Revision as of 15:24, 10 January 2011

This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference. Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the village pump.

• WP:NCHQ
• WP:NHD

This help forum has been discontinued. New contributors will instead be made welcome at the Misplaced Pages:Teahouse, a friendly place to help new editors become accustomed to Misplaced Pages culture, ask questions, and develop community relationships.

There is an extensive Archive of old questions from 2004 onwards.

December 19

disambiguation

I am creating a new article on the subject of 'nowcasting'. This term is used in both meteorology and economics. A Misplaced Pages article on its use in meteorology already exists but there is nothing on its use in economics. The article I want to write is principally about nowcasting in economics. What should I do?

The article I have drafted does contain a brief reference to the use of the term 'nowcasting' in meteorolgy, with a reference. Is there some way that I can create a link to the existing article on nowcasting in meteorology?

Jasper McMahon (talk) 16:28, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

I've included a link. Change it to suit. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:34, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. But what do I do about the title? I cannot move the article to the live site with the title as it stands. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jasper McMahon (talk • contribs) 16:51, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't quite follow where your problem is. If it is about the name of the article, you move it to "Nowcasting" (see WP:SYMUD). If it is how to link to a section of an article, use ]. If it's that you think the article should have a note at the top mentioning, and directing the user to, the meteorology article, see WP:hatnote. Do these help? --ColinFine (talk) 17:56, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

The OP may be worried about the fact that Nowcasting is currently a redirect to Weather forecasting#Nowcasting. Presumably the thing to do is move the user draft to Nowcasting (economics), move the current Nowcasting redirect page to Nowcasting (meteorology), and make a new disambiguation page pointing to them both? - David Biddulph (talk) 18:18, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

If one of the meanings can be regarded as primary, it probably doesn't need a disambiguation page, but just the relevant hatnotes, see Misplaced Pages:Disambiguation.

December 20

Wikilinks and images

Hello how can i relate words on my article to other wiki pages, also how can i add a picture ? Thanks for your help— Preceding unsigned comment added by Qajar2010 (talk • contribs)

You can link to other pages like this:

]

and add images like this:

]

More info about linking here, and about images here. DARTH SIDIOUS 2 15:00, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict)You can add "wikilinks" to other articles, by wrapping terms in double square brackets ]. You can also link to an article using a different phrase using a piped wikilink; for more information see WP:WIKILINK. As for images, follow the instructions at WP:UPLOAD to upload an image, then it can be inserted using the ] format, for example, or as a parameter in an infobox. GiftigerWunsch 15:03, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

Pre-approval of projected username via email?

I'd like to register a username that shouldn't be (but could be understood to be) WP policy iffy. Could I email the leadership and get some sort of pre-OK? (I don't want to mention my projected username in public.)

83.250.231.9 (talk) 16:43, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

I suggest you use Misplaced Pages:Request an account and use the "comments" box to explain why you think it should be OK. The team that process these requests will be experienced in assessing proposed user names. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:07, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

Fine, will do!

83.250.231.9 (talk) 17:19, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

December 21

Changing an article title

The title for the entry on Chretien de Troyes's Yvain, ou Le Chevalier au Lion mistranslates the romance's title as "The Knight OF the Lion." Some translations, like Burton Raffel's, referenced in the article's footnotes, make this same mistake, but it IS a mistake. It should be "The Knight WITH the Lion." It's an important distinction, not only grammatically but also for the interpretation of the allegory of the lion. However, I can't change that title according to the FAQ about editing an article's title, which says:

You move the article using the "move" button (to the right of the "edit this page" button). But in order to do this you must have an account that has reached autoconfirmed status, meaning it must be at least four days old and have made at least ten edits. If you are not an autoconfirmed user, or the move is controversial, or the page you wish to rename is move protected, visit Misplaced Pages:Requested moves. You may also request to have an admin grant you confirmed status.

I have only just created an account and haven't made any edits yet. I'm not sure how "ten edits" are counted. Does that mean I have to edit 10 articles? Or make edits ten different times, even for a single article?

In any case, I hate for an error like this to stand, just because I'm not yet authorized to make such a change.

Alanbaragona (talk) 03:53, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Yvain, the Knight of the Lion (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

I'm afraid I have removed your addition to the article. One of Misplaced Pages's core policies is that it does not publish original research. Articles must stick to facts and opinions that have already been published in reliable sources. Your paragraph on the mistranslation of the name may well be true, but, until you can show that the ideas have been published in scholarly works, they should not be mentioned in the article.

For the same reason I don't think you should change the article title. To answer your question, though, the ten edits can be to anything at all - even your post here counts towards the total. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:12, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

changing picture?

How do you change the picture on the wiki page? 98.149.35.240 (talk) 10:49, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

If you have a picture that you think would improve a Misplaced Pages page, there are four steps to think about:

1. Copyright - is this a picture that you took yourself? If not, things get complicated very quickly, as the copyright-holder would need to provide evidence that they were willing to release their copyright (see Donating copyright materials for this). But if it is a picture you took yourself, we can go on to step two.
2. Create an account - only logged-in users can upload images. See this page.
3. Upload the file to Wikimedia Commons using this link. Choose a good descriptive name for the file, and try to fill in as many of the other fields as you can. For "licensing", either choose the "recommended" option from the list, or place the image entirely in the public domain.
4. Edit the article to use your image instead of the old one. Click the "Edit" label at the top of the article, and look for something like ] or or, near the top of the article, something like {{infobox ... | image = A file name here ... }}. Replace the file name with the name of the new image. Use the "Preview" button to see if you've got it right, then fill in the edit summary and save.

If you have trouble with any of these steps, post again here. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:58, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

December 22

Editing Misplaced Pages

Editing Misplaced Pages. I have unknowingly made an inappropriate entry under 'Florida' that I am attempting to correct but have been unable. Can I get more detail as to how to correct this. I have made some corrections but I am not sure I have corrected my mistake as I'm unsure what the mistake is! Thanks so much. Cmac65 (talk) 10:44, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Your edits were undone soon after you made them; just before those messages were added to your talk page. You can check the page history by clicking on the "History" tab at Florida or using this link. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:29, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

writing a new article about a client

Hello, Although a regular reader/searcher of Misplaced Pages I have never edited or contributed an article before. Having recently designed a website and some software for a client's company, he has asked if we could create some social media account pages for him, including a Misplaced Pages page. Technically there is no problem, but having read up on policies and guidelines here I am not quite sure if the article will be accepted by "the community".

As you may surmise there is not already an article about his company or himself, but I believe it is not because he is not "notable" as outlined by the guidelines. Rather, it is that he is really only notable in Ireland, which has a relatively small population and influence on world affairs. And Misplaced Pages is essentially American (the English version at least). Obviously his own websites provide primary sources for citation; however, there are many reputable secondary sources where he is extensively quoted and interviewed in national newspapers as he is considered a leading expert in his field in Ireland. I imagine people in Ireland would search his name and his business name online quite frequently, but only his company website would appear or links to the newspaper articles or reviews of his books.

My question is - would it be considered a conflict of interest for us to write this Misplaced Pages article for him? If so, would it be ok to submit an outline article for a Misplaced Pages editor to write? Thank you for your time.

83.147.129.97 (talk) 21:52, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

You are correct; if this person is notable then a Misplaced Pages article could be written about him, but because of your conflict of interest you should not do it yourself. You could have a look at Misplaced Pages:Requested articles - if you put together a good collection of references to reliable sources such as those newspaper interviews, someone may get round to writing article.

You should read Misplaced Pages's Law of Unintended Consequences before requesting an article, though. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:13, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

December 23

Unsuccessful registration. Username taken — and not taken?

I tried, unsuccessfully, to register my username of choise, but the system rejected the name saying it was already taken. However, upon search it said "Misplaced Pages does not have a user page with this exact name." So, it seems it's not taken. The name is the same as a WP article. Is there a rule against that?

83.250.231.9 (talk) 02:34, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

great-grandmother —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.239.130.250 (talk) 02:42, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I resent that. Further, on the user's talk page, the user is recommended to use the sandbox.

83.250.231.9 (talk) 02:52, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Based on your description, the user exists but hasn't made a user page. Making a user page is optional when you have a user account. The post by 125.239.130.250 seems unrelated to you and wasn't a reply to you. Many new users don't know how to use discussion pages. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:06, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Me included... I apologize if I misunderstood 125.239.130.250's post.

83.250.231.9 (talk) 04:29, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

do i get a certificate if i work for wikipedia?

Can i get a certificate that shows that i have worked my bit on wikipedia like editing articles etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.200.48.173 (talk) 15:20, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, we don't have those. However, a record of your contributions will always be kept. TNXMan 15:23, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

How do I create the new pages for an essay

I want to write an essay.  An essay is associated with a Talk page.  How do I create the new page or pages?
Thanks, RB  66.217.117.192 (talk) 17:16, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Addendum

The title of the Essay is "Policy Sculpting: Inclusion vs. Exclusion".

It would say:

Some sculptors have described the process of sculpting as removing the parts of the stone that are not part of the sculpture.  I think that this analogy applies for the core content policies.  WP:Verifiability is a rule for inclusion.  WP:Verifiability is like picking the block of stone from which the sculpture will be made.  What happens next is that in WP:Due_weight we have rules for exclusion.  Here we remove un-interesting parts of the block of stone.  In the end we want balance (WP:NPOV), not a mound of what wasn't removed.

RB  66.217.117.192 (talk) 17:16, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

The best thing to do is to create an account. This will grant you a userpage and a userspace where you can create essays such as you are proposing. --Jayron32 17:20, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I looked at WP:WHY, WP:USERPAGE and WP:NAMESPACE.  I still don't understand. 

Here is an essay: en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:CREEP

The URL is in the wiki/Wikipedia: namespace. 

Here is a "user page": en.wikipedia.org/User:Ebieberich/sandbox

This URL is in the wiki/User: namespace.

Even if I got an account, I still don't know what is needed to create an essay.  Thanks, RB  66.217.117.192 (talk) 18:08, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure which part you don't understand. If you created an account (say EssayWriter for the sake of example), then after that account was autoconfirmed (meaning after four days and at least ten edits anywhere in Misplaced Pages) then if you searched for a page say User:EssayWriter/Policy Sculpting, it would offer you the option of creating that page. I suggest you do create it there, in User space at first, and later ask for help in moving it to Misplaced Pages space. --ColinFine (talk) 19:44, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

To the OP. Essays in the Misplaced Pages namespace are there because they have achieved wide acceptance among the Misplaced Pages community. They almost all started out as someone's personal essay. Until your essay has gained community-wide acceptance, it is best to create in as a subpage in your Userspace, rather than as part of the Misplaced Pages namespace. --Jayron32 20:28, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm not a new user but would like to change the name of one of the articles

It's an article I started a while ago called List of Canadian petroleum companies. I originally started it as Canadian Petroleum Companies which right now redirects to the list but someone else decided to change it to a list. I think it has become more than just a list and would like to see it renamed Canadian Petroleum Companies but would like to know other people's opinions first.Grmike (talk) 23:45, 23 December 2010 (UTC)grmike

I'd clean it up first (wikification, etc.); then move it to Canadian petroleum companies (only "Canadian" should have been capitalized), currently a redlink. --Orange Mike | Talk 00:02, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

thanks, what does wikification mean exactly? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grmike (talk • contribs)

Articles need to be "wikified" if they contain few or no links to other articles ("wikilinks"), if they contain obsolete html tags that need to be replaced with wiki markup, or if they simply need general formatting improvements to conform with Misplaced Pages's formatting guidelines and Manual of Style. --Orange Mike | Talk 02:48, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

And see WP:WIKIFY. – ukexpat (talk) 16:21, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

December 24

black ops

dude,really — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joomuffin1 (talk • contribs) 16:10, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, really! Did you have a question about Misplaced Pages with which we can help you? TNXMan 16:11, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Is this a WikiLeaks reference? Please note that Misplaced Pages is not related in any way to WikiLeaks. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:17, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

December 25

December 26

Indian society

how muslims marginalized in indian society — Preceding unsigned comment added by Singh 515 (talk • contribs) 06:42, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

You might find what you are looking for in the article about Islam in India. If you cannot find the answer there, you can try asking your question at the Humanities section of Misplaced Pages's Reference Desk. They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except about how to use Misplaced Pages, which is what this help desk is for).For your convenience, you may click here to post your question. I hope this helps.Template:Z39 -- John of Reading (talk) 11:31, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

But note that you should do your own homework. – ukexpat (talk) 16:14, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Separate registrations for Wikipedias in different languages?

If a user contributes to different Wikipedias, say the English one, the Italian one and the French one, is it necessary to register on each Misplaced Pages separately, or is there "an international registration"? If a user should register separately to Wikipedias in different languages, should the same user have the same user name on the different Wikipedias, or is it OK for the user to have different user names?

212.247.104.148 (talk) 11:23, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm not an expert in this, but the page m:Help:Unified login might help you. Feel free to ask again here. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:36, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

If you sign up for the English WP, then you can also log into basically all the projects (wikibooks, wikimedia, etc), as well as any language you want. However, in my experience, you have to make a new user page for each language and project. I hope this answers your question. --Thekmc (talk) 22:20, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

December 27

Possible Bias!

I'm a Latina real estate professional who just happen to be trying to track down information about the NAHREP (the national real estate organization for Hispanics). After discovering that there is no article on the organization, I checked out the articles on the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the NAREB (the national real estate organization for African Americans).

Someone on your staff has placed a heading on the NAREB page, e.g. it should be removed because it reads like a advertisement. This prompted me to re-read the article on the National Association of Realtors (a mainly Caucasian focused organization). I see no difference in the writing style. In fact, the article on the NAR, as its currently written, given the supposed criteria this staff person has used is longer and has more of a "promotional" slant! Yet, there is no "heading" call for the NAR article to be rewritten. Why not? Frankly, this gives the impression of racial bias, particularly when there is no article on any other racial group, besides the African American organization. If, a heading is placed on the NAREB article, then one should be placed on the NAR by the same staff person. Obviously, this needs to be brought to the attention of both organizations because Misplaced Pages promotes itself as being neutral, yet here is a clear example that its staff is not! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.255.139.109 (talk) 07:30, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

National Association of Real Estate Brokers (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

National Association of Realtors (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Misplaced Pages is a collaborative effort by volunteer editors. There are a few "staff persons" watching over the computer servers, giving legal advice, manning some phone lines somewhere, and so on, but 99.999% of the work and the article edits are done by volunteers. And with 3.5 million articles, it can be ages before someone notices that an article is sub-standard and tries to improve it. So if you think that the National Association of Realtors reads like an advert, you can be bold and tag or improve it yourself. If you'd like to tag it, use the "Edit" link at the top of the article and insert the text {{advert|date=December 2010}} at the top. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:58, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

SCDs; multiple medical abbreviations

This abbreviation is also commonly used for Sequential Compression Devices in medical transcription. See Stedman's Medical Dictionary.

Medical Transcriptionist —Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.58.16.97 (talk) 17:58, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Is that something different from the Sequential compression device that was already mentioned on the Scd page? I have sorted the entries into alphabetical order, so it should be clearer now. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:48, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Translating an article

Hi,

I have a question regarding articles in different languages. I don't want to create a separate article, but I want to translate an article in wikipedia, so that it's available in English Misplaced Pages, how do I do that? (As I want two articles to be linked together right).

Thanks, AniAni25962 (talk) 21:59, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Try Misplaced Pages:Translation for general instructions and advice. For linking the translated page to the original, try Help:Interlanguage links. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:35, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

December 29

Brewton schools that was left out

W.S. Neal Elementary School located at 701 Williamson St. in Brewton,Alabama W.S. Neal Middle School located at 703 Williamson St. in Brewton,Alabama W.S. Neal High School located at 801 Andrew Jackson St. in Brewton,Alabama —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.90.95.73 (talk) 01:09, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for this information. Please feel free to add it to the 'City schools' section of the Brewton, Alabama article -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\ 02:37, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

- provided you have references for the information. --ColinFine (talk) 21:43, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

How do I create an entry?

How do I create an entry? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Christiaan1960 (talk • contribs) 16:15, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

Before creating an article, please search Misplaced Pages first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines with which all articles should comply. As Misplaced Pages is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Misplaced Pages:Your first article. You might also look at Misplaced Pages:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Misplaced Pages:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is also available to walk you through creating an article. – ukexpat (talk) 17:09, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

etiquette and procedure - subject-matter experts

Hi. I work for an advocacy-oriented nonprofit and we'd like to volunteer as subject-matter experts on an article tagged as needing "attention from an expert on the subject." The article in question has been under suspicion of being sabotaged by PR folks working for large companies in the past. I want to be sure that our contributions are welcome before we proceed. I'm also uncertain if we should just edit away or introduce ourselves first -- whether on the article's talk page or directly to folks who have worked on the article before. Basically, we're total newbies to this and don't want to misstep. Thanks! Lkloop (talk) 21:26, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

A couple of tips. First of all, you'll want to create a userpage (see WP:USERPAGE) where you declare your association and purpose. Wikipedians are very forgiving of people who are up front and honest, deception is the only thing to likely get you into real trouble. See WP:COI for information on editing under a conflict of interest. Also, when you speak of "we", please make sure that every person in your organization has their own unique login. Misplaced Pages does not allow group logins; it is one-person-one-account. --Jayron32 21:34, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

But having said that, and once you understand the conflict of interest guidelines (if they are relevant), please feel free to improve the article. Please make sure you always give a meaningful edit comment, and if there are changes you want to make that you think might be controversial, please discuss them on the article's talk page first. Everything you add should be sourced. --ColinFine (talk) 21:47, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Image licensing

Hello, i am new on wikipedia. I just edited, contributed a couple of pages on health and especially converted my college stub page into a whole new briefly explained page on wikipedia. I added some pictures as well on my college page. But the main problem which i am facing now a days is that how to categorize license on pictures. Well in my country, though licenses does not matter a lot, but i think it is good to put some license on pictures. I have following questions if anyone guide me. 1) I snaped, created and edited real pictures of my college especially of buildings and some famous places and uploaded on wikipedia. Now I dont know how to put license on them ;( I mean i could refer it to college administration if wikipedia want, because i am the official representative to write brief description on wikipedia about our college through any means. But I dont know how it works. I could also refere from social networks like facebook, flicker or something. But for god sake, i am a doctor, not true wikipedian. How it works, i dont know. Please guide us. Thanks and regards in advance!

Dr.faizanali (talk) 23:06, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry you are having trouble with the Misplaced Pages copyright pages. For the college pictures, I think the help section you need is here. The instructions there explain how the college authorities can give up some of their rights in these pictures so that they are usable at Misplaced Pages.

For the stamp pictures, the copyrights will be held by the postal authorities or the stamp designers, so it is unlikely that these will be acceptable pictures for Misplaced Pages.

If you have more questions, try asking at Media copyright questions where the copyright specialists will gladly help. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:09, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

December 30

Reverting

I was reading through Princess Hours when someone deleted a hole bunch of information here. It was there for months now so I don't see why this person, Ophois, is deleting it? 187.50.244.70 (talk) 05:07, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

The information is completely unsourced, which the anon has been alerted to several times. Ωphois 05:10, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Wow! You are ignorant. The stuff you deleted have been around for months. So what if it is unsourced. It is your job to source them. Alot of information on Misplaced Pages is unsourced, but we are supposed to help out by finding the sources for them. Half of Misplaced Pages would be deleted because there are so many unsourced stuff on here. 187.50.244.70 (talk) 05:11, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

The fact that it has been unsourced for months doesn't mean that it can be kept! If no one has added a source, that could mean that there are no reliable, independent sources to verify the information. If you have such sources, then re-add the information with citations -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\ 05:46, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Actually, the stuff is still there. The anon was starting an edit war over it, so I stopped reverting. Ωphois 05:57, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

187, please never tell any editor "it is your job to source them". Misplaced Pages is entirely created by volunteers, who choose what they want to do to improve it. If there is unsourced material, any editor is entitled to remove that material. It is preferable to find sources, if possible, but removing the material is perfectly within the rules. If you want some unsourced material kept, it is you that have an interest in finding sources for it, more than anybody else. And I cannot think of any circumstances in which saying "Wow! You are ignorant" to another editor is acceptable behaviour. --ColinFine (talk) 11:28, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Nutrition

why do we require nutritions —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.243.227.159 (talk) 08:46, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I suggest you begin by reading the Nutrition article. If you have specific questions you could try asking at the Science Reference Desk. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:58, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

But note that we will not do your homework for you. – ukexpat (talk) 15:40, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Problem with references

Hello I have a problem concerning the references. I have created one entry but i could not add the reference. I tried ten times but in vain, I have the same message "Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{Reflist}} template or a <references/> tag; see the help page."

I try to add the references in the bar, next to "link" and "emebedded file",

thank you in advance for your explination, if possible on my talkpake

daglarkizireyhan

You need to add a references section immediately before the External links section (if there is one). In that section add the {{Reflist}} template and the references should be displayed. – ukexpat (talk) 15:36, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Presumably you are referring to Riva Kastoryano? I have tagged the article for speedy deletion because it does not appear to indicate how or why the subject of the article is significant or important. Please take a look at WP:BIO. – ukexpat (talk) 15:39, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Changing species name created a new page

Hello,

Norrisia norrisi is the correct name of the species I am currently working on. However, I realized that as originally posted in Misplaced Pages, the species is listed as Norrisia norrisii--with two i's on the end--and there should only be one, hence the correct name is Norrisia norrisi. This is validated at: http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=70013

So when I edited the page that has the species, and also the page for the genus, there were weird changes. Since I am a new user, I was hoping you could point me in the direction of resources to fix hierarchical pages for taxonomic information.

Thanks! Steve LonhartLonhart (talk) 18:49, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

To change an article title, you move the article to the correct title. I have moved it to Norrisia norrisi for you. – ukexpat (talk) 18:53, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Upon further research, it seems we now have two articles that appear to be about the same thing - Norrisia norrisi and Norrisia. Should they be merged or should Norrisia be rewritten to be about the genus rather than the species.? – ukexpat (talk) 18:59, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Expand Stub Article - Poss. COI

Hi all, I work for a regulated power utility. Our Misplaced Pages page has virtually no information - it's classified as a stub. I want to expand the content, flesh out our history, what we do, where we do it, who we service, etc. We are a regional monopoly and, as such, have no need to write any sort of promotional content. Any new information added to the page would be strictly factual and simply tell the world who we are.

After reviewing the COI section, I'm concerned that even though I intend to play it straight with the entry, the fact that I am an employee could be considered a COI. Is this the case? If so, and if writing the entry as an employee of the company is taboo, then who can be charged with the task?

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks! RKilowatt (talk) 20:34, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, you most definitely have a COI, thanks for recognising the issue and asking for help! Please use the article's talk/discussion page to suggest changes to the article or create a user subpage such as User:RKilowatt/Sandbox with your rewritten version and ask for comment on the article's talk page and/or at Requests for feedback. – ukexpat (talk) 20:38, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

made a new page, now its gone

I created a page called Kanguera, and now I can;t find it anymore — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeff Song (talk • contribs) 21:33, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I am surprised that the article was deleted without any warning on your talk page. The deletion log entry reads

21:22, 30 December 2010 PMDrive1061 (talk · contribs) deleted "Kanguera" ‎ (A7: No explanation of the subject's significance (real person, animal, organization, or web content))

I can't see the text of a deleted article, so can't really comment. You should read Why was my page deleted? for advice on what to do next. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:58, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. I read "Why was my page deleted?" and it led me to Misplaced Pages:Criteria for speedy deletion where it seems that A7 is a code for articles that do not provide an indication of importance, about individual real people or animals, organizations or web content - but my article is not about any of these. It is about a robotic hand. What do I do now? How do I get the content back (it was not alot, I managed to write just one line before it was deleted.) How do I provide an indication of importance? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeff Song (talk • contribs) 22:21, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

I suggest you start again in a user sub page, either by using this direct link User:Jeff Song/Kanguera to create the page or by using the Article wizard. Then you'll be able to write the article in peace and have it reviewed and moved when it is ready. To show that the robotic hand deserves a Misplaced Pages article, you need to show that it is notable by including references to reliable sources such as books, newspapers, news sources or magazines that have written about it.

To get the deleted content back you should leave a message at User talk:PMDrive1061, or maybe a passing admin will see this help thread and copy the text for you. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:48, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

My advice would be to re-create the article as a userspace draft first, at User:Jeff Song/Kanguera, for example. When you think it's ready to be moved to mainspace, submit a request for feedback at Requests for feedback. Please also take a look at your first article, notability guidelines and reliable sources. – ukexpat (talk) 22:50, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

many thanks to both of you, I appreciate the advice, and will create it in User:Jeff Song/Kanguera . no need to worry about recovering the text, it was just one line. Any help on how to include references to books or magazines would be great. —Preceding undated comment added 23:02, 30 December 2010 (UTC).

For help citing references, please see WP:CITE. – ukexpat (talk) 23:11, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

January 1

linking or referencing any information on wikinvest

Because it's a wiki I don't think there's a strong case for it as a reference but I do think some of the articles and in particular specific sections (that feature graphs, tables) would be appropriate as an external link at the bottom of an article, like interwiki links in the see also section of wikipedia articles (like this). like wikipedia wikinvest is a leader in delivering information (for wikinvest that's company information in terms of traffic), demands that everything be referenced, ensures that copyright laws aren't violated and has top contributors who take care of administration related tasks. So I guess the question boils down to, is any part of wikinvest allowed to be used as a hyperlink, external link, see also, or reference? I think it has a lot more to offer than commercial sites that are allowed like hoovers. thanks Grmike (talk) 04:25, 1 January 2011 (UTC)grmike

This has come up in a specific case here, where an editor asserts that Wikinvest is "clearly not a reliable source" but without any discussion of the question. It is not clear to me where the information on Wikinvest comes from: if there is some kind of editorial control then it may be a reliable source; but if it is open to anybody to contribute to, then it is by definition not a reliable source. --ColinFine (talk) 11:02, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Languages of Guyana

Under the subheading "Recognised Regional Languages" the inclusion of Portuguese, Hindi, and Spanish is invalid. You cannot possibly mean that because there are a few people living in a country who can understand words spoken in a certain language that the language is "a recongised regional language". Otherwise you should include Chinese, French, French Creole, Sranan Tongo (the creole lingua franca of Surinam), etc.

I believe you intend under this classification that there should be at least one signficant cultural or ethnic group in the population whose members use the language for their daily interaction, including for inter-generational communication. For example, Javanese and Hindustani are valid inclusions for Suriname.

Thus, in Guyana, the inclusion of the Amerindian languages (Patamona, Wapishiana, etc.) is valid. Portuguese and Hindi are not valid. Portuguese as a language of daily communication died over a half century ago with the integration of the influx of Portuguese immigrants from the island of Madeira. There is a new wave of Portuguese speaking people from Brazil whose significant influx began about 10 years ago. It cannot be said this group forms a block using the language for intergenerational communication with any chance that this will be the only way of communicating with expanding numbers of this group born in Guyana. The language is used as of necessity among the new immigrants. Their children attend English Speaking schools. The same can be said of Chinese.

While there are clear contributions of Hindi to the creole of Guyana there is nowhere Hindi exists as an intergenerational language or the language of daily interaction except in the homes of new immigrants from India who are very few.190.80.116.182 (talk) 18:54, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

This is a content issue and should be discussed on the article's talk page. Just a quick question, what do reliable sources say about Portugese and Hindi?  – ukexpat (talk) 19:36, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

Two questions

I am a new contributer and I have a couple of questions about my first article. 1. Often a wikipedia article has a box on the right hand side of the article which makes quick referencing of information easy. How do I insert that box into my article ?---- 2. I would like my article to be a sub-article in a series, how can I do that ?---- — Preceding unsigned comment added by James J Ellis (talk • contribs) 21:11, 1 January 2011 (UTC)

The former is an infobox; this is produced by a series of templates depending on the subject of the article, and the easiest way of using it is to go to the documentation for the template and copy and paste the skeleton of the template to the top of the page and fill out whatever information is available. See {{infobox person}} or {{infobox company}} for example. If your article is directly related to a series of existing articles, there are also a number of templates which are generally collapsed at the bottom of relevant articles, which provide a brief list or categorisation of various articles within a field; an example of this is {{US War on Terror}}. GiftigerWunsch 10:00, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

January 2

How to insert or load an authentic image for a reference

Please let me know how to insert an image from my computer or my document which suits an article or reference to some. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.121.250 (talk) 13:33, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

• If you want to add an existing image to an article, add ] to the area of the article where you want the image to appear – replacing File name.jpg with the actual file name of the image, and Caption text with a short description of the image. See our picture tutorial for more information.
• If you want to upload an image from your computer for use in an article, you must determine the proper license of the image (or whether it is in the public domain). If you know the image is public domain or copyrighted but under a suitable free-license, upload it to the Wikimedia Commons instead of here, so that all projects have access to the image (sign up). If you are unsure of the licensing status, see the file upload wizard for more information. Please also read Misplaced Pages's image use policy. I hope this helps.Template:Z40 -- John of Reading (talk) 16:39, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Info box problem

Sorry, I do not understand a problem I am having. On the Misplaced Pages page for WUJS, I am trying to enter the name of the new Chairman, Oliver Worth, in the infobox but it does not appear when I save. Why is this? 192.118.11.120 (talk) 15:55, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Template:Infobox company does not have a field called "chairman". Instead, you may use the "key_people" field to list the chairman. I also suggest you look at and use Template:Infobox non-profit which seems more appropriate to the organization World Union of Jewish Students. --Mysdaao 16:04, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

January 3

How do we temporarily lock articles?

There are some articles that are being systematically vandalised by certain individuals requiring me to repeatedly go in an undo the same set of changes.

How can we temporarily lock an article for edits until the issue is resolved on the talk page?

--Ashlonerider (talk) 11:23, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

• You can request page protection by following the instructions at WP:RFPP, if there is an edit dispute which is not being discussed, or persistent vandalism from multiple parties. If the latter, make sure that the edits are actually vandalism, though. GiftigerWunsch 11:26, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Glancing through the history of Pradip Baijal it is clear that the issue is not one of WP:vandalism, but one of WP:content dispute. (I believe you are arguing that other editors are violating WP:NPOV, but I take no position on who is right). You should take the discussion to the talk page, and familiarise yourself with WP:edit war. If necessary, you should follow the procedures in WP:conflict resolution. --ColinFine (talk) 13:15, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

References

I have included several citations within the reference tags. However, my draft doesn't render the citations. What must I do to get them to show up and to show due diligence to the facts? If I press edit, the citations are still there. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

23:54, 3 January 2011 (UTC)~— Preceding unsigned comment added by deadlinedd (talk • contribs)

You need to format them correctly, see WP:CITE. – ukexpat (talk) 00:04, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

January 4

Adding logo of a company to their Misplaced Pages Page

I work for a company that just changed their name and has a new logo. I have downloaded it to my computer and would like to include it within the page that describes the company. I am a newbie here so I wanted to ask what the right thing to do it so I don't get in trouble. The company I work for does not care about their info being on Misplaced Pages but I thought that the new logo would be a good idea. I have contributed as much information as possible about my employer to make the page about them as accurate as possible.

74.76.116.160 (talk) 01:13, 4 January 2011 (UTC)SaratogaCasinoAndRacewayEmployee

Before you make any more edits to the article, please read and inwardly digest WP:COI and WP:SPAM - at the moment the article is a bit of a spamfest. With respect to use of logos, please read WP:LOGO. – ukexpat (talk) 01:42, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

I am not experienced in writing so I apologize for it looking the way it does. I wish to make it better but am not educated enough to do it alone. I would welcome some assistance. I never intended to make is not work with WP standards. I supplied information that hte company has given me first hand plus info from their website.

74.76.116.160 (talk) 02:22, 4 January 2011 (UTC)SaratogaCasinoAndRacewayEmployee

And that is exactly why you should not be editing the article - material that you have received from the company is very unlikely to maintain the neutral point of view required for an encyclopedic article.  – ukexpat (talk) 02:43, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Chauncy Nye

Chaucey Nye's wife was Amarantha Burt, daughter of Martin Burt. Nye died on Janary 31, 1904 at his home near Prospect, Oregon. He came west in 1850 sstopping at Yreka, California for a short time. However, in the spring of 1851 he opened the first bakery in Salem, Oregon, leaving there in the spring of 1852 when he came to Jacksonville, Territory of Oregon where he engaged in mining. In the fall of 1852 he was elected alcalde. Duringhe winter of 1853-54 he served in the Oregon Legislature after being duly elected. In the fall of 1855 he enlisted in Compnay D, Second Oregon Volunteer Infantry and served through the Rogue River Indian War uj der Captain Bruce Rice and Captain John S. Miller. He was elected orderly sergeant. After peace was declared, he settled on a donation land claim in Sam's Valley on the north side of the Rogue River.

He married Amarantha Burt in 1865 in the John Beeson house in Talent, Oregon. Due to the location of his donation land claim and an ensuing malaria scare, he and his wife removed from the floor of the Rogue River Valley upstream to a ranch near Flounce Rock. The couple had six children only three of whom surived to reach adulthood: Ettie A.Nye(Mrs. Joe (Mrs. A. J. Florey), Nelson M. Nye, and Elsie Amarantha Nye (Mrs.Joe Phipps)

Besides being one member of the party of pioneers who discovered Crater Lake for the pioneers-- naming it Lake Majestic, on this same trip the party climbed a tall peak, and named it Union Peak, a name that same peak bears today, indicating the party's and Chauncy Nye's deep devotion to the Union during the Civil War. Footnote: Much of this material above was taken from an obituary kept by members of the family. My great grandmother was Amarantha Burt's sister Ellen Burt Bailey. Some other members of the family indicate that Chauncy Nye was born near Rochester, New York in 1826 not in Michigan. Incidentally, Amarantha Burt was born oon 5 May 1826 in Geene Co., Illinois, to Martin Burt and Abigail O'Flyng Burt. Robert L. Casebeer Talent, Oregon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.206.161.150 (talk) 10:12, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your interest in improving the Chauncy Nye article. Sadly, one of the core principles of Misplaced Pages is that information in articles must already have been published in reliable sources. Information that has been handed down within a family, but never published, should not be added to an article. If the obituary you refer to was ever published, the information in it could be used - do you have the title and publication date of the paper/magazine/book in which it appeared? (I have removed your email address to protect your privacy) -- John of Reading (talk) 11:01, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Getting Your Article Posted

I have created a sub page but when I search it does not come up as an option. Is my page live? Or does it reside strictly behind the live access to Misplaced Pages conten?

Thanks for your help.

In-Stat (talk) 16:45, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

You have written on your user page, which is not part of the encyclopedia. I'm afraid that your material is not suitable for Misplaced Pages, because Misplaced Pages is not a means of advertising or promotion. Please read the FAQ page for organisations.

More bad news: because your user name matches the company or product you are promoting, it contravenes the Misplaced Pages user name policy and is likely to be blocked. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:53, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

January 5

how do you put pics in?

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.224.166.62 (talk • contribs) 11:50, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

See WP:Images - David Biddulph (talk) 11:55, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

And Misplaced Pages:Picture tutorial. -- œ 18:11, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

January 6

Harry Potter book title

reading about voldemort and noticed a ref. to the "philosopher's stone" as part of one of (the first) titles-- it is "the sorcerer's stone" not "philosopher's stone."-- unless this title/book exists under another title. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.242.207.147 (talk) 06:49, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

As is explained in the second paragraph of the article, the book was first published in the UK as "the philosopher's stone" and re-published in the US a year later as "the sorcerer's stone". -- John of Reading (talk) 08:16, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

sources for new material added to Misplaced Pages

Hello I am SarahPats and I am brand new to this.

I work for an e-learning company and I would like to contribute to existing articles on this subject. My question is regarding the references we may use to cite new material. There are a few sites that I know are reliable that are quite new (like maybe only a few months old). Given that e-learning is quite new itself, I was wondering what Misplaced Pages's parameters are like when analyzing a site's reliability.

Any information on this subject would be appreciated.

Thanks, SarahPats — Preceding unsigned comment added by SarahPats (talk • contribs) 09:15, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

I am curious about what aspect of e-learning is necessarily new, as systems like PLATO have been around since the early 1960's and there have been groups like CALICO who have been publishing peer-reviewed scholarly journals for decades? Another group to look at is the MIT Media Lab, who clearly is in the forefront of electronic-based education. Part my question then would be to define "e-learning" in some fashion that would distinguish it from other forms of electronic-based education media.

In short, I think you are selling the field short to suggest that there isn't scholarly research which has been done in the area, including looking up more generally Instructional technology as an academic discipline. I should drop a hint here that Steve Jobs sold one of his new-fangled Apple II computers at an instructional technology conference and was largely responsible for giving Apple Computer their initial sales base past the initial hundred or so ubergeeks that purchased the first computers. It isn't as new as you would think. Dead-tree publications more than a decade old and found in public libraries might be a good place to start as it is that old of a concept.

More generally, I would suggest that you look at Misplaced Pages:Identifying reliable sources for more broad guidelines in terms of what sources you should be looking at. Consider peer-reviewed publications to be excellent sources of information as well as magazines with an editorial staff that might be a source for reviews. I know of several publications which focus on this particular sub-field rather strongly and have been around for some time (a decade or more). Google is your friend here, but I can dig up a few links if you are having trouble finding those magazines. Contacting a local teacher college (especially a land-grant university) would be another way to find some publications of this nature. You might even want to contact a technology officer at your local school district for some ideas if you want to find some sources of information for this field in particular. --Robert Horning (talk) 09:38, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Hello Robert:

Thanks for the speedy reply, I was expecting to have to wait a little longer to get this answered. You are completely right in stating that e-learning is not a new concept, I should have been more specific in what I meant. I am more interested in open education and mobile learning. These are somewhat new aspects of e-learning given that the technology for them is pretty recent, In terms of open education I am referring to online projects like the P2PU or the Open University in the UK. These are projects that aim to provide material licensed un the Creative Commons for free or provide courses for students online with volunteers as teachers or guidance. Sites that provide these ebooks for free (licensed under Creative Commons) are becoming more widespread but there are some that i have com across that are very good but are very recent. This is what I am worried about, that although these are good sources of information for people interested in this subject, wikipedia may consider these sites too new to be considered reliable. In terms of mobile learning I am referring to learning applications that have been created for the iphone, the ipad and android devices. These apps are sometimes based on copyrighted material but sometimes they are based on material licensed under the Creative Commons. It is these resources that i would like to include as external links for people's reference after reading an article on, for example, investment or accounting. Let me know what you think of this.

Again, I am sorry that I wasnt more clear initially and thank you for the quick reply.

SarahPats (talk) 09:58, 6 January 2011 (UTC)SarahPats

No problem. I still think a survey of some of these Instructional Technology websites might be some of the best sources for information that you are seeking in terms of reliable sources as I recall at least a couple of discussions about this issue in particular. The Instructional Technology Forum at the University of Georgia would be one place I'd suggest you query in terms of finding people who are at the bleeding edge of this field and in particular with regards to finding some reliable sources of information including published peer-reviewed papers on this particular topic. I'm sure that at least a couple of the people on that forum have worked with mobile devices as they really are at the forefront of educational technology.

As long as all you are doing is citing material, it doesn't matter what the licensing terms are involved, it is just a reference to that material. The only issue that the licensing of the material matters is if you are including a longer quote in the article, and even then good style guides would urge you to refrain from that much material. Reliable sources are in the eye of the beholder, although you might be surprised what is out there too if you really try to start looking.

I'd also suggest that you look at the Wikimedia sister projects Wikibooks and Wikiversity for some of what you may be trying to do here. Both are a little more forgiving than Misplaced Pages in terms of creating some initial content and writing something that may not necessarily be an encyclopedia article. I know of several Wikibooks that are somewhat close to what it is that you seem to want to write about, but it is a different format than Misplaced Pages. Wikiversity in particular is interested in partnering with other groups that want to share information based upon "open source" information and may provide a much more fertile area to work with than Misplaced Pages. Certainly writing encyclopedia articles can be useful in itself, but you might find some friendly faces on Wikiversity based upon what it is that you seem to be describing here. --Robert Horning (talk) 10:19, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Donating copyrighted material to Misplaced Pages for new articles

Hello I am new to this and I had a few questions about donating material to wikipedia to make a new article.

I work for an e-learning company and we focus on business and finance education. We have some copyrighted ebooks available for free online but we hold the rights to them. I wasnt to start a new article based on these books. The main topic is investing and it is more specifically about real estate investment. Any information on how to go about doing tis without wikipedia blocking or deleting my new page would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, SarahPats (talk) 09:22, 6 January 2011 (UTC)SarahPats

Hi SarahPats - thanks for your question. A few things to take into consideration:

• If the material remains copyrighted, it won't be possible for it to be used in Misplaced Pages even with accreditation of the source. (To clarify: you can't license copyright material for use only on Misplaced Pages.) This is because all material in Misplaced Pages is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA standard license, which (among other things) allows it to be altered and reproduced by anyone, including for profit. These conditions are incompatible with standard copyright licensing. Therefore, to donate the material to Misplaced Pages, it must be released under a license compatible with CC-BY-SA. You can do this by placing that license on the original e-books, or by sending an email to "permissions" granting the right for the material to be reproduced under this license. All details of either procedure are given at this page on donating material.
• As a corollary, you should note that even if you originate material, anyone else is free to edit it at will - you wouldn't retain ownership of the material once it is placed in Misplaced Pages.
• What kind of articles were you proposing to create? If the books are anything like how-to guides or instructional manuals, the material may not be appropriate for Misplaced Pages in any case. Our content must all be neutral, informational, encyclopedic material - see this page on what Misplaced Pages is not (including an instruction manual. All our content must meet the notability guideline - i.e. have been the subject of substantial coverage in multiple reliable, independent sources.
• Since you represent the publisher of the original material it is possible that you have a conflict of interest. We strongly discourage users from editing articles about subjects with which they have a close connection. If this would apply in your case, please read our guide to editing where you have a conflict of interest.
• As a general point, you may find it useful to read our guide to creating your first article. This offers general information about contributing to Misplaced Pages and how to structure and support new material.

Does this answer your questions? Let us know if you have any more. Gonzonoir (talk) 09:44, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Hello Gonzonoir:

Thanks for the reply. You have answered quite a bit of my question. I just need to clarify something regarding your first point. The company that I work for has the rights to the online publication of these books (they are not manuals or how-to books, they are course books for MBA courses written originally by a professor who gave us rights to online publishing)and we would like to make some of these books available under the Creative Commons. We have consulted with the author of the content and he agrees with us that it would be alright to have this freely available for people. In terms of the article that would be written it would be based on the book and divided into the chapters that the original author has outlined. The material would be the same as the textbook but there should be no conflict of copyright if we license it under the Creative Commons. I guess my question for this was specifically how to go about doing this through Misplaced Pages. I will look further into the resources that you have listed as I think that the information should be there.

Thank you for the reply, I look forward to any comments you might have on this.

SarahPats (talk) 10:07, 6 January 2011 (UTC)SarahPatsHello Gonzonoir:

Thanks for the reply. You have answered quite a bit of my question. I just need to clarify something regarding your first point. The company that I work for has the rights to the online publication of these books (they are not manuals or how-to books, they are course books for MBA courses written originally by a professor who gave us rights to online publishing)and we would like to make some of these books available under the Creative Commons. We have consulted with the author of the content and he agrees with us that it would be alright to have this freely available for people. In terms of the article that would be written it would be based on the book and divided into the chapters that the original author has outlined. The material would be the same as the textbook but there should be no conflict of copyright if we license it under the Creative Commons. I guess my question for this was specifically how to go about doing this through Misplaced Pages. I will look further into the resources that you have listed as I think that the information should be there.

Thank you for the reply, I look forward to any comments you might have on this.

SarahPats (talk) 10:07, 6 January 2011 (UTC)SarahPats

If you are trying to donate some course books that are being made available under terms of the CC-by-SA license, I would suggest that you contact Wikibooks with their Reading Room section for some specifics on how to get the books donated. There have been several books which have been donated to Wikibooks over the years, with the understanding that those books can be poked at, modified, and changed over time. There are some people on Wikibooks who would be more than willing to help with a project like this. Even though it may not seem like it, there is quite a bit of activity on Wikibooks and people do pay attention to changes on this particular page I referenced above. A textbook would be inappropriate for Misplaced Pages but would be more than welcomed on Wikibooks. --Robert Horning (talk) 10:48, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Short answer: Don't use self-published sources, especially something you wrote yourself. See also WP:SELFPUB and WP:COI.

Slightly longer answer: If you really want to write an article about these topics, do a good survey of the sources that are available regarding that topic. Article stubs are fine, but show that you are willing to consider more than just one source for the topic. If there are some e-books or something that you wrote yourself, use those sources for something which is factual and verifiable. Try to find other other viewpoints as well and also try to make sure that there isn't already an article on the topic. With over 3 million articles now on the English Misplaced Pages, it seems unlikely that at least something doesn't already exist at least somewhat close to the topic you are interested in writing about.

For some additional help, you may want to contact one of the members of the Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Business group, which focuses on business-related articles and is as close to an "expert group" on that topic as exists on Misplaced Pages. Posting on the talk page of that Wikiproject could give you a few pointers for help on both creating an article on that topic and give you some feedback in terms of getting something written that won't get deleted right away. My advise is to start there, and look at some of the other business-related articles for some comparisons to what you might want to write. --Robert Horning (talk) 10:00, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

James Joyce, Finnegans Wake

'The Sound of Finnegans Wake' by Dr Peter Myers is an in-depth exploration of all aspects of music and sound in Joyce's book.ISBN-10: 033355339X —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.75.238.105 (talk) 13:48, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm guessing that you are suggesting that a reference be added to the article Finnegans Wake. If you do not feel able to do so yourself, the best place to suggest this is on the article's talk page. (If you are thinking of editing the article yourself, a reference as specific as that should probably go in only if there is material in the article which could reasonably cite it, not as a general "Further reading"). --ColinFine (talk) 19:15, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Gene Sperling

On his wikipedia page there is no mention that Gene Sperling worked for Mario Cuomo in the 1990s before he worked for Bill Clinton. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.243.55.213 (talk) 17:39, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

If you have a reliable source for that, please be bold and add the information to the article (with a proper citation to the source). If you do not feel confident to do that, or you haven't a reliable source, I suggest you start a discussion on the matter on the article's talk page. --ColinFine (talk) 19:24, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

January 7

Macor Composition error

I searched the material Macor. Under the Composition portion of the page it says that Macor is made up of 16% Aluminum (Al2O3), but Al2O3 is Aluminum Oxide (aka Alumina). I don't know if Macor is made up of Aluminum or Aluminum Oxide, but there is an error on this page. Thanks, 204.28.3.51 (talk) 16:36, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

It is aluminum oxide, so I fixed the article. Thanks for your help!--Thekmc (talk) 22:14, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

January 8

Long lists

Is it appropriate to have long lists in an article? On the iTunes Remote article, it has huge lists of new features in each version. I'm wondering if that is more detail than is needed. Thank you. --69.242.155.122 (talk) 18:11, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Provided the same information isn't better presented in prose, embedded lists are appropriate, and there isn't really a limit to their length, just as long as it doesn't constitute undue weight and aren't overly promotional. However if you feel that a certain listing is a bit excessive there are maintenance templates that you can use to tag the article, such as {{Over detailed}}, {{Example farm}}, and {{Cleanup-laundry}}. -- œ 20:50, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

January 9

Own website

Can I write an article about my own website?Jayandess (talk) 05:45, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

See WP:COI and WP:SELFPUB for specific policies, but the general answer is no. If your website is "popular" and referenced independently in other publications and reliable sources (aka something like Google or Misplaced Pages do qualify for articles with this guideline) then yes an article can be started about some website. Most likely some website that doesn't already have an article on Misplaced Pages fails notability. --Robert Horning (talk) 06:19, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Further to that reply, you might want to also read WP:WEB which explains the notability requirements of websites. In general, if your site met those guidelines, then as Robert said, someone other than yourself would probably have created an article. If you told us the name of your website - the URL isn't needed, if it's notable then people would have heard of it and or would be able to find it using a simple Google search - we could probably give better advice. -- PhantomSteve.alt/talk\ 07:22, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

January 10

Updating a picture in an article??

Boy, this should be simple...but I have spent perhaps 4 hours trying to figure out how to simply replace a picture in an article with a better picture. I'm about to give up--where is the simple "How To" link to do this?

I believe I successfully uploaded a picture to the Misplaced Pages Commons, but where is it? And how do I link it into the article?

Schmieder (talk) 02:29, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

The file shows up in your Commons Contributions and the filename is File:Albert Ghiorso ca 1970.jpg. To add it to an article as a thumbnail, use this code: ], which will render as -->>

For future reference, image help can be found at WP:IMAGES. Hope this helps. – ukexpat (talk) 03:57, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

how to footnote a thumnail file

I uploaded files and transfered them into my page as thumnail files. How do I reference these files into the report?? Thanks, Mike Vso737 (talk) 07:29, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

I have fixed a couple of errors that were making the top of the page look very strange. Please read this help page for a quick guide to making the footnotes work. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:41, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

The Steps to Publish a Biography

I would like to publish Biography and need a clear step-by-step of what to do.

174.49.84.228 (talk) 15:14, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

A Wizard is available to walk you through these steps. See the Article Wizard.

You will need to first register an account, which has many benefits, including the ability to create articles. Once you have registered, please search Misplaced Pages first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Misplaced Pages is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Misplaced Pages:Your first article and Misplaced Pages:How to write a great article, and please consider taking a tour through the Misplaced Pages:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation. An Article Wizard is available to walk you through creating an article, but you will need to create an account to use it. if you don't wish to do so, you can submit a proposal for an article at Articles for Creation.Template:Z26 TNXMan 15:24, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

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