Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 July 16
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July 16
[edit]Trouble with a Wicked Image
[edit]I uploaded an image and posted it in Wicked (musical) cast lists. The photographer, Tristam Kenton, allows his images to posted on this website and stated where the image came from. However, the image will still be deleted in a week. How can I fix this problem?
- Based on your Contributions, it looks like you're talking about this image, yes? You have to go to that image's page, click on the "edit" button up the top, and in the text space, add the appropriate licensing template from this list, or possibly this one.
- If the photographer has only given permission to use the photo on Wikipedia, then it actually counts as a non-free image, because the aim is to have all content on Wikipedia licensed so that it can be copied anywhere. You may want to ask the photographer whether they would be willing to release the photo under a free content license, such as CC-BY-SA-2.5 or similar. It's probably also worthwhile reading Wikipedia:Image copyright tags for more information. Confusing Manifestation 01:53, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Oh, and when you add the template, you just have to add the text from the left column of the table, for example {{cc-by-sa-2.5}}. That will then put the template on the right in its place. And if you use one of the "non-free" templates, you also need to add a fair use rationale. Confusing Manifestation 01:56, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Checking an IP address of a user?
[edit]Hi there, How do I check the IP address of a Wikipedia editor? Looking in a history of previous edits only tells me the username. I checked the logs-- no help there either. thanks, Sazevedo 01:25, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- You don't. You can, however, put in a request for checkuser, which will allow a checkuser (basically someone with appropriate priveleges) to look at the IP address. Note, however, that you need good reason to request (e.g. you have some evidence of serious abuse of editing priveleges), and in general the checkuser won't tell you the IP, but if you provide both the username and IP will tell you if they are, or are likely to be, the same person. Confusing Manifestation 01:42, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) To find out the IP address of a Wikipedia editor (not an anonymous one), you need to have a checkuser done by someone with checkuser access. You must also have a valid reason for it and file a request for checkuser. The requests page and the valid reasons is available here. --(Review Me) R ParlateContribs@ (Let's Go Yankees!) 01:44, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Birth certificate
[edit]I would like to know how I can go about ordering a copy of my birth Certicate, I was told I need it to get a passport. Please get back to me as soon as possable. Thank you Martha Duran Borowski
- Have you tried the Miscellaneous section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here's the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. You may also want to be more specific, since procedures may vary from country to country, and even state to state. Confusing Manifestation 01:58, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
handy footnotes to reference linking
[edit]I remember having seen an article with both a footnotes (for brief citations) and a reference (for full descriptions of books) section, with the book titles in the footnotes sections linked to the relevant book in the reference section. (That is, when you clicked on the title in the brief footnote, it zapped you to the full record later down in the reference section.) I thought this was quite useful, but now I've forgotten which article it was. Can anyone explain how to do this or (preferably) just point me to an article where it has been done already? Thanks! Calliopejen1 02:39, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Sure. When I rewrote endgame tablebase, someone showed me how to do it. There are about 30 article references in the "html" format and two books in the "Harvard" format. Shalom Hello 03:00, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Charles Darwin has inline refs, which bring you down to the "Citations" section, which then include a link to the book references, where it has the full citation for the book. Sebi [talk] 03:10, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks so much! Charles Darwin was the article I had seen, too. Calliopejen1 03:48, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Charles Darwin has inline refs, which bring you down to the "Citations" section, which then include a link to the book references, where it has the full citation for the book. Sebi [talk] 03:10, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
LAMP stack
[edit]Does Wikipedia run on the LAMP stack? (ie PHP Mysql Linux Apache?) Is there somewhere we can see the technical details on how Wikipedia runs? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.2.10.213 (talk • contribs).
I'll answer my own question, the answer is yes and you can find more info here: http://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Wikipedia:Technical_FAQ#What_software_is_used_to_run_Wikipedia.3F
- If you want to try running MediaWiki as your own personal wiki (for experimenting, study, sophisticated note-taking, etc.), see: mw:Manual:Wiki on a stick (for example, I run MediaWiki under XAMPP on Microsoft Windows and Fedora Core). See WP:DUMP if you want to try running your own local copy of Wikipedia (and you have plenty of disk space on your computer). You can also shorten the link you gave above as: Wikipedia:Technical FAQ#What software is used to run Wikipedia?. The documentation here is very good; since you already know how to find the FAQ pages, you can figure everything out just by reading. But it takes a while. --Teratornis 06:21, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- I also suggest you create an account on Wikipedia as well as on Meta and on mediawiki.org if you decide to learn to be a MediaWiki administrator. That way you can more easily communicate with other MediaWiki administrators about your questions and problems. See for example: mw:Project:Support desk. And by the way, the MediaWiki software is impressive, you will not regret the time you spend investigating it; however, MediaWiki may or may not be the best choice if you want to set up a corporate wiki. And of course click on every link I gave and read all those pages. --Teratornis 06:31, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
HELP!!
[edit]I NEED TO FIND THE PAGE "HELP DESK"!ALSO, HOW DO I MAKE A CONTRIBUTION??!!
- You are on the help desk. TO make a contribution, find a page you like and click edit and improe it. It's that simple. --Hdt83 Chat 07:27, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Deleting a link
[edit]In the page named "bangladeshi politicians", i find the name of 'bangla bhai', a most wanted terrorist hung to death for terrorism. He was never a politician. However, I cannot delete 'bangla bhai's link from the "bangladeshi politician" page. help me out please.Ratibgreat 07:32, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
There doesn't appear to be a page named "bangladeshi politicians", nor a "Politicians of Bangladesh" or something similar. We'll be able to help you further if you link to the page. Thanks, Yanksta x 07:48, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- I saw a category:Bangladeshi politicians and Bangla Bhai is an article and he is categorized as being a politician. Before changing or removing the category from the article though, you may want to discuss your ideas at Talk:Bangla Bhai. Hope this helps.CindyBotalk 08:01, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
map of the world - use in a report
[edit]To the help desk,
Would it be possible to use an edited version of the map of the world shown in Wikipedia in a research paper which will be published in hard copy and on the internet for public consumption ?
194.221.212.165 09:53, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- It's not quite clear what you mean by 'the map of the world' shown in Wikipeidia, WP contains literally hundreds of different maps of the world.
- If the map you are refering to is an image, have a look at the copyrigth-tag of the image to figure out what you are allowed to do with it, and on what conditions. (most images on WikiPedia are under free licenses that allow the kind of use you are mentioning, but not all, so check first)
--Eivind Kjørstad 10:43, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Links to a different person, same name
[edit]I was reading an article about a French film. There was a link to an actress named Catherine Jacob. But the details on that page were for a completely different person. Now I don't have enough information to create a page for the actress but maybe somebody does. I noticed that 8 other pages link to Catherine Jacob, all refer to French cinema. And there is a Catherine jacob (sic) redirect page. I have never tried editing anything in wikipedia yet, so if I create a disambiguation page do I need to update all the links as well? Or can I change the exisiting page to a disambiguation page while also renaming the current details to something like Catherine-Jacob-UK-TV-presenter? Nadialan 10:15, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- All the links pointing to Catherine Jacob (found via What links here in the left-hand navigation bar) were for the actress, so I've changed them all to
[[Catherine Jacob (actress)|]]
. (The|
is a pipe which means the link points to Catherine Jacob (actress) buts displays as Catherine Jacob.) - Also, you shouldn't change the existing page to a disambiguation page and re-create the ITV correspondent's article (as this loses the continuity of the history, which also causes legal problems related to attributing the contributors). Instead, if necessary, move it to something like Catherine Jacob (broadcaster) (that's specific enough as I can only find two people so named). Before doing this, though, I'd suggest you propose the move on Talk:Catherine Jacob, explaining why you don't think the broadcaster is the primary meaning (that nearly everyone would be looking for) and leave it a few days in case anyone disagrees. I'd also suggest you, first, create a stub at Catherine Jacob (actress) to justify creating a disambiguation page.
- Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley talk contrib 11:02, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- BTW, I wouldn't worry about Catherine jacob. It is common to link common misspellings or miscapitalisations to the correct article to make things easier for users. In this case (of all lower case to initial capitals), the server would automatically redirect anyone who used all lower-case in the search box to the correct article without that redirect been needed (making it not particularly helpful to create such a redirect), but it isn't doing any harm and might be useful for people who put all the lower-case version in a wikilink or as a URI in their browser. —Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley talk contrib 11:14, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Good catch on spotting this, BTW. Actually, a slight correction, in that, as it would seem (based on this Google search) that these two are probably the only Catherine Jacob's of notability, it is customary in such cases to just link the more common target (even if it isn't the primary meaning) to the less common one using a hatnote so only half the users have to go through a disambiguation page. Google suggests to me that the actress is more common (at least on the Web). Doing it that way has the advantage that you only have to do a simple move of the current article. As there hasn't been much contribution to the current article, I'd say you could get away with not proposing the move, actually, though it is a good practice to get into (particularly in cases like this were you are putting something new were the article used to be, making reversion difficult).
- Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley talk contrib 12:03, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Is there a "blame" function ?
[edit]Hi !
Is there an easy way in Wikipedia for figuring out who added a certain part of an article and in what revision ? Something similar to "svn blame" or "cvs blame" for those of you familiar with version-control ?
Yeah, I can binary-search, but is seems a hassle. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Eivind (talk • contribs).
- You can try User:AmiDaniel/WhodunitQuery. I haven't used it. Funny message to not sign. A joke? PrimeHunter 11:02, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
I wish. I quite simply forgot. --Eivind Kjørstad 09:58, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Who 'owns' a picture?
[edit]Because i have some pictures that were taken on my camera. some were taken by myself, others i got the help of a close relative to take them. Does this make some of the images his? or are they mine because they were on my camera, i just was a bit shaky and wanted some help with taking some pictures. I cannot also distinguish which pictures are mine and which he took due to it being a fair amount of time ago. Fethroesforia 11:18, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- We can't give you legal advice. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:28, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- who mentioned legal advice, im wondering who owns a picture so it can be uploaded to wikipedia. Fethroesforia 11:54, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- You asked who owns a given picture in some complex circumstance; that's a legal copyright question, and one we're not going to answer for you. If you don't know for sure who owns a picture, don't upload it to Wikipedia. You've already wasted enough administrator time here and on commons because of your unwillingness to truthfully represent the copyright status of images; please don't waste more uploading images that you thing you might possibly own. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:00, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- It is very common for people to claim copyright on images (e.g.: of themselves) which were taken with their camera (which they set up) by someone else. Whether that is legal is something you'd have to check up in your jurisdiction's legislation and case law, or with a lawyer.
- The best thing to do would be to just ask the relative to transfer any copyrights to you (you wouldn't even need to get that in writing, at least not where I am in the UK, but, obviously, you'd want it that way unless it is someone you're sure won't kick up a fuss afterwards). Then you say on the image page that it was a joint work of you and that person but all copyrights are in your hands.
- BTW, Finlay McWalter, "your unwillingness to truthfully represent the copyright status" doesn't sound like assuming good faith to me, a rule I think it is particularly important to follow on this page.
- Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley talk contrib 12:43, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- See Fethroesforia's talk page. Finlay was not just throwing a rude off-the cuff remark. Apparently, this user has uploaded several copyrighted pictures in the past. Ingolfson 13:08, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- I was specifically talking about the word I emphasised, not the general fact that the user was admonished for his uploading copyrighted images without the necessary evidence of permission. Although, since you bring it up, I also can't find evidence that the accusation of lying is correct, either. —Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley talk contrib 13:14, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- See Fethroesforia's talk page. Finlay was not just throwing a rude off-the cuff remark. Apparently, this user has uploaded several copyrighted pictures in the past. Ingolfson 13:08, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- (ed conf)Fethroesforia has uploaded several dozen images both to here and to commons, and on all placed unambiguous texts and tags claiming he took the images personally ("Photograph taken by fethroesforia", "Picture taken by me of the Bahntower, Berlin, Germany.", "picture taken by me of the Potsdamer Platz No1 building"). Yesterday he then claimed he in fact didn't take any of the images at all, and claimed he was subject to legal action from his father, forcing them to be deleted here and on commons. So either the original claims of ownership were false or the subsequent claims that they weren't his was false. Pick one. Cf his upload log and the many recent copyvio deletions including Image:Bahntower Glass Building.jpg, Image:Potsdamer Platz No1.jpg, Image:River Spree Bundeskanzleramt.jpg, Image:Checkpoint Charlie Sign.jpg and many more, and more yet on commons (commons upload log). See also the thread on commons:Commons:Administrators'_noticeboard#HELP. Yet he's back today uploading more images still saying "Picture taken by fethroesforia"; AGF does not mean one should suspend one's common sense in the face of ample evidence. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 13:18, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
References for images
[edit]I recently posted the references for images that were posted on the Portadown College article, and they have since been deleted and this site is threateningto take them down. Please advise.
The references for the images were http://www.portadowncollege.com and http://www.portadowncollege.com/gallery/g2data/v/Rugby-Index/V+Ballymena/PC+v+Ballymena03.JPG.html?g2_navId=x731000f3
My username is Someone12369
- Whats a "reference" in this case? Perhaps you mean a source. In the case of the image you uploaded to that article, if you aren't the copyright owner, or don't know for sure that the image is licenced under a free licence, then the image should not have been uploaded to Wikipedia in the first place. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:27, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
What is wrong with your Main Page?
[edit]Though the text shows that featured articles change every day, really there is one for three or four days. Viacheslav Mur2ich, St.-Petersburg, Russia. --85.235.196.35 11:34, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- It's changed faithfully every day. You may be seeing a cached version (either on your machine or on some proxy or whatever between you and us). See Wikipedia:Bypass your cache. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:36, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Image gallery help needed...
[edit]Hi guys. Could someone take a look at the Red-legged Kittiwake article for me? I've added an image gallery to what is a fairly short article and it is now clashing with and appearing partly inside the taxobox. It looks really messy. Is there any way of fixing this up? Thanks. --Kurt Shaped Box 11:36, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- It looks fine to me. It's possibly just your internet browser or your screen resolution. AndrewJDTALK -- 11:40, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Floating divs (like the info box) frequently clash with non-floating divs like this; the only solution is {{clear}}, which I've experimentally added to the article. The downside is that while it now looks okay on narrower screens, it leaves a big gap on wider ones like mine. The only real solution is to write lots more text :) -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:46, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- That does look better on my screen, thanks. That's actually like how IE renders without the tag... --Kurt Shaped Box 11:51, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- (Edit conflict) I'm using Firefox at 1024x768. Interestingly, when I browse the page in IE, the gallery appears below a big white space, separating it from the taxobox. This is what I'm seeing with Firefox. --Kurt Shaped Box 11:49, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
space
[edit]what is the big bang????
Have a look at this page: Big Bang -- AndrewJDTALK -- 12:30, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Striking comments
[edit]I have not been able to find a policy or guideline regarding striking comments. I am curious to know, are there any generally accepted "rules" about striking one's own comments or those of another user? Any help would be appreciated. Jmfangio ► Talk 12:42, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- I can't point to a specific page, but generally anyone can strike their one comments, and are generally encouraged to leave a note why. Also, admins or users in good standing will ocassionally strike the !votes of spa's or others users otherwise suspected of not being able to !vote. Generally the only time a comment is
struckis when someone changes their !vote or someone else thinks the users shouldn't be !voting in the first place.
- Is there a specific instance you're curious about? --YbborTalk 14:34, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- I'm not going to elaborate on the specific situation for a number of reasons. The result is that I had no choice but to create a new account in order to contribute (and very well i might add). A user is simply going around and striking as many of my comments they find that were made by me under the former account (this even if they were made over a year ago and have nothing to do with him). They are all in non-voting situations. I think this is something that should be addressed somewhere on the site. Someone suggested that I go to the WP:VP to get the process started, so i posted this Jmfangio ► Talk 16:58, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Creating a new page from an existing page
[edit]I modified a page called "Management System" by adding a topic link called "Occupational Health & Safety Management System". I have been unable to get the link to open to an "edit box" in order for me to create a new page for it. It goes around in circles and never allows me to get to the edit page. The system keeps taking me to the "no articles found" query or “search another place” query. I've even started over completely and used the "create page" to no avail even as a registered user and as an unregistered user. The results are always the same and it’s very frustrating. This is a school assignment that I will receive no credit for because I'm unable to get this site to work. Now that's a real shame and teachers shouldn’t force wikipedia assignments on students when the website doesn’t function as promised.
- click here. Next time, you can click the link you created (which is red) which should give you the edit page. --ST47Talk 12:57, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Bottom scroll bar
[edit]What happened to the scroll bar that used to be at the bottom of every page? I used to have one for side-to-side scrolling to center the text in my browser window, but it disappeared a few days ago. It was a feature that I used and enjoyed. I use IE 7 and as far as I can tell nothing has happened recently to cause the change at my end.
Public Menace 14:15, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Odd. I'm using IE6 and it's there for me, so it's probably on your end. --YbborTalk 14:31, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
OK, any ideas on how to get it back? Public Menace 14:41, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- If this isn't a Wikipedia issue, please try the reference desk. The Evil Spartan 16:14, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- I'm using IE 7. I have the bar on this current help desk page but not on most other Wikipedia pages. I think it's supposed to be made automatically by the browser if the page design is too wide for the window. That can for example happen if there is
a long line like this one which starts with a space and therefore generates a special box.
- Are you sure you used to have it on all pages, also with a full screen window? PrimeHunter 23:03, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Yes, in full screen. Also, I'm viewing this page right now with Netscape (Mozilla) and same thing - no bottom scroll bar. Oh well, life goes on. I'll live without it. Public Menace 02:25, 17 July 2007 (UTC) 02:22, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Canadian Business Hall of Fame
[edit]Hello, please see the comment beside Conrad Black's name in the list below:
http://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Canadian_Business_Hall_of_Fame
Is this type of editing or commenting appropriate for wikipedia?
Thank you.
The Canadian Business Hall of Fame
- No it isn't, I have removed it. Thankyou for pointing it out. AndrewJDTALK -- 15:12, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fb/Yes_check.svg/20px-Yes_check.svg.png)
Maltese Music History
[edit]'jon lukas' made Maltese music history when he was signed to EMI COLUMBIA worldwide record company in 1970. This made him the first Maltese singer to get signed by a major record company and acquire success outside the Island at a time of fresh independance from the English Goverment who up to that time suppressed the Maltese identity. A person even just contemplating becoming a known popstar outside the Island's perimeter would have then been considered a total basket case.
Can you please enter this fact in wikipedia. For a period of scrutiny should you wish.
- You should (1) find a reference, and then (2) submit it to Articles for creation. Shalom Hello 16:06, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Islam
[edit]Dear Wikipedia, I would like to ask if you could please make certain changes in terminology. If you would please refer to Prophet Muhammad(P.B.U.H) as a prophet wherever his name is used. And also if you would add the abbreviation P.B.U.H. after his name as I have done in the previous sentence. This will be appreciated greatly by the Islamic world and let me assure you that this is offensive to all Muslims. With respect all problems can be solved. When beliefs and cultural values are respected, people will not have emnity towards different lifestyles. If one shows respect, one will recieve respect in return.
[EMAIL REMOVED]
- Needless to say, this has been discussed more than a few times, but the concensus is that Wikipedia is not presented from any religious perspective. Having PBUH would present it from an Islamic viewpoint and so is not used. I looked at the very first discussions on this which can be found at: Talk:Muhammad/Archive_1. If you want to take this further it should start on the Talk:Muhammad page where it can be debated. AndrewJDTALK -- 15:51, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Our general guidelines are to not include such information: please see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Islam-related articles)#Islamic honorifics. Please note that Wikipedia is not censored, which means that one of its core policies is that it includes information which some find offensive. I agree that with you that some information could do well to be censored, but the policies unfortunately don't agree. The Evil Spartan 16:13, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Well, I wonder why you mention the letters PBUH without even telling what they mean, but I guess it is something like "Lord".
- I am a christian, and it annoys me sometimes to find that some people are unable to say "Jesus". They say "The Lord Jesus", again and again, so that it becomes boring and annoying, and they seem not to realise it themselves. But even they, when they read aloud from the Bible, they say "Jesus", since that's what the evangelists called Him.
- What is Muhammed called in the Qoran? Do the letters PBUH occur there? HandigeHarry 16:36, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- I can answer my own question. Sura 33:41 says: "Muhammed is the father of no man". No PBUH. I think this will close this discussion. HandigeHarry 16:43, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- It stands for Peace Be Upon Him. AndrewJDTALK -- 17:56, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Muslims are required to utter "peace be upon him" or, in Arabic, "sallallahu alaihi wa sallam" upon hearing the prophet's name spoken, as an honorific and a mark of respect. Likewise, when writing his name it will be followed by PBUH or SAW in probably all Islamic books etc. Similar honorifics apply to the companions of the prophet and other holy people in Islam. At the end of the day though, this is a neutral encyclopedia describing topics from a neutral, dispassionate point-of-view. Thus no P.B.U.H., no S.A.W., no R.A., not even the title Prophet every time. This debate has been done to death and is very much closed for discussion. Zunaid©® 11:12, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
- The world has many religions, and most if not all of them claim that all the others are at least partly wrong. (What is holy in one religion may be blasphemy in another religion - for example various religions disagree vehemently on the divinity of Jesus, and numerous wars have been fought in part over this question. Also see what the Taliban did to the Buddhas of Bamyan - how much "respect" was shown there?) Thus if Wikipedia adopts the practices of one religion, it almost certainly would offend other religions. While the need to maintain neutrality may not seem obvious in a nation that is, say, 99% Muslim, the Western nations gradually moved away from theocracy toward democracy after the Enlightenment signaled an end to the Dark Ages. The key to making democracy work is to keep public life at least nominally secular and keep religious practices private. This obviously does not sit well with the more aggressive religions (such as the virulent fundamentalist sects of many religions, who wish to impose their beliefs on everyone by any means necessary), but in a pluralistic society (such as has become common in the West after modern transportation technology made it easy for people to relocate between continents) the only workable formula is for everyone to refrain from imposing their religious practices on others. Otherwise the result can be the kind of religious war and sectarian violence we see in places like Iraq today. --Teratornis 20:01, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
- Muslims are required to utter "peace be upon him" or, in Arabic, "sallallahu alaihi wa sallam" upon hearing the prophet's name spoken, as an honorific and a mark of respect. Likewise, when writing his name it will be followed by PBUH or SAW in probably all Islamic books etc. Similar honorifics apply to the companions of the prophet and other holy people in Islam. At the end of the day though, this is a neutral encyclopedia describing topics from a neutral, dispassionate point-of-view. Thus no P.B.U.H., no S.A.W., no R.A., not even the title Prophet every time. This debate has been done to death and is very much closed for discussion. Zunaid©® 11:12, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Editing in different language
[edit]How can I edit a page by translate it in another language?
- There is no official feature for translating pages from the English Wikipedia into different languages, but remember there are different versions for different languages. Check out this page: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias
- You also might want to check out WP:TRANSL. --Tλε Rαnδom Eδιτor (ταlκ) 19:59, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
the "create a new page" button
[edit]I am having trouble actually finding such a "button", as mentioned in the article on creating a new page.
- One way is go to the create a new page, type in the name of the article you wanto to create and click go, then look for the red text that says 'Create this page' two lines below the text box. AndrewJDTALK -- 18:37, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Before creating a new article it might be good idea to read Wikipedia:Your first article. --Tλε Rαnδom Eδιτor (ταlκ) 19:10, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- You are right: The instruction has a wrong button name. The box at top of Help:Starting a new page is from Template:Phh:Starting a new page and was changed in [1]. Before there was a single "Create page" button which opened an edit window (either to edit an existing article or create a new). After there was two buttons: "Go (try title)" and "Search". They behave like the standard buttons in the search box to the left. The instructions still use the old name and assume the old functionality. Something should be changed but I'm not sure whether it's best to change the buttons or instructions. PrimeHunter 22:15, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Personal Pages or pages that the Wiki doesn't have.
[edit]How do you create a page about yourself or a page on a topic that the Wiki doesn't have? For instance, you do not have a page on The @ RPG, and I would like to make one for you. But first I must know how to.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Olothontor (talk • contribs).
- Before creating an article, 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 20:31, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- You mentioned creating a page about yourself. I should warn you: In general, it is a bad idea (and bad form) to create or edit the article about yourself, your company, your band, etc. It's very hard to maintain a neutral point of view.
- On the other hand, if you want to talk about yourself in general, your editing philosophy on Wikipedia, etc. feel free to use your user page at User:Olothontor.=David(talk)(contribs) 07:38, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
Templates
[edit]Is there a way to make text dissapear if a variable is not used?
For EX
{{User:Thedjatclubrock/Watched|~~~|~~~~~}}
Can the third line be ommited if there is no second variable.
Ps. Is this an appropriate template for personal use?
Thedjatclubrock :) (talk) 20:13, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- There is an "if" template. I haven't used it, but it is something very similar to: {{if|{{{somevariable|}}}|The text to show if the variable exists|The text to show if it doesn't exist}}. If you leave the text to show if it doesn't exist blank, you will get no text shown if it doesn't exist. Now, I hope someone comes along who knows the exact syntax for using the if. -- Kainaw(what?) 20:38, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
how do i add a defintion
[edit]how do i add a deffintion to the wikipedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stnlystmr (talk • contribs)
- I assume you mean "How do I start a new page?". See Help:Starting a new page. -- Kainaw(what?) 21:28, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
You don't. definitions should be taken to wiktionary --Laugh! 21:29, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- See also Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a dictionary. By the way, the word is "definition". Wikipedia is not a dictionary, so definition is not just a definition of "definition". PrimeHunter 22:25, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- Definitely --Max Talk (add) 01:54, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Also, Hello. In case you didn't know, when you add content to talk pages and Wikipedia pages that have open discussion, you should sign your posts by typing four halfwidth tildes ( ~~~~ ) at the end of your comment. You could also click on the signature button
located above the edit window. This will automatically insert a signature with your username or IP address and the time you posted the comment. This information is useful because other editors will be able to tell who said what, and when. Thank you. . =David(talk)(contribs) 07:41, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
Deleting a page
[edit]How do you delete a sub-page?
Please reply on my talk page.
Thanks,
Skunkmaster 22:28, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
changing head line
[edit]I have added a page and about a person and their last name is not capitalized. I would like to change this, how??
Jraiford 22:45, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- You need to move the page, using the move command on the left. New users cannot do this, so you might need to contact an admin or more experienced user by putting {{helpme}} on your talk page. --Haemo 22:58, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
- I looked at your contributions and have moved Lauren ezersky to Lauren Ezersky for you. After a move, the old name redirects to the new name. PrimeHunter 23:06, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
requested moves
[edit]I would like to ask how much time should be left to start a new discussion to move a page after a previous discussion regarding the same page move has been closed with no consensus to move, as requested move discussions are often speedily closed when another discussion has been closed, recent to the new discussion, with no consensus to move. ThanksTbo 157 23:46, 16 July 2007 (UTC)