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June 23

Printing From a Server

How do you print from home from your work server —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.186.73.212 (talk • contribs)

Have you tried the Computing 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 is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. -- Natalya 00:47, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

find a Wikipedian with an account on a subscription-only website

Is there a way to find a Wikipedian with an account on a subscription-only website who might be willing to look up a particular source? I would like to see a document that is on the website ancestry.ca. Searching Wikipedia for that domain turned up nothing useful (ie I don't think there is anyone who has "I do ancestry.ca searches" on their userpage). Is there a place to ask for this particular kind of research help? I wasn't sure it would be right for the Reference Desk. Thanks WikiJedits (talk) 01:25, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You can ask at Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange, but I'm not sure how active that is. You might check the backlinks for {{User:Scepia/family history}} and see who is active. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 02:25, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

And see Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check (WP:FACT) and Wikipedia:WikiProject Genealogy (you might ask on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Genealogy). I wouldn't see any problem with asking on the Reference desk, if you don't get an answer elsewhere. How did you search for ancestry.ca on Wikipedia? Special:Linksearch seems to find one instance with this search, pointing to the article The Generations Network. --Teratornis (talk) 03:56, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much - I'll try all those places. I used the [1] search page and saw the article, but thought I needed a user. Thanks both, WikiJedits (talk) 19:25, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

High school sports and CSD A7

Is being a champion cross country runner for high school a large enough assertion on notability to bypass CSD A7? The article that that got me thinking was Matt Rand. -Icewedge (talk) 01:34, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Looking at WP:BIO, specifically the section on athletes, I'd say no. Hope this helps, Gazimoff ^Write _Read 01:39, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Unified userpage

It will be convenient if we have a unified userpage since we have a unified login now; or at least there will be a simple function to redirect other userpages to a certian URL. Will it happen? --Phlyming (talk) 01:50, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There's been a short discussion of this over at Meta that might interest you. -- Natalya 02:38, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New article re a superhero in children's book series

I recently submitted an article in regards to a superhero in a children's book named Sending You Sammy. From my experience with Wikipedia I felt that they were pretty open to all types of articles but received the reply today to say that mine isn't relevant. I'm not sure how to make this any more relevant than I feel it already is. The article is found under BananaBoy and I would love to have your opinion on how to make it acceptable to Wikipedia. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Samarbu (talk • contribs) 01:49, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It is hard to show notability or to put a character into context when there is no article on the book, the series or the author. Before you create an article on BananaBoy, you should have an article on Sending You Sammy, before that an article on Adventures Of Sammy, before that an article on Sarah Butland. I left you a welcome page- review the policies a bit, then check out Wikipedia:Your first article. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 02:07, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The article is at Bananaboy. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:33, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

10th mark sheet lost

hi ,myself anil kumar sharma, i hav lost my 10 mark sheet, could u please tell me from where i can get it again????? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.180.148.192 (talk) 04:08, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 05:01, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You may be {{astray}} - Wikipedia has lots of articles about lots of organizations, but Wikipedia is not affiliated with most of them. What article were you reading when you had this question? --Teratornis (talk) 05:16, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I Googled and found [2] which may or may not be relevant to you. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:28, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sockpuppetting

If you use your IP Address and Your Account sometimes at different times, does that count as Sockpuppetting?

--—Piazzajordan2 (straight chillin) 05:42, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, so long as you are not using them deceptively, e.g. supporting yourself in a debate. See Wikipedia:Sock puppetry. –thedemonhog talk • edits 05:49, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oh no, just sometimes I accidently forget to log in. And I don't want to get blocked, but thank you.

--—Piazzajordan2 (straight chillin) 05:51, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's also worth noting the difference between sock puppetry and abusive sock puppetry. Having two accounts is sock puppetry, but in many cases is allowed (for example, you use one account for normal editing, and the other to fight vandalism, and both user pages note this fact). When you use two accounts (or an account and an IP) to get around Wikipedia policy - like trying to fake consensus, to evade a block or ban, or to avoid scrutiny of some of your edits - that's abusive sock puppetry (because you're abusing the rules, and community trust), and that's when you get into trouble. Forgetting to log in once in a while is no problem. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 06:54, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah it kinda happens to me like once every 2 weeks and I'll sign comments and get confused, lol. But thanks for showing me that.

--Piazzajordan2 (straight chillin) 07:03, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Altering Edit Summaries After Submitted

I accidentally committed changes to an article before I was done editing. Nothing really bad happened, except I don't know how how to fill in an edit summary for those changes now. Is there any way to add an annotation of some sort in regards to the previous change? Thanks. 155.47.130.62 (talk) 07:52, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, you cannot change edit summaries after they are submitted. I recommend referencing the edit in the edit summary of your next edit to that article. See Help:Edit summary for further information. –thedemonhog talk • edits 07:57, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

But there's nothing else I want to change; and trying to add a note while making no changes didn't work. 155.47.130.62 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 08:09, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A change to the article is needed for an edit (and its summary) to be saved in the history. Edit summaries are helpful, but not necessary, so don't worry about it. –thedemonhog talk • edits 08:13, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If it's very important, you could clarify with a note on the article's talk page, or make a null edit to save a second summary. – Luna Santin (talk) 08:17, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

To be precise, it would have to be a dummy edit since null edits are not recorded and their edit summary is discarded. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:22, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Differecnes

How is [[Category:Blue Ensigns|British Indian Ocean Territory]] different from [[Category:Blue Ensigns|A]]?68.148.164.166 (talk) 07:58, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In most cases, the text after a pipe is the "show text." [[The weather in London|Timmy]] produces Timmy. With categories, the text after a pipe is the "sortkey" -- when looking at pages in a category, they'll be sorted alphabetically (using the sortkey if one is provided, or the page name if not). Among other uses, this is helpful for biographies, since we want to alphabetize those by last name, rather than first name. WP:SORTKEY has some more information. – Luna Santin (talk) 08:20, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Including / listing company names in your website

Sir or madam I had written 6 weeks ago about listing of SAFT and Marathon as suppliers of aircraft batteries in below link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel-cadmium_battery_vented_cell_type I had asked that our company name could also be included as we are manufacturer and export of batteries just like SAFT / Marathon.

I was informed that it is against your policy to include company names and same have been removed. However, I found now that again these company names are listed?

Can this issue be resolved.

Thank you,

Prabhaker Nittla Global Account Manager [redacted]

I'm unaware of your previous request. However, I believe you misunderstand the 'policy'. There is no policy against including company names in articles if they are pertinent to the subject at hand and follow our true policies of neutral point of view, verifiability, and reliable sources. Although mentions of SAFT and Marathon do exist in the article just as you say, the context of those mentions appear to be because their operations manuals were used as sources in the creation of the article (albeit in a way that doesn't quite meet our citation standards). However, it appears at first glance that your interest in this article is for advertising your business, which Wikipedia has no interest in furthering. -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 09:48, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(Update) I've also removed the two external links to SAFT and Marathon as they don't meet WP:ELNO. I did keep the direct link to the OMM PDF though. However, the companies are still listed as references in the article as noted above. -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 10:34, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Viewing user subpages

Is there any tool by which I can view all my user subpages? Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 08:17, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Special:Prefixindex is useful, there. In your case, Special:Prefixindex/User:Otolemur crassicaudatus (you can add a trailing slash, if you really want ONLY subpages). – Luna Santin (talk) 08:22, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

And you can see the talk pages with Special:Prefixindex/User talk:Otolemur crassicaudatus. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:17, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Get rid of an account

Before you start, I know that you can't simply delete a Wikipedia account. But, I want to get 'rid' of it. My solution: Change the IP address, email and name details of my account, then leave my password details on my User Page. How do I change all my details, stop my IP address being tracked to my computer etc? Leave a message on my talk page!!!Tentimesone (talk) 08:39, 23 June 2008 (UTC)Tentimesone[reply]

Answered on user's Talk page as requested (and have advised against leaving password).--92.40.56.199 (talk) 08:52, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

blacklist

Some spiteful person has blacklisted my web site from your 'Animal Rights' page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_rights). How can I un-blacklist it?

Gluecat (talk) 09:10, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Take a look at Wikipedia:Spam blacklist. This page explains the background of the Spam Blacklist. In addition, there is a link there that'll take you to the page where you can request your site to be removed. Be sure to explain why you feel your site would improve the article in your request. In addition, I would refrain from using terms like "spiteful person" as that will unlikely leave a favorable impression on the administrators reviewing your request. (Your history of link spamming[3] is also unlikely to leave a favorable impression -- be prepared to give an ironclad reason why your web site should be included) -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 09:33, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

where to enter a new person on Wikipedia

I want to start an entry on Wikipedia for a democracy and women's rights campaigner, an Englishman named Raymond Lloyd. He is based in the UK but his monthly newsletter Parity Democrat goes worldwide. He is one of the few men in the world who have spent the last 35 years of his life campaigning for women's equality full-time, unpaid, and he has exceptionally interesting and usweful things to say. Originally, for many years he worked for the United Nations Food & Agricultural agency based in Rome, before leaving and creating the Parity Democrat and commencing his campaigns.

What heading would he come under, or can we create a new one for 'Women's parity democracy campaigners'?

Tim Symonds —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tim symonds (talk • contribs) 10:06, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What to call the article you mean? Just Raymond Lloyd would be sufficient. The second part of the query ("women's parity democracy campaigners") sound like categorisation, which will happen after the article is written. Hope that helps. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 10:16, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(e/c) Welcome to Wikipedia! It certainly sounds like Raymond Lloyd would make a valuable addition to Wikipedia, based on your description. According to our Manual of Style, the article name would be "Raymond Lloyd". However, before you get started, you might want to read up on how to create your first article. Once you have your article going, then you might want to look at categories to put your article in. I believe this is what you were referring to in the second part of your message. One possible category might be Category:British women's rights activists, but you might find others as well. Good luck! (And I just KNEW PeterSymonds was going to jump on this one first!) -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 10:19, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How could I resist? :) PeterSymonds (talk) 12:07, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(tangent) Okay, next time someone from the Wa clan writes in, I call it! :) :) -- ShinmaWa^(talk) 14:40, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please see Your first article.

Ensure that you have an account and you are logged in. If you don't have an account, create one
Make sure the subject is notable enough to have their own article.
Find references
Make sure no article on the subject exists under a different title by typing the subject into the search box to the left (←) and clicking 'Search'
Type the page name in the search box to the left (←) and click 'Go'
Click 'Create this page'
Create the article, including all your references, making sure you adhere to the Manual of Style and our article layout guidelines
Be aware that Wikipedia deletes thousands of new articles for failing to adhere to our policies and guidelines. New articles by new users are at extra risk of deletion, due to new users' unfamiliarity with our rules. Consider gaining experience by editing existing articles before attempting to create new ones....... Densock .. Talk^{(Dendodge on a public network)} 11:34, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How to Edit "Semi-Protected" Article

Hello!

The article on rock guitarist Slash (aka Saul Hudson, of Guns N' Roses) has been marked as "semi-protected," which appears to mean it can only be edited by registered users.

Well, I am a registered user, and it will not let me edit the article. When I read the FAQ on this issue, it said I would be allowed to edit the article as a registered user "after a while."

What does "after a while" mean? When will I be allowed to edit this article?

Thanks a lot!

GregB777 (talk) 11:52, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See semi-protected articles and autoconfirmed users. Your account has to be four days old and have ten edits before you enter the "autoconfirmed" category (automatically). Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 12:04, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Linking to Wikipedia

Hello thre I am Rav, I have been using Wiki since a very Long time and now i am willing to use it as a LINK in my wesite .... I just wanted to know if i can use any links that i find suitable to My site as a Link taking my customers to Your site...

Ie, Can i use your link in my site ? If there are any Policy issues i am not adhering to please do reply with information related to this issue ....

To my knowledge Wiki is very Popular and adding it to any ones site is just another added advantage as the user is coming to Wiki Ultimatly ....

Awaiting Reply Rav--Registerindiancompany (talk) 12:22, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You are welcome to put a link to any Wikipedia page on your website. Wikipedia does not use link exchange and Wikipedia:External links#Advertising and conflicts of interest says webmasters are not allowed to add links to their own site to an external links section in Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:40, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Why is all the text displaying as Thai or something?

I can see this message normally as I type it -- and page titles, such as the "The help desk is for questions about USING Wikipedia" message above -- but all content looks like Thai script or something similar. I have tried adjusting my browser default font (from Verdana to Arial) and font size but with no success. This is only happening on Wikipedia.

The irony here is that if you reply to this message, I will not be able to read it without cutting and pasting into a text editor (where everything converts back to English). I'm on Firefox 3 using Mac OS X, if that helps. I'm not sure how I will know if anyone has replied to this question, though. I guess I'll just revisit this page throughout the day and try cutting and pasting the bottom few questions and answers into a text editor. Thanks! --MattShepherd (talk) 15:18, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm, have you tried quitting your browser and trying again? If that fails, I know it sounds basic but try restarting your computer. I'm also using firefox 3 in Mac OS X and everything's fine. Have you tried using safari instead?( Hope you can read this somehow!) Harland1 (^t/_c) 15:22, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, weird, it's happening in Safari, too. But I stress: only Wikipedia! No other sites at all, and that includes, well, Gmail, Metafilter, BoingBoing, and a bunch'a other stuff. At least I've figured out that since I can read the Courier-type font that is used for editing, I can read this page in Edit mode. This wasn't a problem before the FF3 upgrade... but if it's happening in Safari too, maybe that's just a coincidence. What a weird problem. I'll try a reboot. --66.129.135.114 (talk) 16:30, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Rebooting, it does nothing! This is super bizarre. --66.129.135.114 (talk) 16:36, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can you take a screenshot? We might be able to figure out the problem based on that. --_{tiny plastic} Grey Knight ⊖ 16:41, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. Here's a screenshot that I blogged up. http://www.shep.ca/?p=220 --66.129.135.114 (talk) 17:03, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved: I deactivated "allow Web pages to choose their own font" in my Firefox prefs after lots of digging. I still have no idea why Wikipedia's chosen font defaults to Thai on this browser. --66.129.135.114 (talk) 19:20, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you look closely, that isn't Thai at all, it's numbers.

It looks like you have some "WingDings"-like font designed for dealing with fractions. If I recall correctly, Wikipedia's normal font is Arial, you might want to check what text in that font looks like in other applications. The bold or italic text seems to be OK, so it is probably just the basic font. --_{tiny plastic} Grey Knight ⊖ 12:42, 25 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Uploading images from other WP versions

I'm working on an article, translating it from Greek into English. The Greek article has uploaded images etc. May I copy the images from another WP version (e.g. the Greek WP) to the English WP? Otherwise the article looks so dull... Sorry if this question has been asked many times before! I'm relatively new to WP... Please answer on my talk page if possible. Pel thal (talk) 15:43, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You might want to see if the images exist at Commons, when they can be used in any language or project under the same name. Which article did you have in mind? Spencer^T♦^C 15:48, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I see which article. For example, this can be used here, as it is on commons. Spencer^T♦^C 15:50, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

WYSIWYG edits

How to make "What you see is what you get" edits, like I using web editor such Dreamweaver or Front page. I no want to tolerant of boring of seeing a lot of source wikicode, especially making of tables. Zoomed10^10 (talk) 16:22, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:EIW#WYSIWYG for what's available. The last time I looked, I wasn't too impressed by the editing tools I saw. What don't you like about wikitext? --Teratornis (talk) 17:08, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Helicopter Airlines

The page "Helicopter Airlines" should include Evergreen Helicopters International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Evergreen International Aviation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.203.50.2 (talk) 16:32, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I cannot find an article called Helicopter Airlines - is that the correct title? – ukexpat (talk) 16:44, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Search Wikipedia with Google for: helicopter airlines - that finds no article with that title, but it does find a category page: Category:Helicopter airlines. Categories aren't the same as articles. See: Wikipedia:What is an article? and Help:Category. If "Evergreen Helicopters International" does not appear on the category page, that means nobody has categorized that article (if it exists) into that category. Categories can be pretty confusing to new users, so read Help:Category over and over until my reply makes sense. --Teratornis (talk) 17:08, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Search Wikipedia with Google for: Evergreen Helicopters International - that finds these articles:

but I don't see a separate article for the helicopters subsidiary. In any case, you could probably categorize one or both of those articles into Category:Helicopter airlines if you like, by placing the wikitext:

[[Category:Helicopter airlines]]

at the bottom of the article(s) along with their other category links. --Teratornis (talk) 17:13, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note: the question contains a bit of a red herring in that the word "page" might seem to mean "article," but apparently it means a category page. Articles are but one type of page on Wikipedia; we often read the word "page" as a synonym for "article", and that can be confusing. When answering Help desk questions, one must try to keep one's mind open to all possibilities, rather than focusing on one specific interpretation. Unfortunately, there is an issue of psychology, in which virtually all people process language by subconsciously interpreting it, and then once we get one particular interpretation into our thinking, sometimes it becomes almost impossible to realize other interpretations are possible. Answering questions on the Help desk can be an exercise in learning to consciously override this tendency. See also Hasty generalization, Blind men and an elephant, Hypothesis, and Scientific method. --Teratornis (talk) 17:24, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sometimes the Help desk reminds me of the: CSI franchise. --Teratornis (talk) 01:12, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Still no reply

The Spanish site I contacted about having translated the Wikipedia article World Bodypainting Festival to Spanish without citing a source still hasn't replied to my e-mail about violation of the GFDL. I do not want compensation or the site to be taken down. All I want is them to acknowledge they're citing GFDL material, so the Spanish Wikipedia can use their translation. How should I proceed? JIP | Talk 17:37, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

IMHO,you should try contacting them again,but if that fails,I'm not surewhat we can do.Are there any other means to contact them (telephone,etc.)?--Fireaxe888 (talk) 18:25, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Telephoning wouldn't help, I'm afraid, because I don't speak Spanish. JIP | Talk 19:33, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Technically, they're breaking the law - you could sue them if you wanted...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 19:52, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Standard GFDL violation letter. That has full instructions. And you're technically not allowed to sue directly... Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 19:56, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, I meant the WMF can. As the foundation have released their content under the GDFL, they have the right to defend this as they would a copyright...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 20:32, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, it's not a GFDL violation because it's not a mirror: they took Wikipedia content and translated it into Spanish, that, I believe, constitutes an original work and is therefore copyrighted by the translator. And to Dendodge: no, the WMF does not hold copyright rights, read the "important note" at the top of WP:COPYRIGHT. And even if they did, the correct process is filing a DMCA takedown notice, not sueing. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 20:43, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know about Spain (or wherever the site is based), but in the US at least, a translation is a derivative work, and a breach of copyright. As I said last time, JIP holds the copyright here, and any DMCAing has to come from him. I'm not sure what would be a good idea now; perhaps another email explaining that you want this to improve Wikipedia, not just enforce your own copyright? Alternatively, threatening a takedown notice might help. Algebraist 20:59, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

← Yeah, I agree with Algebraist. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 21:02, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Weird user inserting weird info, busy for months

Since I think December last year, someone is adding weird voice actor information to actor articles and Pokémon lists, using dynamic addresses from the 90.202.89.1/255 range. The things he or she adds are often dubious, and sometimes cleary false. Typical edits are claims about an actor voicing a Pokémon in a show which doesn't exist, or adding voice acting information to a Pokémon list, which is not only inappropriate, the information itself might also be incorrect. Some addresses used:

I wonder what to do about this. Jéské Couriano suggested semi-protection of the pages he/she targets. But that's quite a lot, and propably wouldn't be practical. Hard-blocking the entire range might be an option. I've looked at the first 85 addresses, and the only person who seems to be using them is the person in question. But then again, the whole thing might not be serious enough to warrant such a block.

Advice is appreciated. Please see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Pokémon#Voice acting information for the discussion and more details.

Cheers, Face 18:34, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hard-blocking the range sounds OK to me, as long as there don't seem to be any other editors in the range and that the vandal keeps it up. WP:Abuse reports is another option, I think. I don't like the idea of semi-protecting the pages, it seems like that would be a lot of pages, and judging from the edit patterns, you'd end up semi-protecting every unprotected page in Wikipedia. Calvin 1998 ^(t-c) 20:36, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

External links - blogs

On Wikipedia:External links under the "Links normally to be avoided" section it lists blogs except those written by a recognised authority. However, it also states, "Except for a link to a page that is the subject of the article or an official page of the article subject—and not prohibited by restrictions on linking". I have always presumed that "fan blogs" of notable people are links that should be avoided. Am I correct or not? This refers to the Rachel Tucker article on which a "fanblog" has been added to the External links section. Thank you. ♦Tangerines♦·Talk 18:35, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In my opinion, the perfect article would have no See also or External links sections- all would be in the article as wikilinks or references; at worst, these should normally be kept to a minimum. External links should give content that is not included in the article for some reason and should reliably enhance the article. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 18:42, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry to bring this up again, but should I leave the blog link or should it be removed? Thank you. ♦Tangerines♦·Talk 20:22, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's alright! No, I'd highly discourage such a link. weburiedoursecretsinthegarden 20:31, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Need some teamwork

Resolved

– Done...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 20:02, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can someone run AWB or a BOT against the shortish WhatLinksHere/Johann_Gottlob_Lehmann and link direct to (newly moved page) Johann_Gottlob_Lehmann (scientist). Seemed the boldly correct thing to do with a composer and a classicist of the same name (and less notable others). Thanks // FrankB 19:32, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Doing......... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 19:53, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Apparently someone beat me to it! I only had to do one...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 20:02, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Totally Lost

I am totally lost and overwhelmed. The directions for creating a wikipedia page are convoluted and I cannot tell when I hit save whether that means the page I created was saved in my account "bridgestv" or went onto Wikipedia for editing or deletion. When I finished making the page I hit save and then preview and then save again. At the top of the page was a warning about speedy deletion but I cannot tell what I could have done wrong. I read all of your how tos and warnings and guides etc. Can I talk to someone or can someone assist me. It isnt fair to have an encyclopedia that the public can contribute to if no one is available to help the luddites out there that struggle to set up a page. Thank you gratefully for your time and assistance. Very truly yours, christina winters

user/login name bridgestv attempted new article/ wiki page Bridges TV

<email and phone number removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bridgestv (talk • contribs) 20:20, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please do not include contact details in your questions. We are unable to provide answers by any off-wiki medium and this page is highly visible across the internet. The details have been removed, but if you wish for them to be permanently removed from the page history, email this address. Please sign your post by typing four tildes (~~~~) or clicking the signature button above the edit box which looks like this:

. Do NOT sign in articles....... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 20:28, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The company is not notable, and is written in a promotional style. You also have a conflict of interest, judging by your username...... Dendodge .. Talk^Help 20:30, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you want a personal guide to help you learn Wikipedia, and I recommend this, you can request adoption. Unfortunately, it looks like you chose to start out on Wikipedia in one of the most difficult ways - by trying to create a new article right away. Many if not most users find it easier to start off by making small edits to existing articles. To make a new article from scratch, and have it "stick," you have to understand a large number of new and unobvious concepts. It's easier to learn one thing at a time by editing articles that are already somewhat complete. To write the type of article you are trying to write, you need to understand at least all this material: WP:BFAQ, WP:PEACOCK, WP:NPOV, WP:RS, WP:CITE, and WP:LAYOUT. For the editing basics, see WP:CHEAT, WP:TUTORIAL, and Help:Editing. As you discovered, Wikipedia is not simple, and it is not friendly to a large percentage of beginners, specifically, people who approach Wikipedia with some particular fixed goal in mind - which, as often as not, may conflict with one or more of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. A better way to approach Wikipedia is to try to empty your mind of preconceived goals, and just take a few months of your spare time, read a few dozen of our help pages a few times each, edit some articles that interest you, and see what other users do with your edits. Also see Help:Talk page to learn how we communicate with each other on Wikipedia. In other words, ask not what Wikipedia can do for you, but what you can do for Wikipedia. --Teratornis (talk) 01:08, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Another really good way to learn Wikipedia is to answer questions on the Help desk. It's easy to learn by reading about other people's problems, and reading the answers that appear here. It's a lot less stressful when it's not directly your own problem. Kind of like the difference between being a medical student at a hospital, making rounds and learning things, vs. being the patients who are feeling the pain. Learning Wikipedia is a lot of work, but it's worth doing, because Wikipedia is one of the most remarkable things humans have invented. You will learn all sorts of things here that will help you in whatever else you might do. You will gain valuable insight into why so many other things do not work very well. --Teratornis (talk) 02:23, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting Accounts

I would like to delete my account, and I would like to know how. I do not feel safe using Wikipedia, and I think I'll just stick with normal activities for now.

Thank you, lots of regards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aisha Mariam (talk • contribs) 20:43, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately you can't delete your account. I can delete your pages for you, but due to GFDL, your edits must be preserved. You can also change your password to a random string of numbers, so that it can't be accessed again. PeterSymonds (talk) 20:46, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Due to the fact that Wikipedia content is licensed under the GFDL, all edits must be kept for attribution purposes, and so your account cannot be deleted. You do, however, have the right to vanish, which you can exercise by (1) requesting your user page (found at Special:Mypage) and/or user talk page (found at Special:Mytalk) be deleted, by adding the {{db-userreq}} template to them; (2) requesting to change your username to something that is unconnected with you (possibly a random collection of letters and numbers); (3) never logging in to your account again. If you do this, you are still free to register a new username if you wish to continue editing Wikipedia. Woody (talk) 20:48, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I wish there was a right to vanish in real life. Mac Davis (talk) 12:32, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]