Help desk
< March 14	<< Feb \| March \| Apr >>	March 16 >

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

March 15

Nationality

I noticed that under "Kim Kardashian," you have her listed as "Nationality: American" and "Ethnicity: Armenian." But under Kanye West you have him listed as "Birthplace: Georgia" and "Origin: Chicago." Why wouldn't Kanye be listed as "Nationality: American" and "Ethnicity: African," or Kim listed with her "birthplace" and "origin (whatever that is)? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.129.34.135 (talk) 02:14, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Kanye's page uses {{Infobox musical artist}} – the documentation for the meaning of "Origin" is at Template:Infobox_musical_artist/doc#origin. See Ethnic group for ethnicity. Nationality/citizenship are not necessarily the same as birthplace (e.g. US "Army brats" born outside the US), so separate fields exist in the Infobox. The choice of which fields to use is up to the editors that contribute to the article, and should reflect what third-party reliable sources report. —[AlanM1(talk)]— 06:43, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Bobby Rondinelli

I'm new here, I got a phonecall and was asked to change the information on an article written about them.

I tried, and it didn't take, The first time i did, it went through. what do i need to do, to make it stick??

This is a question on Using Wikipedia.

this is the url to the page: Bobby Rondinelli — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maryhass (talk • contribs) 10:33, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

No explanation for that at all. According to the page history, no non-bot edits have been made to the page in over two months. What exactly is occurring?--Laun chba ller 10:51, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

According to the record of your contributions - Special:Contributions/Maryhass - the question you've just asked is the first, and so far only, thing you've ever done on the English Wikipedia. Roger (talk) 11:53, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What is occurring is this message: An automated filter has identified this edit as potentially unconstructive and it has been disallowed. If this edit is constructive please report this error.

When i go to that page, with that top message on it, i didn't want to deal with that, as it is insulting to be honest. I work for him and he told me the changes he wants made on it. So apparently, the change awhile back, has not worked. I followed the steps on what to do and clicked save, i don't know what i'm doing wrong., i would post the image i did as a screenshot, but it says gallery, as i said, i'm new here and wasn't sure if i should post a hosting link to the image, example, tinypic url or if there is a gallery here. I truly don't know what to do, Please help me? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maryhass (talk • contribs) 12:30, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Also, to note, when i did the first change, i didn't have an account then, i just typed in the bio he wants without having an account here, but i understand you are saying, no changes have been made to that in two months, so, i am doing something wrong. I just created this account a few hours ago, tried purge and all. I'm really lost... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maryhass (talk • contribs) 12:36, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

None of the edits went through before your post here. They were all stopped by a filter. Filter actions can be seen by clicking "filter log" at Special:Contributions/Maryhass. We have many problems with unregistered users and new user accounts adding bad words. "awesome" appears to have triggered this filter but your attempted edits were in general very promotional and inappropriate for an encyclopedia. Articles should be written from a neutral point of view based on reliable sources. You have a strong conflict of interest and try to promote the subject. You should not edit the article directly but instead make well-sourced suggestions at Talk:Bobby Rondinelli with {{Request edit}}. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:03, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

okay, so, i'm understanding, the book and it's quoted contents from it are too promotional and the word awesome triggered the filter and that's not appropriate for wikipedia. i'm not understanding the source stuff, the article as it is right now, mentions that. at this point, i would think, can we just edit the part of whomever wrote this, and change the band name it claims he is currently with?? that is incorrect information and that needs to be changed, how can i just do that alone?? i tried and just changed that, got the same error. the only resource i have to go by is a phone call, am i supposed to link leslie west's website page and take out the band name mentioned??--Maryhass (talk) 13:28, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

just did a double take here, right now i see it says currently playing with Leslie West, which is what is wanted here to make things simple, but if you look at this link, it does not reflect that.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bobby-Rondinelli/112061575476784#

I don't see where to contact the editor on this even.--Maryhass (talk) 13:52, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You can see a list of everyone who has contributed to that article on its history page.--ukexpat (talk) 13:59, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

and the best way to contact people who are involved with the article is on its talk page. Maproom (talk) 14:03, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, i put this under here to hopefully follow conversation here, i had to edit what the last person said on the talk page, ty both for that, however, if no one writes back, i still need to get it fixed for him and i have a headache from it.--Maryhass (talk) 14:19, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

i don't see how to contact them though, no email, why can't this be simpler? i'm just trying to get this done and it fights me just by changing the name and forget everything else, i don't even know if doing just that actually took?--Maryhass (talk) 14:07, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello Mary. I'm sorry that it is not simple, but Wikipedia is a huge and tremendously complicated beast, and some things just can't be made that simple. As others have said, you are best not editing the article yourself, but suggesting the changes you would like to see on its talk page (linked by Maproom above). You can contact particular editors by leaving messages on their own talk pages, but unless you have a reason to discuss something with one of them in particular, it's probably not worth the effort: just get in discussion with all the people who have an interest in the article by discussing on the article's talk page. --ColinFine (talk) 14:55, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks ColinFine, i got feedback and it was asked that someone step in to help as it's poorly done by whomever did it, this is a complicated beast, i took the directions for editing and put it in a document. It's always been said, (by whom i don't know) better edited by a third party and not the person themselves), there are ssooooooo many who edited this thing and some say bots?? i've been in other forums, where bots are frowned upon, it must mean something different here? and how does one get the change made to reflect on the fb page that someone managed to do, the change i did was sucessful, but not reflected on fb, and i can't be sure on this?? but i think, that's how i ended up getting the phone call to change it, and what better way to change it, then from the artist themselves and how they want it?--Maryhass (talk) 21:48, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Facebook is a separate site, which probably copied our article to begin with. You would need to edit it there if you want to change it. I've no idea how that works – sorry. It's also possible that it retrieves the page from WP, but has a cached version of it, which simply waiting a day or two will resolve. As far as how the artist wants it, that's specifically not what Wikipedia is about. This is an encyclopedia, not a promotional forum. We are supposed to reflect what multiple reliable, independent, third-party sources write about the subject, in the hopes that that is a reasonable approximation of truth. The subject of an article is not always the better source in such cases

. —[AlanM1(talk)]— 23:47, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I did receive an email this weekend, from wikiepedia, that fb page, "slurped" the information off of here *rolls eyes* and it's being used as promotion from others and not himself, there are many that misread what this site is about and i've been asked before by others who want their stuff corrected by others who like to use this site as such, promotional, they don't like what they read and want it changed, I have never gotten this involved in it before, with other non said person who has asked me this, they wanted it in a format as another page on here, i just said, i don't know how to do that and i dropped it. Now i wonder, why it is, that all say, a third party should edit it, perhaps they don't state why that is, i can only say from what i've learned doing this, is that it is not a public relations campaign nor to sell yourself, it's just information. Now, in the future, if I am ever asked this again, that is what i'm going to say, you're not able to sell yourself on this site. they are not there for that.

One thing i was thinking, Perhaps, when on Wikipedia, it should state that?? well, i don't know, just a thought.--Maryhass (talk) 12:06, 17 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's an encyclopedia – plain and simple. It happens to encompass more current info and topics than a printed one ever could, but it's basic purpose is the same. As far as stating it, it's all over the place, starting with About Wikipedia. There's plenty of writing on the subject in the Wikipedia:* articles, starting with WP:FIVE, which states the purpose and primary rules succinctly. Following the blue links from that page will lead to more specific information about various areas. —[AlanM1(talk)]— 02:11, 19 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

category:Hovercraft albums

Resolved

The aforementioned category seems to itself be part of the category:Hovercraft which seems incorrect to me. Hovercraft albums concerns the band Hovercraft_(band). I dont know how to correct this. can anyone help? Atlas-maker (talk) 11:40, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Seems like the error appeared due to caching. I purged the page and it seems to be gone.--Ushau97 ^{talk contribs} 11:50, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Blocked user

User:OzPressler has been indefinitely blocked since Feb 2013. But on MArch 15 he created an article, which is more than likely a hoax. How is this allowed? Gbawden (talk) 12:54, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The block log and the talk page message both say the block was for one week. The standard message on the user page, User:OzPressler, is incorrect, and I will remove it. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:07, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) Actual blocks are shown in the block log and don't necessarily match messages posted to user and user talk pages. Click "block log" at Special:Contributions/OzPressler. It was only a 1 week block. PrimeHunter (talk) 13:09, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note that an Indefinite block can be lifted at any time. It usually is lifted when the blocked editor acknowleges their trangression(s) and undertakes not to repeat it. Roger (talk) 21:47, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A really, really orphaned page

Dear editors: Hello again! I was reading this page: Pecoriate and noticed that it was marked as an orphan. I thought that I would fix this up, but there really were no references at all to this word in Wikipedia. That made me wonder, so I put the term into the Google search engine. The only hits that came up were mirrors of the Wikipedia page or those annoying sites that collect every search term and provide advertising. The article does have a source, but it is not on line. Is it possible that there really is no such mineral, and that the author of the cited book has just made up the word? —Anne Delong (talk) 14:27, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I checked on World Cat, and 65 libraries have this book, so at least it's a legitimately published book. —Anne Delong (talk) 14:37, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have added it to the page List of minerals. Ideally it could do with a few more links but I don't know how easy that would be. Maybe a mention of it could be added to the nickel sulfate or Millerite pages. Sarahj2107 (talk) 16:57, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

From a quick search, I think it's a mis-spelling of pecoraite, which makes more sense as a name (i.e. it ends in ite). The article sounds like it's all OR at this point (regardless of the single offline cite) and needs to be re-written from a more global standpoint (and, of course, spelled correctly)

. —[AlanM1(talk)]— 18:25, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wow! Glad you thought of that. I never thought to try alternate spellings. —Anne Delong (talk) 20:10, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Before this page gets any more connections, shouldn't it be edited and the name changed to Pecoraite? —Anne Delong (talk) 20:15, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Page moved. Looks pretty convincing that it was a misspelling. All the results for the old one lead back to copies of the article, whereas the new spelling has lots of results that seem consistent with the article topic. Monty ₈₄₅ 20:47, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Title

i dont want to have my usermane on the title of the page i created ... how can i remove it ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Assataallison (talk • contribs) 15:48, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The page you created in your user space (User:Assataallison/Assata "The Great" Allison) is unsuitable either as a Wikipedia article or as a user page and it has been tagged for speedy deletion.--ukexpat (talk) 16:03, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My edits to Monsanto

Also asked at the Tea House: Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions#My edit was removed. Let's deal with it there.--ukexpat (talk) 16:35, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

My question on why my edit to Monsanto...where I introduced a You Tube video of a protest song I did about Monsanto and tried to fit it into the protest songs and I was told it was removed because it was a You Tube video..however, between #s 303 and 311 of the protest section, there are six edits shown in the "refrences" section at the bottom with You Tube efits,and one "Old Man Luedecke", appears to be self peomotional. I am a fisherman, not a proffesional entertainer, and I have never made money from my poetry. I was told on a talk discussion that You Tube videos are not accepted Fireweed 007 (talk) 15:50, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Please read What Wikipedia is not. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. Among other things, it is not a soapbox, myspace, facebook, chat service, or a publisher of original works. The internet has many such available to you, but Wikipedia is not one of them. LeadSongDog come howl! 16:34, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

проблема поиска на нескольких языках

Я использую русский интерфейс ВикипедиЯ, при попытке поиска по слову Remaster - ВикипедиЯ ни чего не находит. Но, если я переключаюсь на английский интерфейс, то ВикипедиЯ сразу находит нужную страничку. Как мне настроить ВикипедиЯ для поиска сразу по не скольким языкам, например: Русский и Английский? — Preceding unsigned comment added by AndrewStrong (talk • contribs) 16:17, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Google translation: I use a Russian interface definitions, while trying to search for the word Remaster - Wikipedia that does not find it. But, if I switch to English interface, then immediately finds the Wikipedia page. How do I set up Wikipedia to find as soon as no more languages, such as Russian and English?--ukexpat (talk) 16:24, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If you are searching the English Wikepedia (this one) you will only find articles that exist in the English Wikipedia. If you search the Russian Wikipedia you will only find articles that exist there. I am not aware of any way that you can search across more than one Wikipedia using our search tool so you may be better off using Google in this case.--ukexpat (talk) 16:28, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Try googling "Remaster site:wikipedia.org" to see results from all Wikipedia languages. LeadSongDog come howl! 16:48, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Put picture on an infobox which is not in Commons

Please help me to put our school's logo... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloocan_National_Science_and_Technology_High_School It is in my PC... How can I put a photo of it? Will I upload it on the article or in Commons?

Thanks! Jan2estarez (talk) 18:53, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You'll want to upload it to Wikipedia because it is most likely copyrighted and the Commons does not allow copyrighted images. Go here. Scarce2 (talk) 19:24, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

How can I join a task force?

I really want to join the Nintendo Task Force,but I can't figure out how to join!Can someone help me? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sunjerbob (talk • contribs) 20:53, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:WikiProject_Video_games/Nintendo says to join, you only need to add your name to the list. See in the notes in the Members and Participation sections on that page. Click the edit link and add your name, per the instructions. RudolfRed (talk) 20:58, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Images compiled on Powerpoint

Hi Folks:

I am editing an article concerning Kumdo ("Korean Kendo") and wanted to add some pictures. I know how to download the pics but first I had to add some "editing" (IE. lines, letters, numbers) and for some reason my Photoshop would not work. I was able to transfer the image to Powerpoint to do the necessary modifications but now discover WIKI does not take that file extension. Is there a way to get around this. I tried PDF but it consistently crops the pic and I lose info. Help? BTW: I'm pretty new to editing WIKI.....Handle with Care.... :-) --Bruce W Sims (talk) 21:05, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You will need to upload your pictures in a format that English Wikipedia (or better, Wikipedia Commons, so that your pictures can be used in other language versions of Wikipedia) accepts. These include .jpeg, .png, and .gif. So you will have to do your editing by a method that creates its output in one of those formats. Photoshop certainly ought to work. Does your Photoshop refuse to work at all, or does it just not let you do the editing that you want? If the latter, there is a rather messy solution: Use Powerpoint to do the editing, grab the result off your screen (with Alt-PrtScr if you are using Windows), and use Photoshop for a final edit to trim the image. Maproom (talk) 21:33, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Worked like a champ!!---AND I learned a new WINDOWS function! Thanks VERY much!! --Bruce W Sims (talk) 22:53, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Dulaman (song)