Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2012 January 19

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January 19

Page creation?

Trying to create a subpage of my user page, but am getting an error that new pages can't be created. Bug or still coming out of blackout? Calabe1992 05:09, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Went to User:Purplewowies/sandbox (which doesn't exist), and no edit tab is available. - Purplewowies (talk) 05:12, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Seems to be fixed, at least where I tested it. - Purplewowies (talk) 05:14, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Yep, here as well. Perhaps an attempt to slow down junk pages from being immediately created... Calabe1992 05:25, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

How do I use a Wikimedia shortcut here?

I was trying to point someone to Unified Login, so I tried the shortcut H:UL, but it's a red link. Then I noticed that that page is on Wikimedia. Is there anyway to use a shortcut to get from Wikipedia to Wikimedia? RudolfRed (talk) 05:22, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Certainly. You can use Wikimedia: or wmf: Oh wait, the page you want to link to is not on the Wikimedia Foundation's direct site but on Meta-Wiki; that shortcut it simply meta: or m: i.e., the link would be m:Help:Unified login or meta:Help:Unified login.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 05:52, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

WP:SUL might be a good link too. Rich Farmbrough, 06:06, 19 January 2012 (UTC).

Thanks! RudolfRed (talk) 16:28, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

DNA (Rapper)

DNA was born on April 17,1991 as Eric St John. DNA is well known for being a battle rapper and his popular battle slogan "Get Em The F**k Outta Here". DNA was born and raised in Corona, NY. His early influences were Eminem, Jadakiss, Lloyd Banks and 50 Cent. DNA has battled in popular battle leagues Grindtime Now, URL/Smack and most recently King of the Dot. At King of the Dot DNA battled his long time rival Dizaster. The battle was hosted by Young Money's own Drake. His battles have been on popular sites like Thisis50 and Worldstarhiphop. DNA has many accolades under his belt. He was the 2009 winner of the New York Red Bull Freestyle competition and the 1st runner up in 2010 in Detroit and 2011in Philadelphia. DNA has worked with R&B Legend Ginuwine, Super producer The Alchemist and EPMD's Erick Sermon. DNA is currently working on his next mixtape "Underrated and Underpaid". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Danie10467 (talk • contribs) 06:07, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Forgive me if I missed it, but what is the question? You need help editing an article related to the rapper? fredgandt 06:25, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

The person tried to create the article as a section here, but later made it into this article: Dna rapper. - Purplewowies (talk) 06:27, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

...Which then got moved to Dna (rapper) and was speedily deleted ‎as being an "Article about a band, singer, musician, or musical ensemble, which does not indicate the importance or significance of the subject". Astronaut (talk) 15:58, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Help: moving category

HI, I would like to movie Category:Inspirational fiction to Category: Inspirational stories, because I realizes that not only there are inspitational stories that not only coming from fictions, but also factual events as well. Please help.--NeoBatfreak (talk) 06:24, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

No. Categories contain relevant material. We don't change them because some random user who doesn't know how to use a spellchecker (or doesn't care) has a passing whim to... AndyTheGrump (talk) 06:31, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

shinee jonghuyn

Please use only facts when you published. How could you public that jonghyun broke up whith his girlfriend because he has relationship with fellow member key. This is horrible and wrong so please remove it.He is amazing and he doesn`t deserve, actually no one does, it so please respect people that trust wikipedia and his fans by publishing only the truth Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.85.178.21 (talk) 06:44, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Are you reporting vandalism? (thanks) Is the problem with the Shinee or the Jonghyun article? Mjroots (talk) 07:56, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

The OP removed an unsourced rumor from Jonghyun. —teb728 t c 09:30, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

For which we thank him/her. Such removal is entirely within WP:BLP. Mjroots (talk) 09:37, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia protest 18th January 2012

Just to I am very uplifted by your principled action and fully agree with your concerns. Apologies for posting in the wrong place. Kenneth Jaques. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.200.181.66 (talk) 10:17, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Details and feedback are at WP:SOPA. – ukexpat (talk) 13:24, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

article on 'The Grey'

co-writer's name is mis-spelled it should be IAN MACKENZIE JEFFERS — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.231.221.245 (talk) 10:25, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

The Grey (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch

Fixed. Thanks for pointing that out. —teb728 t c 10:55, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Image help

Talk:Jayne Mansfield/GA1 has issues:

• File:Jayne Mansfield.jpg needs {{personality rights}}.
• File:Kissthemformetrailer.JPG needs an image review. I question the claimed PD status.

Can someone help me with these? Aditya^{(talk • contribs)} 11:34, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

File:Jayne Mansfield.jpg now has {{personality rights}}

File:Kissthemformetrailer.JPG - please raise this at WP:MCQ where the copyright folks hangout. Thanks. – ukexpat (talk) 13:27, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Aditya^{(talk • contribs)} 16:21, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Greenville Trace

The Greenville Trace was a path/road from Greenville, Ohio to Lafayette, IN. Tecumseh & The Prophet followed this path when they left Ohio going to Battle Ground, IN (Prophetstown). I can't find any history on it except an old Indiana Territory map I have. Can you find anything? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dlwhite2001 (talk • contribs) 12:01, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Are you perhaps referring to Buffalo Trace (road)? It has a lot of other names.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 16:22, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Creating an article for a new society

I am the secretary of a new society. I would like to get an article about the society into Wikipedia. However, I read in the Article Wizard that I should not submit an article that is about my organization because of possible conflict of interest. It is suggested that I should ask an uninvolved Wikipedia editor who has edited similar articles for their opinion before proposing an article on the subject. How do I contact such a person?

Before you do that, are there sufficient third party, reliable sources that demonstrate that the society meets the notability guidelines? If there are not (and I suspect that this may be the case as it is a "new society"), then I am afraid the society does not meet Wikipedia's inclusion criteria. – ukexpat (talk) 14:34, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

If you want to find an editor it may help if you tell us very briefly what the society does and where it is located. Or you could look in Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory to see if there is a relevant WikiProject; a WikiProject is a group of people who work to improve articles on a certain subject matter, and you can ask them for advice. --Colapeninsula (talk) 17:18, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

The society is The CFA Voysey Society (http://voyseysociety.com/), dedicated to the famous British Arts & Crafts architect and designer of the late 19th and early 20th century. We have been noticed by several key published journals in our field and related web sites (for example: http://www.artworkersguild.org/news/2011/05/).

I cannot sent to photosubmissionwikimedia.org

I get a bounce back when sending to the address: photosubmissionwikimedia.org

I have two images to submit, please advise

I can send other email to other addresses.

Are you trying to send details of a copyright permission? If so, the address is permissions-commonswikimedia.org. – ukexpat (talk) 14:37, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

photosubmissionwikimedia.org is mentioned at Wikipedia:Contact us/Photo submission, so it ought to work. In your post here you have left out the @ sign - was that the problem? -- John of Reading (talk) 16:22, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Article on putting pictures on userpage

Hello, I just created an account and am looking to get involved in articles regarding computing, economics, polisci, and others.

It's so good to be in such a community.

Can you direct me to an article as to how to put a picture of myself on my userpage? Thanks --Prowress (talk) 14:52, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

• 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 Wikipedia's image use policy.
• If you want to add an image that has already been uploaded to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons, add [[File:File name.jpg|thumb|Caption text.]] 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. I hope this helps. TNXMan 14:58, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, that helped a lot! --Prowress (talk) 03:37, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

hyperlinks

I created an article and imbedded hyperlinks in the Word file that I used. When I tried to upload it into Wikipedia, the content appeared but not the hyperlinks. Please help — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sandrasong14 (talk • contribs) 16:34, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

If you copy/paste, I don't believe Wikipedia will pick up the embedded hyperlinks. You would need to add them at the end of the sentence (see this page for help on referencing) or at the end of the article. TNXMan 16:42, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

inaccuracy needs correcting asap -- have requested before and nothing done....Diane Francis (subject of page)

Diane Francis (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

THIS IS INACCURATE:

Francis was appointed Distinguished Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto in October 2007, for a one-year term.[5]

IT SHOULD READ

Francis has been Distinguished Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto since fall 2008. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.33.218.174 (talk) 17:11, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

 Fixed, with an updated reference in this edit. – ukexpat (talk) 17:35, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Updating an article's title

When it comes to consistency for an article's title I was wondering if Tiger (the group) should be renamed as 'Tiger (band)'. I posted this suggestion on the page's discussion but didn't hear anything more Talk:Tiger (the group). It looks like using 'band' is the style adopted. I'm no genius with doing a change like this, so wondering if the change is applicable an admin could do the honours. Londonclanger (talk) 17:15, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Tiger (band) already exists, but Tiger (the group) is, in my experience, non-standard disambiguation. How about Tiger (protopunk band)? – ukexpat (talk) 17:29, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Ahh - good catch on a pre-existing article - my bad. The suggestion works for me given the situation with the existing Tiger (band). Probably works better than the other idea I had of 'Tiger (1970s band)'. Londonclanger (talk) 17:36, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

I was going to suggest Tiger (1970s band), which might avoid arguments about genre (films are differentiated by year but bands aren't necessarily). Often bands are disambiguated by location, e.g. Nirvana (UK band), but both Tigers seem to be from London. If you want confusion, we do have articles LFO (band) and LFO (group) (the former is a techno act and the latter a boy-band, so it's a slightly different case, but strikes me as undesirable). --Colapeninsula (talk) 17:45, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

I have boldly moved it to Tiger (1970s band). – ukexpat (talk) 17:56, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Where do images go once you have uploaded them?

I uploaded an image and if I ever wanted to use that same image again in a different page would this be possible, are they saved anywhere?--Vincentnufcr1 (talk) 17:30, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

It is possible, but suggest that you first deal with the issues with the image as explained in the notice on your talk page. Once that's done you can link to the image as described at Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. The image is at File:Ian-Kershaw-free-for-world-use credit-James-Pearson-University-of-Sheffieldianphoto1.jpeg. – ukexpat (talk) 17:39, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

How did you find that image though?--Vincentnufcr1 (talk) 19:21, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

In your contributions. – ukexpat (talk) 19:26, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

A further explanation: when you're logged in, look to the upper right hand corner. You will see a list of links that help you keep track of your activities and your account. One of them is My contributions. Clicking it will show a list of your recent activity, including files you may have uploaded.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 20:08, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Okay I'm with you, I just thought there would be a place just where photos you have uploaded would be kept, thanks for clearing it up.--Vincentnufcr1 (talk) 21:29, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Try Special:ListFiles/Vincentnufcr1, or the "uploads" link from Special:Contributions/Vincentnufcr1. - David Biddulph (talk) 21:39, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

We could also have found the image from the warning message on your user talk page. Unless you resolve the issues, the image will be deleted. —teb728 t c 06:42, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

The image seems to be a copyright violation, and hence liable to be deleted; see the T&Cs of the source website. - David Biddulph (talk) 13:08, 20 January 2012‎ (UTC)

Fixing bunching

At Wicks Building, the image captioned "Unadorned eastern side..." is supposed to appear in the Architecture section, but it appears below the bottom of the infobox, apparently because of a bunching issue. How do I fix this? I note that {{fixbunching}} was unhelpfully deleted and the corresponding help page rendered useless without any reference to a replacement page. Nyttend (talk) 17:50, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

That's not a fixbunching issue, it's a notenoughroominthearticle issue. BTW, {{fixbunching}} (to deal with the bunching of edit links) was rendered redundant by a simple tweak to the wikimedia rendering code. – ukexpat (talk) 17:54, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Images don't like to reverse order compared to the source. You can move File:Wicks Building interior.jpg to later in the source. PrimeHunter (talk) 17:57, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Okay, done; thanks. I thought that an edit like this would result in a big area of white space from the end of the "History" section to the bottom of the infobox. I'm quite confident that we formerly were able to put images immediately below infoboxes in the source and have them display immediately below infoboxes, all without affecting the display of other images. What happened? Nyttend (talk) 01:09, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

You are right that {{fixbunching}} also had this effect although it wasn't the reason for the template. {{stack}} can be used instead. They both use a table to make two or more elements behave like one large element. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:43, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

thank you

I know I'm not in the correct location for comments but I can not thank you enough for your service and for helping to bring a voice to the voiceless masses!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.185.60.250 (talk) 18:18, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

---> WP:SOPA. – ukexpat (talk) 19:40, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

PDF Download Problem

The article on Cologne, Germany can not be downloaded as a PDF, at the present time. When attempting to download as a PDF it states that the article cannot be rendered and is only available as a texe file. Can this be corrected by Wikipedia or is there some reason that it can't be fixed to generate a PDF? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.155.74.74 (talk) 19:07, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Are you trying to create a Wikipedia book? If so, you must create an account. See Help:Books. – ukexpat (talk) 19:39, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

"Download as PDF" under "Print/export" works for me at Cologne, Germany. Please try again. PrimeHunter (talk) 19:42, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

PrimeHunter, did you look closely at the rendered page? I though it had worked for me too, but when I acually looked at it, it began:

"WARNING: Article could not be rendered - ouputting plain text.

Potential causes of the problem are: (a) a bug in the pdf-writer software (b) problematic Mediawiki markup (c) table is too wide"

—teb728 t c 22:01, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Ah yes, I get that too. I was fooled by the poster's claim that it can not be downloaded as a PDF and is only available as a "texe" file. When I saw a PDF file was downloaded and could be opened with readable text and 14 numbered PDF pages, I didn't actually read the text. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:41, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Is this word banned from section headers

I found an odd quirk today regarding the word "advertisement". In fixing an item in Stephen Fry's article I found that the section header labeled ===Advertisements=== did not show up in the article as can be seen here [1]. The paragraph is still separated from the others and it had its own edit command. When I changed it to the header to ===Ads=== the section had a header that could be seen [2]. Is this an edit filter thing to try and keep out advertising? Any explanation that you can give will help my understanding of how things work and my thanks, ahead of time, for your response. MarnetteD | Talk 19:55, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

I've changed the section heading to "Advertisements" and it shows just fine for me (Vector, Chrome,XP-SP1). Anyone not see it? fredgandt 20:03, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

It also shows up for me in MarnetteD's link at http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stephen_Fry&diff=prev&oldid=472107125#Advertisements. The html source of the renderd page says as expected: <span class="mw-headline" id="Advertisements">Advertisements</span></h3>. If something is blocking it then it's at your end. I don't know whether any anti-advertisement browser addons will do it. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:08, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your efforts. It still doesn't show for me (Firefox) - I should add that I stumbled on it when I clicked on the word on the ToC to shortcut to it and the page didn't move at all. After your edit it does still show on the ToC and again doesn't move. An odd situation (I can't remember another one like it) but if it works fine for everyone else then I won't worry about it. MarnetteD | Talk 20:10, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Try viewing the page using a different browser. You'll have IE for (almost) sure if you are using Windoze Windows. fredgandt 20:14, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

D'oh! Need to remove a "timestamp" from a page I edited.

I'm fairly new at editing entries and it looks like I accidentally added a "timestamp" to the entry on the "Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter" page, down in the "Names on the Moon" section.

I want to delete that timestamp but it doesn't show up in the text when I click on "edit". How can I delete those timestamps so that they don't show up?

Sorry for the dumb newbie question. I'll try to be more careful in the future. -Arlin_BartelsArlin Bartels (talk) 20:04, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

I've removed it for you. I'm not quite sure why you couldn't edit out though - possibly a cache-related glitch. AndyTheGrump (talk) 20:12, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Sagres bottle

Hi

I'm a the new media manager from Sociedade Central Cervejas (Heineken Group) in Portugal. Few months ago I posted a request for someone to explain me how to change an image of a bottle of beer, since I cannot edit it and it seems awful. In the meantime one user placed his photo on the article and if someone searches the company in Facebook, it is his image that comes up, which is very negative for the company. You can check the situation here.

Can you please give us some guidance on how to solve this?

Tks Luis Cardoso — Preceding unsigned comment added by Videomorphose (talk • contribs)

We have no control over the way Facebook displays Wikipedia content. I am sure that eventually they will catch up with the current (correct) image. Do you have a better quality image the copyright of which the company is prepared to release for all purposes (not just for Wikipedia)? If so, please communicate that per the process set out at WP:IOWN, then the image can be uploaded over the current one. – ukexpat (talk) 20:18, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Also, paging an administrator. A previous revision of that file needs to be deleted (the image of User:محمد الخوبري, apparently uploaded by mistake). -- Obsidi♠n Soul 20:25, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

I suspect the problem is that the current 'correct' image isn't a very good one - blurry, badly-cropped, and with poor colour balance. Certainly a new image could be used to replace this (subject to the copyright issues above) - but I'd suggest you keep to the same format, with just a basic illustration of the bottle. As it is, the article is already somewhat promotional, and an image that looked overly like advertising wouldn't be appropriate. Incidentally, given our conflict-or-interest policy (see WP:COI), it might be wise to leave a note on the article talk page asking for the image to be replaced (when the new image is uploaded), so another person can actually make the edit. I'll put the article on my watchlist to see that it gets dealt with. AndyTheGrump (talk) 20:29, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

To Obsidian Soul, why delete it? It's not displayed on any other pages when it's not the current image. It's generally helpful if the file history shows the real file history so people can see what happened with the image, even if it shouldn't have happened. PrimeHunter (talk) 20:34, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Because it's unfree for one and the current FUR only applies to the current image. It's already tagged with {{Orphaned non-free revisions}} which means they should be deleted today (Jan. 20) per CSD#F5 and CSD#F7. And two, it's a picture of a person who is completely unrelated to the subject matter and might actually not be free (it looks like a football player) and have personality rights.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 20:46, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

OK. It has been deleted. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:16, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Baseball player Honus Wagner and his Pittsburgh store

The article mentions that his sporting goods store in downtown Pittsburgh is open "to this day." It closed a year ago. For reference: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11005/1115586-28.stm

Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.206.167.178 (talk) 20:33, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Please Be bold and cite your changes. Also, please sign your comments on talk pages. Thanks. fredgandt 20:52, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

He/she already did. I have updated the page. Thanks for the heads up.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 20:55, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Self work

Why can't we post self work or experience on Wikipedia? It doesn't make any sense. What's really hypocritical about this is that a bunch of the references are self experimented and published by non-Wikipedians. If it's true, it's true! Greenble (talk) 20:48, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Please see WP:COI, WP:NPOV, WP:OR, WP:NOT, WP:VNT, and many others. fredgandt 20:54, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Yes, it is annoying to be asked to provide a reference for "the sky is blue" and "grass is green", but Wikipedia does allow some discretion. The problem seems to be that facts that are considered obviously true by some are doubted by others, so reliable references are a requirement when "facts" are questioned. See Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners and Wikipedia:Citing sources . If you find links to "self experimented" publications that have not been peer reviewed, then you may challenge them as unreliable. See Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources Dbfirs 21:06, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Greenble (talk) 21:13, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Blackout 1

You want to protest a bill that you believe will limit rights to view the web, but yet you black out your site, doing the same thing you are protesting, what a joke, you guys are a joke. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.42.244.36 (talk) 21:15, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Please see SOPA for this subject. This page is for seeking help with editing and otherwise using Wikipedia (not its policies). fredgandt 21:20, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

@User:Fred Gandt - WP:SOPA has got nothing to do with wikipedia policies - Youreallycan 17:04, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Its politics then? Яehevkor ✉ 17:13, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Closer, yes. - WP:Wikipedia foundation's political positions - Youreallycan 17:20, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

@ (eww) Youreallycan: Oh. fredgandt 18:51, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Delay in requested update

Interesting. . . but anyways . . . I was wondering how long an article should take to post. I posted on the black out day, and I don't think that's why, but this entry caught my eye. How long does it take for a post for a new section take to appear on a page? Specifically Senators pages that may or may not be for PIPA.Help me help you. PIPA section on all Senator pages? Keep up the good work:) - Thanks! Irievibe (talk) 06:27, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Barbara Boxer (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

You posted at the article's talk page. Someone would have seen this eventually, but since this is a volunteer project with 3.8 million articles it could have taken weeks or months. Your post here has drawn attention to it, though, and another editor has tidied your edit at Barbara Boxer. Thank you for registering an account, by the way; I've left you some introductory links on your talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:06, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

BCE instead of BC/CE instead of AD

I am currently doing a lot of reading on the different countries of the world and noticed that Wikipedia uses the format i.e. 500 BC or 500 AD. Would it be stepping on any toes if the more recent system of BCE (Before Common Era) instead of BC and CE (Common Era) instead of AD is used?

Wessel Gordon Wessel Gordon (talk) 22:03, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

From WP:ERA, "Do not arbitrarily change from one era style to the other on any given article. Instead, attempt to establish a consensus for change at the talk page. Reasons for the proposed change should be specific to the content of the article; a general preference for one style over another is not a valid reason." GB fan 22:06, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

However, if you are starting a new article, you can use either system. - Purplewowies (talk) 23:49, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Personally, I don't care either way, but yes, some users have strong opinions about which of the two should be used. Andrew Schlafly, the founder of the Wikipedia "fork" (if it can be called that) Conservapedia, started it apparently because he didn't like the way a student was using the Common Era system rather than the Anno Domini system he preferred. Just to be safe, follow the advice given previously: don't change the existing system in an article, but feel free to choose one or the other when starting a new article. Same thing also applies for whether to use British/Commonwealth English or American English.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 19:31, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Actually, in the case of English style, the style should reflect on the subject. If it's a British/Commonwealth subject, British English should be used. If it's a US subject, American English should be used. If neither, then whichever was the first style should be maintained. Although to be honest, I have no idea what to do with Canadian subjects. The Mark of the Beast (talk) 22:35, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

How do you figure out when a wikipedia page is made?

I need it for my report — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.122.86.200 (talk) 23:01, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Special:NewPages maybe? - Purplewowies (talk) 23:06, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

On every page, there is a "View History" tab near the top of the page, to the left of the search bar. You can click on it to find when it was originally created, or when any change was made. In most cases, there is not single date associated with an article, there are multiple dates, one for each change.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 23:08, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:14, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

I also don't particularly recommend that you use Wikipedia as a direct source for your report.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 19:33, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

"Download as PDF" to print in Letter size instead of A4 size

Each time I use "Download as PDF" (under "Print/export" on the left margin of many Wikipedia pages), I get a pdf of paper size 8.27x11.69 inches (ISO A4 paper) I would like to get pdf files with paper size 8.5x11 inches (US Letter size). I cannot find options or preferences to change the tool to render the output in Letter size. Can someone help? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.188.33.25 (talk) 23:14, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

I think this might be a program settings issue. Try opening the pdf, then in the Acrobat menu options, go to File → Page Setup → Paper Size, and make sure it's set to "US Letter". Even if you're not using Acrobat, I would imagine most pdf programs have an equivalent method for choosing the page setup.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:55, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for your comment, but I do not believe it is a settings issue related to a local program. The pdf is created "in the cloud" then downloaded to the local PC. When one opens the downloaded file, it has already been built in A4 format. I am familiar with the settings in Acrobat, and can force it to print on Letter size paper, but I have not been successful in getting the file created in Letter size. It very likely is a settings issue, but it would be related to the settings used to create the pdf on the server side. Is there a way to configure the tool Wikipedia uses for the pdf rendering to create a Letter size pdf? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.227.186.32 (talk) 04:26, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

I can confirm that this is almost certainly on our end. A PDF is supposed to describe exactly how a document will print, including paper size; it's functionally equivalent to a printed copy, except that it's electronic. If we're only providing it on A4, printing it on letter will produce suboptimal results due to differing aspect ratios. I'm not sure what to do about this, but we actually have a forum for asking technical questions. Maybe someone there can help. If you're not an experienced Wikipedian, please be sure to mention it there so that they don't use too much jargon. --NYKevin @387, i.e. 08:16, 20 January 2012 (UTC)