Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions/Archive 148

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Menstrual Cycle

how can you stop a woman from seeing her period without interrupting her reproductive system?01:15, 30 September 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.27.211.245 (talk)

Welcome to the Teahouse! This question seems more suited for the Reference desk. However, Wikipedia does not provide medical advice. Ross Hill01:43 30 Sep 2013 (UTC)

I do not recall ever writing to you before, and yet, as I write you now, I read that I wrote something called Caeaar's Civil War? And That I was 'reverted, or removed? What?! I am now concerned that someone used my name.

..what could the problem be?? Do you have my e-mail address, possibly being used by someone else?? 71.190.230.72 (talk) 00:32, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi, you have a dynamic IP address, which means someone used the IP address that you are currently using sometime in the past. Whoever that was vandalized Wikipedia, but did not read the warning message that was sent to them. Since you are the first person to access Wikipedia with your current IP address, you must have received their message. Don't worry about it. Ryan Vesey 00:38, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
Welcome to the Teahouse! Pretty much what Ryan said - in the future, you can, however, avert this from happening by creating an account. Instructions here. Happy editing, Go Phightins! 00:57, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
Here Ross Hill01:47 30 Sep 2013 (UTC)

Emotional/Mental Therapy

It is a small request but it as a large feeling of relief for a great many individuals. I have been in therapy for a lot of years. Counseling for PTSD due to combat as well as sexual trauma, Bipolar, etc, etc, etc. Something that I found as one of my triggers is the word THERAPIST. Break it down THE-RAPIST. Without meaning to - the very individuals trying to aid in our improvement - they are again striking us with a velvet glove. Why not call them counselors? Are maybe psychiatrist assist (as Physician Assist)?Gfgayle (talk) 00:04, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello. I am very sorry to hear about the problems you have experienced. This page, the Wikipedia Teahouse, is a place for learning about editing Wikipedia. I don't believe we are able to help you in regards to this. Regards, --LukeSurl t c 00:16, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Junction list

Why is my junction list messed up? I did all the right coding, and after that, the list looked messed up! Can you help me? Philroc (talk) 23:00, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello. It looks like Imzadi1979 has fixed this and explained at Talk:Virginia_State_Route_7_Business_(Purcellville). Cheers, --LukeSurl t c 00:10, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

referencing sources in a biography

Hi all,

I am working on an article with a biography of Irmgard Bartenieff, a very important person in the Laban Movement Analysis work.

Actually for this I am putting texts of others together, with their permission, because they do not know how to do this themselves. Now I am wondering if and how the people who are actually writing this could/should be referenced?

And also: I am using large parts of their texts literally, since rewriting is just too much and also I do not know enough myself about her. But how can I make sure I am not accused of copyrights infringement by wiki administrators? I am really doing this in collaboration with the authors, with me mainly as technical support to get a solid article on Bartenieff in the Wikipedia.

I know of all the requirements for articles in the wiki, so I do not need information on that, just specifically about the use of texts of others with their permission and how to reference.

Thanks, Sandra (talk) 17:44, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello Sandra! I would read WP:CITE for information regarding citing sources. I would also read Referencing for beginners a page more informative to beginners about references and citing. Good luck! ///EuroCarGT 18:06, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
... but if you are saying that you want to use text which someone else has written but not published, then it isn't acceptable as a reference in Wikipedia. It needs to be published material to qualify as a reliable source and to meet Wikipedia's requirement for verifiability. - David Biddulph (talk) 18:18, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
Thanks both. First of all I must say that I find the informations pages, especially regarding citing, are very hard to get through, but I will give it another try if you think the answer to my specific question is in there.

For the latter, David, thank you too, but the texts I am using, do include references of published resources, so that is covered. But as I understand from what you are saying, I cannot reference the authors of the texts themselves, is it? Sandra (talk) 18:25, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Archiving

Hey Again...

I want to know how I archive my Talk page and what is Archiving?

Thanks in advance,

GideonWanna talk? 17:10, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello Gideon! You could learn more about archiving your user talk page by reading Archiving a talk page. You could also use an automated way by adding a script on top of your user talk page in which a bot could auto-archive your page after an old discussion, you could learn more about the 2 bots at: User:MiszaBot/Archive HowTo and User:ClueBot III#How to archive your page. ///EuroCarGT 17:25, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
Thank you! GideonWanna talk? 18:49, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Removing Stuff from my Talk page

Hi all!

Can I remove stuff from my talk page? or is it wrong in doing so?

Thanks in Advance,

GideonWanna talk? 16:47, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello, Gideon, and welcome to the Teahouse. Yes, you may, but I recommend you read the policy on this question (at WP:BLANKING), which says "Policy does not prohibit users, whether registered or unregistered users, from removing comments from their own talk pages, although archiving is preferred." --ColinFine (talk) 17:02, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Other language references

Can I add other language references to English wikipedia? If so, am I supposed to translate it to English or can it be used as such? -- Sriram speak up 14:26, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hey Sriram. We prefer English language sources where they exist and are of equal quality and relevance, but foreign language source are perfectly acceptable. See WP:NONENG. Note the guidance at WP:SAYWHEREYOUGOTIT that when using non-English sources, it may be helpful for our readers if the citation quotes from the original text and then gives an English translation. You might also translate other matters where it would help, such as providing a newspaper story's title in English right after it in parentheses. Also, you can add to the citation a template that notes the source's original language, such as {{Hi icon}}, which will place a note in the reference giving the language of the source used; this one formats as: (in Hindi). See Category:Language icon templates for more. If you are using one of the citation templates to format your entire citation, you don't need these icon templates as the citation template internally provides a parameter for this. For example, in {{cite book}}, you can add the parameter |language=Hindi. Best regards--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:37, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Have pasted virgin submittal in my Sandbox - please review

I'm Robert A. Berman and have pasted my draft article in my sandbox. If proper to ask, could someone review my article on the Digital Computer Association?Robert A. Berman (talk) 01:24, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello and Welcome! I don't see your sandbox contribution on your user page, However I would try looking at [WP:AFC|Articles for Creation]], where other memebrs of the community could review your article and see what could be improved or if the article doesn't meet the guidelines. I would read WP:ACR for more information about article's creation. Good luck! ///EuroCarGT 01:38, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
The draft is probably User:Robert_A._Berman/sandbox. Robert: I suggest fixing your references before you go further. See WP:REFB for how to do that. RudolfRed (talk) 02:55, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
Hello Robert, I have added the code {{User sandbox}} at the top of your article. When you want to submit it for review, hit the button at the bottom of the "Sandbox" box at the top of your article where it says If you are writing an article, and are ready to request its creation, click here.. Then the folks at WP:AFC can review your article and give suggestions. And like Rudolf says, there's a much easier and better way to mark footnotes, so do read WP:REFB. MatthewVanitas (talk) 17:03, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
FYI Robert A. Berman, "and we welcomed him like a hero", is not the kind of information we include in encyclopedia articles here. We are writing for readers. Readers aren't going to be part of "we". Thanks. Biosthmors (talk) pls notify me (i.e. {{U}}) while signing a reply, thx 17:06, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
Ah, I see the problem now: have pasted my draft article in my sandbox... When you copy-pasted your draft into your sandbox, it appears you pasted the text from the "read" mode rather than the actual code for the article. That's why you have footnotes like "[4]" and tags like "[citation needed]" rather than [citation needed]. Whenever you move anything on Wikipedia, don't copy-paste the text you see, hit Edit and copy-paste the code behind it. MatthewVanitas (talk) 17:16, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Making custormised signs...

I've seen many users have custom signs with color and detail

How do they do that?

Can I do that, if yes than how?

or must I be a admin or something?

Thanks in advance!

Gideon 19:11, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Gideon. All users can make customized signatures. See Wikipedia:Signatures#Customizing your signature. Note the requirement at Wikipedia:Signatures#Internal links. You can click edit at a signature you like to see how it was made. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:11, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
Thank you! :-)

Gideon 04:15, 29 September 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gdcdigital (talkcontribs)

Make sure that you read Wikipedia:Signatures#Internal links and do the necessary corrections; my guess is that you've got "Treat the above as wiki markup" at Special:Preferences enabled when it shouldn't be. - David Biddulph (talk) 10:20, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Internal wikilinks to other sections of the same article.

I'm writing a section of an article which uses information of another section. Since repeating the same thing would be ridiculous, I thouht of doing something like "see [Section X] below". However, I've never seen that. Is it allowed? Does the MoS say anything? The example is: Catalan language#Pronunciation. Thanks!--Fauban 16:35, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Fauban, sorry for the late response. I saw your post when it first went up and I was hoping that a host with more experience of Wikipedia policy would answer you. From a wiki markup perspective, you may be interested to know that it isn't necessary to add the page name to links that are within the same page, so rather than see [[Catalan language#Pronunciation|Section X]] below you could just use see [[#Pronunciation|Section X]] below for a link within that page. I trust that someone will be able to answer your question regards the WP:MOS and common practice soon enough. AugurNZ 22:53, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

About Navbox

I am in the process of creating a Template concerning a film director by using a quite simple Infobox:

  • The main groups have child groups
  • Child groups have lists
  • No pictures

The issues are these:

  • The subgroups have different width, depending on what it's in there
  • The entire Infobox expands way out of the 100% page width

For the second question I have no idea what the cause and what the solution can be. For the first question I tried |groupstyle = width:10em;background:#cccc99; right before the first subgroup text. The background color is set properly, not the width setting though. I tried also to put the two groupstyle requests on two different lines, to no avail. Please help Carlotm (talk) 06:41, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi Carlotm, and welcome to the Teahouse. I find very often that asking for a second opinion when creating complex tables and templates like this is often helpful, as you can get too close to it, and a fresh pair of eyes really helps. I notice in your sandbox that you have both...
|groupstyle = width:1em;background:#cccc99;
...and...
|groupstyle = width:10em;background:#ccff77;
I'm wondering if this has something to do with your problem? A zero too far, perhaps? AugurNZ 06:56, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
Another trick you can try is adding blank spaces after the years that don't end in an "s", such as 1974 instead of the 1970s. You can do this by adding   for a space. In the case of your table, you'll need to add two of them, for example...
| group1 = 1956  
Hope this helps. AugurNZ 07:16, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
Thanks AugurNZ for your reply. No the 1em was just one of many different values that I tried and it's not the source of the problem. The suggestion to put empty spaces where texts are shorter is working very fine, instead. Thank you. I still wondering why the width setting is not working. What about the spreading of the entire Navbox out of the standard page width? Do you have any idea? Carlotm (talk) 08:32, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
At the start of the Navbox I have this line
|listclass = hlist
which seems to trigger the horizontal expansion beyond the normal page width. If I take it out, the Sandox expands only vertically; entries are listed one per line, whether they are short or long though, making the Navbox very long. Is there the possibility to get the good of both worlds: having more than one entry per line (where possible) and maintaining the Sandbox inside the normal page width? Carlotm (talk) 09:22, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
Sorry, the width of the box when expanded is determined by the width of the longest content element, and you have some very long strings in there, such as La donna è una cosa meravigliosa (Woman Is a Wonderful Thing - segments Una donna dolce, dolce and La balena bianca - 1964). If you were to force the width of the whole navbox smaller, you would probably end up with a horizontal scrollbar, unless you either a). reduce the font size of the content, or b). allow for some text wrapping. Beyond that, I see no simple solution when your sentences are so long. AugurNZ 10:27, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
Sentences cannot be shortened, font size should not be reduced (this is my opinion, being font size a very volatile variable constrained by monitor resolution and reader eyesight). What remains is wrapping. But how do you accomplish it? That was my question lately (having more than one entry per line). Carlotm (talk) 01:32, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
Hi Carlotm, I'm afraid I cannot think of anything else to try other than inserting <br/> marks in the text so that it visually lines up with the page width, which, of course, also depends on the reader's monitor resolution and zoom level. I have made a courtesy edit in your sandbox to demonstrate how this may look. On my screen it has fixed the problem. Also, this solution will make it much more difficult to add content into your navbox later, as each subsequent edit will need to be manually aligned again. Feel free to revert my edit in your sandbox. AugurNZ 12:16, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Thank you very much for all your efforts and suggestions. Carlotm (talk) 23:36, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

error on Cabin John page

The Cabin John, Maryland, community has asked me to correct a sentence on the Wikipedia page about Cabin John. How do I do that? I'm the historian for the community. Cjhist (talk) 02:26, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello and Welcome! On the page Cabin John, Maryland, near the top-right corner click "Edit" or click here and do the corrections from there. Then I would preview the edit by clicking the Preview button on the bottom of the Edit page, then put in a edit summary ie. "Fixing grammar", then click Save. I would also read WP:HOW and Wikipedia:Tutorial/Editing for a more better perspective on help on editing. Enjoy! ///EuroCarGT 02:37, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
Thanks! I've edited the page. I wasn't clear on how to format the reference but it's there anyway for interested readers. Cjhist (talk) 03:03, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
Information on how to include references is available at WP:Referencing for beginners. You will see that rather than including details in the references section the detail is provided between <ref>...</ref> tags after the part of the article text which the reference is being used to support. The detail of the reference is often most conveniently formatted by a template such as {{cite web}} or {{cite book}}. Assuming that what you were referring to was a book, I have modified your edit in this further change, which you may wish to check. Wikipedia's principle of verifiability expects that sources will be published in a manner which allows a reader of the article to check the content if they wish to do so, hence if you have an ISBN or other identifier to enable a reader to find the book, this ought to be added within the {{cite book}} template. - David Biddulph (talk) 05:13, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
One more question -- I added reference to a book that is on Amazon, on author's web site, and also in public libraries of Montgomery County, Maryland. Should the title of the book be linked to any of those web sites as I noticed other references have links? 96.255.172.221 (talk) 15:16, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
For a book, the ISBN is normally the best parameter to give, as from that Wikipedia will provide links to appropriate places through Special:BookSources. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:24, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
I looked at the cite book template. The book referenced has an ISBN but seems odd to add that but happy to do it if helpful. How about a link to the author's web site which discusses the book and also includes a second book related to Cabin John? Cjhist (talk) 15:29, 28 September 2013 (UTC)
There is nothing odd about adding the ISBN number, Cjhist. If you add it to the book template in the reference, then the ISBN number becomes an active link. Clicking that gives extensive information about the book's availability worldwide, including libraries that own it, booksellers that offer it, and bibliographic information about the book. It is the single most important piece of data about any book published in the modern era. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 09:21, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

About Nigeria Most Popular Comedian IGODYE on Wiki

Hello someone should help me edit this please Or tell/show me what to do!..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Igodye

Thanks

Hello, IgoDye, and welcome to the teahouse. The article was rejected (twice) because it has almost no references, and therefore does not establish that IgoDye is notable (in the special sense that Wikipedia uses this word: it doesn't mean important, or famous, but simply whether reliable sources have written about him). Looking at the article, the Vanguard reference appears to qualify as substantial coverage in an independent reliable source; but the other reference (Opa Williams) is neither substantial nor independent: it may be used to support the particular fact you have cited it for, but cannot contribute to establishing notability. There need to be many more references to substantial coverage in reliable sources - so, books or articles in major newspapers or magazines that discuss IgoDye at length.
But I'm afraid there are other problems with the article as well. It is far too promotional in tone. This is an encyclopaedia, and articles are required to be written in neutral language. Phrases like "his impeccable performances" and "The artistic creativity ... is beyond comedy" are never acceptable in Wikipedia articles, unless they are quoting an independent reliable source (such as a biography).
Your biggest problem, though, is that judging by your username, you would appear to be IGODYE yourself. If you are, then you have a huge conflict of interest, and you are going to find it very difficult to write in a suitably neutral tone. You should read Wikipedia:Plain and simple conflict of interest guide before you do anything else on the article.
Finally, on talk pages such as this one (but not in articles), please sign your contributions with four tildes (~~~~): the software will insert your signature there, like this: ColinFine (talk) 12:17, 4 October 2013 (UTC)

Why my article is showing speedy deletion message

Sir please help. I have created my new article and which is now under the speedy deletion step. I want to save it but how? I also want to know the reason of this.URL of article is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_hotels,_Kota Please suggest me anyway to save my article and i want to know the mistakes in my article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Suryaa123 (talkcontribs) 11:30, 3 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi Suryaa. While I can't see the contents of the article anymore as it has been deleted, the reason why it was deleted is because there was no assertion that this set of hotels is significant. Furthermore, by the looks of your username, you seem to be affiliated with the hotels in question, and I would encourage you to read over our plain and simple conflict of interest guide before continuing to edit. I, JethroBT drop me a line 14:57, 3 October 2013 (UTC)

Stupid question (I think)

So I think I just made my first article. I got a notification that said reviewed with a green check. Did it go through/get accepted?KatCheez 18:15, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

New pages on Wikipedia are (sometimes) reviewed by other editors as a quality control measure. The happy green tick is a sign that this review was favourable. Well done! --LukeSurl t c 19:09, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
By the way, you are free to ask anything here about Wikipedia. There are no "stupid questions". Konveyor Belt express your horror at my edits 19:30, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

I have created an article with the same name as a category

I have created an article with the same name as a category... and now it is hard to locate that category quickly because the search item goes straight to the article. Sorry! The category is named "South African literary awards" and is a list of all the various national awards. The new article, named "South African Literary Awards" (caps) is less important: it is about one particular award that happens to have that same name. If I could I would rename the article "South African Literary Awards (SALA)" to distinguish it, but I don't know how to rename a article or even how to delete it! And can you put a category into a disambig page? Any help appreciated, thanks so much! Ghostfrog (talk) 16:17, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Click one of the little arrows at the top of the menu bar and select "move". Then put in your new title and the page will get a new title. Konveyor Belt express your horror at my edits 16:20, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

  Done I moved it for you to South African Literary Awards (SALA) Konveyor Belt express your horror at my edits 16:25, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

upload a pic

Hi, how can i upload a pic to an article ?

Edited by : Brian Scott 14:14, 9 October 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Brian scott SL (talkcontribs)

Hi Brian, it's great that you're keen to improve Wikipedia articles by adding pictures. As your question is quite brief, I am going to reply with some quite general information about pictures on Wikipedia. Please ask again if you need some more specific advice, or we can clarify anything that is unclear.
 
A picture!
  1. Just to point out, pictures and other media aren't uploaded to specific articles, but rather are uploaded to a database which can be accessed from multiple articles. For example, the picture, right, is used on the kitten and Maine Coon articles. I placed a copy here by using the code [[File:Cat-MaineCoon-Cookie.png|thumb|right|A picture!]]. Details on the syntax of using an existing image can be found here. As you see, you'll need to know the filename of an image in order to use this syntax. You can find the filename, and other details, of any image you see on Wikipedia by clicking on it. (try clicking on the kitten!)
  2. Before uploading a new image, you may find we already have a good image in our free image repository. This is called Wikimedia Commons, and details on this can be found here. There are thousands of images already uploaded there, and the integration of commons with Wikipedia means that these images can be added easily using the code I mentioned above. Also, every image on Commons is under a copyright license that means it can be used in any Wikipedia article (in any language) in any context editors see fit.
  3. If you can't find an existing image that could be used, then let's think about uploading a new one. Here's where we enter the world of copyright. Most images that you will find on Google image search (or similar) will be copyrighted, and generally Wikipedia can't use these images. Most of the images you will find on Wikipedia are photos taken by public-spirited volunteers who have then released them under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 License (or similar). Is the image you want to add one that you own, or is otherwise licensed under a sufficiently permissable license? (very old images may be in the public domain which is acceptable for use on Commons) If so, I'd encourage you to release it under that license and upload it to Commons so it can be used across the Wikimedia projects (including Wikipedia). The Commons' upload wizard is a nice tool that guides you through the process and provides more information about copyright. Once an image is on Commons, you can immediately add it to any article on Wikipedia (see step 1)
  4. There are limited cases whereby a copyright image can be use on Wikipedia, and in these cases usage is always strictly limited. This is known as "fair use". Please read Wikipedia:Non-free use rationale guideline if your image falls in this category.
Hope this is useful for you! Please let us know if anything is unclear, or you have any other questions about editing Wikipedia. Once again, thank you for helping create our encyclopedia!
Cheers, --LukeSurl t c 15:07, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Progress of my Wikipedia article

Hi. An article on a new website/company that has just launched in the UK called City Calling was written about a month ago. I still have not received any correspondence or update on the page we submitted. Please can you inform me on how long this will take?

City Calling (talk) 09:00, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse. The contribution record for your account shows no contributions other than your message here. Under what account do you think that you created the article? Did you try to create it directly in article space, or as an AFC, or as a user space draft? The only references I can find to "City Calling" are in regard to the City Calling Stadium in Ireland. It therefore appears that whatever you tried to create you didn't save. You also need to be aware that your user name appears to represent an organisation, rather than an individual, and this is not permitted, so you need to read WP:CORPNAME and choose a new user name for you as an individual. - David Biddulph (talk) 09:15, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
But also please be aware that if the company has "just launched", it is very unlikely that it has yet been written about widely enough to establish notability (in Wikipedia's special sense), so any article on it at present would probably be deleted. --ColinFine (talk) 15:10, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Am I ready to publish my stub or article?

Re: User:Millermbm

I'm working on an article on Pedlar Dolls, a subject not found in search. It has the basic information and I think it could start as a stub. Please give me your opinion and then some guidance on what to do next. Thank you, Mary Bruce Miller (talk) 04:08, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello, Mary. It looks like a good start to an article. The important thing is that you have included references, which in turn establish that the subject is notable (in Wikipedia's special sense). It could do with some headings, and a lede (introductory paragraph before the first heading). The only other thing I note is the phrase "Some authors" which occurs twice, and invites the immediate question "which?". The first instance of this has a citation at the end of the sentence: if the article says that "some authors feel ... " then your statement is supported, but if Johnston in the article advances the view you mention, then generalising from "Estelle Johnston feels that ..." to "some authors feel that ... " is original research. The phrase in the last paragraph is unsupported by any reference.
Your user page is not the right place to incubate an article. You should either move it to a user sandbox (for example User:Millermbm/Pedlar Doll), or you might want to consider putting it through the Article Wizard, which will put it in a standard place and let you request a review from an experienced editor. --ColinFine (talk) 08:50, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

How to delete a user

Subject closed; vandalistic troll indeffed

a user is bullying me how do i delete him from wikipedia (Mathgenious989 (talk) 00:44, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Is the user, Eggishorn? If so, adding a CSD tag to your article does not constitute harassment. Maybe resubmit that article after working on it for a bit in your sandbox. For future reference, if you think that a user is harassing you, bring it to WP:ANI. — (っ◔◡◔)っRoss Hill 00:47, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
You can't delete users from Wikipedia, why on Earth should you think that you could? Eric Corbett 00:52, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

ok eric you are confused but thanks blackross and it isnt eggishorn — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mathgenious989 (talkcontribs) 00:58, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Do you mind sharing who the alleged bully is? — (っ◔◡◔)っRoss Hill 01:07, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
Eric may be confused, but he is correct. Please be more specific. --Onorem (talk) 01:01, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
The OP, who appears to be nothing more than a vandal & a troll, has been indeffed, so subject closed. - David Biddulph (talk) 09:27, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for welcoming me but why have you invited me?

Thanks for inviting me my Wiki-writer name as a call it is Purple 16 Worlds. I just want know why am being invited though. Thank you, sincerely Purple 16 Worlds (talk) 21:11, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

I have a guess of why I am being invited because I am writing about such great subjects. From Purple 16 Worlds (talk) 21:13, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
You may have been invited because some experienced users have raised concerns about your understanding of Wikipedia policies and guidelines, such as WP:Promotion, WP:Neutrality, and WP:Notability. Do you have any questions regarding those policies? — (っ◔◡◔)っRoss Hill 00:32, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

? re: article that was not accepted by editor

Re: Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Christiane Robbins Hi there-

I have a question as to why the article I submitted sometime ago (!) was rejected by the editor. He was kind enough to leave me notes of which I understand and appreciate. My question is that this format has been used in other accepted Wiki articles on living people - so there seems to be somewhat of an arbitrary aspect to the standards of acceptance.....or am I really missing something v. obvious? :)

Thanks so much!

GeoLewis (talk) 20:20, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi GeoLewis, welcome! One unfortunate aspect of an encyclopedia that anyone can edit, is some articles are created not conforming to the standards put forward by Wikipedia policies and guidelines. You are submitting your article via WP:AFC, so your article will be reviewed, and will be nearly flawless when accepted. Others who don't use WP:AFC will submit flawed articles, and may have those articles deleted. The articles not submitted via WP:AFC are the ones you may be talking about. — (っ◔◡◔)っRoss Hill 00:43, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Reference inside the caption of an image

Is it correct. I mean, I want to add an image with a fact in the caption and therefore it needs a reference. Can I do that? Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 19:41, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Of course you can, just add it in the normal way. Eric Corbett 20:11, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Thanks again. Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 20:15, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Adding the accessdate parameter in refs

I do a lot of work filling in references in articles when I find bare URLs or other inadequately documented or broken refs. I usually use the "cite web" template.

My question is: Should I add today's date as the accessdate= parameter, even if I'm updating a ref that's several years old? (This is what I've been doing.)

In other words, is the purpose of the accessdate= parameter to show the (latest) date that the source was retrieved successfully? Or should I just leave it out, or attempt to approximate the date that the original poster of the ref accessed it and added it to the article?

JimmB (talk) 17:12, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to the teahouse JimmB. Yes add today's date if it works and you can see the info. Are you aware of the tools we have to help in this regard? See....
  • Reflinks - Edits bare references - adds title/dates etc. to bare references
  • Checklinks - Edit and repair external links

-- Moxy (talk) 17:29, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Reference inside Wikipedia

Can a people actually add a reference pointing out another article on Wikipedia?? Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 16:42, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi Miss Bono - No that would be a self Wiki reference See WP:CIRCULAR. Best bet is to use the ref that the article uses if you can see it yourself. -- Moxy (talk) 16:46, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
So, I can revert an edit made by some user referencing some fact adding an existing article as a references. Thanks Moxy. Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 16:52, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Not only can you, you should, as Wikipedia itself isn't a reliable source. Eric Corbett 20:13, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Thank you Eric. Miss Bono [hello, hello!] 20:14, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
If the other Wikipedia article is closely related to the one you are working on, a link to it can be added at the bottom of the article in a "See also" section. That way it's not a reference, but the reader's attention is called to it. —Anne Delong (talk) 11:12, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
  • Are you after a link or a reference?
A "link" belongs as either an inline wikilink or in the See also section. These are good, we like links. They're there as "further wiki-reading" to push readers towards other articles they might find useful or interesting.
A "reference" is something that establishes the notability of an article subject or the veracity of a statement. We can't really do this within Wikipedia itself, as otherwise it all gets a bit circular and a misleading statement starts to become its own evidence for itself. If you are writing a new section and something it already covered in another article, then it's a reasonable short-term measure to link to a WP article where it is adequately sourced (it's better than nothing). However this is a temporary measure and it ought to be made into an explicit link to the original off-wiki source.
It's sometimes useful to add a footnote to an article, noting a further WP article (see Michel engine for some examples). Not often done, but making a footnote can be a visually distinctive format that's worth knowing about. They can cover parenthetical backstory that needs to be accessible nearby, but doesn't fit in the main flow of a page. These can be just footnotes, or they can be footnotes that contain wikilinks or reference citations. The technical wikicode is obscure, so either copy bits of that article and experiment in the sandbox or ask again. Andy Dingley (talk) 11:35, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

About the procedure of submitting new articles

Hi all,

I'm a new editor, and I've created a page in my sandbox. Now that I feel it is ready to go, should I go ahead and post it on the mainspace or should I put it on my main userpage to see the community's oppinion first? Also, if it's the latter, can I move it to my main userpage without destroying anything or should I just copy and paste the entire article?

Thank you! Longape (talk) 16:17, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello Longape, I've left a template at the top of your User:Longape/sandbox that has a button saying If you are writing an article, and are ready to request its creation, click here. If you click that, it will go to the WP:Articles for Creation review process for fine-tuning and feedback from volunteer reviewers. Your main userpage is more just for an "About me and my Wikipedia interests/priorities" (check mine out for example), but for drafting you can use your sandbox. You can make as many "sandboxes" as you like, as long as it's under the "User:Longape/" name. So "User:Longape/Sandbox2", "User:Longape/Harlow draft", or "User:Longape/Working on Terwilleger theorem article" are all fine working titles that are safely within your personal working spaces. You can also just put {{subst:submit}} at the top of any sandbox page of yours, then follow the instructions on the template that appears to get your submission over to the AFC queue. MatthewVanitas (talk) 16:59, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Hello there "Longape" welcome to the teahouse. I see the article at User:Longape/sandbox - Since this is a very specific topic about physics... I have informed WikiProject Physics Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Physics#New article as they can review it and help move the page if all is ok. -- Moxy (talk) 17:10, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

When to merge articles?

Hi Wikipedians!

I am new to Wikipedia and I am working with a group on a course project for Cornell University's Online Communities course. Here is the course page. I was making some edits and I came across this page Social peer-to-peer processes, which I feel there is sufficient grounds for including in the Peer-to-peer article which we are editing. What are your thoughts on this, and what is the Wikipedia protocol for this action? I have created a section about this on the peer-to-peer talk page for discussion. Thank you!

CBCompton (talk) 16:15, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello CBCompton welcome to the teahouse. Give me a minute and I will reply at peer-to-peer talk page on what to do. -- Moxy (talk) 17:17, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Oh, goody, a group. Mostly you can learn a lot more about this kind of thing if you argue it out face to face even if the other faces are just as new to the question. Like most things at wp there's an article about when and how, in this case it's at Wikipedia: Merging and like most it tries to be exhaustive at the expense of readability. In your case I think both articles are too big for an easy merger, so you might want to try look into wp:Summary style to see if it can hint at how to clarify the relation between them. Anyway welcome, and if you think careful thinking is fun then you're going to enjoy it here. Further discussion ought to be in the talk pages of the articles in question. Jim.henderson (talk) 17:30, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Translating a French article into English

Hi all,

I want to create an English-language page for the French string quartet Quatuor Ébène, which only has a page on the French Wikipedia as of right now. How do I go about doing this? Should I translate directly from the French text or create a completely new English page? Are there certain rules for translating across Wikipedias of different languages?

Also, I speak French, so I can translate from the French page if need be.

Stara729 (talk) 15:56, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello Stara, see WP:TRANSLATION for the details on how to go about this, but really as long as you provide proper attribution and translate properly (there are far too many people who attempt to paste google translations) it should be fine however you want to do it--Jac16888 Talk 16:50, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Stuck on how to publish completed article on live main space

I'm stuck after completing draft article and would like to know how the article can be published on live main pages? I've posted this question on my Talk page 2 weeks ago but have received no response . So is there anyone out there who can help?

Christopher MorrisSirromhc (talk) 15:54, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello Sirromhc , you've received no response because [[help me]] is not the notification code, what you meant was {{help me}}, so that's why nobody responded.
Second, I'm looking at the talk page, and you've had some confusion that has led you to make some mistaken moves and changes that made untangling this a bit difficult. But I puzzled at least some of it out. Your article is now at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Christopher Morris (news presenter) and is awaiting review, so in a few days or a week or so you should receive feedback on what needs to be done to get it published.
Separate issue: are you writing your own autobiography? Please be advised that is generally a very bad idea, so please read WP:Autobiography for your awareness. Especially since if that is the case you're also promoting yourself by adding mention of yourself to other articles. MatthewVanitas (talk) 17:09, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Part of your problem was that your draft had been put in the wrong namespace. It was at Wikipedia:Christopher Morris (News Presenter), whereas a live article should be at Christopher Morris (news presenter) (without the Wikipedia: prefix, which is reserved for information on how Wikipedia works). Hopefully Matthew is sorting it out for you, though I see that the redirect created after he moved your draft to AFC space seems to have been overwritten, for no obvious reason, by the action of a bot. - David Biddulph (talk) 17:41, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Sirromhc's talk page is now back in the right place, his userpage is separated out and marked with an explanation of what it's for, and his draft is awaiting review at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Christopher Morris (news presenter). Not a huge deal, just a little tangling from good-faith attempts to move things to the right places which went awry. But all straight now. MatthewVanitas (talk) 21:19, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Hello MatthewVanitas (talk) Thank you for moving my talk page back in the right place and for your advice. I'll await developments now that the draft is in the right space awaiting review..

Christopher MorrisSirromhc (talk) 10:26, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Misinformation in biography of my boss

How can I assist in cleaning up wiki site regarding Bernard L. Schwartz. It has several errors in it and many omissions. His bio appears on his own website www.bernardlschwartz.com and on the websites of many organizations where he is a board member or trustee. He has had a long career so there are numerous mentions of him in the press and in the public domain in general that validate the facts of his life. How can I fix this? Thanks. 38.88.182.234 (talk) 15:44, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

If something is wrong and does not have a footnote, you can go ahead and remove it at any point. Just leave a clear WP:Edit summary (little box below your editing window) mentioning what you removed and why. However, if there is something that you "don't like" but is clearly cited (like the criminal allegations against Schwartz), do not remove that without discussing with someone. People will get very displeased if they think someone is trying to cover up documented facts about Schwartz's past.
If you want to add content, you must include clear footnotes backing those assertions up. You can only cite Schwartz's own website for the most basic uncontroversial facts (birthdate, birthplace, etc) but any "claims to fame" or accomplishments must be explicitly verified by WP:Footnotes to news media, academics, etc. MatthewVanitas (talk) 17:16, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

A link to the "Edit a page with problems" thing?

Sorry if this isn't worded well, I don't know the official name for it. I was curious if there is a way to access the page that suggests articles that grammar, formatting, and sourcing updates? 206.82.18.254 (talk) 15:28, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Sorry, this was me. It signed me out for some reason. Kekilrocks123 (talk) 15:33, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Hi Kekilrocks123. Take a look at Wikipedia:Backlog. It's a top level listing of article issue categories. Clicking on a category will get you a list of articles. --NeilN talk to me 15:50, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Why is my wikipedia saying I had a blank submission when I had text?

Is there coding or special characters that are required to start an article? Melissa jf893 (talk) 13:49, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi Melissa. At the time it was reviewed, your submission looked like this - just a submission template. You've since added text so that this is the current version - if you add the code {{subst:submit}} to the top of that page now, it will be re-reviewed and will be judged on the merits of the content. I have to say, I'd expect it to be declined; there are no sources, and the text is very promotional. You might want to have a read of this help page and make some adjustments before resubmitting. Yunshui  14:13, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
I notice that you had deleted the submission feedback from the top of your draft. We don't delete these feedback tags unless & until the draft is approved, as they are there to help you & future reviewers. I've put the tag back, & it includes a link to resubmit when you are ready, but you need to read the advice that Yunshui gave you first. - David Biddulph (talk) 14:30, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
You've deleted it again, & I've put it back again. The feedback from the previous review stays, along with your request for further review. - David Biddulph (talk) 15:18, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

how to Label "work in progress' other than in 'brief notes'

Hi i'm (Andys'edtits 13:08, 8 October 2013 (UTC)) new, and starting from bottom up. I'm now starting Qld 'stubs' with questionable sources. As I've been trying to check the brief existing content, i added more with references. I added a sun category to elaborate on a historical home that was only named. Now, another person has come and removed paragraphs, and left note 'partly undid revision 576260183 by Andys'edtits (talk): -"1969 unusual robbery" (?) & 2013 NAPLAN (off-topic)' It's impossible to keep the page 'open' for hours without 'saving it' - So far all my work seems to be in vain- even verification of photographs & a refs for them were removed- I'm at a loss. What is procedure to allow a person to 'get the page done' before it gets ripped apart? Andys'edtits 13:08, 8 October 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andys'edtits (talkcontribs)

Hello Andys'edtits, I'm having a little trouble understanding your description above. So, do I understand right that you're drafting several new stub articles about Queensland (Australia), and those drafts are getting deleted before you've had a chance to get them into proper shape? If that is the issue, there are a few ways to avoid that:
  • You can use WP:Article Wizard, which will give you drafting space and then run your draft through a review process until it is ready to launch. An Article Wizard/WP:Articles for creations draft will only be deleted if it is libelous, vandalism, advertising, or a copyright violation.
  • You can work in your sandbox, like User:Andys'edtits/sandbox, and when ready to get it reviewed code "subst:submit" at the top, or just use the "Move" button to move it to mainspace if you're 100% confident it's ready to go.
  • If an actual article of yours has been deleted, and you want the text back so you can refine it in your sandbox, you can go to Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion and ask that they put it in your safe sandbox space for you to refine it at your leisure.
Does that answer your questions? MatthewVanitas (talk) 17:48, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
I think that the OP may have been referring to this reversion to edits on Ascot, Queensland? One point that may be worth making is that most of the edits being reverted didn't have edit summaries; it is always better to try to explain your edits in a summary. If the reader understands the logic behind the edit, he may be less inclined to revert it. - David Biddulph (talk) 18:45, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Hi, Andy'sedits. Look at these templates: {{In use}} and {{Under construction}}. They are designed to give you time to do a re-write of an article or section without interference for a short period of time, hours or days respectively. Hope this helps, DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·cont) Join WER 03:38, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you MatthewVanitas & Doctree. I will use both sandbox and WP:Article Wizard, & {{In use}} suggestions, and make sure i comment more, thanks you fr the help & support Andys'edtits 10:57, 9 October 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andys'edtits (talkcontribs)

Could anyone help review my article? I don't know if it fits well.

Hi, I just completed my first article and want to make sure it qualifies for approval and existence. Could anyone tell what are the next steps for making article visible to the world?

KamaGames

Thank you. Nadia Mitro (talk) 11:27, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Welcome to the Teahouse. Your article is visible to the world, though it might take until tomorrow morning for the Wikipedia search engine to be re-indexed to include it. There were a number of problems, and another editor has sorted many of them out for you & put on tags for others. I have posted a couple of links on your user talk page about external links and wikilinks. - David Biddulph (talk) 11:56, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Thank you for help. Do I get it right that since the links were changed to internal wikilinks, I don't need to edit anything links-wise? Or I need to edit external links (I just put them like references). Another question is that Review box says the article is 'orphan', but I have quite a number of internal links to articles connected to it. How do I fix the 'orphan' status then? And the last question is how do I know which of the references are considered unreliable?
Thank you. Nadia Mitro (talk) 12:10, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
It doesn't look as if you've got any remaining external links; if you did need any, they would go in a separate section after References. See WP:EL for what is appropriate. On the orphan question, if there are other WP articles which could reasonably link to your article, go to the other article & add links. For advice on which sources are reliable, read WP:Reliable sources. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:18, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Is there a definitive way to cite a reference from a book?

Hi, I notice book references formatted in different ways. Is there a current definitive way to cite a reference from a book? Thanks for any assistance. Cheers. Melbourne3163 (talk) 07:57, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Not definitive as such (just about any referencing system is acceptable), but the {{cite book}} template is probably the most common way to format book references. You can type it in manually, or use the "Cite" option at the top of your edit window to populate the template automatically. Yunshui  08:10, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you. Melbourne3163 (talk) 20:23, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

How to reply to someone who has left you a message

The message shows up in notifications so how do I reply to the user when I reach his pageCreativanoida (talk) 05:09, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello Creativanoida, and welcome to the Teahouse. You can reach any editor's page by clicking on their signature. If you click on that user's page, you will see a tab at the top of the page that says "Talk". If you click on that link, you will reach the user talk page, where you will see recent conversations with that user (editor). You will see a tab at the top of that page that says "New section". Simply click on that, add a brief but unique subject header that relates to your interaction, type your message, sign it with four tildes (~~~~), and click "save ". Or, respond the same way wherever the original message was left. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 07:30, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

How can I check whether a page has existed

How can I check whether a page has existed? When I enter "../mediwiki/index.php/title" in browser, the page will indicate whether this page named this title exists or not. How can I check that before directly entering the url. Where are all the existing pages stored? Can I check in the index.php file? But it seems I can't find the name of any existing pages.

Thanks!99.246.238.137 (talk) 02:12, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello and Welcome! You'll need to insert the title in the link. Without a title, it would direct you to a error page. Also if your looking for a Wikipedia page, don't go to MediaWiki as it is a Wiki-package site and not Wikipedia articles. ///EuroCarGT 02:23, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Hello. "index.php" is not an index: it is a program file that runs part of the website (and by convention it is often the main page of a site, though web programmers often arrange that you don't see it in the URL bar). I'm not clear why you're trying to search in the URL rather than using the search field. Even if you're using a private wiki rather than Wikipedia (which is what I guess from your including 'mediawiki' in the URL) there should be a search field. --ColinFine (talk) 10:55, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Can somebody help contribute to my article?

I have recently began editing my first article on Wikipedia. The article is about Anatol Josepho (inventor of the photo booth). Could somebody assist me with both contributing new information and editing this article? Thanks.

Retroscope (talk) 01:13, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi Retroscope, welcome to the Teahouse. Your edits to the page so far are improvements, and well formatted too. Was there something more specific that you had a question about? Howicus (Did I mess up?) 03:29, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Hello Retroscope , neat topic! My main suggestion would be to check out GoogleBooks for any works which mention interesting facts about Josepho. You can then add said fact and immediately give it a proper footnotes; note there's a tool at http://reftag.appspot.com that automatically turns GoogleBooks URLs into footnotes. Among other facts, I noticed one book mentions the original name of the invention was the Photomaton, which seems a great fact to add in there. So gBooks would be one way to add more facts and clearly cite them. MatthewVanitas (talk) 04:18, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Retroscope, if you are trying to find other editors who would be interested in working on your article with you, you may want to visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Telecommunications or Wikipedia:WikiProject Invention. —Anne Delong (talk) 05:19, 8 October 2013 (UTC)
Thanks for the support! Do you suggest any other databases other than Google Books? What do you guys use as a go-to place for facts and other tidbits? I'm so used to heading over to Wikipedia to look things up and since I am editing here on the sight on a fresh article, there is nothing where I am used to looking!

Retroscope (talk) 23:38, 8 October 2013 (UTC)