Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 May 7

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May 7

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HIPAA law as it apllies to teachers and students.

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  Unresolved

as we can't give legal advice as noted below by ukexpat (talk · contribs) D O N D E groovily Talk to me 03:24, 8 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]


What is the HIPAA regulations on a teacher descussing a stundent with non teachers and useing the chillds name? I have a teacher that told me somethings about a couple of children in her class room, I am not a teacher or do I know the children in question. The teacher is also tell me problems in the class room about other teachers. The things she has told me has caused majoir trouble for the other teachers because she blames the students for saying them or blames other teachers but I know the information came from her. Her telling people private things about these people have caused some to be suspended from school and or work. I know there is a fine that the state applies to this type of problem. I did at one time work for the school system and I had to sign a HIPAA contract of privacy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.54.11.213 (talk) 00:18, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 6 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. RudolfRed (talk) 00:27, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
FWIW, HIPAA is a USA law called in full the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and applies to medical records. I don't think the law relates to teachers and schools. D O N D E groovily Talk to me 00:51, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia has articles on Confidentiality and Liability and Student Records. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 04:14, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
At the federal level, see Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. There will also be state laws and regulations about how schools must protect student privacy, and professional codes of conduct for teachers. Individual school districts will also have policies. Jc3s5h (talk) 05:05, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Folks, we do not give legal advice, so please let's not discuss this any further. – ukexpat (talk) 13:58, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

List of ISBN codes for publishers

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Hi, Is any one here aware of List of group-1 ISBN publisher codes? I am not sure where that information came from and how reliable it is. Anyway, does anyone here know of reliable online lists that map publisher names to the fragment of digits in the International Standard Book Number (and vice versa)? I asked here just in case, but it is in this context. Thanks. History2007 (talk) 01:50, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

List of group-0 ISBN publisher codes and List of group-1 ISBN publisher codes appear to be mostly the work of User:Sea Venom[1] The List of group-1 ISBN publisher codes articles notes: "Data from published items by these publishers," so it appears the info might be gathered by someone looking at a published item from a publisher and adding the ISBN publisher code to the Wikipedia article. WP:NOTDIRECTORY might apply, but it could be that the lists may be valuable information sources (WP:LISTPURP) (e.g., List_of_group-0_ISBN_publisher_codes has been viewed 1270 times in the last 30 days.[2] On the other hand, one editor noted in January 2010 about the List of group-0 ISBN publisher codes, "Isn't listing 7-digit publishers, publishers anticipating publishing 10 or fewer books, a bit ridiculous? If the list was ever completed, it'd just be a monstrous heap of trivia."[3] -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 05:33, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Actually I am not interested in the ISBN codes for Harvard University Press, but just those for the Vanity presses so I can write a program to generate a report about the use of their books across Wikipedia, in the context of Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Wikipedia_reliability#Reliability_of_self_published_books. So I wanted to know if someone has an idea where to get those 50 codes or so, and they would not even be on that page, but just in the Wikipedia:List of self-publishing companies, etc. History2007 (talk)

Could the average Wikipedia article have an RSS feed that checks its history? 62.255.129.19 (talk) 02:51, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, the software does have that feature. See here. ⇌ Jake Wartenberg 03:05, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, the parameter works but I don't see anything in the toolbox (except, it seems, on Special:RecentChanges). 62.255.129.19 (talk) 03:23, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Are you looking at the page history by clicking the "View history" tab? PrimeHunter (talk) 12:54, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Planned denial of service attack or vandalism forthcoming?

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I am a member of occupy and the wikipedia community.

It seems a few misguided souls are frustrated that wikipedia does not favor their pet views and they plan to try to interfere with its normal functioning. I have stuck my neck out in defense of wikipedia in the group. I think this is a small groups of people, but someone should determine if they area areal threat. That is beyond my ability. I don't want anyone to go to jail for cyber crime, but perhaps some other people can help me dissuade them or somehow prepare for the attack. Here is the face book link.

http://www.facebook.com/events/298016840275856/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Michalchik (talkcontribs) 05:17, 7 May 2012‎

According to that Facebook page the group's "action" started on April 21 and is scheduled to end in two days - has anyone even noticed these "occupiers"? It's also quite telling that out of more than 300 people "invited" only eight bothered to confirm participation. Such a small number, active over such a short period would inevitably struggle to be noticed above the everyday "static" of routine vandalism. IMHO it rates as a fairly miserable failure! Roger (talk) 14:46, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's another effort by self-promoter Andrej Poleev, who is angry that we don't have articles about him in all the world's Wikipedias. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:48, 8 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sortable table formatting

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  Resolved

At Juwan Howard#NBA, I need to know how to keep the final rows of a table from sorting.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 05:28, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Done.--GoPTCN 09:42, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 14:08, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

improving images

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Is it okay to improve another person's images without consulting them? I did it recently and the other person had hysterics. Sardaka (talk) 07:58, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

All material posted on Wikipedia (aside from a very limited dispensation for using non-free content) is irrevocably licensed under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 and GDFL licences, which means that anybody has permission to change and/or reuse it for any purpose. Furthermore, the WP:BRD cycle applies to images as much as anything else. However, both parties should maintain WP:Wikiquette. --ColinFine (talk) 11:03, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You didn't link the situation and it's impossible to evaluate a specific case without seeing it. It appears from commons:Special:ListFiles/Sardaka and commons:User talk:99of9#File names that you seek attention for your own uploads over others by choosing silly file names with "(1)" in front to be listed alphabetically before letters and numbers. If you did something to promote your own file over another then I can easily imagine somebody getting irritated. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:42, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Has mobile wikipedia changed?

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I look on Wikipedia on my iphone all the time as i find it fascinating. However, for the last few days the format seems to have changed? At the top of each article there was a big W and by clicking on it you could go back to the home page or choose a random article to look at. This is no longer there which i find disapointing. Also the images have gone, i have checked the place where you select to have images on or off and mine are definately on. Does anyone know why the mobile site has changed? The last one was so much better — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.205.232.161 (talk) 09:26, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's working fine on my iPhone. If the problem persists, WP:VPT would be the best place to ask further. --ColinFine (talk) 11:07, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

new article

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yesterday i uploaded new article without an account, if i want to know the status how do i do it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.8.52.46 (talk) 09:45, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The IP address you are posting on has no contributions other than this post here, so if you submitted something you must have had a different IP address when you did it. How did you "upload" it? And how can we possibly help you find it if you don't tell us what it is called? If you used the "Articles for creation" mechanism, you can look at a list of recent submissions at (bizarrely) Template:AFC statistics. --ColinFine (talk) 11:18, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

uploading an image file

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couldn't upload an image because it said I wasn't logged in to wikimedia commons and that there is no such user as me! how weird is that!

Peter morrell 11:20, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Try Special:MergeAccount? Probably that helps you get a unified account all over Wikimedia wikis. Dipankan (Have a chat?) 11:42, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
OK many thanks I will give that a go, cheers Peter morrell 12:15, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
NO JOY!! any other ideas? Peter morrell 12:18, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
http://toolserver.org/~quentinv57/sulinfo/Peter_morrell confirms you have unified the account now. Maybe it had not been registered in the right place yet. Can you log in at commons:? PrimeHunter (talk) 12:46, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No I can't it keeps saying wrong password, and then no account of that name...so...what next? Peter morrell
Be careful to write the username with a space and lower case m at commons:Special:UserLogin. If I enter "Peter morrell" with a random password then it recognizes the username and says "Incorrect password or confirmation code entered". If the username doesn't exist then it says "There is no user by the name". And be careful to write the password correctly. If your browser has stored it at the English Wikipedia then you may be mistyping it at another place. Can you log in here by typing the password yourself? If not then use Special:PasswordReset. If you already know the password correctly then you can also try changing it at Special:ChangePassword and see if that forces an update to be registered at commons. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:14, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Many thanks, its OK for some unknown reason I can now login OK and I have uploaded the picture as originally intended at Cannock Chase German war cemetery. I think it just took time to update and apply the crosslink login thing. thanks again for your help! Peter morrell 15:33, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

PAYGO Definition (History / Origin)

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Your definition of "PAYGO" only refers to the origin as legislation. The "philosophy/policy" originated during the Reagan years. (personal experience recollection) I always thought it was ironic that Republicans never embraced what Reagan created. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.26.11.238 (talk) 13:35, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately your own memory is not a Verifiable Reliable Source, but if you can find published material that you can cite you are welcome to add the information to the article. Roger (talk) 17:26, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Right aligning and sorting data in a table

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I tried to copy some formatting from Tim Duncan to Juwan Howard#Michigan career, but it failed to right align the data.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 14:30, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The table start in Tim Duncan#Regular season is made by {{NBA player statistics start}} which has code to right align the table cells. I have added the same code to your table.[4] PrimeHunter (talk) 20:31, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. That resolves one issue.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 22:17, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Also, I have added a symbol at Juwan_Howard#NBA and it has messed up the sorting.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 14:53, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I have been asked

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by a friendly editor to change the name of File:St GuadensShaw Mem.jpg to File:St GaudensShaw Mem.jpg because that is the correct spelling of the sculptor's name. This was a file I uploaded in 2006. I don't have a clue as to how to do it and would appreciate if (1) you were just to do it, or, failing that (2) wold inform me how to do it. It will make wikipedia a better place and the asking editor a happier person. Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 15:48, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

  Done - I have filemover rights and I have moved it per your request.--ukexpat (talk) 16:02, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I had a sense that Wikipedia was a better place today, now I know why.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 17:51, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help, I've buggered up an article!

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  Resolved

Please someone help, I've added an illustrative picture to the Liverpool City Region article, but the picture has distorted the entire article! I would like it to appear in a right hand side box as seen in this article Sheffield City Region. Could anyone help... Richie wright1980 (talk) 17:07, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed. It needed a boxboxbottom tag in double braces, to balance the boxboxtop. Maproom (talk) 16:24, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thankyou very much!! Richie wright1980 (talk) 17:27, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

No problem – it was easy. But there's something else that has grabbed my attention. According to this page's history, you asked for help at 16:08, I replied at 16:24, and you thanked me at 16:28. But according to the automatically-generated dates in this section, you asked for help at 17:07, I replied at 16:24, and you thanked me at 17:27. I can think of two explanations for this, neither of them plausible:
  1. Your system clock is 59 minutes fast, and Wikipedia's software foolishly believes it, but only for the purposes of the page itself, not for the page history.
  2. Someone is altering the timestamps on your contributions by 59 minutes, and their alterations aren't showing up in the page history.
I wonder if anyone has a better explanation? Maproom (talk) 21:39, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Richie wright1980 is adding the time manually and not using the real UTC time. Don't do it manually. You should sign with four ~~~~. This automatically adds the UTC time. See more at Wikipedia:Signatures. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:41, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

References not showing up on SNDRI article

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Help please! Somebody has sabotaged the SNDRI article so that the citations no longer appear at the bottom of the page. The ratings for this article have dropped significantly since this occurred.--Aschwole (talk) 17:10, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The template include size is exceeded. The templates are not being parsed and the page is in the hidden category Category:Pages where template include size is exceeded. See Wikipedia:Template limits.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Gadget850 (talkcontribs)
What "ratings have dropped"? Roger (talk) 17:29, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Reducing the number of templates is the only way to fix the problem. There are a few apparently simple statements that have been burdened with a whole lot of references. One statement - the first sentence in the "Depression" section - has nine citations! Cutting them down to two or at most three per statement would significantly reduce the total number of templates in the article. Roger (talk) 18:30, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I am starting to think something borked with today's update, as Category:Pages where expansion depth is exceeded now has 3,837 pages. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) talk 02:24, 8 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
OK. The update added tracking for this problem, so now we are seeing the new category. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) talk 14:09, 8 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Help with side box

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Just working on Borough of Halton article, if you notice on the right hand side information box where it mentions the settlement type as 'Borough' and 'U.A.', how do I make 'District of Liverpool City Region' appear on a new line...Many thanks

Richie wright1980 (talk) 17:56, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Richie, you can insert a line break using the following code: <br />. I have edited the article replacing the "&" with "<br />"; however if this isn't what you were trying to achieve feel free to revert… benzband (talk) 17:23, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Joseph Utsler's Wiki page/ Sons and Daughter

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Joseph Utsler (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

I was reading through the Wiki on Joseph William Utsler. Cyrus and Isaac Utsler are MY sons! They are not his ex-wife Annette's! She has NEVER givin birth to ANY of Joey's kids! I gave birth to Cyrus and Isaac, Jamesa Lynn Tzay! Joey and I dated from 1990-1997. MY sons were born July 24,1996. Joey didnt even MEET his ex-wife until my sons were 6 years old! I lived at Joeys parents house (3040 Goodrich, Ferndale,MI) for 5 years. Joey and I lived together in Hamtramack,MI for a year before they were born. They were born at Providence Hospital in Southfield,MI. His daughter Mahala is not Annete's daughter either. Her Mothers name is Maggie. Please stop posting incorrect information about MY SONS! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.41.138.141 (talk) 19:09, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I see that you removed the information yourself. It would have been a good idea if you had given an Edit Summary explaining why you were making change, as otherwise there is a risk that people or robots will think that your deletion of material from an article was vandalism.

--ColinFine (talk) 20:30, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

call of duty

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how come that a big game company like your selfs can not put a clause in it for cheatters, ie boosters getting a bigger kill than you,,,,, sick and tiered that people that have only been playing for 2hrs get top scores above 25 than that of people that have been playing a lot longer ,,,, i hope that when the new one comes out in november you have sorted it because i love playing the game when we do not have cheats on it

peter — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.152.0.251 (talk) 19:21, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect, based on your question, that you found one of our over 3.9 million articles and thought we were affiliated in some way with that subject. Please note that you are at Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this page is for asking questions related to using or contributing to Wikipedia itself. Thus, we have no special knowledge about the subject of your question. You can, however, search our vast catalogue of articles by typing a subject into the search field on the upper right side of your screen. If you cannot find what you are looking for, we have a reference desk, divided into various subject areas, where asking knowledge questions is welcome. Best of luck. Jauerbackdude?/dude. 19:24, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How to report incorrect information?

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Here's an example of incorrect information, Bhuiya (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

It is shown in Wikipedia that "The Bhuiya are a Hindu tribal found in North India" that is false because my last name is Bhuiya and I am not hindu. I'm from Bangladesh and Muslim. Bhuiya a.k.a Bhuiyan are the same surname. It should be fixed and although I did fix the information I was given warning for editing for some strange reason. So, I would like to know how to properly edit this information as this is completely false.

Bhuiyan and Bhuiya are the same surname. They are mostly found in Bangladesh.

Bhuiyan (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.44.139.155 (talk) 23:03, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You should discuss this on the article's talk page. RudolfRed (talk) 00:23, 8 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]