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May 7
Polygamy
Please if you can assist me by providing answers to the folowing question with regards to the above subject.
- What are the positive aspects of Polygamy and Bigamy?202.1.181.158 01:26, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
This question belongs at the Reference Desk. This page is for help using Wikipedia. Try looking at the article Polygamy or Bigamy, after all this is an encyclopedia. Again, if you don't find answers there try the Reference Desk. 72.240.95.116 01:36, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- The positive aspects would be obvious enough to the hundreds of women who would marry Bill Gates if they could do so legally and if he were looking to build a harem. Bill has more than enough resources to maintain several hundred wives in a style most wives can only imagine. (The negative aspects would manifest themselves to all the loserguys denied the wives that Bill would have taken off the market in such a scenario.) Another possible "positive" aspect of (ancestral) polygamy, according to Eugene V. Neel in Physician to the Gene Pool, was that it may have contributed to the evolution of human intelligence, by rewarding the smartest and most successful males with additional reproductive opportunities denied to their lesser competitors. In hunter-gatherer cultures, most of the women bear similar numbers of children, whereas the men have much wider variation of reproductive success, in a "winners take all" kind of imbalance. This suggests that historically, selection acted harder on the male half of the species. --Teratornis 03:48, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Well... I'm not so sure about Bill Gates. ;-)
- I heard the trick is to close your eyes and think of England, or in Bill's case, the money. --Teratornis 04:57, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Well... I'm not so sure about Bill Gates. ;-)
- I think it's important to find out if it's actual legal polygamy (plural marriage) that the questioner is inquiring about; Mr Neel's take on that type of social group is contrasted with another theory, wherein our mating and social behaviours (males evolving traits encouraging them to be emotionally loyal to one family group and females evolving traits encouraging loyalty, while both sexes also developing traits to encourage illicit extra-relationship mating), indicates that outbreeding is the preferred evolutionary state in human beings; the stable family unit is intended as a form of social behaviour that allows for safety and the emotional continuity and depth necessary for unique human development. Also, there's a difference between examining the putative biological reasons for a certain behaviour and the actual benefits of that behaviour, especially when we're speaking specifically of bigamy and polygamy, which are both societal constructs, not evolutionary ones.
- I'm not sure what the actual benefits to men would be regarding plural marriage; the problem is, what is a benefit for some is a huge detriment to others. I'm speculating that it would lend stability to a social group by decreasing the competition for females. Ironically, it's easier to explain the benefits to women; it represents safety, social stability in the form of communal childrearing, and most notably (in the fairly recent (19th century) example of the Mormons), a way for widows (many of whom lost their husbands in the United States Civil War) to care for their existing children and live comfortably without having to resort to begging, prostitution or long-term dependence on the Church. I know I haven't provided any references for this, I will look for some. Anchoress 04:19, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- The actual benefits to men regarding plural marriage (which historically has meant polygyny) are clear enough to wealthy men such as Donald Trump who repeatedly divorce their aging wives and marry younger women. (As a man, I only have to take one look at Melania Knauss to understand the benefits there, at least the entertainment benefits. But can she edit on Wikipedia?) By a remarkable sociobiological coincidence, men for the most part appear to find women most attractive at precisely the age range when women have their highest fertility. Even in modern cultures where many people deliberately thwart conception through artificial technologies, they still try to select partners in ways that would have, in the ancestral environment, maximally propagated their genes to the next generation. (So, does all this naughty talk of Bill Gates and Donald Trump make you randy? Oh, behave!) --Teratornis 04:57, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Lol. Well, I guess it depends on whether or not 'getting some' can be construed as a 'benefit', or just a perk. I think the thing is that men (and women) can indulge in promiscuity irrespective of their marital status; there must be something more (IMO something that benefits the society as a whole) to justify codifying promiscuity under the legitimising umbrella of plural marriage. Anchoress 05:12, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- The actual benefits to men regarding plural marriage (which historically has meant polygyny) are clear enough to wealthy men such as Donald Trump who repeatedly divorce their aging wives and marry younger women. (As a man, I only have to take one look at Melania Knauss to understand the benefits there, at least the entertainment benefits. But can she edit on Wikipedia?) By a remarkable sociobiological coincidence, men for the most part appear to find women most attractive at precisely the age range when women have their highest fertility. Even in modern cultures where many people deliberately thwart conception through artificial technologies, they still try to select partners in ways that would have, in the ancestral environment, maximally propagated their genes to the next generation. (So, does all this naughty talk of Bill Gates and Donald Trump make you randy? Oh, behave!) --Teratornis 04:57, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- You almost seem to suggest social constructs must necessarily have some rational basis, such as the advancement of society as a whole. If so, your suggestion appears to be at odds with the irrational human practices throughout history. For example, the Aztec practice of ritual human sacrifice could easily have been shown through statistical analysis of weather, crop yields, or whatever else the priests claimed the practice was influencing to have had no such influence whatsoever. That is why today we just let hurricanes come ashore as they please, without bothering to sacrifice virgins in an attempt to change their courses. At the time, however, Aztec civilization lacked the mathematical and logical tools to perform such analyses. Even today, when modern civilizations do have such tools, billions of people continue to pray measurably ineffective prayers to any number of deities, even though the outcomes are always in accord with the normal laws of probability, i.e., just the same whether one prays to any particular god, does not pray at all, or prays to a jug of milk. (This is straightforward to demonstrate by praying for anything which is known to be impossible, such as praying for an amputated limb to miraculously regenerate. Impossible requests always go unanswered.)
- Different societies have evolved different arrangements for marriage and so on. Most of these arrangements pre-date even the possibility that societies could have determined scientifically which arrangement was "best" for societies as a whole. The large role that religion has often played in legitimizing these decisions should tell you they weren't based on anything remotely resembling scientific rigor.
- As to why a promiscuous wealthy man might want to marry several of his girlfriends rather than merely fornicate with them, perhaps the arguments would be similar to those advanced by proponents of gay marriage. The basic argument might be, what gives society the right to tell anyone who they can and cannot marry? --Teratornis 16:54, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I think you're interpreting my comment too widely. Anchoress 03:56, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Company Box Editing
Please help me with this! How do you edit the company grey box that appears at the bottom of articles. For example on Abercrombie and Fitch's article page at the bottom of the article how do edit that grey box that says Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Brands that list the Brands, A&F People, Other, Homepages, and Corporate.
Please help me figure this out! Thanks! Holtville 02:22, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- It's at Template:Abercrombiefitch. (It gets inserted in the Abercrombie and Fitch article using the wiki-code {{Abercrombiefitch}} that's at the bottom of the article.) Calliopejen1 02:35, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I've modified this template to add the "v d e" links for viewing, discussing, and editing. Hopefully this will make the template itself more accessible to interested editors. Mike Dillon 02:58, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
New Messages Bar is STUCK
I recieved a bunch of warnings that I didnt have anything to do with. Now the new messsages bar is stuck up there. I tried clearing the cache but its not working. Its annoying and I didn;t even make those edits. What do I do? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.113.1.126 (talk) 05:47, 7 May 2007 (UTC).
- Unfortunately there is a bug that keeps the bar up there. As of right now there's pretty much nothing you can do. Yonatan talk 06:05, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- If you sign up for an account, you won't get messages meant for other people using the same IP address as you. - Mgm|(talk) 08:02, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
NOBAWC article edit
i submitted a quite long and in depth edit to the stub on NOBAWC or Network of Bey Area Worker Cooperatives on thursday, 3 may. i thought i had done this correctly, but the edit i submitted does not now show up on the page. i searched for it in deletions and potential deletions, but cannot find it anywhere. i apologize for my lack of computer savvy, but what have i done wrong? any assistance would be greatly appriciated. Missmuffy 06:41, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Your edits to Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives were reverted by another user (you can see this by clicking the history tab at the top of the article page) because they were copied verbatim from www.nobawc.org. Wikipedia takes copyright seriously, and any additions that infringe on copyright are reverted on sight. to get this content into wikipedia, you can either write it in your own words or convince the webmaster to place a notice on the site releasing the content under a suitable free license. If you have more questions about this, you can ask here or on my talk page. Calliopejen1 07:00, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Screen appearance
I was over someone's house and they had a weird format on their Wikipedia screen--it was red and grey and everything appeared differently. How do I go about formatting my screen like that? DO I knwo to know some code or something? Marcus Taylor 08:31, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- You can change some basic Wikipedia display elements by going to the skin tab in Special:Preferences -- I gather you're probably talking about more extensive customization that can be accomplished by user CSS. For a little more information, you can see Wikipedia:CSS, but to cut a long story short, I'm not sure if I can offer any explanation to do the system justice. A large number of things on Wikipedia are contained in div and span tags which call particular "styles," and changing your user CSS (mine is located at User:Luna Santin/monobook.css, for example) will allow you to change those styles, altering or even removing some elements of Wikipedia's display. If you really liked your friend's display, you could try copying their CSS subpage. – Luna Santin (talk) 08:37, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- He wasn't really a friend I didn't even know him just saw his screen when he was editing. I'll look into that, thanks. Marcus Taylor 08:45, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I'd just like it to be red and grey btw. Marcus Taylor 08:45, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- See Help:Skin and Help:User style. --Teratornis 18:54, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Is there somewhere I can get technical help? Marcus Taylor 00:28, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- See WP:Q for some options. More options are always available if you can spend money, for example to hire a consultant. Generally, free help places much of the burden on the person asking for help, to read the friendly manuals and think questions through carefully to make them understandable enough for unpaid volunteers to answer. Free help tends to help only those users who already have a pretty good level of knowledge about whatever they are asking about, or will do the work to obtain that knowledge. Did you read the Help:Skin and Help:User style pages? Do you have any questions about them? I personally do not know exactly how to do what you want to do, but I have a pretty good idea of where I would start looking if I wanted to do it (namely, the links I cited). I expect it might take me a few hours to read those pages and play around until I got some arbitrary result. --Teratornis 21:41, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- Is there somewhere I can get technical help? Marcus Taylor 00:28, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- See Help:Skin and Help:User style. --Teratornis 18:54, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I'd just like it to be red and grey btw. Marcus Taylor 08:45, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- He wasn't really a friend I didn't even know him just saw his screen when he was editing. I'll look into that, thanks. Marcus Taylor 08:45, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
article about Nelson Mandela
Hi. I am looking for info. on Nelson Mandela - he is my chosen celebrity for the site Weblo - my questions are:
1) Is anyone familiar with WEBLO (http://www.weblo.com)?
2)Can I put a link from my weblo page straight to a page in Wikipedia?
3)I would like to add a little info to the link about "Mvezo" which is on the front page of the article - is that OK?
I hope I'm not being a nuisance with these questions but your instructions for beginner editors like me are rather confusing - you have rather too many sidetracks and it's a bit like trying to find one's way through a maze - I almost forgot what I wanted to do in the first place! Thanks for the reply. Regards Vk —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Vukilala (talk • contribs) 08:33, 7 May 2007 (UTC).
- 1) I'm not sure what Weblo is.
- 2) You can link to Wikipedia from anywhere you like, but you probably shouldn't linke from Wikipedia to your Weblo page.
- 3) Yes. I see you already have - I have copyedited it slightly. Thanks for your contribution. --Cherry blossom tree 09:03, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
The origin of words
Is it possible to ask the origin of words? For example, Stelling Minnis and Rhodes Minnis are two villages in Kent. Is the origin of Minnis an old English word meaning common land? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.110.209.237 (talk) 09:58, 7 May 2007
- Try Wikipedia's Reference Desk They specialize in knowledge questions, and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that's what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Jacek Kendysz 10:02, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Wiki software suggestions
Is there any place to post a suggestion for a change/improvement to the Wiki software that doesn't require registering at meta or wikizilla or whatever that bug site is? Anchoress 11:39, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- The bugsite is called BugZilla. You could try suggesting changes elsewhere, but if you want them to be considered, Bugzilla is the way to go. - Mgm|(talk) 11:50, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- K, thanks for the info. Anchoress 12:33, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Terrible, awful image contributor...what process?
Hi! I'm an adopter in the Wikipedia adopt-a-user program - my adoptee is doing great work but has come across a user who is:
- Enthusiastic as all hell.
- Creating really, really AWFUL diagrams - I mean, making every possible image processing mistake and putting the resulting mess into a bunch of articles.
- Taking what I strongly believe are copyrighted photos (perhaps NASA photos - which are copyrighted - but still usable), and claiming them as his own work. The person is clearly not any kind of professional astronomer - yet the images he claims to own are the kinds of thing you'd see coming out of a powerful telescope - to which a really cheesey text label has been overlaid!
I don't want to take action about this person myself (and I'm carefully leaving out the perpetrators name so you guys won't take action!) because I want my adoptee to work through the process. Trouble is - I have no clue how to pursue this! So:
- Is there process for forcing something like a peer review of images/diagrams onto this person?
- What is the correct process for dealing with strongly-suspected-but-not-proven image copyright problems?
I've waded through dozens of WP: pages and not found anything suitable. So here I am!
Help! SteveBaker 12:59, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Based on the diagrams they've made, it seems that they might not know the difference between a derivative work, and an original image, ie. pasting together several photos, and then releasing them with a GNU Free Documentation License. --VectorPotentialTalk 13:08, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Right - that's what I assume to be the case. If this were text, I could advise my adoptee to just 'be bold' and delete it - and I guess 'WP:MfD' is the way to get these images removed (there are a lot of them) - but what to do about our persistent offender? A stern note on his talk page is obviously called for in the cases where the images are copyvios - but is there some kind of peer review or editor review for diagram creators? SteveBaker 13:21, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I removed the images from all articles. Consider having your adoptee paste {{PUIdisputed}} on the image pages, and follow the instructions on the bottom of the template. --LaraLoveTalk/Contribs 14:31, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Tell them that, working on an image doesn't mean you own the copyright. You have to be the one to have originally created it. If you take existing images the resulting work will be copyrighted to whoever owned the images you use. - Mgm|(talk) 22:35, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Plagiarism
Are there any Wiki guidelines on plagiarism? I have looked through the style manual and can't find anything. Staug73 13:02, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- No guidelines: stronger than that. Policy, because plagiarism is usually a copyright violation too. Wikipedia:Plagiarism. Notinasnaid 13:09, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Thanks, I have deleted the section, and made some suggestions to someone about using quotation marks and footnotes.Staug73 14:35, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- The most comprehensive list of guidelines and policies I have seen is: User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia. Your odds of finding the editing help you need there are higher than if you search a more-limited set of pages such as the Manual of style. (Even moreso now that I just added an entry for Plagiarism to it, which was oddly missing.) Another resource is to search the Help desk archive, for example: a search for plagiarism turns up 36 hits, of which a good number are meaningful. Searching the Help desk tends to be pretty effective because many editing questions tend to come up repeatedly. --Teratornis 16:10, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Hey...
What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?
- Please use the Help Desk for serious questions about how to use Wikipedia only. Thank you. Hersfold (talk/work) 13:13, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- If you do those things in a way that captures the public attention as notably as they did the first time around, we might write an article about you. --Teratornis 16:22, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- But they didn't technically sing out of tune did they? Well, ... ok let's leave Ringo Starr out of this. dr.ef.tymac 01:53, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
essay
i want to search for essays on indian space research.how do i go about it?
- You can use the search function, or you could ask a question at the Reference Desk; they know just about everything there, and anything they don't know they will try to find out. Hersfold (talk/work) 13:15, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- If you want to find essays rather than encyclopedia articles, you probably want to use something other than Wikipedia. - Mgm|(talk) 22:32, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Urgent help needed! What is this?
Could someone please click on the history tab at Electroconvulsive therapy and tell me what is happening?Staug73 13:42, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- You made multiple legit edits on this article> Electroconvulsive therapy..----Cometstyles 13:51, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- It's not the history of Electroconvulsive therapy, if that is what you were thinking. It's the history of the article. --LaraLoveTalk/Contribs 14:02, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Thanks. When I clicked on the history tab just before posting this query, an offensive picture came up (sorry, should have warned people in my query - didn't think - it wasn't enormously offensive, just nasty). It appears to have gone now, and the normal history is appearing. Anyone know how stuff like that gets there? Any point in reporting it anywhere?Staug73 14:17, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Read Talk:Main Page#who the hell put encylopedia my ass on the page?????? --LuigiManiac 14:21, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I told someone I know on here. It should be okaaaay . . . . .
Right, so it was all over the place. I thought someone didn't like my edits!Staug73 14:32, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
How does one get errors deleted from his entry?
Within the past few months a public figure found that a wiki entry had made him part of a conspiracy to kill JFK. How does one apply to get entries like that removed? Since that person was not born until after the assasination I figure that was fairly easy.
However, when allegations are made against an individual, and "references" are quoted to back up the errors when they are obvious slam jobs, what is that process? In other words say Agent A writes and sells a book claiming (and uses his own book as reference) that Agent B did something and Agent B did not do that, how does Agent B get that removed, since one cannot prove a negative???
Yankeluh 14:40, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- The Oversight process is available to hide certain revisions which contain potentially libellous or private information. The page I linked to can provide more information, but keep in mind this is only available in certain, very specific, occasions. Hersfold (talk/work) 15:26, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- However, if a book is published and it makes serious allegations, it is proper that Wikipedia report this, in a way which clearly shows the origin of the allegations. Notinasnaid 16:28, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
divorce
what is dovorce —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.59.70.164 (talk) 14:43, 7 May 2007 (UTC).
- See divorce. In the future, please use Wikipedia's Reference Desk for knowledge questions. Jacek Kendysz 15:10, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Per Hallberg
what category on dis Per Hallberg.Wolfmann 16:53, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Can you rephrase your question, please? It is not clear what you want to know. Adrian M. H. 20:26, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- The article was badly categorized - a bio in between a load of technical articles on film making. I adjusted the cats. - Mgm|(talk) 22:30, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
SugarCRM needs to be added to the Free Software category...
and the Free CRM software actegory - how can I do that? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mschneidersugar (talk • contribs) 16:54, 7 May 2007 (UTC).
- To add something to category 'Foo', just add [[Category:Foo]] near the bottom of the page, with all the other category links (if they exist). Veinor (talk to me) 16:57, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Tagging my Wikipedia article
When I do a search to find my article, I have to type in the title exactly the way it appears, or it won't come up in the search. Is there a way to tag my article, so that when only part of the title of my article is put in the search engine, it shows up with a relevance percentage? Is there a specific line of code that I have to put in my article?
Blurose1111 17:37, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- There isn't any code that has to be added. The search function works off a database of articles and that database isn't updated very often (every month or two?). If there are names that the article's subject is known by you can put in redirects. Dismas|(talk) 17:41, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Also, I noticed that not many articles link to the Closed Country Edict of 1635 as you can see here. You may want to find articles that discuss the edict and provide links to the article. A link from Tokugawa Iemitsu for instance would seem logical. Dismas|(talk) 17:45, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Wikipedia's search feature is famously weak. See User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia#Sea for other search options, for example Google search on Wikipedia which generally works better than Wikipedia's built-in search. If you want substrings of your article's title to yield your article in Wikipedia's search feature, you can do that with redirects. However, be careful not to overdo the redirects, for example if a substring of your article's title would itself be a legitimate title for a separate article. To make your article easier to find, link to it from other articles that mention its topic, as Dismas suggests, categorize your article appropriately, and add it to any applicable WikiProjects by adding the project tags to Talk:Closed Country Edict of 1635. (The article is already in WikiProject Japan, but there may be other WikiProjects that would apply.) And speaking of the article's talk page, did you notice the question about the article's title there? --Teratornis 18:51, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Also, I noticed that not many articles link to the Closed Country Edict of 1635 as you can see here. You may want to find articles that discuss the edict and provide links to the article. A link from Tokugawa Iemitsu for instance would seem logical. Dismas|(talk) 17:45, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
A specific image... licencing details
I would like to use map images from this page (or a portion of the maps). Actually, I was going to create an SVG by tracing the extents of the formations of significance for the articles that I want to include the images in. A copyright description is given here covering the use of images downloaded from that site. I'm not sure how to interpret the restrictions... it's obviously not GFDL, but if I create an SVG based directly from this map, could I release that SVG under the GFDL? The map is from 1949.. I don't know if that makes a difference. Sancho 19:44, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- A tracing is a derivative work, and so you could not release it without permission from the original copyright holder. If you created a new map using data from this site, you probably could claim it as your original work and release it as you chose, but a tracing is clearly out. The license terms you link to prohibit commercial use, and so are non-free as far as wikipedia policy is concerned, see WP:FUC, and can not be used except under fair use. Fair use is quite restricted by wikipedia policy, and requires a specific rationale. I don't think this one would fly. DES (talk) 19:50, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I'm not sure whether a tracing would be a derivative work for this sort of image. There is no creative content that goes the outlines that merely signify the formations. Maybe their way of presenting the data (those little half-moons and such) would be copyrighted, but tracing the outlines I think would be no different than taking the raw data from a chart, reprocessing it in Excel, and releasing it under the GFDL--which is perfectly okay. A copyright covers the particular way data is presented, not the data itself (and here the data itself is the locations). Calliopejen1 20:08, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Actually, the data would be points or in some places line segments of observations - the lines on the map probably are interpretations of those raw data, and as such might well have creative connotations, in my opinion (but I am not a copyright lawyer, especially not regarding Canadian copyrights). Cheers Geologyguy 23:05, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Cases vary, but there is a good deal of caselaw that a tracing is a derivitve work (BTW it is US copyright law that is significant to Wikipedia, since that is where the servers are and where the foundation is). Yes, the ultimate underlyign data would be points and line, or geographic coordinates. But if the published map were measured to determine the coordiantes as accurately as the scale permitted, and a new map drawn from that reverse-created data, I don't think it would be a derivitve work in the same sense. (better yet would eb to go to the raw data, if it is available.) At the very least a tracing would be dodgy, IMO. DES (talk) 00:07, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Actually, the data would be points or in some places line segments of observations - the lines on the map probably are interpretations of those raw data, and as such might well have creative connotations, in my opinion (but I am not a copyright lawyer, especially not regarding Canadian copyrights). Cheers Geologyguy 23:05, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I'm not sure whether a tracing would be a derivative work for this sort of image. There is no creative content that goes the outlines that merely signify the formations. Maybe their way of presenting the data (those little half-moons and such) would be copyrighted, but tracing the outlines I think would be no different than taking the raw data from a chart, reprocessing it in Excel, and releasing it under the GFDL--which is perfectly okay. A copyright covers the particular way data is presented, not the data itself (and here the data itself is the locations). Calliopejen1 20:08, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Harvard reference on section header destroys header format.
Hi - any suggestions on how to place a reference on a section header without destroying the header format (or any other suitable reference method)? See the ==Winners== section. Thanks - John 20:00, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- You can just stick the reference inside the ==s. (It shows up in the TOC that way though, which is slightly irritating. Not sure if there's a better way that avoids that.) I fixed if for you. Calliopejen1 20:03, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks, but the underline goes through the words, at least it does on my (standard?) font setup. I wonder if there's a way of duplicating the title manually so that I can play about with it ? John 16:06, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Call me stupid, but why would you want to do that? - Mgm|(talk) 22:21, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Because Harvard referencing is used in the rest of the article and the whole list of winners contained in the section is referenced by a page on a website. John 16:06, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Considering the article is mainly just lists, I don't see the point of inline citations. And, really, Harvard referencing is not used in the rest of the article. You have a total of three referenced statements to two sources on the same website, which is that of the topic. The lead has no sources, which would normally be fine, however none of the information is expanded upon in the article (see WP:LEAD), therefore the statements cannot be referenced in the body. In it's current state it reads more like an advertisement than an encyclopedic article and, thus, could be nominated for deletion. I recommend expanding the article (see WP:MOS) and including the inline citations in the paragraphs. The MOS states that links in headers should be avoided. Reliable, third-party references also need to be cited (see WP:CITE and WP:V).
- Regards, LaraLoveTalk/Contribs 18:23, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Harassment
I have had recent friction with User:Alansohn, and feeling that the conversation was pointless, offtopic and increasingly uncivil, ceased it. He subsequently posted repeatedly on my talk page, trying to keep the conversation going. I requested that he cease to post on my talk page. He continued thereafter, and I reverted his comments and left it at that. Only moments later, he reverted the comments back with further haranguing. I left a warning on his talk page to cease and desist, and he once again kept it up on my talk page. As per policy, I attempted more than once to walk away, and he refuses to do the same. What measures can I take to keep this fellow from harassing me? (And, as much to the point, it's startling that Wikipedia's voluminous FAQ section breathes not a word of this type of problem.) RGTraynor 20:06, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Request that the admis block him/her. Ignatzmicetalkcontribs 20:16, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Thank you for your advice; I've posted over on the admins' noticeboard. I'm not seeking to have the user blocked, per se, but I would greatly like him to stop harassing me, however that needs to be managed. RGTraynor 20:28, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Near-Duplicate Articles
I posted my first article today. However, after I finished, I found that someone else had posted an article on the same topic, possibly while I was writing mine. What is the procedure? Is proposing a merger sufficient? There are notability questions regarding the subject matter, so the issue may be moot this time, but I'd like to know for future reference. The two articles are prom baby and prom babies, both stubs. Darkfrog24 20:49, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- The other article was Prom Babies (capitalization matters). I see they have already been merged. PrimeHunter 21:05, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Yes, but for future reference, what is it that ought to be done in such situations?Darkfrog24 13:58, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Refer to the current page
How could I, in a link, refer to the current page? (As in [http://something.com/{{CURRENT PAGE GOES HERE}}]This is obviously for a userbox on a userpage, so can it happen on that? Temperalxy 21:44, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- See Help:Variables. I think it's TITLE, PAGETITLE or ARTICLENAME, but the help page will tell you exactly what the magic word (aka variable) is called. - Mgm|(talk) 22:19, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- There's {{PAGENAME}}, {{BASEPAGENAME}}, {{SUBPAGENAME}}, and maybe a few others besides. Hersfold (talk/work) 22:53, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Code
(link) How is this code supposed to work? Because I try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try etc. and it will not work at all. I really want to test it out but can't If I can't find a way to do so. Can someone tell me what to look for or what to do to get it to work? «razorclaw» 22:20, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- The problem is the code is not javascript, its C. If you would like to use the program, get a C compiler (this will vary depending on your OS) to compile the program to an Executable. If you need any help, feel free to ask me. —Mitaphane ?|! 00:12, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
A Wikilink in an email
I attempted a search the FAQ and the Help desk archives, as well as User:John Broughton/Editor's Index to Wikipedia but, if I may ask, how might it is possible for me to receive an email message that has a Wikipedia link where the single-word within the message has the Mediawiki style markup (blue hypertext) directing me to the Wikipedia article? Is that possible through the sender's Visual Basic or similar software with their email or did the sender email me through Wikipedia and I simply can not distinguish that, except for the fact that it has Wikilinks? Marycontrary 22:38, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Kinda confused... I think you mean someone sent you an email that had links that appeared [[like this]]? Through e-mail, that's probably not possible, but you can always add http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ to the beginning of any page's title and it will take you there. (For example, this would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help_desk . Hope that helped. Hersfold (talk/work) 22:51, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Do you have your e-mail client set to display HTML or rich text? If so, switch it to plain text, and you should be able to see what is going on with that message. If you don't know how to do that, see if your e-mail client has a command to display the message source. I've noticed with Gaim (an Instant messaging client) that when I paste blue (link) text from a Wikipedia article into a message, it shows up as a clickable link in the chat. That's kind of handy. --Teratornis 23:03, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I have my e-mail client set to display in plain text by default for the past 10 months, as per a strong suggestion to do so in order to have the text wrap, and yes the email had links that appeared [[like this]]. I didn't think that that was possible unless the e-mail must have been sent through Wikipedia email? Gaim IM, where could I learn about which Instant Messaging products are Wikilink or Wikipedia-link friendly? Before I ask the email sender how he did that, I wanted to find the how-to in Wikipedia, if applicable. Thank you. Marycontrary 23:29, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- Do you have your e-mail client set to display HTML or rich text? If so, switch it to plain text, and you should be able to see what is going on with that message. If you don't know how to do that, see if your e-mail client has a command to display the message source. I've noticed with Gaim (an Instant messaging client) that when I paste blue (link) text from a Wikipedia article into a message, it shows up as a clickable link in the chat. That's kind of handy. --Teratornis 23:03, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- I figured out the answer to my question. If a person's e-mail client is set to display in HTML instead of plain text, then the sender has features available such as inserting a URL link. It appears like Wikipedia's Mediawiki style markup but it is not. For example, when in the HTML mode of composing an e-mail message, select the applicable text and then click on the tool button "insert link" for which a script prompt pops up in order to enter the URL. Once the URL is entered, the text will appear in hypertext style. So the answer is that if you want to make a link to a Wikipedia article inside one of your e-mail messages, you may need to switch to HTML mode. I hope that this explains it well enough. Thank you. Marycontrary 12:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Just a friendly reminder..
- ..change it! For those who haven't heard, there's been a rash of account hijackings--VectorPotentialTalk 23:10, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
</public service announcement>
Prevent Wikipedia from linking to computer virus sites.
I was reading the article Total station, and followed an external link to wwwDANGERsouthsurveyDANGERcom (replace the word DANGER with periods to access the site). It attempted to infect my computer with the Exploit.Win32.IMG-ANI.ac virus, together with some other viruses with similar names. I removed the external link from the article. How can I arrange for Wikipedia to never link to this site? --Gerry Ashton 23:53, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
- We have a Spam blacklist, if you can get a sysops on meta to add it to the list, that should effectively stop anyone from linking to it--VectorPotentialTalk 23:56, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
May 8
Can I delete my account?
I was viewing Wikipedia the other day when I realised that, after making a Wikipedia account, I have no real use for it at all. Since I created my account, I have made no contributions to Wikipedia at all apart from my user page, which I deleted straight after making it because I decided that I didn't want it after all, and a page about myself which I also deleted because I decided that I didn't want a page publicised about myself. Since I have made no contributions to Wikipedia and my account is free of any violation made to the Wikipedia website (in other words I haven't done anything on the site illegal), can I delete my account? 172.200.60.196 00:24, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- No, you can't have your account deleted, and this isn't a problem. You can always create a new one if you decide to come back, though. *Cremepuff222* 00:29, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- I can delete your pages for you if you want, just leave a message on my talk page. John Reaves (talk) 00:34, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Problem with my password
I have a question. There was a message when I hoped on My Watchlist page. It told me that I might want to change my password. But, every single time I try to create a new one using My Preferences, It tells me "Incorrect password entered. Please try again.". My original password is typed in ok and my new password is all lower case, which should be ok. Can anyone help me with this? Thanks. --ASDFGHJKL=Greatest Person Ever+Coolest Person Ever 00:50, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- There's not much I can help you with here. Just make sure you have typed your current password correctly, and the two new passwords EXACTLY the same in each box. If that doesn't work, you may have to ask for help at the Village pump. *Cremepuff222* 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Also, make sure your password isn't the same as your username--VectorPotentialTalk 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Perhaps you want to check if the Caps lock, scroll lock, or number lock is /are on. ~ Magnus animum ∵ ∫ φ γ 00:57, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Question
i want to know more about dumb people(who are not able to speak)...i am not able o find a link in wikipedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by Prashantsharma chd (talk • contribs)
- See Mute (disorder). You will find more links there — Lost(talk) 01:32, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Also see Euphemism#The “Euphemism Treadmill” to understand why polite people stopped referring to such people as "dumb," and one day will probably have to abandon "mute" as well. --Teratornis 14:52, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
A Question of images...
I was reading the Wikipedia policy on images, and it said to not take any images from a website without making sure it's okay with them. However, does that apply when:
- a) You actually made the picture in question (eg. you made it on your account from DeviantArt)
- b) Got the image from a search engine (like Google or Yahoo!)
- c) If the image in question is different from an actual screenshot/picture (eg. slight changes in scenery, characters, clothing, quality, etc...)
If the policy doesn't apply with c then:
- d) Could copyrighted images be used under free-use policy if they were "modified" to some degree?
Thanks for your time and patience, "If...if is good" ^_^ 01:34, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Here we go:
- a) If it is your creation, you may license the image however you want. See WP:TAGS for the full list of acceptable licenses.
- b) Generally a bad idea to do. You would have to find the owner of the copyright as outlined in the usage policy.
- c) Uh... that would probably be considered a Derivative work, and thus held under the same copyright as the original.
- d) It would have to be edited so much that it no longer resembled in any significant way the original. So in short, no.
- Hope that helps. Hersfold (talk/work) 02:04, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Search engine problem.
I know that this is a frequently asked questioned, and I did check the Frequently Asked Questions page, but I'm still not quite sure how to make my article, J.R. and Babe, show up in the search engines. It shows up in wikipedia's search engine, sure, but not such search engines as AOL or Google, and I'm really looking for that. When I edited this page, it was blank, but months before that...it was an active article, so I decided to fix it up. Is the fact that this article was once deleted or blanked the reason for the search engine issues that I'm having with it?. Please, I don't mean to sound like such a newbie, but can you help me out with this? Flyer22 01:34, 8 May 2007 (UTC) Flyer22
- Search engines usually scan a website like Wikipedia every so often to update their information on it, so in general all you have to do is wait. Depending on the engine, though, it may help if a page it already knows about includes a link to the new page, so consider putting links to the article in other (relevant, of course) articles. Confusing Manifestation 01:39, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks for the helpful advice. It's just that I've been waiting for a few days now for my article to show up in the search engines. Granted, I was still editing the page at that time. I'll give it some more days to show up, like you suggested. If for some reason, it still fails to show up, well, then I'll seek help from here once more on this subject. Again, thanks a lot.Flyer22 02:05, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- You started J.R. and Babe on May 5. Today is May 8. That's only three days, a mere eyeblink in Google time. Check back in a week or two and your page should by then top this search: google:"J.R. and Babe" or google:"J.R. Chandler and Babe Carey". In the meantime, compare the pages on Special:Whatlinkshere/J.R. Chandler and Babe Carey to the articles the great Google says mention the charming couple and be sure every article that already mentions them links to your article (which is presumably the definitive article on this subject). It looks like most of your edits have been to J.R. Chandler and Babe Carey, and there may be some existing articles that should link to your article but do not yet. --Teratornis 15:12, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Secure password
There is a message on my watchlist: Important! For your own security, please choose a secure password. See password strength or this guide for help in choosing a strong password. [dismiss]. Is it because my password was considered naïve? Or is it a standard reminder for users? Rjgodoy 01:48, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- I can see it too. Someone must have put it up on the noticeboard - my guess is someone thought there might be risk of password hacks or something? Dunno, but you might try asking at the Technical Pump. Hersfold (talk/work) 01:59, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- I think everybody sees that until they click the '[dismiss]'. Veinor (talk to me) 02:02, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Recently two administrator accounts were hacked because they had a weak password. The message is probably an attempt to avoid any new cases. - 131.211.210.19 08:05, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Four admin accounts, actually. It's not because you may have a weak password, it's a standard reminder to all users to increase account security. CattleGirl talk | sign! 08:10, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Image Licensing
Is it possible to license images (taken by myself, of course) uploaded to Wikipedia on the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License, or a similar license forbidding commercial use of the image? Thanks! --Ali 02:10, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- No, sorry-- wikipedia and wikimedia commons require that works be licensed in a way that allows commercial use and derivative works. However, if your image fits under a fair use rationale, you might be able to include it that way. Calliopejen1 02:13, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
User name help
Worlds YOUNGEST tv show creator EVER! I have a username similar to this can you please look for it in your database for proof/confirmation my e-mail(s) are:
but i only created it last week and i registered for wikipedia either last year or the year before and the 3 above are the likely candidates for the e-mail spot on the other name.
I haven't logged in a long time because before this protection stuff i was able to edit for free, so i didn't need to waist time logging in if i was going to beat the
ENTIRE WORLD to add something on a page that just became huge news.
Worlds YOUNGEST tv show creator EVER! this is my new account because i couldn't remember the EXACT case sensitive username, and password or even which email i used. vut could you e-mail me at that names e-mail along with the username and password thank you very very much. i know you may think i'm stealing it but i'm not call my cell phone if you think you need to have vocal proof(i don't know why you would though).
I bolded, and italisized the time i live in. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Worlds YOUNGEST tv show creator EVER! (talk • contribs) 05:23, 8 May 2007 (UTC).
- The only one I could find at Special:Listusers is User:Worlds YOUNGEST tv show creator EVER! which your editing from right now. Please be aware that your user name is too long, you should just create a new account with a shorter name. John Reaves (talk) 06:11, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Is there a way to change the mouseover caption for a link?
And a follow-up: how? --Xiaphias 05:36, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
<span title="Caption!">here is some text</span> |
here is some text |
Hope that's what you're looking for, or something like it. :) – Luna Santin (talk) 06:13, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- That apparently doesn't work on links, though, because the link itself seems to override it. For example, Wikipedia should have a title that says this is a title. It's OK on plain text. Adrian M. H. 19:31, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Editing problem -- please help
I'm trying to add a poet to the Editing Category:Canadian poets page, but when I click on edit this page, it does not show the list of poets, but rather something else; there are no other edit tags to click, that I can see. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Normally, it's simple to edit a page. What am I missing here?
Thanks for any help offered.
Proteotopian
- You need to add the category to the article rather than add the article to the category. Just put the category tag on the bottom of the article. --LaraLoveTalk/Contribs 06:29, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- I did do that. The category is at the bottom of the article, but following that link, the poet does not appear. I'm referring to the Jamie Reid article. -- Proteotopian
- Jamie Reid (Canadian poet) does appear in Category:Canadian poets. You just aren't looking under "J"! Notinasnaid 07:51, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- I've altered the article so he's listed by his last name. - 131.211.210.19 08:03, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Thank you very much, all of you! -- Proteotopian
Hit Counter
Is it possible to get a hit counter for wikipedia? and if so where would I find one?
Thanks,
Klown hitman 06:35, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- No. The feature to count how many times a page has been visited has been turned off for performance reasons. For more details please see Wikipedia:Technical FAQ#Can_I_add_a_page_hit_counter_to_a_Wikipedia_page?. You can, however, see how many people edit a page by clicking on the "history" page.
An alternative to see viewing statistics is WikiCharts, see Special:Statistics#Other_statistics. You can also see articles with the most edits at Special:Mostrevisions.--Commander Keane 07:00, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
How to replace a photo
how do i replace an old photo with a new up to date one ? Jonny benway 10:41, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- You can upload another image under the same name as the original. The old image should be replaced with the current one. Make sure the copyright licences match, or the new image replaces a free use version. Hersfold (talk/work) 14:48, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- You could also upload it under another name and change the links in the articles. If it's free, upload it on the Wikimedia Commons. - Mgm|(talk) 22:35, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Submitting a new page
How do I submitt a new page? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Shane63 (talk • contribs) 14:39, 8 May 2007 (UTC).
- That's covered by the VFAQs that are mentioned in the "Read this first" header. See Help:Starting a new page, but first, you should familiarise yourself with some basic policies or you might be reading Why was my page deleted?. Adrian M. H. 19:19, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
In general - searching for a misspelling
An example, how do I search for incidences of the misspelling sovereignity when all pages containing sovereign appear? --Brenont 18:48, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- See Wikipedia:Very_Frequently_Asked_Questions#How_do_I_create_a_new_article? Hersfold (talk/work) 14:44, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- That does not answer the question. Brenont want to find articles containing the exact spelling "sovereignity" (perhaps to modify it?). Wikipedia search also returns articles containing the far more common "sovereign". I don't know whether this can be avoided with Wikipedia search, but Google appears to do the wanted by default: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=sovereignity+site%3Aen.wikipedia.org&btnG=Search. PrimeHunter 22:31, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- There's multiple people who run bots searching for spelling errors. You can ask them if they have it included in their list. See WP:BOT. -Mgm|(talk) 22:33, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
News events in articles
Can anyone advise on the latest additions to the Central Sussex College article about the YouTube video. Personally I think much to much detail has been gone into, but I feel unable to be entirely independent. My thoughts are that the 'event' could be summarised in one or two sentences, but the photos and detail removed. Am I being to censorious? Tafkam 18:51, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- It could be trimmed to some degree, and have just one photo with the newspaper shots removed. It could be considered to carry undue weight. Adrian M. H. 19:17, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Richwoods, Missouri article is nonsensical, factually in error and slanderous.
As the Superintendent of the Richwoods School District, I am aware of at least 12 factual errors and made up lies in the article. Someone is having fun with this, but the information is in error. While I attempted to edit the errors, I'm not sure I was successful. My questions are:
1. Can this article be edited back to just the description of where the town is?
2. How can responsible members of the community write an accurate history and description of the community and not have someone come along and edit nonsense into the article?
Thank you,
John Westerman, Superintendent Richwoods R-VII Richwoods, Missouri
- To actually answer your questions, 1. Yes and 2. They can't. Or, to be more specific:
1. Anyone can edit articles on Wikipedia, so all you have to do (in most cases) is click the link up the top of an article that says "edit this page". In some cases (e.g. George W. Bush), you may have to make a little more effort since the page is protected to some extent. In particular, if someone has edited a page to include vandalism, but there is an older version of the page which is "clean", it is possible to revert the article to its earlier version.
2. As said above, anyone can edit. Which means that anyone can come in and do what they like to an article, including vandalise it. However, a large effort goes into watching out for vandalism in Wikipedia articles, since it is just as easy (if not easier) to undo vandalism than to cause it, since it just requires someone to notice the vandalism (and there are many ways to do that), and revert it. As Thomas Jefferson might have said were he alive today, "The price of a good article is eternal vigilance." Confusing Manifestation 06:50, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Incorrect date for The Sage School
Hello -
I am the Communication Coordinator for The Sage School in Foxboro, MA and wanted to update some information for the school's description.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sage_School
Katherine G. Windsor has been Head of School since 1998 not 1996. Can you please update or let me know who I should contact?
Thank you, Margaret O'Connor —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Moconnorsage (talk • contribs) 20:08, 8 May 2007 (UTC).
- Okay, I fixed it. You can fix these sort of things yourself, though, just click the 'edit this page' button at the top and fix the date. I'm not sure the school itself meets our notability and reliable source policies though (for example, inaccuracies such as the ones above should be fixed without needing someone from the school tell us about it), so I have nominated it for deletion. You are welcome to share your opinions on the discussion page. -Wooty Woot? contribs 21:02, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Replace an article
How do I replace an article that I consider to be altogether misconceived and full of errors? I am an expert on the topic and previous editors clearly are not. I have solicited comments and modified my draft accordingly. The article in question is chemical equilibrium and my draft replacement is at user talk:petergans/draft. This article is of core significance with more than 200 links to it and I feel that it is important to get the science right. In my opinion the science is seriously defective in the current article, beyond redemption. Petergans 20:35, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- The article looks OK but not suitable for a general reader - it's extremely complicated right from the beginning. You should do the following: read WP:MOS and WP:LEAD and fix it up as much as possible. Take it to WP:RFF and get general feedback on it, fix it up from there. Then I would open a WP:RFC to get a general consensus on whether the current article should be replaced altogether with your version. -Wooty Woot? contribs 20:45, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- In your version, what happened to the other references that are in the current article? And what about the online equilibrium calculator? I agree with Wooty, it needs writing to make it more accessible to laymen. If something is wrong, it would help explaining it at the talk page, so people know why you're removing it. - Mgm|(talk) 22:28, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Also, I don't think writing that article without mentioning "Atkins, P. W. (1997). Physical Chemistry. Oxford University Press." is a good idea. - Mgm|(talk) 22:29, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Help
Help I need to getback to editing. I cant edit mainspace. whats wrong with mi powers? Free account! ʑ 21:22, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Did you get blocked? *Cremepuff222* 21:25, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- You were blocked indefinitely here for the message posted on your userpage in clear violation of our policies. Shared accounts are not allowed.--Fuhghettaboutit 21:29, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
.jpg&action=edit&redlink=1){kind=link}
Can you please help me with the right licene for that picture?
Thanks --D-Kuru (17:58, 8 May 2007 (UTC))
.jpg){kind=link}
- Done —Mitaphane ?|! 23:17, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Template contentions
Following reasonable success at resuscitating WP:CHICOTW, I am expanding my efforts into building up the assessment division of the project. I have recently had a bot tag articles within Category:Chicago, Illinois. Of the first 7000 or so articles identified by the bot two have been contentious. One of them has relented to having a {{ChicagoWikiProject}} tag. This leaves only Jon Corzine as problematic. It is my understanding that a talk page project banner template is for the purpose of assisting a project categorize relevant articles. For example, the aforementioned tag would place articles in appropriate subcategories of Category:WikiProject_Chicago. Thus, it is useful for helping to administer the work of project. 2 or 3 editors of Corzine's page, seem to have a problem with the fact that our bot is adding the template to pages in the subcategory Category:University of Chicago alumni. In a sense, (from my perspective) they are attempting to WP:OWN the page and set policy for a project in which they are not a member by removing the Chicago project's template. I admit at first I said they had the option of removing it, but since the only other party who was given this option chose to accede to our project template I thought they would too. Now, I have asked that they allow the project to use the banner and they have continued to remove the banner. Does a WP Project have a right to place its banner on reasonably associated pages or can non-members of the project insist on its removal when it is somewhat relevant. If this is not the proper place to ask this question where else should I try. I will be xposting this at Village pump policy. TonyTheTiger (talk/cont/bio) 21:30, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Lyrics in an article?
Are song lyrics allowed in Wikipedia articles? I'm asking because someone posted the English translation of "I Forget" from Serenada Schizophrana, and the only place that provides the translation for "I Forget" (legally) is the official Serenada Schizophrana website. --Releeshan 21:49, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Lyrics are not allowed if they are in copyright. Translation does not remove copyright status (though it may add an additional layer). Notinasnaid 21:50, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Unless the song is particularly old (from at least before 1923), adding the lyrics is out of the question. - Mgm|(talk) 22:22, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- And even if the song is in public ___domain (such as by being from before 1923), I believe the best place to post the full lyrics would not be here, but on Wikisource. Confusing Manifestation 06:44, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
my link removed.
I have added a url to a musicians website. The musician is Kathem al Sahir. Our website has major musicians and artist from all over the world, on each of their pages there is biographical information that they gave to us. Video of them speaking about their instuments and musical career, as well as telling life stories that may have impacted them. The foundation of our website is live concert performances that have been recorded (by staytuned's professional film crew). So this is a educational website about music and dance. What I do not understand is why when I added this link on the bottom of the page it was removed? I read all of the guidelines and it seems to be a good fit. Before I try and add the individual URL's of our other artist can you tell me if their is some issue? I do not want to waste either of out time. Thank you. Alyssum <email removed> www.staytunedtv.com Staytunedtv 22:52, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- First of all, please read our conflict of interest policy. in genral you should not beaddign links to "your own" site. Then read Wikipedia:External links, particularly "Links normally to be avoided". Note "Links to sites with objectionable amounts of advertising.", "Links mainly intended to promote a website." Your site appears to be of marginal acceptability by these standards at best. Note that "fan sites" are generally discouraged. DES (talk) 23:00, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- If it contains interviews with the musicians themselves, it might make a good source of information to add to the article. - Mgm|(talk) 09:28, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
links in a table
I've noticed in a lot of tables everything is linked, even though they don't exist. For Example, in List_of_CSI:_Miami_episodes, the names of most of the writers, episodes, directors, etc. don't have an article. I'm wondering if there is some sort of rule or part of the formatting that says that if there are some links in a table, all applicable table entries need to be link as well, regardless of whether or not an article exists. It's rather interesting how some of the blue links lead to incorrect articles... 72.64.82.5 23:26, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
That would be because of redirection. If you become a member, then you can create the page and it won't redirect. Thanks, Meldshal42
No, no, no, you misunderstand. I'm asking if there is some guideline that states if a few links in a table are valid, then all applicable entries (returning to the CSI example above, all the episode names or all the writers/directors) must have an internal link regardless or whether or not they exist. ([Again, the CSI example] more than 3/4 of the episodes don't have a corresponding article)72.64.82.5 23:52, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- I see what you mean. Red links like that one are sometimes included to highlight the need for an article - in this case, the people linked to are probably notable enough to meet our guidelines, just nobody has bothered to make the article yet. WP:RED provides more information on how to deal with red links in certain situations. Hersfold (talk/work) 01:25, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Ahh, thank you. That answered my questions. I have one more. What should be done about links that link to a different topic than what is meant (I.E. You link a person's name, even though there is no article for that specific person, with intent for there to be one in the future. However, the link goes to a different person of the same name who does have an article.72.64.82.5 01:53, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- The best way to handle that is via disambiguation - so if, for example, the article titled John Doe was about a film director and you wanted to link to an article about John Doe the author, link it like this: [[John Smith (author)|John Smith]], and then follow the links on WP:DAB to disambiguate the two articles (once both articles exist, of course). Confusing Manifestation 06:41, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Bots
How do we start a bot? Do we have to be an admin or something? Thanks, Meldshal42.
- I don't believe so. The bot policy lists what is and is not allowed in automatic accounts, and requests for approval is the place to go if your bot is ready to run. Hersfold (talk/work) 00:55, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Thank you Meldshal42
Banned and need to play more
Hi..i had an account a while ago which was a subscriber, but stopped playing the game for personal reasons, then handed the account over to my friend and had him pay for it. Appariently he got banned and now i cant play anymore, and i want to start playing YPP again. Is there any way that i can get my computer 'untainted' because i wasnt the one that got banned
68.57.204.215 23:38, 8 May 2007 Thanks,sdsguitarist.
I believe you may be in the wrong place... just a hunch. 72.64.82.5 23:53, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
- Wikipedia isn't a "game", and if you were blocked from an MMORPG then I'm afraid we can't help you. If you were blocked from Wikipedia, you should check the steps at WP:AFB for details on how to appeal the block.
- According to the block log, you are not blocked on Wikipedia. Hersfold (talk/work) 00:53, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- From the numerous Google results for "YPP", the most likely one seems to be Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates, a MMO puzzle-based game. I'd suggest the best place to ask about it would be somewhere on the official site, or maybe on their own wiki (possibly the reason the original poster got confused), although I haven't actually looked at either to see what the policy is. Confusing Manifestation 06:38, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
May 9
Inappropriate usernames
Lately there has been a rash of inappropriate usernames being created to edit the Jenna Jameson and Masuimi Max articles. If you visit the histories of those pages, you'll see what I mean. Max history & Jameson history. I think they're the same person who has no life and nothing better to do than waste other people's time. So, is there anything that can be done to head this off or do we just have to wait till they get bored and go find some other hobby like kicking old people or whatever it is that these people do in their down time? Dismas|(talk) 00:54, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- You could request the pages be semi-protected, which would prevent IP addresses and accounts less than 4 days old from editing. If the person is really that bored, then they probably won't want to wait four days just to make a nuisance of themselves. Hersfold (talk/work) 00:59, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- It's possible to block account creation for an IP. I don't know whether that would be justified and effective here. PrimeHunter 01:52, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
I read those edits; YUK! Such a disgrace should've never been placed. But I have a question: Why didn't an administrator revert th edits? Meldshal42
Please ban those users and their Ip adresses! They don't deserve the chance to strike again! Meldshal42
who are the people who edit pages
Do you have any kind of policy that people who edit pages should say who they are? Give any information about themselves, so people reading wikipedia pages have some idea about the qualifications of editors?
For example, one editor of the social change page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_change is SiobhanHansa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SiobhanHansa
but he says on his page "I don't intend telling you anything about me" So people who use wikipedia don't know anything about whether siobhahhansa knows anything about social change. He could be someone who knows nothing and so might be totally unqualified to edit this page. Or he could be someone who knows something and could be very well qualified. But since he won't say anything about himself, no one knows whether he is qualified enough to edit this page.
It would be good if wiki editors usually gave some information about themselves.
thanks
gene shackman gsociology 00:58, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Wikipedia used to have a policy here that specifically stated that information is not required. Since anyone can edit the encyclopedia, even without an account, it would be impossible to collect correct information about everyone. If user X really doesn't know what he's talking about, we require that all sources are cited with verifiable sources. Any non-sourced or unverifiable source can be challenged and removed at any time, often within a few minutes. Hersfold (talk/work) 01:03, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Hello gsociology. The idea is that because all additions tro Wikipedia should reliably sourced and not be original research by the writer, the qualifications of the editor are irrelevant. Anyone can contribute to a topic provided they do so neutrally and can back up their additions with good references. In fact it is considered poor form to assert your credentials as a way of gaining an advantage over other Wikipedians in a dispute about content. It is important for information to be verifiable and that a consensus is reached among editors, but people are free to remain anonymous... WjBscribe 01:04, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- In general, Wikipedia is edited by Wikipedians. :) Wikipedia is radically open to editing from anywhere and anyone, whenever possible. While that causes a number of problems, it is also one of the project's greatest strengths, and one of the main reasons we've gotten as far as we have. In particular, user privacy (and the ability to edit largely anonymously, even without registering) is actually one of the few "foundation issues" -- policy decisions made by the Wikimedia Foundation and unlikely to be overturned without considerable discussion. Partly, there's not much point asking for personal information if we're not going to go to the trouble of verifying it, which brings up all sorts of privacy issues and other pitfalls. There are some other wikis (Citizendium, for example) that require all editors to identify themselves with a verified "real-life" name; you could have a peek and see if that's more to your liking. Not my thing, personally, but to each their own. :) Hope that answers some of your questions. – Luna Santin (talk) 01:06, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- You also have to be able to assume good faith when people are editing - unless it's very clear they're here just to cause trouble, we like to assume that people are trying to contribute helpfully. If they make a mistake, as happens, we remove the error and help them correct it for the future. Hersfold (talk/work) 01:08, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
This is from Gene again, in response to the above. All of the anonymousness and reliable source stuff sounds good, and as you mention is quite useful very often. But there are, as you mention, problems. Again, I'll use the social change page, as that is what I know about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_change The ONLY reference given for material on this page is this Rajan, Chella. "Global Politics and Institutions". Frontiers of a Great Transistion. Vol. 3. Tellus Institute, 2006.
but this is a reference for only a very small part of the page. As it happens, I wrote several parts of the wiki social change page, years ago, before there was a lot of the newer requirements about reliable sources. The sources I cited were my reports (which of course I consider reliable, and if you take a look, I'm sure you will too). For example, the wiki social change page says "These changes did not happen equally throughout the world, however. For example, in 1960, infant mortality rates were more than 4.5 times higher in developing countries than it was among industrialized countries. In 2000, infant mortality rates in developing countries was about 10 times higher than was IMR in industrialized countries. That is, infant mortality rates declined faster among the more developed countries." This is directly from my summary report http://gsociology.icaap.org/report/repsum.html but my report is not cited, and in fact there is no citation at all for most of what is on the WIKI page. Other material on this page is also from my reports. The people who edit the page evidently don't know much about where the material on the page came from. I made some comments on the 'talk' section of the social change page, writing that since the material is from my reports, then my reports should be cited, or the material should be removed, unless someone got my permission.
The problem is that since the people who edit this page don't give much information about themselves, no one knows whether they know anything about social change, and thus cannot tell whether their edits are reasonable. The page cites only one source, for a very small part. The rest of the page has no references. Thus, the -impression- is that the people who edit this page don't know enough to cite appropriate sources, or really any sources.
Some of the people who edit the page signed in to edit, so they have 'talk' pages or their own page, and again, it would help if there were some minimal information about who these people were.
thanks
gene gsociology 01:08, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- Unfortunately, you're placing far too much weight on "qualifications." Wikipedia is meant to be edited by anyone, and thus you will get laypersons editing articles on specialized topics that may fall outside their pervue. However, to compensate, any edits are subject to verifiability. If a statement in an article is not cited, you can tag it with {{fact}} at the end of the sentence to indicate it needs a citation. Or, if you know of a verifiable source, you can cite it yourself! That's the best part about Wikipedia: if you can find something that's A) wrong or B) unsourced, you can correct the error and/or cite the material yourself to improve the article.
- The downside to this would be citing your own works, which you have indicated. This could be seen by some as a conflict of interest, so it would at least be worth mentioning on the Talk page for the article to see if anyone objects. Further, we cannot include original research in our articles, for verifiability purposes, so the research would have to be published in an established journal or magazine before it could be cited on Wikipedia.
- Hopefully that helps explain Wikipedia's policies a bit more. Please continue to contribute, as all input can be helpful in expanding Wikipedia's articles! -- Kesh 04:12, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
afd sockpuppet template
I think I've seen a template used in AFD discussions that a voter has made few or no edits before the AFD. Does anybody know what the template is? Thanks. --JianLi 01:56, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Tapas Acupressure Technique
This Technique is listed by the wiki as a pseudoscience. A study was recently published which would negate the use of this comment. Please remove the false statement.
Following is a summary of the recent study on TAT:
NIH STUDY ON TAT ®
Short summary: In 2005, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded a pilot study with scientists from the Kaiser Center for Health Research and the University of Arizona comparing TAT for weight loss maintenance with two other approaches (Qi Gong and behavioral advice). Each group was given 10 hours of instruction in the method they used. The TAT group gained little weight whereas the other two groups gained at least six times as much. The authors were impressed with TAT and recommended further study. Below is a summary of the preliminary report by the research team. A full write-up including interviews with participants is planned for publication in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2007.
Mist, S., Elder, M., Aickin, M., & Ritenbaugh. 2005. A randomized trial of Tapas Acupressure Technique ® for weight loss maintenance.
Published in : Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies.10.38-39 [a quarterly review journal presenting evidence-based approaches to health care]. Abstracts of 12th Annual Symposium on Complementary Health Care. 19-21st September. 2005. Exeter , UK .
Location of research : Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente, 2800 N. Interstate Ave. , Portland , U.S.A. & University of Arizona , Tucson , Arizona , OR 97227, U.S.A.
Description : This scientifically rigorous, randomized and controlled study provides support for TAT as a helpful approach for people with weight problems. The aim of the study was to compare TAT with two other interventions for helping people maintain weight loss after they had successfully lost excess weight (at least 3.5 kg) on a behavioral program. TAT was compared with Qigong and Self-directed support (a simple cognitive-behavioral approach with advice and encouragement). All three approaches involved 10 hours of instruction over a 12-week period. The outcome measure was weight gain. 92 adults were involved in the study.
After three months, the group using TAT had not gained any weight, but the Self-Directed Support group gained an average of 0.35 kg. At 6 months the Self-Directed Support group had gained 1.5 kg., but the TAT group had gained only 0.25 kg. Qigong was found too difficult for the participants to practice, and this group gained the most weight of all. There were no adverse effects of TAT.
The authors conclude: "TAT was a feasible intervention, warranting further study as a potential weight maintenance intervention." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.196.197.125 (talk) 03:49, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
- If you notice an error with an article, Be Bold and fix it. For more information on how to cite sources, see WP:CITE or WP:FOOT. Hersfold (talk/work) 11:27, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- I see this information is now in the article. I have done a little work to balance the two conflicting study findings in the introduction and add standardised references. However, Wikipedia articles cannot just contain abstracts of articles like the above, with or without permission. It must be rewritten in encyclopedic form, with citations. I will have to leave this to someone with more familiarity with the subject matter, or at least someone who can figure out from the above what specific journal to cite. Notinasnaid 11:52, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
How to submit the article:
––I have question for you ,I need to know and Please help & guide me how to use and submit the article through you.And I need your phone # Please.
Sincerely Zohreh Tamjidi
WWW.ZTAMJIDI.COM <email removed> —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zohreh Tamjidi (talk • contribs) 05:36, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
- For help starting a new article, see Help:Starting a new article. As far as getting anyone's phone number, that won't be necessary. Dismas|(talk) 09:13, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- It's also not a good idea to post your own private info here, as that could open you up to spam and other unpleasantness. Hersfold (talk/work) 11:24, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Pages not showing on my watchlist
Occaisionally, I'll make an edit to an article (well, the two or three times I've noticed it I think they were all at the Ref desks), I'll then look at my watchlist, and the article is not shown on my watchlist at all. If I go to the page, my edit is still there, the page says that I'm watching the article since it has the "unwatch" link at the top but it's simply not on my watchlist. I have not clicked "Hide my edits" or anything like that. As a matter of fact, I just made an edit to the Science desk and noticed this phenomenom. Then I clicked "Hide my edits" and then "Show my edits" and this still didn't jar anything loose and list my edit. Does this happen to anyone else? Dismas|(talk) 09:12, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- It's watchlist lag. Normally, this is too small to notice, but occasionally it gets sufficiently big that there are complaints about it on WP:VPT; it calms down after a while. (The same happens on Special:Contributions; if you make an edit and then hit your contribs straight away, sometimes it won't show up on your contribs.) --ais523 09:36, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Cool, thanks. At least I know there's a reason now. Although it's weird since I'd expect a lag of a few seconds. Maybe up to 30 or so. But the page is still not showing up even now. I'll just wait though... Thanks again, Dismas|(talk) 10:10, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- There's another possible explanation specifically for Help Desk and Reference Desk edits. If you watch one of these pages, and then edit a question over a day old, it doesn't show up on the watchlist because you're actually editing a transcluded archive page (which keeps the edit-page sizes down), for much the same reasons that commenting on an RfA doesn't show up just because you're watching the RfA mainpage. --ais523 10:16, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Cool, thanks. At least I know there's a reason now. Although it's weird since I'd expect a lag of a few seconds. Maybe up to 30 or so. But the page is still not showing up even now. I'll just wait though... Thanks again, Dismas|(talk) 10:10, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- No, I think there is a problem. I haven't had my watchlist work for weeks. I have a macbook pro (firefox). Tkjazzer 05:39, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Suspicious logging trouble
I'm unable to log in, the system doesn't recognize my password. Has anyone experienced the same trouble recently?
Regarding the new anti-hacking notices appearing at the logging page, I suspect that my particular account has been hacked to prevent me from editing. It should be noted that many people which I'm in editing conflicts with are IT-experts in their real life.
I requested new password and going to ceize editing until the problem is solved. Ukrained —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.137.232.147 (talk) 12:17, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
- There's more funny things: my Web-mail service in Ukraine is "temporarily unavailable". Just in time when I need it for receiving a new WP password. As far as I understand my mail address is stored somewhere close to my account data at the server. And crushing down a relatively small mail server is much easier than breaking WP.
- P.S. My talk page is here. 195.137.232.147 12:34, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
wikipedia on cd/dvd
can we get wikipedia cd's/dvd's to buy? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.54.115.103 (talk) 14:42, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
- A version with around 2000 checked articles can be bought on DVD here. The German Wikipedia also has DVDs available. - Mgm|(talk) 18:28, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Unimportant Issue
If you have something better to do, don't read this.
The yellow color in my archive is out of control. I do not know why.--MrFishGo Fish 15:13, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Replied at user's talk page. Adrian M. H. 15:51, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Creating a previously deleted article
An article was deleted because it did not establish notability. I have now fixed the article and notability is established. How do I go about putting the deleted article back on Wikipedia? Do I have to get permission from the Wikipedia community? Thanks very much. —User:Christopher Mann McKay 16:20, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- No, you can just create the article. If you were building on content created by others, you can also request a history-only undeletion at WP:DRV#History_only_undeletion so the original authors are credited. -SpuriousQ (talk) 16:26, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
choosing categories for article
I've written my "biography" for myself Victorya Micahels Rogers and it is just under the "basic" category. How do you choose the categories such as biography, people, etc?
Victorya 17:09, 9 May 2007 (UTC)victorya
- You seem only to have edited Wikipedia:Introduction, under "Test edits". This isn't an article: it's an area for you to test in, and will soon be wiped clean! This may be just as well. You should not in fact be writing an article about yourself in Wikipedia (see WP:COI guidelines). Notinasnaid 17:14, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Yes, I just refreshed that area after a more recent edit by an anon IP. Adrian M. H. 17:17, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Citing Sources
I am writing an article in which I need to cite a lot of sources. It happens that some of the sources are cited more than once. Is there a way to get the ref tool to recognize that so that I dont have 5 different [#] all refering to the same source and just re-use the initial citation number?
Csblack 17:24, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Give the reference a name using <ref name="foo">...</ref> and then just add <ref name="foo"/>. See this page for an example. Veinor (talk to me) 17:26, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia updates
Two weeks ago, I noticed that Reference.com updated their copy of Wikipedia to April 5. Answers.com's copy of Wikipedia STILL has not been updated; it still only goes up to February 10 (which isn't as bad as TheFreeDictionary.com, which still lists 2007 as an upcoming year). I wrote to Answers about it and they said "Different websites get their information from Wikipedia at different times". My question is: Why? Wouldn't it make a LOT more sense to send everyone who uses Wikipedia content their updates at the same time?66.218.19.98 18:00, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- We're not sending updates. They update when they decide to download fresh information. It's not in our power to speed it up. - Mgm|(talk) 18:09, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- See Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks, especially the See also section. The Transhumanist 00:14, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
theresalopez
how can i chat with theresa lopez-fitzgerald. can you please help me? she is from passions! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.54.131.135 (talk) 18:13, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
- Which one?
- Theresa has been portrayed by Lindsay Hartley since July 5, 1999. During Lindsay's maternity leave in 2004, the role was temporarily assumed by Priscilla Garita from August 30 to October 8.
How do I edit a title?
Hi! I am a newbie. I just want to make the first letter of the last name uppercase. Thanks for any help! Danceswithwords 18:44, 9 May 2007 (UTC)danceswithwords
- As a new user, you can't. The process is to move the page to the correct capitalization. I've gone ahead and done it for you.
- After you've been around for 4 days, there will be a move tab at the top of pages that you can move (rename). ~ BigrTex 18:55, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Fancy signatures
How Do I get The Fancy Signatures that Everyone's Got? Lmc169 19:08, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Type ~~~~ at the end of your post and your signature will appear. Just as I did - Notinasnaid 20:09, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- When you go into your preferences, there is a box that says "Raw signature". If you want a fancy signature, you check the box and put the code into the box above it. If you look at the edit page you can look at my signature code for reference. LaraLoveTalk/Contribs 22:08, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
media
I would like to offer media files such as "fireball" for the deep purple page: how do i do this? These files are located in windows media player.
- See Wikipedia:Media. If you have further questions, please let me know. Good luck. The Transhumanist 00:00, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
PEO Sisterhood
Hi there - For the entry on the PEO Sisterhood, there is information provided within the description that is very damaging to the over 100-year old traditions of this philanthropic group that supports educational opportunities for women.
I am a member of PEO and the literal translation of the acronym PEO is something that is private and kept to members as one of the special traditions of this organization. While it may not seem like a big deal to those not involved with this specific organization, to find this information readily available on your website is really upsetting to members as this is a special tradition. I don't think the public at large will be missing anything by removal of the statement in question.
I am requesting removal of the specific line under "Names" that states "Multiple published sources, however, state that "P.E.O." stands for "Protect Each Other".[1][2]"
If verification that the meaning of the acronym is never revealed publicly is needed, I would suggest contacting the organization via their website, www.peointernational.org
the link to the page is P.E.O. Sisterhood
kind regards, Amy Ebel —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.154.91.225 (talk) 20:10, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
- If it is verified, then you might have a hard time justifying its removal. Normally, you could be bold, but removing sourced material without discussion is pretty much classed as vandalism, so it might well get reverted. The article's talk page is the place to go if you want to raise the issue. Adrian M. H. 21:37, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Wikipedia is not censored. (See also Wikipedia's content disclaimer.) Since Wikipedia aims to compile all human knowledge, it does not omit facts simply because they are offensive to or considered insensitive by certain groups. It aims to have complete discussion of even potentially inflammatory topics, such as pornography or Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Calliopejen1 21:43, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- I'm puzzled by a group that claims to "support educational opportunities for women" while maintaining a policy which contradicts (even if just symbolically) the very basis of education, namely the free and open exchange of information. There have been, for example, exclusively male secret societies which maintained social advantages for their members by concocting all sorts of codes and insider knowledge, not to mention entire cultures that systematically kept secrets from women by denying them education. I can't imagine why a group of women, having historically been disproportionately victims of other people's knowledge hoarding, would want to mimic the tactics of their traditional oppressors. A main point of having computers is generally to make information more available to everyone, not just members of special groups who unilaterally decide amongst themselves what is proper for everyone else to know or not know (without consulting all those other people to see how they feel about being kept in the dark on something). And that means all kinds of information. I suggest to anyone who feels upset to see computers doing what they were designed to do - ripping down the deliberate barriers to knowledge that humans have historically used to oppress their fellow humans, along with the unintentional barriers that merely degrade our efficiency - it's time to bring those emotions in line with 21st century reality. One consequence of Moore's Law is that we can expect to see these kinds of shortsighted, unilateral attempts to prevent other people from knowing things becoming ever harder to sustain. See Scientology versus the Internet for one organization's attempt to fight progress with lawyers, and drag society back to the past when information was less available and thus easier for particular organizations to ration. --Teratornis 06:06, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- Wikipedia is not censored. (See also Wikipedia's content disclaimer.) Since Wikipedia aims to compile all human knowledge, it does not omit facts simply because they are offensive to or considered insensitive by certain groups. It aims to have complete discussion of even potentially inflammatory topics, such as pornography or Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Calliopejen1 21:43, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Need Help On Meaning Behind Certain Context
Hey, I have an article that's been nominated for deletion. It really needed cleaning up at first, and it looks like most of that is taken care of...except for "real-world context and sourced analysis, offering detail on a work's achievements, impact or historical significance." But I thought I provided many valid sources in my article J.R. and Babe , and I need to know exactly what I am missing in the "real-world" context issue?
I mean, as for reliable sources, Wikipedia states that "Reliable sources are credible published materials with a reliable publication process; their authors are generally regarded as trustworthy, or are authoritative in relation to the subject at hand" and I thought that I did that in my article. Reliabe sources are about a trusted publisher making the same claims as you.
I just don't see how my article differs all that much from a soap couple article such as Luke Spencer and Laura Webber, and I need help on this. I really want to save my article.
I don't mean to come off as slow in understanding things, but could you please tell me exactly what is meant by "real-world context" in this matter, and if the Luke and Laura article adds enough of this, so that I can better grasp to admire that article as example or not? Flyer22 20:43, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- J.R. and Babe are a fictional couple. Real world context would be things like:
- the actors who play them
- inspiration from their lives which the actors use for their characters (that is, what they bring to their roles)
- the people who developed the characters, the romance, and wrote their lines
- the inspiration for the couple and their ongoing relationship (how the writers came up with it)
- behind the camera politics
- the impact the fictional couple have had on viewers, politics, society... and the world
- the fictional couple's popularity
- number of posters, t-shirts, and coffe cups sold with the couple on them
... and so on.
I hope that helps. The Transhumanist 23:46, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
The new virtual classroom lesson is...
What does it take to improve an article to featured article status? To find out, read...
Dweller, on Featured Article Candidates.
Enjoy.
Logged out
Everything from user 38.96.151.250 is by me when the system logged me out. --Scottandrewhutchins 21:12, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Shepard Smith
Why are you saying there's no article about Fox News Channel's Shepard Smith when there is? I've read it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bard28 (talk • contribs) 22:18, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
- Who says there isn't? There definitely is... Veinor (talk to me) 22:19, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Arcade Fire: incorrect link
Hello,
I just noticed that an article I wrote several years ago is now linked on the Wikipedia entry for the rock band, Arcade Fire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_Fire
The link is at the bottom of the page, in the External Links section, under "Chemistry At Work" However, it links to the wrong issue - it directs here: http://archive.cbcradio3.com/issues/2005_01_28/index.cfm?page=04
but the correct link is this: http://archive.cbcradio3.com/issues/2004_11_19/main.cfm?IssueId=162&page=08
I know that Wikipedia discourages people from making corrections to wiki regarding themselves or things they've written, so I just thought I'd let you know, rather than making the correction myself. Hope this is the proper place in helpdesk to submit this.
best, Helen Spitzer Guelph, Ontario —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.50.214.68 (talk) 22:20, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
- Thanks for the heads-up; I've fixed the link. Incidentally, our policy about making edits involving things you've done yourself is at Wikipedia:Conflict of interest, and while linking to your own site is discouraged there I'm pretty sure no-one would have a problem with you fixing an existing link :) Confusing Manifestation 22:34, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Maintenance Committee
Is any one interested in starting a special group known as the Maintenance Committee? The Maintenance Committee is a specialized group of people that are just dedicated to cleaning up Wikipedia and making it a better and reliable place to be. If anyone as any comments about this please go to my User talk:Senators or write below. This could be huge step forward for Wikipedia. SenatorsTalk | Contribs 22:52, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- "Committee" sounds too official/bureaucratic, like it has some special governing authority or something. Howabout Wikipedia:WikiProject Maintenance ? The Transhumanist 23:32, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- You may wish to present your proposal on Wikipedia's proposal page at Wikipedia:Village Pump (proposals). The Transhumanist 23:32, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Vandalism edit summary template?
Is there a quick template to use in the edit summary for vandalism reverts? Something like {{Template:Unsigned}}, so it gets all the info on there quickly without having to type it out? Tbone762 23:03, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- No, but there is something else. For revert tools see Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation popups (which has a rollback feature), and User:AmiDaniel/VandalProof (for all the anti-vandal power you will ever need!). Vandalproof includes autosummary completion, and a whole lot more. The Transhumanist
- Also, templates don't work in edit summaries. If you're doing only occasional vandalism reverts without any tools, you could always use the shorthand "rvv" that many editors use. —Mitaphane ?|! 23:27, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks guys! Tbone762 23:40, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
How do you put pictures from the Internet to Wikipedia
How do you place pictures from the Internet to Wikipedia? I tried copy and pasting but it didn't work.AnimeGoddess 23:07, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Thank you for asking. In a nutshell, each image on Wikipedia is on it's own page, and to include an image on another page, you simply provide a link to it's page, and the image is displayed automatically. In order to get an image on its own page, you need to upload it. Please see Wikipedia:Images for instructions. The Transhumanist 23:14, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
- Unfortunalty, however, copyrighted material cannot be placed on Wikipedia if material (such as a picture) appears on another website it may be a copyright infringment to place it on Wikipedia. Scottydude talk 02:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
May 10
finding ancestors
I need help on my family heritage and there history! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.204.244.198 (talk) 00:18, 10 May 2007 (UTC).
- Sorry...this isn't the geneology center. You also need help with distinguishing there from their. —Gaff ταλκ 00:55, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Screen appearance
Is there somewhere else I can get help? I put thsi new skin on my screen but it's messing things up. The buttons are all on top of each other and stuff. Marcus Taylor 00:30, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- Sometimes skins don't appear perfect with certain browsers. What browser(s) are you using? I personally like to stick to the default MonoBlock. Scottydude talk 02:30, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- Internet Explorer. Marcus Taylor 05:55, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia style
Is there a consensus of British versus American English in wikipedia articles? For example, any set rule over spellings such as color/colour or edema/oedema? Please answer here or preferably on mu usertalk. —Gaff ταλκ 00:49, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
- See the manual of style entry —Mitaphane ?|! 01:19, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Lost Password
I've lost my password. -- — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.133.127.239 (talk) 04:00, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
How do i create an article about a company?
I am trying to create an atricle about a company and I want it to put it in proper category. But unfortunately i am not able to do this is there a template to do this. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.200.7.2 (talk) 04:50, 10 May 2007 (UTC).
MOS help
Can anyone point me to anything in the manual of style or elsewhere that speaks to whether or not to use codes in articles where the plain text symbol is available. For instance, is it preferable or not (or neutral) to use "& #93;" (which renders like this: "]") instead of a plain text bracket?--Fuhghettaboutit 06:11, 10 May 2007 (UTC)