, e.g.  . For more information on formatting pictures, see the Picture Tutorial. Hope this helps. Yunshui  雲 &zwj; 水  12:11, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi Vaaltje and welcome to the Teahouse! Good work on the article so far. Yunshui just posted as I was writing the text below, so I apologise to both of you for the duplication.
 * First off, it seems that neither Wikipedia nor Wikimedia Commons have any photos yet of Valatie. If you or your neighbors are keen photographers, can I encourage you to take some pictures of your village and upload them? Copyright-wise this will mean relasing them under a Creative Commons license.
 * Now the actual process of uploading is a little fiddly. We like to use Wikimedia Commons as our photo repositry, as it means these pictures can be shared with Wikipedias in other languages. Commons has an |upload wizard to help you through the process.
 * Next, let's get an image into the text of the page. This is quite simple, when you open up the editor you should see an icon on the top bar with a little image of a sunset. Click this, and enter the filename you selected in the previous stage, and a nice caption describing what's in the image. You probably will almost always want to use the default size and "thumbnail" format for the image - though you may want try playing around with placing images in your sandbox to see what options you have. Once you click "insert" the relevant code will appear at your cursor in the edot box.
 * Lastly, adding images to the city template is a little bit different. There's a designated slot for a "skyline" image (actually can be any representive poster). See where is says "image_skyline"? Add your filename after the = sign. (for example Valatie_citycentre.png) then add a caption for that image where it says image_caption. You may need to specify the width that that image appears too, I would suggest setting 275px. Maybe have a look at how the template is for my home city of Norwich by clicking "edit this page" and looking at the code.
 * Hope that is useful! Cheers, --LukeSurlt c 12:16, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Battle box
I want to add a battle box like the one on Tumu Crisis to my new article Prince of Ning rebellion. How do I accomplish this?--Taiping Tulip (talk) 10:27, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi there Taiping Tulip! Good work on Prince of Ning rebellion so far, it's great that you're keen to futher improve the article.
 * The easiest option is to go to Tumu Crisis and click the "edit this page" button to see the source code for the battle box. You can then copy this code into Prince of Ning rebellion (you can close the edit interface for Tumu Crisis without making any edits), and change the values for the various parameters to fit the Prince of Ning rebellion. Blank anything you can't fill in, then click "preview" and check that it looks OK. Then save your changes and award yourself a nice cup of tea :) --LukeSurlt c 10:41, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you.--Taiping Tulip (talk) 10:43, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

How do I write citations
Valuermwema (talk) 09:58, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hello ! The coding for extensions can be quite complicated. Personally I use an extension called ProveIt. It adds a nice little box to your editing interface where you enter the relevant information an it does most of the hard work for you. I'd recommend it highly! Instructions to add it to your editor, and usage instructions can be found at this page.
 * I'm sure other hosts here will have other advice. If you could be more specific about the problem(s) you are experiencing we may be able to offer some better advice.
 * An additional point, the article you are drafting at User talk:Valuermwema appears to be about yourself. This is considered a conflict of interest, the reasons why we strongly discourage writing about yourself are detailed here. --LukeSurlt c 10:17, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * The easiest way is to place the cursor at the point where you want the citation, then click "Cite" on the bar at the top of the edit window and select the appropriate template from the "Templates" list. However, please do not write an article about yourself, and please do not use your user talkpage as a sandbox. It is self-evident that you do not meet Wikipedia's inclusion requirements, and you are only going to cause stress for yourself and the rest of the editing community if you persist in this vein. Yunshui 雲 &zwj; 水  12:16, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Is there any guide to tagging pictures when uploading them?
I had some pictures taken down because I tagged them as free use incorrectly, is there a guide so I can tag them right? JackWilfred (talk) 07:42, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi . If you are referring to File:DualShock 4.png don't worry, you did nothing wrong. Your license tagging was correct. It was a useful and irreplaceable non-free image from when you uploaded it - it's just since the console was available for people to take pictures of at E3 we have been able to get a free image which we can use instead. Free images are much more easily used than non-free images, hence why File:Dualshock_4_controller.jpg is preferred even though it is of slightly lower quality. In summary, your image used to pass NFCC #1, but since time has marched on it now fails it.
 * Thank you for uploading this image when you did, I'm sure it greatly helped the article it was used during its short tenure at Wikipedia. Cheers --LukeSurlt c 08:31, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but I wasn't referring to that picture, I was referring to another that was taken down because I did it incorrectly. Is there a guide to tagging just so I can double check in the future? JackWilfred (talk) 14:46, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi, Jack. Glad I am not posting from an airplane, lol.  I don't know of any guide, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.  But a quick explanation of "free use" might be in order.  "Free use" is when you use an image that is copyrighted, under an exception to the copyright laws.  These include the use of logos, which is allowed only to illustrate the article on the thing or organization the logo represents; and your circumstance they discussed above, where you are using a copyrighted photo only because a non-copyrighted photo is impossible to obtain.  This comes up when you are using a company's image to illustrate an article about a not yet released product, and also when you are using a photo of a deceased person.  Hope that helps some. Gtwfan52 (talk) 02:42, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Editing and adding secondary citations
Hello Everyone,

I love enhancing the quality of articles that are marked to need citations. But sometimes I add a lot of citations and make the page valid, but still the editor who put the issue templates says that he is not going to remove the templates issue. For example there is one which I enhanced remarkably by adding references ( Majid Rafizadeh ) but still the template is there and the other editor insists on keeping. What should be done? Mediaoutlets (talk) 02:40, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Dear Mediaoutlets: I checked out the references on the Majid Rafizadeh article, and there is a problem.  It's not the number of citations, but the source of them.  Almost all of them are written or spoken by Mr. Rafizadeh, or by organizations with which he is connected.  This is obviously a well known person, so all you need to get rid of the "notability" tag are three or four independent references where other authors or journalists have written about him or his work.  Then to get rid of the "close connection" tag, please edit the article to remove any promotional comments, remarks about feelings and opinions, etc., just leaving neutral facts.  There are some pretty controversial statements in the article, and all of these must either be backed up by an independent sources (not his own articles or broadcasts) or removed from the article.  I hope this helps.  &mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 03:30, 18 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi Mediaoutlets and welcome. Anne Delong answered before I could but since I have a few links to guidlines that might help you I am posting my answer too, but Anne Delong is absolutely correct. There are a number of problems with the article and it still needs some work before the templates can be removed. The references are "naked URLs" and need to be formatted properly and because they are not formatted properly you have references repeated in the reference list- See WP:LINKROT. It contains words that seek to promote the subject without adding any real information - See WP:PEACOCK. There are a number of references that are written by Majid Rafizadeh are are therefore not independent - See WP:RS. The article is written like an autobiography and therefore it appears that the subject, or someone very close to them, has contributed heavily to the article - SeeWP:AUTO. Therefore I agree that the templates should stay and I have added one myself regarding the use of Peacock words. I am happy to help improve this article if I can be convinced that the subject is notable.  Flat Out    let's discuss it   03:37, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
 * I see that one of the references, this one: http://www.france24.com/en/20120831-syria-majid-rafizadeh-kidnap-family-targetted-civil-war-shabiha-opposition-bashar-assad seems to be a news report by another journalist, and could be used to support some of the information. &mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 03:42, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

There is this reference by other person : http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/08/world/meast/syria-shiites Mediaoutlets (talk) 00:55, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Hello Everone, Flat Out has made great contribution. He addressed the aforementioned issues, added the notable references and neutral language and deleted any advertising language. The page is as it was published years ago. Anne, What is the next step? Mediaoutlets (talk) 01:22, 19 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Mediaoutlets I have left you a message on my talk page that answers your last question. Work on the sentences in the article that are tagged [citation needed] and see if you can find suitable reliable sources to support those claims. Then, as more reliablec sourcesbecome available you can expand the article with additional information.  Flat Out   let's discuss it   03:49, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Flat Out, all your work appreciated. Mediaoutlets (talk) 04:06, 19 June 2013 (UTC)