Help desk
< July 30	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	August 1 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Help Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current Help Desk pages.

July 31

how can I edit the stacked blue boxes of related articles at the bottom of French Revolution ?

how can I edit the stacked blue boxes of related articles at the bottom of French Revolution ? The purpose is to link an existing article that is relevant to one of the blue box categories. Jrgilb (talk) 00:01, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You can't. At least, not at that article. It's an inserted template. The template is located at: Template:French Revolution footer. Jarkeld (talk) 00:04, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Table help

In a table how do I hide text in a specific row? See here. I want to hide/collapse text in the "Notes" section. Thanks. —Mike Allen 04:38, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Something like this? — Bility (talk) 09:08, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes! Thanks a lot! —Mike Allen 09:12, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Also, how do I change the header color, so it's not white. —Mike Allen 09:13, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Like this. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:39, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That's it. Thanks John. —Mike Allen 22:14, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

part 2 (please read part 1)

What if a user conflicts a bot? A bot and a bot? Also, what is the longest string of edit conflicts? (FYI) I just got conflicted four times by seven objects (as in users and bots) at the Reference Desk. --Since 10.28.2010 04:40, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Edit conflicts can occur anytime 2 or more people edit the same page and attempt to save their version of the page. Whether it's a human or a bot is irrelevant, the key thing is that multiple edits are being simultaneously done. On the reference desk were you editing using the Edit button at the top of the page (i.e. had the whole page in edit mode) or where you editing a section by using the Edit link to the right side of a section heading? If you had the entire page open for editing then on popular pages you're highly likely to get edit conflicts, if it was just a section then I think you're just unlucky that time. Did you see the example at the top of WP:Edit Conflict? CaptRik (talk) 09:35, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

wikioffense

Will you get blocked if you post offensive comments about Wikipedia on your talk page? --Since 10.28.2010 04:43, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Depends on whether it's offensive to WP (which most people probably won't care about) or more generally offensive. But we issue warnings first, so people know where the lines are. — kwami (talk) 06:57, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. Could you kindly respond to the above section as well? --Since 10.28.2010 07:02, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the 'what ifs' are asking. I've probably been blocked 7 times in a row in passionate talk-page discussions. I doubt anyone can tell you the record, but that editor is probably bald.

Yes, hitting 'save' and then changing your mind is gonna mess you up. I have only rarely succeeded in doing that, and then only because the server was so backed up that the save probably would have failed anyway. I don't really know, but it seems that the save is transmitted quite quickly, and it is only the response that lags. — kwami (talk) 07:17, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

One thing that would get you blocked for sure is making a legal threat. Another thing would be persistently making personal attacks or posting personal information about another person. (I can conceive of such things being done in the context of "offensive comments about Wikipedia.") —teb728 t c 10:26, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I should point out your signature is (again) in violation of guidelines, WP:SIGLINK to be specific. It must contain a link to either your user, talk or contributions page. Яehevkor ✉ 10:40, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The user's most recent edit shows the signature has been fixed - but that turned out to be the final edit. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:46, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Oh dear. Not that I'm complaining really. Was getting rather tiresome. It would also appear the above edits were made with 71.146.19.240 (talk · contribs · WHOIS), rather than the account, which may explain the sig issues. Яehevkor ✉ 13:49, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Regatta Day

Resolved

Hello. I noticed that Regatta Day directs to Royal Hobart Regatta. However the term also refers to the Royal St. John's Regatta. I read about disambiguation pages and want to make one, but I can't understand how. 174.88.10.35 (talk) 13:35, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you pick where it says "Redirected from Regatta Day" just under the page title, that will take you to the redirection page, which you can then edit in the usual way. --ColinFine (talk) 13:44, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. What do I put on it? Is #REDIRECT Royal Hobart Regatta Royal St. John's Regatta ok? Or just take out #REDIRECT and add Royal St. John's Regatta? 174.88.10.35 (talk) 13:50, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No, you should be aiming to make the Regatta Day page look something like the contents of, say, Black House (disambiguation), with one line of text for each possible meaning and a "disambiguation" notice at the bottom. See MOS:DAB. With only two entries this could be done with hatnotes but I sure others will turn up. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:12, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! I copied that page and now it is done. 174.88.10.35 (talk) 14:18, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Naming a reference

I needed to add more references to some pages in wikipedia. I am able to add the references but am not able to name them. I mean i can type the link to the page in the references but i want to display the title of the link instead of its address.

For Example

What i am doing now is

===References===
<ref>www.wikipedia.org</ref>
<ref name="samplename">{{cite web|url=http://www.wikipedia.org/ |title=Wikipedia}}</ref>
{{Reflist}}

which will display

1. www.wikipedia.org

the user will be linked to that address upon clicking on it.

But I want to display

1. Wikipedia

which will link to the www.wikipedia.org

Please tell me how can this be accomplished.

Thank You! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Theperfectpunk (talk • contribs) 13:55, 31 July 2011

I think I know this one. You type one square bracket

then the url

then a space

then the text Wikipedia

then the closing square bracket

so you get Wikipedia

(and use http etc before the www) 174.88.10.35 (talk) 14:02, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

See more at Help:Link#External links and Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners. Note that <ref>...</ref> should not be written inside the references section but where the reference is used. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:07, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Minor correction to the point of Primehunter - while many of the referencing conventions do not put the ref itself in the ref section, the WP:LDR method (the one I use all the time and think everyone should adopt) does have the references in the reference section.

One other minor note on terminology - the phrase "giving a reference a name" does not mean the word that shows up in the reference, it means something else. In the example I added, the name given to the reference is "samplename" which you can only see in edit mode.--SPhilbrick T 14:20, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Theperfectpunk. Maybe examples will make this clearer. There's lots of ways to do references, but to answer your original question - you could put e.g.,

Wikipedia has over 3.5 million articles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Main_Page |title=Wikipedia}}</ref>
===References===
{{Reflist}}

See that here.

That's the most common referencing style, and you don't need to use a 'name=' unless you are using the reference several times.

As SPhilbrick said, there is an alternative way to do references, where you list the details at the bottom. In that case, you do need a 'name=' - like this;

Wikipedia has over 3.5 million articles.<ref name=wp/>
===References===
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=wp>{{cite web|url=http://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Main_Page |title=Wikipedia}}</ref>
}}

That will look just the same. Cheers, Chzz ► 21:57, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Trouble uploading photo to Commons

When I get to the Commons upload page, after having signed in, it says I am NOT signed in. When I try to sign again, it says that no such user exists, and asks me to create new account. I then tried that, but it says the account already exists. What is the matter?

This is the image I wanted to add to the La Puebla NM page, as I had just been there and taken pictures, my own personal pict:

Please help me upload this image, Thanks, Ivan Alexander

<redact> — Preceding unsigned comment added by Humancafe (talk • contribs) 17:06, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. Wikimedia Commons is actually separate from the English Wikipedia and you are not registered there. For an easy way to create accounts in other projects of the Wikimedia Foundation (including Commons) with the same name and password as your main account here, click this link: Special:MergeAccount

More information here: Wikipedia:Unified login -- Obsidi♠n Soul 17:42, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Danni Xtravaganza

I recently submitted a Wikipedia listing for Danni Xtravaganza. I have received a notice that it might be deleted because he is a 'living person'. He is deceased and it says so in my article in the last sentence. What do I do? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Philott (talk • contribs) 18:06, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please use a descriptive title in future questions.. I have added one --ColinFine (talk) 18:55, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed the BLP Prod because it clearly states the person is not living. GB fan please review my editing 19:02, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

International Organization membership template

{{Membership/Sub/Head}}
{{Membership/Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
{{Membership/France}}
{{Membership/Turkey}}
|}
{{Membership/Sub/Head|year=1994|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Democratic Republic of the Congo|year=1994|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/France|year=1994|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Turkey|year=1994|month=7|day=1}}
|}
{{Membership/Sub/Head|year=1964|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Democratic Republic of the Congo|year=1964|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/France|year=1964|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Turkey|year=1964|month=7|day=1}}
|}
{{Membership/Sub/Head|year=1961|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Democratic Republic of the Congo|year=1961|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/France|year=1961|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Turkey|year=1961|month=7|day=1}}
|}
{{Membership/Sub/Head|year=1949|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Democratic Republic of the Congo|year=1949|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/France|year=1949|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Turkey|year=1949|month=7|day=1}}
|}
{{Membership/Sub/Head|year=1946|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Democratic Republic of the Congo|year=1946|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/France|year=1946|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Turkey|year=1946|month=7|day=1}}
|}
{{Membership/Sub/Head|year=1945|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Democratic Republic of the Congo|year=1945|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/France|year=1945|month=7|day=1}}
{{Membership/Turkey|year=1945|month=7|day=1}}
|}

I am trying to create templates that will automatically return international organization membership of each country. I need help in creating templates for each country. The information that needs to be gathered are the membership(s) of each country to each international organization (EU, NATO, UN, etc) and the date of membership. The template for this task is demonstrated above. I am looking for people willing to help with the task of creating such templates for other countries. -- とある白い猫 ^chi? 18:10, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I think you will have better luck in finding helpers in this matter at a related Wikiproject. I would suggest starting at WikiProject International relations. Happy editing, hajat vrc with WikiLove @ 20:22, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I already did, not a lot of activity there. -- とある白い猫 ^chi? 20:23, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

The most immediate problem is that there are a lot of countries, each of which is a member of several international organisations, and there are also a lot of different international organisations. The organisations of which each country is a member also change every once in a while. To create templates for all of them manually will require a lot of work and a lot of maintenance=a lot of willing volunteers, which you might not be able to call up. Is there a script that exists or could be written to simplify the process? Intelligentsium 00:04, 1 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And you're missing a lot of supranational organizations in S. and C. America, Oceania, and Asia. Some of the larger ones are outline here Template:Regional organizations.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 07:15, 1 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Oh I am fully aware. I just want to create the templates for the listed organizations and expand them later on... If someone were to expand them beforehand I would not object :). I am overwhelmed with the task already. :( These templates need to be created once, there wont be much need for maintenance since these international organizations are quite stable. -- とある白い猫 ^chi? 08:35, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

There is one possibility, but this is not sortable: create a (I can do this) template which have the parameters, but as I said: this would not be sortable, neither your "proposal" would be sortable... mabdul 00:38, 1 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I do want to keep it sort-able. -- とある白い猫 ^chi? 08:33, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Any ideas? -- とある白い猫 ^chi? 20:30, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Anyone willing to help? -- とある白い猫 ^chi? 20:31, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Where to ask copyright question about image uploads

A professor who is about to retire wants to donate his slide collection. I suggested digitizing the pictures and uploading them to Wikimedia Commons. A section of the slides are historical images of Mexican periodicals, so I wanted to check if there would be copyright problems for those images. Some of these are rare or uncommon images with historical value, so I want to find them a home somewhere.

I know there are some people on Wikipedia who are quite knowledgeable about copyright and wanted to ask them. Cloveapple (talk) 21:16, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That would be awesome really. The noticeboard for asking questions about this kind of stuff is here I think: Wikipedia:Media copyright questions.

Mexican copyright law can be downloaded here. It's in Spanish though, which I can't really understand that well. I think Mexico's public domain laws requires author lifetime + 100 years, AFAIK. And:

""Copyright shall not apply to shields, flags or emblems of any country, state, municipality or political division; or names, acronyms, symbols or emblems of international governmental organisations, or any other organization officially recognized. The legislative, regulatory, administrative or judicial, as well as their official translation."

See Commons:Template:PD-Mexico and Commons:Template:PD-MX-exempt-- Obsidi♠n Soul 21:42, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. That was very helpful. It looks like not all the pictures can go to Wikimedia, though a good number can. Cloveapple (talk) 21:23, 1 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]