Wikipedia:Help desk/Archive 3

This is an archive of the help desk. Please do not edit this page. To ask a new question, go to this page.

Some major problems with Wikipedia

There's too much information, too poorly organized. That's the root problem which leads to the following issues:

1) The server is too slow or fails on occasion, which means a) an unsaved edit can easily be lost when clicking the 'submit' button. b) the search facility is cumbersome and, I guess, not updated fast and efficiently enough, because some contributions never show up on even Google and Yahoo. Can't Wikipedia break down its contents over several servers distributed across the country or the world? Perhaps they've already tried, in which case one could at least focus on improving the search function.

2) There is no coherent, rational structure or index for the distribution of articles, and no specified protocol which makes this structure/ index possible; because the current distribution is not rational, access routes to information are not reversible. Sure, each article has links that lead to other links but that is not adequate; to illustrate with an example, 1) User A creates article on Famous Scientist. Famous Scientist belongs to Specific Science, and is citizen of Certain Country; however, clicking on link to "Specific Science" does not lead to a COMPREHENSIVE list of famous scientists which will lead back to the Famous Scientist in question; in some cases it does not even lead to a list, or a history, or any such thing; similarly, clicking on "Certain Country" does not lead to a comprehensive list of famous scientists, or even "Contributions to Science" subdivision which will lead back to the Famous Scientist in question. User A may make an effort to rectifying said links and lists, but there are too many articles, lists, links and so on to ensure the changes have much impact. It would be much simpler to encourage a protocol among article creators and editors that would give rise to indexing, and will make these "information access routes" smoother and rational.

3) There is no easy way to contact a single body of authority concerning issues which are not listed in Help and FAQ pages - and there are too many of the latter, in too many various subdivisions, that are not always linked to each other, which means you can easily waste too much time looking for help in the wrong places. You may have a list of administrators and bureacrats, but there is no easy way to judge a) which of them have been recently active and/or are b) likely to respond c) have enough competency or authority to deal with your problem; no easy to way to judge d) whom to turn to in case this administrator does not respond, which means e) go through the whole tortuous process of looking for help all over again, usually just to answer a simple question. It is frustrating, to put it mildly.

- Simonides 15:05, 18 Jun 2004

Well, as for your third problem, I think you've found the right place. That's what we're here for--we'll answer the questions we can, but even if we can't, we generally know where to go to get answers.

As for your first complaint, I agree, it's a problem. Apparently, the trouble isn't location, but simply the number of servers--we're going to have to buy a new one about every month to keep up. However, this is sure to improve as more donations come in.

With regards to the second complaint, you might want to look into Wikipedia:Categorization. This is a new feature, so people are still adapting to it, but it sounds like just what you're looking for. Hope this helps--you sound like an insightful contributor, and we'd hate to lose you. Best wishes, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 15:11, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response, Meelar. I posted a request here and a different one yesterday on the General complaints board, neither of which were answered. 1) I would like to know whether a user IP address can be deleted/ modified on a Page History list, for privacy reasons. 2) I have created three new articles recently; while the first one showed up immediately after a search, the second two never show up on search results either on Wikipedia or on Google & Yahoo! What's wrong? 3) I can't seem to move pages either. Though I did it for my first article, everytime I try to move a page now Wikipedia tells me I am not logged in, though I am and can still make edits. Please send me an email! - Simonides 15:53, 18 Jun 2004

As a Newbie, I'd like to back up Contributor Simonides. It's very difficult when you have to learn a new set of jargon, new system convetions etc. and to top it all off, things don't work properly. Now, I tend to be patient by nature and I'm stubborn enough to keep at it, but I can see where you might lose some clever contributors who might give up in frustration.

Issue 2 is a real problem for those of us who are academic. Thanks for the link Meelar, but this is a case in point; there seems to be a solution for Issue 2, but it's frustrated by Issue 1. Here I am, with some free time, ready to do some Wikipedia studying. Took me ages to even sign on to Wikipedia. Now it's taking an age for the system to respond to each click of my mouse button, and it seems as though it's hanging. Even if I'm willing to read through different DISCUSSION pages and sets of FAQs to get the answer to my stupid little question, I can't access the FAQs. I still want the answer to my question, however, because I'd like to fix it now, while I'm thinking about it and have time to do so, because otherwise I might forget, futher adding to Issue 2. Which brings me to issue 3--in the absence of being able to find the answer in a FAQ list, which Administrator do I bother with my stupid little question? My only recourse seems to be to ask it here, which I will do, below...Quill 00:52, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I dunno, I'm a newbie and I've found it pretty easy to fix up stories in Wikipedia! Check out Pnau and exploding whale. - Ta bu shi da yu

In response to Simonides, take a look at Wikipedia:Changing attribution for an edit for the issue of IP addresses in page history. – Jrdioko (Talk) 01:57, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks jrdioko, Meelar sent me an email and cleared up that one issue. If you or anyone else is interested in the other issues, I have taken most of my questions there and a discussion is ongoing. Please drop in! Simonides 05:14, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

As a quick response to the second point (2) [erm... the one about searching, anyway] the internal site search has been disabled for as long as any of us can remember because it was putting too much strain on the servers, hence the links to Google and Yahoo! searches. However, we have no special arrangement with those search engines, so we're reliant on them crawling the site every few weeks just like they do the rest of the Internet, and there's no guarantee they'll pick up on every new article. The good news is, the latest hardware upgrade has provided the means to switch the internal search back on, so this should no longer be a problem! Hooray! - IMSoP 12:02, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Problems with templates

I was looking through the article Nirvana, refering to the religious belief, when some of the words in the article came out written as "Template:Nirvana". I had a look through the edit box, and although the first few uses of the templates came out OK, the rest of the templates did not do so, and came out mangled like that. This did not seem to occur for any other templates used, but only the actual Template:Nirvana. I tried changing it but couldn't figure out how to make it work. Any suggestions?

--Master Of Ninja 07:30, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Currently only up to five incarnations of the same Template work on a single page. It's being worked on and will be fixed soon. — Timwi 14:47, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Can't re-direct to category

This:

#REDIRECT[[Category:Places of interest in Birmingham, England]]

doesn't seem to work (see my recent edit to the now- redundant List of places of interest in Birmingham. Any work- arounds? Andy Mabbett 10:26, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

This is a known issue. I don't think there are. Dysprosia 10:28, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I've tried fiddling with it and couldn't get it to work either. However, I've improved it slightly. Morwen - Talk 10:29, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Try #REDIRECT[[:Category:Places of interest in Birmingham, England]].

The colon blocks any auto-formatting things and converts it into a regular link. Guan aco 19:09, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Redirect to Klingon Wikipedia

I've tried linking pages to the Klingon Wikipedia using the ISO 639 language codes, and all that happens is that a link to a page shows up on the article. Instead of a redirect to a Klingon Wikipedia page, there's a link to a blank English Wikipedia page entitled "tlh:XXX". I'm just a user, not an admin; so is there anything that can be done? thefamouseccles 12:28, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

No, sorry, we need to patch the installation slightly for this to be rendered. Put the pages on a private to-do list, so you can do this when they are enabled. There is currently an ongoing debate whether or not we should have Klingon langlinks, so it may take time, due to the controversial nature of constructed languages in Wikipedia. ✏ Sverdrup 14:36, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

You can't link to the Klingon Wikipedia. There was a compromise made on the mailing list that if a Klingon Wikipedia was going to be allowed to exist, it would have to remain hidden from the other Wikipedias, so the ability to link to it was disabled.

Admin attention required on Template:vfd

Can an admin please fix Template:vfd to match the new standard for vfd listings? I've explained the problem and a solution at Template talk:vfd. - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 14:21, Jun 18, 2004 (UTC)

Even better, can that page be unprotected? I don't really see that it's necessary for it to be protected. Template:delete, Template:stub and Template:copyvio are used just as often and they are unprotected. - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 14:24, Jun 18, 2004 (UTC)

Unprotected--I didn't make any changes besides that, since I wasn't entirely clear. Good luck with that. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 14:26, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks meelar! It works (see Esmeraldas for an example) - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 14:46, Jun 18, 2004 (UTC)

19th century immigration and Valparaiso databases

Question moved to Wikipedia:Reference desk. Good luck, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 16:58, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)

My Own Wiki

I like the wiki mark up so much I might one day want to do my own little project using it. I'm assuming this would mean installing something on my machine and, if I wanted it to be online, on my ISPs server. What would I need to do to have my own wiki? I'm sure there's an article about this somewhere (on meta?) so feel free to answer with a link. --bodnotbod 00:27, Jun 19, 2004 (UTC)

read Mediawiki. You'll need apache, mysql, php -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:55, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

See also m:How to become a MediaWiki hacker. Angela . 01:07, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

LOOK I AM CRAZY ABOUT THE WIKI PROJECT, HERE I AM IN NIGERIA, THINKING HOW CAN I START A WEB PROJECT THAT WILL BRING NIGERIANS IN US, LONDON AND EVERY WHRERE TO CONTRIBUTE ARTICLE EASILY ON NIGERIA, AND YOU KNOW WHAT-EUREKA! I FOUND WIKI, this goes to prove that faith and perseverance is more important than adverse circumstances. why? i know how to use html, css, javascript but i knew that to have this project people have to access the site directly on there own. So if you are an experienced wikites can you mail me cos I AM GOING TO START WIKI NIGERIA olunkwaik@yahoo.com

Regarding Disambuguity Pages

1. I recently created a stubby article for sterility, because I used the word in another article, and when I linked it, it went to infertility which only deals with human reproduction, and I was writing about animals. Was this the right thing to do? I did reference the infertility article with a brief definition and a link.

2. I then realized that ?sterility? has some other meanings as well, and I mentioned them, but now I?m a little uncertain, as Wikipedia is not a dictionary, after all. Having put more than one sense of the word ?sterility?, should this now be listed as a Disambiguity page? I wasn?t sure.

3. Should I continue to ask these types of questions here, or just continue along on my merry way and trust that some Administrator will fix the mistakes I make? Quill 00:56, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Welcome Quill, here are some unauthoritative thoughts: 1/2) if you believe your article is different enough from the Infertility article, do not redirect. Instead, just add a "See Also" section below, and explain the difference in content if you feel obliged to. 3) I can't predict which pages will move faster, but I am seeing activity at the Help Desk after a couple of days - the Village Pump was faster, but then again, it may have been slow yesterday at the same time too. Simonides 05:14, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

No, this question wasn't about redirecting, it's specifically about the use of the Disambiguity label or tag or whatever its called. My new page has definitions of sterility, and directs the user to "See Infertility" if what they wanted was information regarding human sterility. Doesn't Redirection mean that one bypasses another page altogether? Quill 08:32, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Why wasn't Derek Frigo's death listed? See email.

musicNEWS: Derek Frigo RIP - Enuff Z?nuff Guitarist Dead At Age 37

05-29-04 Keavin . Derek Frigo, former lead guitarist of Enuff Z?nuff was found dead on Friday. The cause of death is not known at this time. Frigo was reportedly found outside his girlfriend?s Beverly Hills home. Derek was the son of legendary Chicago violin virtuoso Johnny Frigo. He rose to fame in his own right as the lead guitarist of Enuff Z?nuff on their first three major label albums. Rolling Stone named Enuff Z'nuff best new band in 1991. During his time with the band, Derek was praised for his distinct tremolo infused guitar solos. He left Enuff Z?nuff in 1994 and played in a number of groups since, the latest projects included gigs with his fellow former Enuff Z'nuff bandmate Vik Fox in Los Angeles based rock band Logan?s Heroes and playing with punk icon Texas Terri.

Well, he's competing with bombings, hostage beheadings, massacres...we only have so much space. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 16:47, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Font question

This may sound trivial to some, but I couldn't find the appropriate category and am in a bit of a rush:

I want to create an article for "Dubravka Ugre?ić". So far I have managed to create Dubravka Ugresic and redirect "Dubravka Ugre?ic" there, but when I type "Ugre?ić", though it shows up accurately on an article page, clicking Edit This Article creates the Title "Ugre?iÄ?", and I just had to delete an article created under that heading. How can I create something for "Ugre?ić" which looks aesthetically inoffensive and will help direct those who search with the Croatian accents (typing "&#263" or "&cacute" doesn't help)? Simonides 05:29, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

The verdana font that the new wikipedia skin uses apparently has bugs showing diacritals. I believe a bug has already been files about that. In the meantime, switching to another skin (in preferences) should fix it for you (but not, of course, for casual visitors). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:16, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

This is not a font bug, but an encoding limitation. ć is not a latin-1 character, while ? is, and therefore ć can not be included in article titles. So, until the english wikipedia is transferred to unicode, we can only use latin-1 characters in article titles. Using unicode (any character) in article text is fine though. ✏ Sverdrup 01:15, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Is this not related to the fact the English Wikipedia is not in UTF8 rather than being a font issue. I don't think special characters like ? are supposed to be allowed in titles. Angela . 01:14, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

replacing pictures

I have uploaded an image file and would like to replace it with an up-dated version on the same image site. How can I do that? Yardcock 10:09, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Upload it with the same name as the old version, and it will replace it. The old version will be visible in the version history. ✏ Sverdrup 13:29, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks Yardcock 14:24, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

How do you find out your total number of edits?

Okay, I admit it, I'm a dummy. I know there must be some way of figuring out what your total number of edits is, but, erm, I can't get there. Help!

Thanks - --Puffy jacket 15:12, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Contributions&limit=50&offset=50&hideminor=0&target=Puffy_jacket

You have to count them, but there's a trick to doing it quickly. Go to that URL. Notice the bolded 50 there. Change that number higher to go further back into your contributions. That will let you count them. So if you think you've done 3,000 edits, you can count them quickly rather than paging through all of them.

I started out by putting in 500 and it was blank. That means you haven't made 500 yet. I started going back in incriments of 50 until I got to 150, where it listed 3. Therefore, you have 153 edits. →Raul654 15:59, Jun 19, 2004 (UTC)

- Thank you kindly! :) --Puffy jacket 16:01, 19 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Economics

What are the Four Facotrs of Production? What are the economics systems and explain each detail? What does supply and demand mean and how do each work with each other? How are prices detemined? What is an entrepreneur and what does it tak to become one? What is Free Enterprise System?

See our articles on supply and demand, capitalism, economics, communism, socialism. 16:59, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Also see our articles on factors of production and entrepreneur.

And for some, er, less canonical examples of economic systems, you might want to look at feudalism, traditional economy, anarcho-capitalism, and anarcho-communism.

Maybe I should edit the economics article to add to the See Also section, and the economic system article to expand it. Lucky Wizard 23:19, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Dead-end article list

I forgot what the list of dead-end articles is called and where it is. Can someone help by telling me?

JediMaster16 20:22, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

you're going to kick yourself! It's called Wikipedia:Deadend pages theresa knott 22:16, 21 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Can't edit pages anymore...

As of this evening, whenever I try to submit changes when logged in as User:Dcfleck, the server returns a completely blank page, and no change to the article occurs. I don't think I've been banned - what could cause this behavior?

(I can submit changes successfully when not logged in.)

--12.216.14.105 03:45, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Hmmm, seems to be working OK this morning.

--dcf 11:35, 2004 Jun 22 (UTC)

Inactive link font color

What is the color code for the new red links in Monobook? Wikipedia:How to start a page has an example that still uses the old color. – Jrdioko (Talk) 20:46, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Looking at the monobook css, it would appear to be #ba0000. - 21:01, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC) Lee (talk)

Forgot about that page, thanks! – Jrdioko (Talk) 21:24, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Getting started

What is the advice that you would give to a person who just found Wikipedia? This website is so full of information and possibilities, that it's quite overwhelming. Is there a way to simplify the introductory process?

Getting started as a contributor? Well, there's the tutorial if you don't know wiki syntax yet. But my opinion is - just dive right in and write what you know. →Raul654 23:29, Jun 22, 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, if you're into that whole 'writing articles' thing. I just watch Special:recentchanges and see what catches my eye. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 23:36, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Howdy. I left a little welcome note on your talk page, which has some ideas (crazy ideas, sometimes, but ideas nonetheless). Wikipedia is always short of decent, GFDL licenced, photos. One very useful thing to search around for placenames near your home (towns, villages, cities, famous streets etc.) that have a wikipedia article but no photo. Or find landmarks (mountains, bridges, airports, rail systems, rivers, ancient site, important building, historical site, etc.). Then take some representative photos (digital is easiest, but whatever you can is fine) and upload them. They don't have to be technically or artistically outstanding (infact, very often the "arty" photo and the "encyclopedic" photo are opposites), just capture something of the feel of the place. Then upload those and link to them from the appropriate article. No matter how humdrum you thing your town is, I'm sure this would make a difference. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:51, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

You might also check out Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia. Lucky Wizard 23:19, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Moving Pages

I'm having a bit of trouble moving pages. When I try to move a page, I'm informed that I must be logged in to move it, which, of course, I am. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance, --Lafuerzasindical 09:42, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

My best suggestion is to clear your cache, log out, and log in again. Sorry. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 12:58, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Sometimes very new users are not allowed to move pages in efforts to prevent vandalism, particularly by vandalbots. I think this is not currently the case, so do try again. The village pump is a good place to ask for others to help with this if you do find yourself not able to do page moves in future. Angela . 21:04, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

help using links in wiki tables

hi,

i am new to wiki and am having the following problem. i'm trying to use links inside a table, but wiki is getting the syntax confused. the syntax for a table is "||row1-col1|row1-col2||row2-col1|row2-col2||" and i'm trying to use a link like "Name" to do the following "||Name|row1-col2||row2-col1|row2-col2||". the result is a broken mailto link that displays "mailto:me@mail.com". the problem is the | in the mailto link. is there any syntax like escape characters to avoid this or should i just use html? i don't want to use html as the wiki style sheets will no longer apply. can anyone help?

thanks

Colin

Colin you shouldn't be using a | in your mailto link you should be using a space. Plus you need to space things out on separate lines theresa knott 11:58, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Colin	row 1 col 2
row 2 col 1	row2 col 2
is this the kind of thing you had in mind?

thanks for replying,

the table on the right is what i'm trying to acheive, although the code doesn't work on the site that i'm "developing". this failure could very well be due to some sort of difference in the versions (or something) between the 2 wikis being used. i'll fiddle a bit more, but will probably end up running back with my tail between my legs.

later

Images

Umm, No images are displaying for me right now. Is there a server issue or is my skin messed up somehow? Is anyone else seeing this problem? - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 16:17, Jun 23, 2004 (UTC)

Do bits of the site's interface show up (the logo in the corner, the "FDL" and "MediaWiki" banners at the bottom, etc)? If not (and, in fact, even if so) are you using a personal firewall at all (e.g. Norton Internet Security) - because they sometimes try to limit the number of connections made by one piece of software, thus stopping a browser downloading all the pictures it needs; you have to make sure it "knows about" the browser you're using, somewhere in the settings. I may be barking up completely the wrong tree here, but I know that that one has stung me numerous times when I've upgraded Mozilla... - IMSoP 11:45, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

It's working for me now... weird. - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 21:03, Jun 24, 2004 (UTC)

Possibly Poisonous

In the article on Chloral hydrate, a detailed description of how to manufacture chloral hydrate using household products is included. Also included is recommended dosage and the phrase "drink up!". (Chloral hydrate is a strong sedative).

This seems possibly dangerous--for one, the original recipe may be erroneous. The ingredients include drain cleaner, gem cleaner, and sani-flush. While these may contain suluphuric acide, grain alcohol, and bleach, they may also contain other chemicals and are certainly not produced according to FDA standards for medicine consumed by humans. Secondly, it isnt a challenge for a user to go in there and adjust the ingredients and dosage listed to create a very toxic mixture.

Where other information being incorrect may stir up some emotions, this could actually lead to death, lawsuits, and perhaps even a shutdown of the wikipedia. Recipes of this sort, if included, seem like they should have some very high standard for edits. (posted by User:Archier

Anyone have any comments on this, or should I move it to WP:VP? [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 20:42, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

All of the recipie stuff on chloral hydrate was added in a one-er by an anon ([1]), and the article as it was beforehand didn't have the problems Archier found. There's some value to what's there, but it could be summarised down to a few paragraphs, ideally by someone who knows the domain. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:55, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

As far as the legal issues go, I'd point out Wikipedia:Medical disclaimer and the other disclaimers. – Jrdioko (Talk) 20:57, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

If memory serves, we used to put in those "dangerous activity" and "seek medical advice" disclaimers into specific articles, but removed them when the software was updated to put a disclaimer in the title bar (it links to Wikipedia:General disclaimer, which in turn links to the medical disclaimer). So I think the powers that be decided that was sufficient. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:02, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Can anyone imagine any way that recipe could be used that wouldn't be to someone's disadvantage? Any? Alteripse 23:42, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)

How do I request arbitration?

WikiUser 20:30, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC) - I need to request arbitration as other users are refusing to consider any of the "pre-arbitration" steps Wikipedia recommends, and "ganging up" on me and acting as if I have no rights at all. i.e. refusing to allow me to use Wikipedia like any other user despite the fact that I have followed all guidlines carefully. The appropriate Wikipedia page is not clear HOW to request arbitration - so will someone tell me? Thankyou.

You want Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 20:37, Jun 23, 2004 (UTC)

As I said, the appropriate Wikipedia page is not clear HOW to request arbitration - so will someone tell me? Thankyou.

WikiUser, the way of requesting is simply to post a request on that page. I will see if the instructions can be made more clear on WP:RFA. However, it is not true that pre-arbitration steps are not being taken. Numerous users are discussing the issues you have raised at Talk:England -- in fact, the discussion has only stalled because you have not responded to the latest inquiries. The Arbitration Committee will almost certainly reject a request for arbitration until a much longer and good faith attempt at discussion is made at Talk:England. If you feel discussion is impossible, requesting mediation is a much better step -- see Wikipedia:Requests for mediation. Mediation allows a conversation through an impartial third party. Since the dispute you are inquiring about is over the content of an article, arbitration is unlikely, as the AC has generally refused to step in and decide who is "right" in such disputes. HTH. Jwrosenzweig 19:53, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Take a look at Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Template. Pretty much, you just write down a statement and request, then add it to the page. HTH, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 19:51, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

WikiUser 17:33, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC) - As I said I have already read the appropriate page(s), but thanks for your help Meelar.. I would have responded sooner, but was put off on the 24th when you posted when I found yet another follow me around lying about me post from Jwrosenzweig.

You should also see the dispute resolution page for advice on steps to take before going to arbitration. That really is supposed to be a last resort. Have you considered Mediation as an alternative? Angela . 21:10, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

WikiUser 17:33, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC) - Thanks but as I said I have already read the appropriate page(s), and that other users are refusing to consider any of the "pre-arbitration" steps Wikipedia recommends. Yes I did read about and consider "mediation" as I said in my question.

So that it is public knowledge, I will note that I have never refused to consider any dispute resolution with WikiUser. On the contrary, I have offered to discuss any issue he likes on the talk page of his choice, and I have also indicated a willingness to mediate. I do not understand his desire to attack me in this forum. Jwrosenzweig 17:49, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Addendum-- I offered my willingness to resolve the dispute on WikiUser's talk page. It was immediately deleted by him, an action he described in the edit summary as a deletion of vandalism and abuse by me. Jwrosenzweig 18:04, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Taking ownership for previous anonymous edits

I've just become a registered user with the name "Pasquale". Can I take ownership for the edits previously made as the anonymous user "140.239.85.68". In other words, can I convert all the contributions made by "140.239.85.68" to "Pasquale"?

Yep! Take a look at Wikipedia:Changing attribution for an edit. – Jrdioko (Talk) 01:46, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

cams

Hey i need to know how to see the cams in santa cruz

Its for the safty of me and my crew and would be much help

e-mail me some kinda response at mvandiver@hotmail.com

Sorry, could you be more clear? What are cams? [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 17:11, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

and are you the crew of a boat or an aircraft? (Please in front of the word email would have been nice)- Adrian Pingstone 17:29, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

And for that matter, which Santa Cruz? The important ones are in California and the Canary Islands, and there are others. Lucky Wizard 23:19, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

value

My boyfriend and I have a difference of opinion. I told him that a five dollar bill with a red seal on it has some value. That they changed it to green, and any bills with a red or blue seal or worth more that the regular bills.Please confirm at dragon_2000_1999@yahoo.com

You'll have more luck asking at the Wikipedia:Reference desk. If you do ask there, please inform us what country's currency you're referring to. :-) And expect that most people will prefer to leave an answer posted here, rather than email you directly. Thanks for dropping by. Jwrosenzweig 19:49, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

microsoft word 2003

Microsoft Word 2003 and Microsoft Office 2003 has a new feature called the Research Task Pane. What one does to research a word is press the ALT button while clicking the mouse. What follows is a tab that opens and if you are on the internet will use Microsoft’s Encarta, Microsoft Dictionary or Microsoft Thesaurus. Amazon also works with this feature calling up books that might be related to this subject you research. The problem is the Microsoft Dictionary and Thesaurus are apparently limited in nature. I prefer to use your service to call up research on a subject and I am sure there are others like me, which would prefer to use your service instead of Microsoft’s service, especially since I consider your site superior.

I know that I can open a web browser and do the copy, paste, but if one is in the middle of writing, it seems move convenient to do it all within your word processor.

From what I understand, the procedure uses a protocol called SOAP and XML, not being a real tech wizard, I am not sure what that means. I have seen an article about it on http://www.perfectxml.com/Research/default.aspx and www.officezealot.com . Is it possible that your site could be setup to allow this to happen and research in Office 2003.

Sincerely

Andy Dansby andydansby@comcast.net

Andy, I'm no tech whiz, but in my limited experience with Microsoft, I'd say it will be difficult to make an interface with a product of theirs (Word) when we have a product (Wikipedia) in direct competition with another product of theirs (Encarta). I imagine there are safeguards in Word to prevent us from being patched in like that. This is pure speculation, I admit -- certainly if something like what you suggest could be made, I'd be second in line (behind you :-) to use it. Jwrosenzweig 23:50, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I don't know much about the web side of the tech world, but this sounds to me like something that Mozilla Firefox did with adding search engines to the browser (I think they used XML). Maybe someone with more web-knowledge can look into this further. – Jrdioko (Talk) 00:03, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I had a look on MSDN, and turned up a technical introduction [2] and a couple of tutorials [3] [4] [5]. And no, quite the opposite from locking out competitors, they're just dying for people to write "web services" with all their lovely .NET tools - and of course, make Office nicer to use, which also gets them money. I don't know how easy it is to use SOAP, but I imagine it can't be too complex (and I'm sure there are Free tools to help). Perhaps this should be logged as a feature request... - IMSoP 12:53, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

MediaWiki and weird characters

I created a redirect for Predrag Stojaković, but when you go to that page, the characters display all funky. Anyone know what's going on here? Is this the same as the π problem? - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 16:58, Jun 25, 2004 (UTC)

Yes, one can say that the problems arise for the same reason: The english wikipedia has not yet converted properly to Unicode. The english database currently can only manage latin-1 characters in article titles. That link contains the UTF-8 char ć, and since ć is not in latin-1, we can't use it in article titles yet. I can't say when the upgrade is due, sadly. ✏ Sverdrup 18:06, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Dollhouse

Sorry to bother you, but I recently entered an article on dollshouses and I have tried to indent the different paragraphs. However, the final paragraph has moved to the left, spoiling the appearance of the page. This has not happened to any other articles as far as I can see, and I was wondering whether anyone knew what had happened. Thanks!

You had indented the paragraphs using colons, which is not standard Wikipedia formatting. Removing all these has fixed the indenting. See the tutorial for more about formatting of articles. Angela . 21:08, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Categories in 'Watchlist', 'recent changes' edit summaries

I've noticed that when I add people to a category and put the category within its square brackets for the edit summary (ie I just copy and paste my edit into the summary), it appears as category:person's name rather than category:category they've just been put in on my Watchlist. For a while I thought "oh, well, I bet it looks all right to everyone else, it's probably just cos I've done it".

But I'm asking cos I'm bored. Well, no, it's a bit more important than that, cos I've set up 2 categories that could be considered controversial so, as such, I want them signposted so people can fight against them - they're alcoholics and gay icons, since I knew you'd ask. --bodnotbod 06:37, Jun 26, 2004 (UTC)

Well, I was looking at your contributions page and at first couldn't see any examples - but then I spotted some, and realised what was going on: because the category system uses the same syntax to say "sort under this name" as a normal link uses for "display as this name", the edit summary is displaying it as a piped link. In other words, you typed [[Category:Gay icons|Jackson, Janet]], so it made a link labelled "Jackson, Janet", just like it would for any other piped link.

I suppose their could be a special case in the software for spotting this, but the easy way round for now is just to not put the piping in your edit summaries - e.g. [[Category:Gay icons]] should work fine. - IMSoP 12:23, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Bug with Categories?

In the page: Category:Mountains_of_Australia Mount Wellington is listed under M instead of W. Is this a bug? Should it be reported to sourceforge? davidzuccaro 07:05, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

It's not a bug, it's proper alphabetic sorting on "Mount Wellington". If you want it to show up under W, you need to say [[Category:Mountains of Australia|Wellington, Mount]], or something to that effect. The part after the | controls what the entry is sorted on. The other mountains in the category are set up that way already, which is why they are properly sorted. -- Cyrius|✎ 07:33, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thank you very much. davidzuccaro 08:06, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Display irk

Not a major problem I know, but for the past few weeks, whenever I log into Wikipedia it displays using the old 'standard' skin that went out a little while ago, no matter what. The other skins I choose in Preferences will all display properly, but not the most modern 'standard' - I can only see that if I am not logged in. I think the current standard looks a lot nicer than the old one, but I can find absolutely no way to use Wikipedia with it if I am logged in.

Any ideas as to what's up? Many thanks! Angmering 17:18, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

The current default skin is actually the one called "MonoBook", not the one called "Standard"; just select that in your preferences, and it will display the same when logged in as when logged out. It's probably not a very good idea having something called "standard" that's not standard any more - perhaps we should try and come up with a "proper" name for it. "Classic" would be a possibility, but not a very good one, since we already have a "nostalgia"; "phase3" would be a bit dull (and meaningless for most users). Hmm, I think I'll post this to the mailing list... - IMSoP 10:09, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

In fact, I posted to the technical mailing list and to the community one. - IMSoP 10:44, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Aha, thank you! I feel a bit silly now, not having noticed that the new standard was MonoBook... Anyway, thanks for very for your help! Angmering 15:07, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Suggestions

Dear Sirs,

I have tried to contribute to Wikipedia a couple of times. And I noticed a problem with the Edit Page which is probably easy to fix, and which help contributors a lot. First of all, let me say that not having the "Underline Function" often hampers helpers like myself. But the problem I want to report is that when one clicks PREVIEW, one is prevented from fixing that page, as if we try to do it, the link returns "Editing Conflict". My suggestion is that you make the Preview Save different from the Definitive Save or whatever, so that one is able to review the page, etc..

Another feature I would like to suggest is that the initials [Linked] to the main contributor of the article should be given in the text, both to allow users to know who did it. And, of course, to give credit to those who do contirbute, as it is always a pleasuure to observe one's contirbution acknowledged,even when no copyrights are given. The main additional contributors may also be credited, when willed. The individual contributions could be detailed in the links given in the initials. But it should be made explicit that no one bears copyrights to the text

Between the time you click "Edit this page" and the time you save it, if someone else comes in and saves, that creates an edit conflit for you. That's the *only* way that edit conflicts occur.

As far as linking individual sections to individual contributors. If you really want to know, you can go through the article's page history. But our software is not like the CVS software used on open source projects - it was not designed to track individual sections and link back to the person who modified them. Nor would we want such information to take away from the flow of the article. →Raul654 17:46, Jun 26, 2004 (UTC)

Also note that if you are contributing original text or images that you created yourself, you don't give up the copyright on that material, you only license it under the GFDL. You are free to reuse your own material elsewhere using any license or non-license. ✏ Sverdrup 00:17, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

As for your comment about not being able to underline, Wikipedia allows use of some HTML markup in cases where there is no wikimarkup for something. The HTML markup for underlining is <u>like this.</u> (like this.) Lucky Wizard 23:19, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

redirect?

I was wondering if it would be appropriate to redirect charts to Billboard Hot 100; as generally when people speak of "the charts" they are almost always referring to musical popularity, as opposed to oceanography. What do you think? Rhymeless 05:17, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I would say that a disambiguation page is probably more helpful. moink 05:18, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I'd also note that links to charts would be few and far between, since people will presume that Wikipedia:Naming conventions (pluralization) has been followed - and yes, you can have one chart in the popularity sense. If anything, charts should redirect to chart (in case of "accidental linking") and the latter be tidied up into a more standard disambiguation page - including links to both Billboard Hot 100 and UK Top 40 (and others?), which was the first thing that came into my head as wrong with your proposed redirect. Although, maybe that will need to be one layer deeper, since there may be quite a number of them - a page such as Music chart, perhaps? Sorry to make things so much more complex - that's the problem with a project the size of this, I guess. - IMSoP 10:19, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Someone should add FLYING TIGERS

The best source that I know of is:

Daniel Ford see the site

http://www.warbirdforum.com/

You're welcome to add new articles yourself--just go to Wikipedia:Sandbox and create links to them (use Wikipedia:Tutorial to learn how). Remember to follow Wikipedia:Copyrights. Best, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 15:18, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

It already exists: Flying Tigers -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 15:48, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Custom colour for external links

I'm trying to modify my .css file to change the colour that external links are displayed in. I've been able to change normal blue links, and the red links used for pages that have yet to be created, but I can't seem to affect the external link colour at all. Is this, for some reason, not possible, or might I be doing something wrong? My .css file is at User:Vardion/monobook.css - I can't find anything obviously wrong with it, but it doesn't seem to do anything. I'd appreciate any assistance. -- Vardion 03:37, 28 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Getting page recognized in search and liking to other pages

A few days a go I wrote a page on Seth Carlo Chandler. If I search for that page, I get no match found. If I click on Chandler Wobble in my article, the link takes me to a page by that title, but if I click on Seth Carlo Chandler on that page, I get a message that there is no page on Seth Carlo Chandler yet, and an invitation to write one below. How do I get the page on Seth Carlo Chandler I wrote to be found in the search and linked to the Chandler Wobble page?

Thanks, bcarter@ce.ufl.edu

This is because you named your article on Chandler Seth C. Chandler but the link in Chandler wobble (note, article names are case-sensitive -- I tried Chandler Wobble and got nothing) is to Seth Carlo Chandler. I am moving the article to the latter name, and the former (Seth C.) will redirect to it. Jwrosenzweig 18:34, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

New pages

I know there's a special page listing all the newest articles, but don't know what it is. Help? [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 19:22, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

It's right on the main page - Special:Newpages →Raul654 19:26, Jun 29, 2004 (UTC)

restore text that is NOT a copyright infringement

I recently posted an article on Mihai_Nadin that was replaced with a copyright warning by Dunc_Harris soon after. That guy was real friendly and replied to my questions quickly. Still, he remains unconvinced about the authenticity of my text and advised me to contact an admin. Is this posting the right way to do so? --JustinCase 22:21, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

No, for copyright stuff the discussion generally takes place on Wikipedia:Copyright problems. I left a note there, and on Talk:Mihai Nadin - I suspect things will work out fine in a day or so (so please don't be discouraged). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:25, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Heh, let it be written, let it be done. I see User:Meelar has restored it. I'm with Meelar. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:27, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Copyright Notice

A question has been raised by a new user on whether we need to include a rather large copyright notice to use a single Bible verse in the New International Reader's Version page. Do we have a policy on this? I know it has been discussed before with respect to the trademark symbol somewhere. Rmhermen 12:56, Jun 30, 2004 (UTC)

Is goverance on page "Presidential Systems" a good word?

I edited that page and changed goverance to governance but the old word which I presume is a mistake persists. Can someone else make the correction?

I just checked and your edit went through fine. It's a caching problem--basically, your edits will show up for everyone else immediately, but sometimes will take a while to show up for you. I'm intensely non-tech-oriented, so that's the best I can do, but I can tell you it's no big deal. Also, we'd love it if you'd sign posts to talk pages (like this one), by using four tildes, like this: ~~~~. Best wishes, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 18:47, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

P.S. Your edit was helpful; have you considered creating an account?

Bit counts

On WP:aotw, they have a list of past winners, with "Article Foo increased from X bits to Y bits". How do you get the count of bits? [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 20:14, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Article of the week/History shows increases in bytes for me. Given that en is using ISO 8859-1, byte count is equivalent to character count. It's not hard to count characters, but I don't know that there's a way to get Mediawiki to give you the count for an arbitrary article. They do show up on New pages, Short pages, and Long pages. -- Cyrius|✎ 20:37, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

When I counted the bytes, I used wc (word count) which gives line, word and character count. I agree that a size display in the history would be interesting, but I accept that it's not top priority. [[User:Sverdrup|❝Sverdrup❞]] 01:53, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Cities and their population within each county of each state

Hi

I found your website through search engines and I think it is excellent For one of my school projects I need to make a chart of all the cities and their population within each county of each state (any population value within the last 4 years will do). Can you please guide me where I can find all this info without the need to go through 3000 and more websites?

Thank you in advance for you help

Dustin Win dustinnsc@yahoo.com Santa Ana College California

All of the cities within all of the counties within all of the states in the United States? Either this is a monumental task, or you're going to need to clarify. It is not uncommon to have at least 20 cities in any single county, and most states have 25+ counties; Texas, the second-largest state, has the most counties (254) and likely the most cities (upwards of 40,000 I believe). However, on the entry for each state (see California), there is a listing of all of the counties, or a link to it. Although the pages for the individual counties will list their populations, they may not neccesarily list all of the cities in the county. However, the cities themselves are all listed within wikipedia, with their populations and locations. (see Anchorage, Alaska) Hope this helps; I pray that the project you've been assigned is more specific than it appears to be. Rhymeless 05:43, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Recovering redirected pages

Okay, this is going to sound stupid but how do I undo a redirect?

I redirected the page Dasycercus to Kowari. However, while finding information on Kowaris I discovered that there are other species in Dasycercus. How can I edit Dasycercus to put in the new information? (posted by User:Nixve)

Use the Dasycercus link to get to the Kowari article, then click on the Dasycercus link at the top of the page where it says (Redirected from Dasycercus). This will take you to the real page where you can edit/change it as normal. HTH – Jrdioko (Talk) 04:42, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Spiff! Thanks a bunch. - Nixve 05:18, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

WIKI NIGERIA

LOOK I AM CRAZY ABOUT THE WIKI PROJECT, HERE I AM IN NIGERIA, THINKING HOW CAN I START A WEB PROJECT THAT WILL BRING NIGERIANS IN US, LONDON AND EVERY WHRERE TO CONTRIBUTE ARTICLE EASILY ON NIGERIA, AND YOU KNOW WHAT-EUREKA! I FOUND WIKI, this goes to prove that faith and perseverance is more important than adverse circumstances. why? i know how to use html, css, javascript but i knew that to have this project people have to access the site directly on there own. So if you are an experienced wikites can you mail me cos I AM GOING TO START WIKI NIGERIA

If I understand you correctly, take a look at Nigeria. An article on Nigeria, already. You can help out with articles related to the culture/music/whatever of Nigeria, if you so wished, also. Dysprosia 10:00, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Alternatively, if you are hoping to start a Wikipedia in one of the native languages of Nigeria (Yoruba, for example), see Wikipedia:Create a new language in Wikipedia. Good luck. Jwrosenzweig 18:18, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

stage names

is it avaliable in reverse order, by real name in alphabetical order?

gosam@azteam.com

I'm sorry, would you mind explaining a little more? Thanks, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 12:58, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I suspect this user wants a list of actors/actresses by stage name and real name, in "reverse" order. →Raul654 18:25, Jul 1, 2004 (UTC)

MEELER - stage names explanation

I was unable to reply to you directly, so am posting here again - the stage name list has the stage names in alphabetical order. I would like to get the list with the real name in alphabetical order. Can this be populated?

Thanks

gosam@azteam.com

Oh, OK. I'm sorry to say, but I don't believe it is--you would have to look through the current list yourself, and sort it. If you feel up to it, you could sort the article yourself--I believe that's the only way that would be available. Alternatively, if you're only looking for one name, you could hit cntrl+f in that page and search for the text. Sorry, and hope that helps, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 13:52, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Adding links to personal bar

I'm not an expert in css: Can I add custom links to my personal bar (where "my talk" etc. is)? If yes, how? :-) --Conti|✉ 13:48, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Autoconversion going on in saves?

Spotted a bit of a weird thing just now. I made an edit to John Smoltz, the only thing I changed was to correct a spelling mistake (I changed "fair" to "fare" in the last sentence of the "Early Career" section). But then, when I did a diff of my change against the previous version (see here), it shows that all the dashes have been replace by – entities. Fair enough, I heard something a while back about dash conversion being planned. But "John Smoltz' career statistics" has changed to "John Smoltz's career statistics", and, oddest of all, "miniscule" has been changed to "minuscule". What on earth is going on here?? Have I gone insane? —Stormie 01:03, Jul 2, 2004 (UTC)

Oops, I take it back - it was just an instance of the "missing history items" bug described here and logged here. An edit has now appeared on the history list that wasn't there before, it features all the odd changes. —Stormie 01:06, Jul 2, 2004 (UTC)

company names

What is Wikipedia policy on company names? Specifically, the Inc, Ltd, etc? For instance, United Airlines Inc. is listed at United Airlines; even though the official company name includes the inc.. The same holds true for other companies. I try to make sure that companies that I create pages for use the official company name, with redirects for the other names, but I've balked at actually moving well-established pages without being sure on protocol. Enlighten me? Rhymeless 06:08, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I don't know if we have a specific convention on company names, but a general Wikipedia convention is to use the name that is best-known to most people. This is different from other encyclopedias, which generally use the most technically correct name. I've never heard anyone refer to "United Airlines Inc." as anything but "United Airlines," so that's where we have the article. If on the other hand people usually use the "Ltd." or the "Inc." in the name, then include it.

searching

How would I go about finding out who is the owner of a Company going under the name of 824389 ONT. INC.

This type of question might get a better answer at Wikipedia:Reference desk; I've moved it there. Best, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 14:29, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Some major problems with Wikipedia

Problems with templates

Can't re-direct to category

Redirect to Klingon Wikipedia

Admin attention required on Template:vfd

19th century immigration and Valparaiso databases

My Own Wiki

Regarding Disambuguity Pages

Why wasn't Derek Frigo's death listed? See email.

Font question

replacing pictures

How do you find out your total number of edits?

More questions

Economics

Dead-end article list

Can't edit pages anymore...

Inactive link font color

Getting started

Moving Pages

help using links in wiki tables

Images

Possibly Poisonous

How do I request arbitration?

Taking ownership for previous anonymous edits

cams

value

microsoft word 2003

MediaWiki and weird characters

Dollhouse

Categories in 'Watchlist', 'recent changes' edit summaries

Bug with Categories?

Display irk

Suggestions

redirect?

Someone should add FLYING TIGERS

Custom colour for external links

Getting page recognized in search and liking to other pages

New pages

restore text that is NOT a copyright infringement

Copyright Notice

Is goverance on page "Presidential Systems" a good word?

Bit counts

Cities and their population within each county of each state

Recovering redirected pages

WIKI NIGERIA

stage names

MEELER - stage names explanation

Adding links to personal bar

Autoconversion going on in saves?

company names

searching