Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 May 22

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May 22

Status of a requested translation

How long does one normally have to wait to get a response to a translation request, in this case Wikipedia:Translation/Evidence ?

Or, did I not set the request up correctly ?

If there is no one to do it, should I just get the request speedy deleted ?

Peet Ern (talk) 03:28, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Carah Faye, Carah Faye Charnow, Mikey Martin, Michael Martin

Resolved

I made new pages for these people and they are now deleted. I checked the deletion log and cannot see why they were eliminated.Can someone please explain why?

Thanks for your help,

firstyearclay —Preceding unsigned comment added by Firstyearclay (talk • contribs) 04:15, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Oh, their not deleted. They were just redirected to a different, appropriate article.--RyRy5 (talk ♠ copy-edit) 04:20, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

IPs cannot create articles?

Resolved

I was referred to come here about a article I'm trying to create, called GET US OUT! which is about a US organization that wants the US to get out of the UN because it alleges that the UN is corrupt, anti-American, worse, such as that it charges the UN as being part of the World Government, which is denounced AS being Satanic in the Christian religion. Source information is www.getusout.com. I even clicked on the "Start article...." link, only it says Unauthorized, thus that link no longer functions, if any links function at all, because I'm a IP. 65.163.115.254 (talk) 04:52, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

IPs cannot create articles unfortunately. But if you were to create an account, you can then create articles. Do you want to create an account? It's your choice. --RyRy5 (talk ♠ copy-edit) 04:54, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

If you do make an account and plan to write an article, you'll want to read Wikipedia:Your first article thoroughly beforehand. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 04:59, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

You can also try WP:Articles for creation or (if you get an account) WP:Requested articles. However, I'm guessing that if the only source is the web site of the organization itself, the article's creation won't be approved, or it'll be deleted if it is created. If you need more info on the subject, familiarize yourself with WP:Attribution. $\sim$ Lenoxus " * "

E-mail as a Source

What's the rule on using e-mail as a source? I'm almost positive that its not acceptable, but an article I watch just had a fact added based on an e-mail correspondence with a company. Is this a specific Wiki page about using e-mail as a source (ex. a more specific page like WP:NOR)? -Zomic13 (talk) 04:57, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

To clarify, since I may not be entirely clear, I'm looking for a page that I can cite in an edit summary in regards to using e-mail as a source. -Zomic13 (talk) 05:00, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

WP:RS maybe? Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 05:03, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

I don't think there is one. I'm not entirely sure though.--RyRy5 (talk ♠ copy-edit) 05:39, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm fairly certain that in order for something to be reliable, it has to pass the test of solid and consistent fact checking - an email address certainly does not meet this requirement as it is difficult to check the veracity. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 05:55, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

I looked at WP:EIW#Source, WP:RS, and WP:V, thinking that I saw something once upon a time about e-mail as a source. Nothing like that seems to be in there now, except for a footnote in WP:V#Notes and references:

• "Blogs" in this context refers to personal and group blogs. Some newspapers host interactive columns that they call blogs, and these may be acceptable as sources so long as the writers are professionals and the blog is subject to the newspaper's full editorial control. Where a news organization publishes the opinions of a professional but claims no responsibility for the opinions, the writer of the cited piece should be attributed (e.g., "Jane Smith has suggested ..."). Posts left by readers may never be used as sources.

Notice the last sentence that I italicized. An e-mail message might be in the same class as ephemera, i.e. not a reliable source (certainly, it is not a published source, unless someone included it in a published work). I also checked WP:CITET, and it lists a {{cite mailing list}} template. By itself, that does not imply mailing lists are reliable sources. We can also try searching the Help desk for: e-mail as a source; that finds:

• Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 April 2#Citing Sources from an e-mail?

--Teratornis (talk) 07:16, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Unpublished emails are unacceptable as sources because they fail Wikipedia:Verifiability. A template was deleted for that reason at Wikipedia:Templates for deletion/Log/2007 April 19#Template:Cite email, where somebody created {{cite mailing list}} instead for published emails which can be used in certain circumstances where the author and content is considered reliable enough for a given purpose. I wouldn't use it for anything remotely controversial. PrimeHunter (talk) 10:54, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

user name - fallrome

i upload a photo and did not provide a copyright. went to unpload a replacement with copyright provided and was blocked. new to wikipedia and didnt know how to do it. figured it out on the other photos. the photes are of my 1973 thunderbird in the article oabout the car. thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fallrome (talk • contribs) 06:40, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Hi. Is the image you're talking about Image:73tbirdfront.jpg? It hasn't actually been deleted yet so you don't need to upload another copy. Just go to the image, click "edit this page", and replace the no license tag ({{di-no license|month=May|day=20|year=2008}}) with the appropriate tag from this list. Hope that helps!

Oh, and it's helpful if you sign your posts on talk pages using four tildes, like this ~~~~, which produces your signature. Olaf Davis | Talk 10:31, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

ArticleHistory Template

Is it possible to change the {{ArticleHistory}} template to transclude the GAicon just like the {{GA}} template does?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 07:16, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

File an {{editprotected}} request on Template talk:ArticleHistory...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 16:09, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

You would need consensus from the GA project first, or a larger consensu at the village pump. Woody (talk) 16:20, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Image

A request, can anyone please upload these two images from BBC [1], [2] for the article 2003 Algeria earthquake‎. I was advised some times, but still I am facing problems regarding image uploading. In this case a {{Non-free historic image}} tag would be appropriate, as it is a unique historic image, and the copyright for it is most likely held by the person who took the image or the agency employing the person. Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 11:10, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

I think it is possible that a free alternative could be found so I don't think this image should be used. Anonymous101 (talk) 17:46, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

You can make your request easier for people to understand by linking to whatever you mean by "I was advised some times". On Wikipedia, everything we do is in writing, specifically so we can share everything we do with other volunteers. Before someone else could help, it would be prudent for them to read the same written record that you have read, up to now, about the problem. --Teratornis (talk) 17:53, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

KPI/SWITCH GEAR

please give me a brief description about KPI in the field of iso auditing please give me a brief description about switch gear —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bhuvanesh2k8 (talk • contribs) 11:23, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried 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 is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:09, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

When you do ask again on the Reference desk, please try to pose your question well, so volunteers do not have to waste time trying to determine what you want. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia about almost everything; therefore, many common words can mean many different things here. Volunteers who answer questions are not mind-readers, so they cannot guess which particular meaning you intend when you use a word with multiple meanings. The phrase "KPI in the field of iso (sic) auditing" is ambiguous with respect to the KPI acronym (for example, "KPI" might mean Key performance indicators, or other things on the KPI disambiguation page), and "iso" looks like it might really be ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, rather than the chemical prefix relating to isomerism (letter case matters a lot on Wikipedia, so try not to be sloppy). You can also search Wikipedia for: ISO auditing and KPI. As far as switch gear, what type of switches do you mean? There are electrical switches, railroad switches, etc. See Switch (disambiguation) and pick one of the meanings of "switch" to clarify your question. --Teratornis (talk) 17:21, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Display most recent history entry on an article page

Is there a way to transclude the most recent entry from the history tab into an article and have it automatically update? E.g. If I were the most recent person to edit an article I would like to have 08:45, 22 May 2008 imandir (Talk | contribs) (2,343 bytes) (+comments) display on the the article page. --IMandIR (talk) 12:53, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Help:Magic words#Page names and related info shows how to display some of this information: {{REVISIONID}} and other magic words below it. You might have to find, or write, a MediaWiki extension to display the rest of what you need, and if you are asking about how to display this information on a Wikipedia article, then there would be the bureaucratic/political challenges of getting the extension added to Wikipedia if it isn't already here. The Village pump (technical) might be a better place to ask this question. If you are asking about a wiki other than Wikipedia, try mw:Project:Support desk. You can also search the two wikis that contain technical information about MediaWiki:

• Search Meta-Wiki with Google
• Search MediaWiki.org with Google

If you need to do these kinds of searches routinely (many technically inclined users probably do), add the {{Help desk searches}} template to your user page where it will always be one click away when you have logged in to Wikipedia. --Teratornis (talk) 17:36, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

IP

Resolved

does wikipedia know your ip and how does it find out (if yes)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.5.91.181 (talk) 16:24, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

If you do not have an account, your IP is shown, as demonstrated by your signature. If you register for an account, your IP is only available to certain admins under certain circumstances: see WP:CHECK. See WP:REG for other benefits of an account. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 16:47, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Mike Zito

<text of article removed> 76.195.145.106 (talk) 17:03, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Hello. I have removed the text of the article you posted here. This help desk is for asking questions about using Wikipedia. I see that the subject of the article does not currently have an article. The information posted below describes the process for creation.

You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 17:10, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

86.46.7.34 (talk) 18:26, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Thierry Roussel

My boss, Mr. Thierry Roussel, feels that the article about him has errors and exaggerations and would like to set the record straight by submitting his cv to be added. I also have a signed scanned version if that would be preferable. I do not really understand how to go about doing this. Can you insert this article for me? Thanks, Glendap (talk) 18:09, 22 May 2008 (UTC)glendap

<text of article removed>

See policies on conflict of interest and autobiography on why this content cannot be added. What particular errors do you feel are present? haz (talk) 18:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

I fixed the references, added a reflist, added persondata template, added a couple of categories and removed some unencyclopedic content. – ukexpat (talk) 21:46, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Kannst mir die deine setzen aber als der

Resolved

Es ist sehr stimmt oder grossen hast dir das geschenk oder kremi. Ist das einer grasse nimmen? 86.46.7.34 (talk) 18:26, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Please post your question at de:Wikipedia:Fragen zur Wikipedia. haz (talk) 18:30, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Es die ersten dritten stock bis zu kremi. Ist das richtig?...86.46.7.34 (talk) 18:32, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Dies ist die englische Wikipedia. Sie sollten ihn fragen an der deutschen Sprache in Wikipedia de:Hauptseite. Sorry, die Übersetzung erfolgte durch Google. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 19:10, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Ancient Egypt

Resolved

Why can't I find information specifically about one of the Egyptian Kings Amenhemet III on this site? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.106.84.214 (talk) 18:43, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Either due to a misspelling, or that noone's got round to creating the page yet. If you are certain the spelling is correct:

Please see Your first article.

1. Create an account
2. Make sure the subject is notable enough to have their own article.
3. Find references
4. Make sure no article on the subject exists under a different title by typing the subject into the search box to the left (←) and clicking 'Search'
5. Type the page name in the search box to the left (←) and click 'Go'
6. Click 'Create this page'
7. Create the article, including all your references, making sure you adhere to the Manual of Style and our article layout guidelines
8. Be aware that Wikipedia deletes thousands of new articles for failing to adhere to our policies and guidelines. New articles by new users are at extra risk of deletion, due to new users' unfamiliarity with our rules. Consider gaining experience by editing existing articles before attempting to create new ones....... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 18:53, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Names can often be translated to English in different ways. Try Amenemhat III. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:07, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Super/subscripts in verbatim text

In the TUTOR (programming language) wiki page, as in most other programming language web pages <pre> blocks are used to set off source code examples. This works just fine, except in one section of the page, TUTOR (programming language)#Expression Syntax. In that section, superscripts and subscripts are used, because TUTOR (not being confined by the constraints of ASCII) happened to permit super and subscripting in expressions. As a result, it seems impossible to get correct rendering of the subscripting in that example in that section. The content of the cited section contains an in-line gripe showing the problem and inviting a fix.

Someone who understands the strange and wonderful world of HTML style may be required to resolve this. The best possible solution would appear to be a special TUTOR example style that put the grey box and dashed outline used by <pre> in place, but also renders super and subscripts correctly -- which, in this case, should include overriding the font-size change for super and subscripts, since the PLATO System's support for super and subscript didn't do this. If the cost of this includes requiring the user to type explicit <br> line breaks in the examples, that's not a problem. Any help would be appreciated. 128.255.45.57 (talk) 19:10, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

It would appear that you are not the first to come across this because we have {{pre}} to resolve the issue:

ABC123

--—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 19:28, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! (I speculate the "gripping hand" position too.) Except for the little "pre" hanging out there in the corner, a very minor wart, this is just fine. 128.255.45.57 (talk) 19:44, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

I removed that comment as I thought it might be confusing, but it should not be suprising that we have an article on the gripping hand. The little "pre" tag is a backlink to the template. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 19:54, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Now, I'm confused again -- the wonderful thing Wikiland is that it's all very public. Right after I fixed it, following the above suggestion, Ghettoblaster fixed my fix so the little "pre" went away. His trick was a single leading space on the line. This is discouraged in Wikipedia:How to edit a page by the note that leading spaces wreck the rendering of the entire page in browsers such as IE7, so I'm reverting it.128.255.45.57 (talk) 22:17, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

how safe is floresent twist light bulbs

Resolved

we bought the twisted light bulbs to save on energy. the other day my husband was at the table when he noticed a burnt smell. he went through the house searching for the corporate. he could not find out where the smell was comming from. the next day he was changing a bulb that had went out when he noticed the bulb had a hole in the base of it about the size of a pencle. the smell was still overwelming. thats where the smell was comming from. the sench made him week and dizzy. he went to the doctor and was found to be ok. but my question is how often have you had bulbs do this before. and is there any longterm effects. if you want pictures of the bulb, i will be glad to send it to you. sam —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.20.88.22 (talk) 19:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your question however this help desk is for help using Wikipedia. Please see the reference desk where you may ask your question someone will find the answer for you. Cheers Gtstricky^{Talk or C} 19:38, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Even at the Reference Desk, we cannot offer medical advice per our medical disclaimer. We can only offer general information on compact fluorescent lamps. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 19:42, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like a defect in the bulb but, yes, you'd probably get better information on the reference desk. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 20:17, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

We have had a couple of these almost catch fire on us. They smell very bad when they overheat. Be aware that the contents of the glass tube are poisonous, and these bulbs should never be disposed of in normal household waste. ^anon 2008-05-24 18:55 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.73.140.247 (talk)

LOGO

Resolved

 – Yes...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 20:59, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Can I use WikiMedia logos in the user namespace? —Preceding unsigned comment added by CyberThing (talk • contribs) 19:58, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 20:59, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Technically not, because they aren't free, but everyone does it anyhow... Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 22:31, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Reminds me of a Simpsons comic: "Chief Wiggum also tells me to remind you that lynching is technically illegal, but so is cheating on your taxes, and everyone does that anyway." bibliomaniac15 01:45, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

new user needs help, i am a little confused

I added a relevent "related companies" to an article and when i clicked on it i wrote a stub article describing the company i have read about in two outside sources. the item was deleted before i can figure out what happend. something about spam? I am not a spammer and i wished to add relevent information. I attempted to rewrite the article with less words and to the point, but it will not let me. i appreciate the help on this matter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gunsource1 (talk • contribs) 20:27, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Please provide the exact article name. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 20:39, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

That'd be Gunvendor.com. That page has been protected against re-creation by the deleting admin, Bearian. I suggest you write a version in your userspace at e.g. User:Gunsource1/Gunvendor.com showing exactly why this company is notable. Pay particular regard to Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies), Wikipedia:Spam, and Wikipedia:Reliable sources. If you have any connection with the website, then you probably ought not to be writing the article anyway - see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. Once you've got a version you're happy with, ask Bearian to take another look. If Bearian disagrees and thinks that the article is still not fit for Wikipedia, then have another think about whether the article is good enough before you ask for the page to be unprotected at WP:RFPP. Good luck! Bencherlite^Talk 20:49, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

How do I make...

how do I make meters that tell me how angry I am? I tried [[Image:Wikistress3D <<A"1">> v3.jpg|right|thumbnail|]] but that didn't work!--Spittlespat (talk) 22:32, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

{{wstress3d|1}}

returns the thing on the right. You've got to replace the <<A>> with a number. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 22:35, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Inappropriate? Usernames

Resolved

I came across a user (was an editor for one or two days a week ago;vandalism), who had "sockpuppet" in their username and whose userpage had "I am a sockpuppet" as it's content (without assertation of legitimate sock use). Is the user a candidate for Inappropriate Username, or is the fact that they havent edited since reason to just ignore? Fribbler (talk) 22:59, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

It's not a candidate for inappropriate username, I don't think. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 23:04, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Thats grand so! Thanks. Fribbler (talk) 23:09, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Of course, if this user starts acting sockpuppet-y, might want to request a checkuser. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 03:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)