Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)

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The technical section of the village pump is used to discuss technical issues about Wikipedia. Bugs and feature requests should be made at BugZilla since there is no guarantee developers will read this page.

Newcomers to the technical village pump are encouraged to read these guidelines prior to posting here. Questions about MediaWiki in general should be posted at the MediaWiki support desk.

Frequently Asked Questions: (also see Wikipedia:Technical FAQ)

• Intermittent database lags can make new articles take some minutes to appear, and cause the watchlist, contributions, and page history/old views sometimes not show the very latest changes. This is an ongoing issue we are working on.
• The search index is often out of date, sometimes taking weeks before it's updated. Because of that, recent changes are not immediately reflected on the search.
• If all the links in the articles suddenly become underlined (or the opposite), or red links instead end with a red question mark (or the opposite), or paragraphs are fully justified instead of left justified (or the opposite), it's probably because your browser failed to load one of the stylesheets (or the server sent you a wrong one). Do a forced reload or bypass your cache.
• If you have problems making your fancy signature work, check Wikipedia:How to fix your signature.
• If you changed to another skin and cannot change back, use this link.
• It has been reported that the Google Toolbar extension for the Firefox browser is the source of some strange problems (including blanking part of a page when editing it). If you have that extension, try turning it off or upgrading to a newer version. See bugzilla:5643 for more information.
• If an image thumbnail is not showing, try purging its image description page (if the image is from Wikimedia Commons, you might have to purge there too). If it doesn't work, try again.
• Some adblockers, proxies, or firewalls block URLs containing /ad/ or ending in common executable suffixes. This can cause some images or articles to not appear. Also, it's surprisingly common for people to accidentally block the image server (upload.wikimedia.org) on Firefox.
• If the section edit links are being pushed down by floated images, check Wikipedia:How to fix bunched up edit links.
• If you are asked to download a file (index.php) when trying to edit, or your browser launches an image editor when trying to edit, disable "Use external editor" on your preferences.
• Some ISPs use transparent proxies which cause problems logging in. If you find that you are automatically logged out just after you have logged in, and removing all your wikipedia cookies does not fix the issue, try using the secure server (much slower) to bypass the proxy. This happens most often with some satellite ISPs.

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Look

Information is appearing left-aligned which should appear right-aligned. How do I correct this? --194.82.45.23 23:14, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Account recovery?

I had originally signed up in wikipedia with my traditional nick, but forgot to associate an email to it, and now i can't remember the password, i don't seem to be able to recover it, and mi original nick is lost!. Is there any possibility of recovering the account? Gorgonzola 15:24, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Furlan editions look strange

When editing a page, the upper layout looks strange, you can see it by editing any page. If you have any comment or the answer, please, tell it to Pasqual (ca), or directly to Klenje (fur), who asked me about it, but my knowledges don't reach it.

--Sorry for my poor English-- Pasqual (ca) · CUT 09:44, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Usually this means there's a missing close tag (</div> or similar) in one of the user interface messages. In particular check fur:MediaWiki:Edittools, but some of the others on the edit page might be the problem. --Brion 10:36, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

fur:MediaWiki:Edittools is right, can someone help they? Pasqual (ca) · CUT 21:32, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

How can I know what mediawiki messages are used on an edition page? Pasqual (ca) · CUT 13:27, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Sig help

As my sig shows-i need help with it. Where would i find it or how do i do it?[[Mitchazenia .2]] 18:51, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

You need to add <nowiki></nowiki> tags around the the first 2 ]] so that it doesn't close the link yet. Right now, your code looks like [[User:Mitchazenia|[[Mitchazenia .2]]]]. It should look like [[User:Mitchazenia|[[Mitchazenia .2<nowiki>]]</nowiki>]]. That will display [[Mitchazenia .2]] If that's not how you want it to show, just tell me how you want it to look and I will help you fix it. Hope that helps, Shardsofmetal [ Talk • Contribs ] 20:45, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

And for colors?[[Mitchazenia .2]] 20:49, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

If you wanted your name to be green, you would put <span style="color: green"></span> around your name (or the part you want green). [[User:Mitchazenia|<span style="color: green">[[Mitchazenia .2<nowiki>]]</nowiki></span>]] will show [[Mitchazenia .2]]. However, you should use the hexadecimal code for a color instead of it's name. You can find colors and their hexadecimal values at List of colors. Feel free to ask if you need more help. Shardsofmetal [ Talk • Contribs ] 00:36, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

I have a new sig as you see, but i need to know how to split it into sections with different links.1998's Mitchazenia (joking) 14:42, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

If you want to have your username blue, linking to your user page, and (joking) green, and linking to your talk page, the following code should do the trick: [[User:Mitchazenia|<span style="color: blue">1998's Mitchazenia</span>]] [[User talk:Mitchazenia|<span style="color: green">(joking)</span>]] That produces 1998's Mitchazenia (joking) If you still have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them. Sorry it took so long for me to reply. Shardsofmetal [ Talk • Contribs ] 02:33, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks.[[User:HurricaneCraze32|<span style="color: red">HurricaneCraze32</span> [[User talk:Mitchazenia|<span style="color: maroon">aka Mitchazenia</span>]]]] 13:41, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Spaces around parameter pipes or not--is this standardized?

I recently ran into a problem regarding spaces around parameter pipes. When doing references (footnote format with "ref" tags), spaces around the pipe characters were just fine. However, when I had spaces around the pipe characters for parameters with an image, the parameters no longer functioned. Is this asepct of pipes for parameters standardized or not? If so, what is the MANDATORY standard usage--the one that must be used or things will not work? If it is not standardized, why is it not standardized?Dogface 17:34, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

For template calls, you can do {{<w>template-name<w>|<w>param1<w>=<w>value1<w>}} where <w> represents an arbitrary number of white space chars (including zero). White space chars are spaces, newlines (!), tabs and the like. There is no standard for putting whitespace chars. Use just common sense (if nobody disagrees with your style on an article then that is the standard :) --Ligulem 20:24, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

• It didn't work because the Wikipedia software assumes the whitespace part of the parameter. As far as I can tell, not using whitespace is standard in most shortish templates. Infoboxes are the exception. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:34, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

A problem with HighBeam Research?

I think there may be a problem with links to articles on HighBeam Research (www.highbeam.com). When I attempt to load an article that used to load in the past, my browser (Firefox 1.5.0.7) stops working. Normal operation is restored only by rebooting my computer. I cannot tell if this is just a problem with my equipment and software. I have been able to fix the link in question by linking to a copy on Find Articles (www.findarticles.com), which works fine. Alan Pascoe 13:32, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Some HighBeam links are OK. As an example of the problem:

• FindArticles version
• HighBeam version

Alan Pascoe 16:26, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

• This has nothing to do with Wikipedia. Try the computing reference desk. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:35, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Upgrade to edit tools

Is there a page that details all of the functions of the improved edit toolbar I now find myself with ? --Charlesknight 20:37, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

The major new one is the table tab. The rest are wiki markup, many repeated in the "wiki markup" section below the edit window. Some description can be found at User:MarkS/Extra_edit_buttons. Gimmetrow 20:51, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Some of the extra buttons should really not be there, for example, coloured text is generally discouraged, so why have a button to make it easier to insert? Also, there are so many buttons now it is confusing, particularly as many of them are very basic in function. If you ask me, the only useful extra one is the table one (which is very useful). Martin 21:01, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

The colored text button was removed almost immediately for that reason. Perhaps you need to reload the javascript. Gimmetrow 21:11, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

May I make a suggestion? When I click the "Make Table" button a window opens to set the alignment you type the appropriate word in, may I suggest making this a drop down menu instead? --pjb007 11:02, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Return in Edit Summary should not submit form

True, this could be a browser issue. (Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6) Twice today I've accidentally hit "return" in the Edit Summary box and had the page prematurely submitted. If a change was recently made which caused this behaviour (I'd guess that would be making the revision comment a form on its own with a single text variable as its only contents), it should be reverted or adjusted for. True, it's also not impossible that this is a new quirk of mine. But even if this is not a new feature, the user should need to reasonably positive indicate the submission of a form; accidental hitting of "return" (mistyped for the quotation marks beside it, I believe) ideally would not cause form submission. Just something to investigate and think about, and improve if easy. --SportWagon 19:09, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

1. Hitting "return" in the "Edit Summary" definitely does submit the form--not ideal
2. I cannot confirm if this is new, nor immediately how browser-specific (possibly option-specific) it is

--SportWagon 19:28, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes it should. Type the edit, press tab, type edit summary, hit enter. Done. If enter didn't work on the edit summary box, it would require a lot more tab-presses (or shock horror, moving the mouse). ~iNVERTED | Rob (Talk | Contribs) 19:29, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

This is the standard behavior of html forms, as far as I know: typing enter on any element that is not a textarea is equivalent to pressing the submit button (or the selected button, if any). I find it quite useful. (Liberatore, 2006). 19:35, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, now I've confirmed what you say at other places I wouldn't expect it. Given the ease with which return can be typed instead of single or double quote, I'm surprised I don't run afoul of it more often. When there are multiple submission choices, it seems defaulting to an invalid choice might be the appropriate thing to do (making sure no contents are lost). But that's debateable, so I hereby remove my complaint/suggestion. I just started hitting return instead of quote today, I guess. Most of the time I don't run afoul of this, here or elsewhere. --SportWagon 19:46, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

1) It's a super time-saver for some people, so it won't be going away. 2) Even though it's a standard browser feature, I think it's possible to override it with some Javascript... [1] individual users should be able to tweak their monobook.js to do what they want. 3) since it's a feature that works on most browsers, and on almost all websites, I don't think we should change the default unless there's a really good reason. --Interiot 21:12, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

This is not only the standard behavior of web forms, it's extremely useful and is how I make every single one of my edits. I'd be extremely annoyed if this were changed, as I suspect would thousands of other Wikipedia users. --Brion 21:15, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

One simple workaround is to learn to use a UK keyboard; in the design I'm using at the moment, double-quote is safely tucked away above the 2 and single-quote is two keys away from Return (with # in between). The main risk here appears to be wikilinks, because ] is right next to Return (luckily, in a way that makes Return harder to hit by mistake). --ais523 07:57, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Should this section be deleted now? Or perhaps title changed to Return in Edit Summary submits form, with a trivial section indicating "That's not a bug! That's a feature!". In my defence, the references given indicate that the feature becomes less desirable as the form becomes more complex. IMHO, browsers should make it easy for me to turn the feature off. (Problem: then it becomes impossible to submit some pages--not here, but in general). I nearly always preview before submitting, and often change the Edit Summary early in the process to make sure I don't forget.--SportWagon 17:27, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Just a simple suggestion, but maybe this could be an option in a user's preferences. I agree that this is useful, and should definitely be activated by default, but since there are some users that don't like this, maybe there should be an option to turn it off. I realize that some javascript could turn it off, but a lot of people don't know javascript. Also, even if somebody does write a script, some users know only how to view and edit articles, and would be too confused to edit their monobook.js (or any other skin js) file. A preference option would be easy for them to disable it. This is just a suggestion. I like this behavior, and don't care either way whether this suggestion gets implemented or not. It might be useful though. Shardsofmetal [ Talk • Contribs ] 21:17, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

A user can adjust his or her Preferences so that when an edit is about to be posted without an edit summary, the user is prompted to first enter a summary. Would selecting that setting address this issue? Newyorkbrad 21:20, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I doubt it. At this point, they are already in the edit box. It probably still submits the article when you press enter. If it didn't, I'm sure it would be considered a bug. Shardsofmetal [ Talk • Contribs ] 00:42, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

FWIW, that preference would not have helped me. I had composed a partial summary, and accidentally hit return (Enter) when I meant to hit a quotation mark. I think you could avoid javascript, and have the user profile on the CGI side decide how such a "Submit" is processed (first make sure it is identified differently from each of the three buttons). "Save", "Preview" or "Changes" would be easy to implement, but also desirable might be "Refresh". That last option would be reasonably equivalent to not submitting, except for a slight delay. Of course, at this point, this is a wiki issue, not a wikipedia issue. (I.e. I should contemplate Mediawiki Support Desk.--SportWagon 17:37, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Preference Show preview on first edit sounds promising; but isn't really. It simply shows the page above the edit box first time. I like that. (since my silly browser won't find in text box!) But it doesn't mean "always preview first edit" as I thought it might.--SportWagon 19:14, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary did not seem to work when I first tried it. But it works (but previous comments still apply). Perhaps you need a logout before preferences take effect?--SportWagon 19:14, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Page cannot be displayed

When I go to William S. Burroughs, the page appears briefly, and is then replaced with a 'Page cannot be displayed' IE error report. most other pages appear correctly - what is happening? DuncanHill 12:37, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Are you using popups? This happened often to my friend in IE6 when he used popups. If you click the back button right after it happens, that should load the page correctly. My friend switched to Firefox, which fixed the problem. Also, when I went to the page, it displayed correctly, and I also use Firefox. Shardsofmetal [ Talk • Contribs ] 21:30, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I don't think I'm using popups - I must admit I didn't understand a thing on the link you gave though. I've tried hitting the back button, the page loads again and displays briefly, and again I get the IE 'Page cannot be displayed' thing. DuncanHill 00:13, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Looking at your Monobook.js, you aren't using popups. —Scott5114↗ 18:16, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Software update history?

Is there a place on WP that announces updates to the software on which WP runs? Was there a recent change that adds more buttons above the edit box? Finell (Talk) 18:03, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Per the second question: there was a recent change at MediaWiki:Monobook.js, which added buttons. --Ligulem 18:20, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I would still appreciate, from someone, knowing where one can go to see recent changes to the software. For example, a software rev in late 2005 clobbered my signature, which used the documented Signature box trick on my User profile page. It took me quite awhile to find out what happened. Thanks again. Finell (Talk) 19:27, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

You can see the recent changes to MediaWiki by looking at the release notes in subversion. The developers keep a pretty good track of what they've updated. Hope this is what you're looking for. Shardsofmetal [ Talk • Contribs ] 22:03, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Special:Version, which also lists the revision number from SVN. SVN root is http://svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/phase3 (browsing [2]). --Ligulem 22:13, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

That is what I was looking for. Thanks. Finell (Talk) 16:24, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

The correct title of this article...

How hard is it to make titles of articles display correctly? In a day or so, I could probably write a javascript to re-format the titles of articles correctly, as specified by the presence of {{lowercase}} or {{bracketed}} or {{wrongtitle}} or whatever templates, and I am quite the amateur programmer. How hard is it to specify the correct title with a special code inside the article and have it displayed correctly by Mediawiki? These templates are embarassing. — Omegatron 02:30, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

There was already a template that used CSS that would fix what you describe, but it was deleted. Short of software modifications, it may be harder than you like to get it to work properly, though I'd love to see a solution that isn't abusable. --Kevin_b_er 05:09, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Got a link to the old template name or the deletion discussion? Was it incredibly hacky, or why was it deleted? --Interiot 05:13, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

{{title}}. It was horribly hacky, and just didn't work. Titoxd^(?!?) 05:27, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Take note taht {{Title}} is now a redirect, but the deletion discussion I linked before. It was some really hacky CSS overlay. Its still around, as user:1ne/Title, and there's issues with it working between anonymous and logged-in users as of not too long ago, so even as a userfication its still buggy. Kevin_b_er 07:03, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Doing it with CSS is probably inadvisable (I have many of the recent edits to User:1ne/Title, trying to adjust it for various sitenotice changes; now that anons and registered users have different messages, it's impossible to keep it correct for both). However, it would probably be quite possible to change in MediaWiki:monobook.js (the userfication doesn't work in non-Monobook skins anyway); I'll work out the code and post on its talk to see if this is considered a good idea. And yes, it was horribly hacky. --ais523 08:54, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

OK, here's some title-changing JavaScript for monobook.js (works on IE, and should be reasonably portable (I hope)):

//Title override
addOnloadHook(function() {
  if(document.getElementById('titleOverride')!=null)
  {
    var h1s=document.body.getElementsByTagName("h1");
    var i;
    for(i in h1s)
      if(h1s[i].className=="firstHeading")
        h1s[i].replaceChild(document.getElementById('titleOverride').firstChild,
                            h1s[i].firstChild);
  }
});

It replaces the original title with the contents of an element with the ID titleOverride (which should presumably be a display:none-hidden <DIV>, or even better a visible <SPAN> within a wrong-title template); see User:ais523/Sandbox as an example. I'd appreciate users checking this on other browsers. --ais523 09:17, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

File:Display title.PNG

There is a magic word to fix this in MediaWiki called {{DISPLAYTITLE|}}. It's turned off by default and doesen't work when it is on. The screenshot shows what it looks like when it does work. Gerard Foley 16:42, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

That's what I'm talking about. A "magic word" that Mediawiki uses to display the title correctly. So it already exists, but is turned off? Why?? Help:Magic_words#Miscellany, MediaWiki:Displaytitle, [3]

I said it could be done with javascript just as an example of how easy it would be to implement, but I'm saying this because it should be part of Mediawiki. It's a trivial thing to implement that would solve a very old problem that makes our software look bad. — Omegatron 17:23, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Even if it is turned on it doesent work. If you visit my WikiKnowledge User page you will see User:Gmcfoley as the title even though {{DISPLAYTITLE|Gerard Foley's User Page (User:Gmcfoley)}} is still in the page code. See also bugzilla:7255 and bugzilla:6253. Gerard Foley 21:00, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Ah. How appropriate. — Omegatron 13:36, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Seeing as the magic word doesn't work, why don't we use a JavaScript solution? --ais523 13:40, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Because it's kludgy and there's no way to implement it site-wide and because articles will appear different to people who don't use javascript, etc. etc. The magic word needs to be fixed. Apparently Brion doesn't like it. — Omegatron 13:50, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Catagory list...

The catagory list at the bottom of each page sometimes obscures the articles. I once seen it in the middle of a few of these. Martial Law 07:22, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Just looked here. Its now in the middle of this page. Martial Law 17:27, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Now it is back where it belongs. What is going on ? Server acting up ? Martial Law 17:57, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

• I usually get this when I'm scrolling, try reloading the article if it's a problem . - Mgm|^(talk) 09:42, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Modifying the navigation menu on the left

Hi there, guys. We have our own WikiMedia running at work. We need to modify the 'navigation' menu on the left. Is this menu actually a special page written in wiki markup and then parsed into HTML, or is it written differently? How can we edit the menu? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zajcev (talk • contribs) 11:36, 27 September 2006.

Hi Zajcev, the sidebar can be a way to customise the links in your MediaWiki installation. But as of the current version, you can only customise the links above the search box using the MediaWiki namespace. --Shinjiman ⇔ ♨ 14:10, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your answer. I'm sorry I forgot to sing my post. So if I understand you well, in next version of MediaWiki, we will be able to directly edit MediaWiki:Sidebar? If yes, I see that as a very user-friendly way of doing what I need. So for now, I should modify the menu via namespace, but I have no idea how. Is this what I should read to learn about it? --Zajcev 14:30, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Have you looked at this page? --Aude (talk) 17:48, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

No, I haven't. Thank you very much! --Zajcev 09:18, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

We can use the [[mw:Pagename]] to link a page which links to the MediaWiki website. --Shinjiman ⇔ ♨ 13:37, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Other image licences

So far I've stuck to USGS images which are public domain. I have a need for Canadian and provincial gov't images which have a long non-commercial use allowance, with small print. We're non-commercial, but can't guarantee that wiki-copies are good things. Is there a way to use these images? --Zeizmic 16:28, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

You'll have to be more specific. USGS is a United States government organization. Anything a US federal governement organization produces (aside from organization logos, which are often still protected) is in the public domain. Are you sure they're not just images that USGS has on their website which are actually produced by a canadian governmental organizaiton? Kevin_b_er 20:32, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I meant I wanted to use Canadian gov't pictures that have a complex 'you can use this for non-commercial use' yada yada, type licence. --Zeizmic 21:06, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Note: "you can use this for non-commercial use" images are not compatible with the GFDL license, and in almost all cases (other than fair use) are not appropriate for this project. See Wikipedia:Image_copyright_tags#General_non-free_licenses and Template:Noncommercial Template:NoncommercialProvided for the appropriate tags to use (eg: speedy deletion). --Splarka (rant) 07:41, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I read that whole section, and everything is quite clear. --Zeizmic 19:06, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

New feature doesn't seem to work

Hi. Just now, I tried to use one of the new buttons in the edit box, namelly the "make table" button (first from the left). Well, it tried to open a new window in my browser, then froze my computer and caused me to loose a lot (and I mean a lot) of work. Needless to say, I have no intention of going anywhere near that button again. Has anyone else had problems, or was it just me? Regards, Redux 18:40, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Oh, I tried it in Internet Explorer and it crashed. Normally, I use Firefox but don't want to try, and crash it and lose my other tabs. What browser are you using? --Aude (talk) 18:51, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Internet Explorer as well. Seems that it is not compatible with IE, then. Redux 19:02, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

I think that's right. I just tried the table button in Firefox, and thank goodness it works and didn't crash my browser. Nonetheless, I think the table button should be removed from those edit tools until the bug is fixed. --Aude (talk) 19:08, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

It's reported on Bugzilla. --Aude (talk) 19:12, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Great. Thanks. And I agree with your suggestion, especially since IE is still the #1 browser in use throughout the world. Let's hope that it gets debugged soon. :) Redux 19:17, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

I've disabled the button for now. Bypass your cache [Mozilla/Safari: hold down Shift while clicking Reload (or press Ctrl-Shift-R), IE: press Ctrl-F5, Opera/Konqueror: press F5]. --Ligulem 21:07, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

At fr. when I press "table" in IE7 CDR1, nothing happens, possible some kind of exeption handeling. It may be useful to add a clause to the function that adds the button to test for window.ActiveXObject and return() if true.Voice-of-All 21:57, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

We could just add a simple IE blocker thingy:

var if = (self.navigator.appName.indexOf("Explorer") == -1);
if(if) {
  do stuff;
}

or to be even safer and only use it on Firefox:

var if = (self.navigator.appName == "Netscape");

So we can still use the table maker, but not on IE. GeorgeMoney (talk) 00:58, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

DEAD SIG !

The No wiki template on the Montauk Project article has killed my sig. I don't know if this will function here. Martial Law 00:40, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

See the mess on the Montauk Project talk page, Re.:"Removal of Black Projects banner". That template has killed my sig on that talk page, but NOT on the history page. Martial Law 00:52, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Can this be fixed ? Appreciate it. Martial Law 00:56, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Looks like there is simply an unmatched tag on the page, a </nowiki> tag should fix it. — xaosflux ^Talk 01:01, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Corrected glitch w/ this info. Again, appreciate the assisstance. Martial Law 01:07, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Update Special:Statistics page

"WikiCharts: 100 most viewed pages" link needs to be updated to this. - RoyBoy ⁸⁰⁰ 03:29, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Done --Ligulem 08:55, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

My Log in isn't holding either

I see another user is having the same problem I am. I've lost count on how many times I've attempted to stay logged in last night. I edited my personal profile and it promptly got deleted by an admin. because once again I was logged out. My cookies are enabled, my browser cache has been cleared, and Wikipedia still won't keep me logged in. Will someone please address this issue, as I'm not the only one experiencing it? This has never happened to me before. (By the way I'm on Direcway if that helps) Thanks.-- magialuna 02:42 28 September 2006 (UTC)

From what I've read in the past on this page, I believe that being on Direcway causes this problem. I think I also read that there is currently no solution to this problem. I'm sorry I couldn't really help you, Shardsofmetal [ Talk • Contribs ] 00:22, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

If it's that sattelite ISP that's been mentioned here a few times, it's been reported that using the (much slower) secure server at https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Main_Page is a workaround. I'm going to add that to the FAQ. --cesarb 19:28, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

My Usertalk page

Hi,

I am new to the community and I received a welcome message from Booksworm with tips and suggestions (which were very helpful, by the way).

My question is how do I remove new messages after receiving them? Do I simply edit the page itself? Will that effect any new messages I receive?

Kester Teague 15:57, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Help:Talk page might be of help. Yes, just edit the page. If any other user edits your talk page (even if it's to remove a comma from their comment to you), that will cause the orange box to appear. That will always happen, regardless of what you do to the page. --Interiot 16:40, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

WP:ARCHIVE is another good page to check out, by maintaining an archive you can go back and easily find oldmessages without mucking around in the page history. Many editors simply leave their talk page messages up until they have a lot, then archive them. — xaosflux ^Talk 12:10, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

comics template help

hi!, i would like to know the basic templates (links) for comic books box templates, superhero box templates, superhero teams templates, and any templates used in wikicomics project, thanks! Bloodpack 22:24, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Search rating/ranking

Hi all

I'm sure this has been answered before however I have been unable to locate any info on this topic.

How is each pages' relevance ranked for searching ?

Cheers 203.56.62.4 01:01, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

The search engine used is Lucene. Its scoring mechanism is explained at http://lucene.apache.org/java/docs/scoring.html. -- Rick Block (talk) 01:49, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Wikiversity Redlink

I don't know if this has been covered, although it has appered on the main page talk, but occationally the link to wikiversity on the main page turns red, and clicking on it leads to editing the page "V:" in wikipedia. I've found that on the wikiversity side, all links to wikipedia turn red as well when this happens. Anyone know what is going on?--Rayc 05:59, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Two different images with the same name

I'm trying to add an image, Polyamory.png, to Polyamory. Usually, when you add a Wikimedia Commons image onto regular Wikipedia, there's no problem. But when I type [[Image:Polyamory.png]], it comes out as this image, which is (although similar-looking) not the pic I wanted.

The problem is that Polyamory.png is a different image on the different wikis. I can't rename the image on Commons OR Wikipedia, either, because there doesn't seem to be a "move" function for images. I figured I could re-upload my picture on Commons with a different name, and then delete the duplicate, but that's kind of tedious. Is there any other way? Switchercat ^talk_cont 20:35, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Not at this time; you'll have to delete it and re-upload it. --Brion 22:19, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Damn. :P Okay, done. Thanks. Switchercat ^talk_cont 22:31, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Croatian & Serbian iekavian

I have changed my preferences to try out Croatian & Serbian iekav languages - and noticed a rather odd thingy. While it translates all the buttons, it leaves my preferences in the upper-right in English, instead of "moja podesavanja". Could we do something 'bout it? --PaxEquilibrium 10:23, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Just a note: on hr.wiki, the interfece is fully translated. --Dijxtra 10:29, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Sandbox

I have been having trouble with creating a project in the sandbox. I understand how to edit it but does anybody know how to create a project like the previous projects, hangman, poetry, and storytelling

 Omega34 21:27, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Broken template

Can anyone figure out why the template at the top of Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions isn't displaying? I don't see anything wrong... —Mets501 (talk) 00:37, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Looks like Salix alba (talk · contribs) fixed it before I could. S/he added a missing } and did some nice cleanup too. — EncMstr 02:16, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Great! Thanks. —Mets501 (talk) 03:23, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Changed a Disambig to Redirect, but Disambig Still Appears

I found an unnecessary disambig page for Motorhead, and changed it to a redirect page, but going to the page still brings up the disambig, even though the code for that has been deleted... What's going on? G Rose 07:37, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

You may have a cached version, Motorhead currently redirects to Motörhead. — xaosflux ^Talk 07:40, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

categorytree

What is this about? <categorytree>Film</categorytree> As in this edit? Is this a legitimate use? What are legitimate uses? Seems to me to be a lot of clutter on article pages. older ≠ wiser 13:45, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

It's been reverted already, and no that tag is generally not useful in articles. it can be used in category or project space for organizational assistance. — xaosflux ^Talk 18:44, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, yes, I reverted it. I was asking about it here because I had never come across it before. Is there a way to disable it in the main article namespace? Is there at least a way to identify where it is used (similar to what links here for a template)? older ≠ wiser 19:01, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Shortcut

Is there a keyboard shortcut for the "|" symbol --Longhornsg 17:47, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

That appears to be the pipe key, on most english keybaords it is a shifted backslash (\). — xaosflux ^Talk 18:42, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

It looks like two lines above each other, not like one line on most keyboards. —Mets501 (talk) 19:53, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Ahhhh! That's probably a difference among typefaces, especially since you probably have a Texas keyboard. Some typesfaces show a single vertical line, others as two stacked vertical bars with a small space between them. However there are disparate characters available—see The UK keyboard layout at International keyboard layouts#UK: One is at top left, the other is bottom left (just inboard the shift key). When editing articles, {{!}} can be used (that's a bang or exclamation mark inside double curly braces) which expands to |.

Oh no! Please don't use {{!}} in article text. This is only an ugly template hack needed in rare cases inside complicated template code (mostly done in infoboxes with optional fields where wiki-folks want wiki-table syntax). If you use that in articles, you get shot on sight you will be reverted and disliked. (Just being curious: What are "Texas" keyboards?) --Ligulem 08:36, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

If you're really having problems, type it {{subst:!}} instead and noone will know... --ais523 08:48, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Testing in the sandbox, substing ! seems to work even inside a template. --ais523 08:51, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

I've added a pipe to the wiki-markup section of the edit tools. These are displayed below the edit window. Just klick on the | symbol and a pipe is inserted. (Yes I know: there was already a pipe in the symbols section, but I think an additional pipe should be in the wiki markup). --Ligulem 09:15, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Image categories

Does anyone know why some image categories show thumbnails of images (like this one) and others just show linked names (as this one)? Can something be done? YellowDot 18:17, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

It is on purpose, and done thoguh the use of __NOGALLERY__ tags. In a nutshell, we can't display a category of non-free (as in speach) images, as it violates the Fair Use rationale. Certain fair use pages have an exemption to allow the display anyway, as authorized under Fair Use Exemptions. — xaosflux ^Talk 18:37, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Ok, thanks. YellowDot 01:59, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Underlining

If a Wikipedia has all its links underlined (default), then how is it changed so that they aren't for all users and visitors? --Adam (Talk) 19:41, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

The links are not underlined by default, unless you have that set in your preferences. —Mets501 (talk) 19:51, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Links are underlined by default on lots of Wikimedia projects. Five examples: Welsh Wikipedia; Serbian Wikiquote; Danish Wikibooks; Romanian Wikinews; and Tamil Wiktionary.--Adam (Talk) 20:22, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I can't stay logged in

Hello, my username is Torvik. The reason I'm not posting with the name Torvik is because I cannot remain logged into Wikipedia. I know it's hard to believe me, but I hope you do because this is really getting on my nerves. Whenever I log into Wikipedia using either Firefox or IE, I am instantly logged out again upon visiting a subsequent page within Wikipedia. Help please? I have further info on my talk page. -- 67.142.130.25 22:19, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Are cookies switched off? That might cause the problem. --Salix alba (talk) 22:51, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

If you are using a satellite ISP, see the last FAQ at the top of this page. If you aren't, try removing all your wikipedia.org cookies. --cesarb 23:57, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

...and the IP address given belongs to DirecPC. Guess where that redirects to? DirecWay again. Try the secure server as indicated in the FAQ, it should work. (Should we add a note about that to MediaWiki:Signupend?) --cesarb 00:02, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Already added to MediaWiki:Loginsuccess. --cesarb 15:41, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Refraction of the light

[copied from talk page ]
Is the light sensible to changes of presure? For example, the sound presure, will afect in any way the direction of the light, even could be very little influence? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.103.32.2 (talk • contribs) 30 September 2006.
[end copied]

watchlist items deletion

How is it possible that items disappear from my watchlist? Nobody else but me works on my PC. Is it technically possible that an administrator or somebody in the technical department does this? Antiphus 19:43, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm noticing watchlist strangeness as well. I have my user page and talk page watchlisted and they both have the "unwatch" tab available. But neither appear in my watchlist depite the fact that there were changes on both today (vandalism). The only way I knew this was the "New messages" banner and then looking at the contributions of the vandaliser. --TheParanoidOne 21:28, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

From my experience, items can disappear from watchlists if they are moved anld no other edits have been made to the article after the move. Try making an edit on the page and see if it returns. Naconkantari 21:31, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Correct. Certain log entries now appear in histories, such as moves and protects. If one of these is the top edit, it apparently doesn't appear in your watch list. --Splarka (rant) 07:22, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Ref Desk - Science

It's lost it's link again, from the physics symbol to the page. --Zeizmic 22:04, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Date format

Is there any way to allow a date to appear according to a users preference (e.g. 2 October or October 2), without putting it as an internal link (2 October). This might be for example where the same date occurs several times in the same article. — Tivedshambo (talk to me/look at me/ignore me) —  22:33, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

No. --Ligulem 23:24, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Hidden "Extras" in JPG files costing Wikipedia unnecessary bandwidth

I've recently completed a program called "JPGExtra" that removes hidden "extras" from JPG files (eg. Comments, Thumbnail Images, Exif data, Photoshop data, Adobe XMP data, etc): http://www.fieggen.com/software/jpgextra.htm

I occasionally scan my own "Temporary Internet Files" folder to see what extras are in typical JPG images on web sites that I've been browsing. After visiting Wikipedia, I found some files with ENORMOUS percentages of "extras". For example, on Fg2's many photos of Japan, some had as much as 98% waste. In other words, the actual image data comprised only 2% of the JPG file!

120px-AsakusaShrine1443.jpg: Original Size: 202,412 bytes; Optimized Size: 3,991 bytes; Amount Saved: 198,421 bytes; Percent Saved: 98%.

My question is three-fold:
1. Does Wikipedia generate small preview images from large, full-sized images, and if so, does the resizing algorithm unnecessarily include these "extras"?
2. Is there any mechanism in place to reduce image overheads, either automatically or manually, thus reducing Wikipedia's bandwidth costs?
3. If I do find glaring examples of such bandwidth-wasting images, what's the best mechanism for correcting them? Contacting the contributor? Fixing the image and overwriting Wikipedia's copy with my corrected copy? Ian Fieggen 06:02, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

For the above example image, do you have a breakdown of what the "extras" are and their sizes? --TheParanoidOne 06:00, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Peeking inside the file, the "extras" comprise:

1. An Exif segment of 8,530 bytes, including thumbnail image;

2. A HUGE ICC Color Profile spanning Three segments, total size 17,4002 bytes;

3. A Photoshop segment of 9,724 bytes, including a second thumbnail image;

4. An Adobe XMP data segment of 6,149 bytes.

Just to be clear, NONE of these "extras" is used by the browser when displaying the image, but they ARE nonetheless downloaded and thus consume bandwidth.

Hope that all makes sense, if not it's explained on my site. Ian Fieggen 06:23, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Wikipedia uses ImageMagick on the server side to rescale images on the fly. It's GPL'd software, so you can look to see what it does and what options it has. — EncMstr 06:03, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Okay, that probably explains the "extras" being migrated to the smaller images. In that case, it seems that we need only concentrate on ensuring that users' original full-sized contributions are as free of "extras" as possible. Perhaps I should release a GPL version of my program, with which Wikipedia could encourage users to optimize their photos prior to uploading? Ian Fieggen 06:45, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I think we should leave the originals as-is, but yeah it would make sense to strip out all the meta stuff from the generated thumbnails. --Sherool (talk) 07:12, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

This JPG file was an extreme example, but the full-size image also contained the huge ICC colour profile. The total "Extras" were about 68% of the full-sized image, so even there it makes sense to remove them.

Anyone from Wikipedia wanting to play with a full copy of my JPGExtra program to do their own experimentation, e-mail me (from the web site) and I'll send you a copy. Ian Fieggen 07:20, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

(edit confict again) Removing the information wholesale might not be the best solution. For example, if a PNG contains original photoshop layer information, it would be incredibly useful to retain in the stored image in case someone wants to make a derived work from it. Once an image is flattened (the layers lost), it becomes very tedious to, for example, replace the text of a map with another language. Is there any hint that this information is retained in the extra baggage? If so, there needs to be two mechanisms for image retrieval: one for display on a page, the other for downloading the whole nine yards. Image display is obviously a candidate to remove the cruft, unless someone knows better. — EncMstr 07:22, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

One worry is whether images are being used to store anything that we don't know about. For example, child porn can be embedded within a seemingly innocuous image! That concern aside, storing the full JPG file but only displaying the image portion sounds like a good option. From a purely historical point of view, it's interesting to hang on to as much as possible. Ian Fieggen 07:38, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Ian, does your tool do anything that Imagemagick doesn't do? Maybe Imagemagick needs some more options set when displaying an image? — EncMstr 07:22, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm no developer, just a stand-alone software programmer. My program is designed with a Windows user in mind whereas the ImageMagick seems to be something "embedded", or callable by Wikipedia. Ian Fieggen 07:38, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Side note: You might want to also consider dropping a post to the wikitech-l mailing list (see also Wikipedia:Mailing lists). More MediaWiki and WikiMedia developers read over there. --Ligulem 08:45, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

In any case, does anyone have answers to my questions 2 and 3? Ian Fieggen 08:32, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

2) Not bandwidth no, there are a lot of caching and load optimising going on to keep the servers from blowing up under the preasure of all the requests, but I don't think the volume of data piped out is a major concern in the grand scheme of things (we haven't even disabled "hotlinking" to images) 3) Just upload the optimised version on top of the old one (as long as it's free licensed images). If possible I would suggest avoiding stipping away author information and such from the EXIF data though, it should not take up a lot of space compared to the embeded thumbnails and what not anyway. --Sherool (talk) 11:04, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

What are you talking about? We use EXIF data in the image description page, comments are good for storing copyright information, and extra content specific to a certain editor (Photoshop meta-data) can be used to make the images easier for others to edit. Please don't remove this data. Bandwidth is not a concern. Especially compared to ease of editing and maintaining images and image history. — Omegatron 13:27, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm talking about files that are 98% waste! Sure, an Exif data segment of only 200 odd bytes is quite acceptable, but one that contains a thumbnail image that's larger than the main image is just ridiculous, as is having a color profile with 10x the amount of data as the image itself. Even the main image, from which this smaller image was derived, was 2/3 "waste". This excess can surely be stripped back to something more reasonable? Admittedly, my program currently strips everything, but a modified version that strips selected portions would be advisable. As for bandwidth not being a concern, I recently halved a site's bandwidth consumption by optimizing their images. That's not to be sneezed at! Besides the cost saving, it makes the site that much faster. Never forget that Wikipedia is also for poorer people with slow Internet connections. Ian Fieggen 22:56, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Color is a major deficiency on Wikipedia, I think. At least some people are including profiles in their JPEG files. They should not be stripped under any circumstances unless they are sRGB profiles. I guess the data could be profile-mapped to sRGB, allowing a smaller profile. Notinasnaid 19:55, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

It seems people would rather that I didn't mess with the images, which was my feeling also, so I don't intend to do so. It should be up to the individual. However, shouldn't there also be an advice section for people uploading to ensure that their JPG files aren't overloaded prior to uploading? Also, where such heavily overloaded images are identified, shouldn't there be procedures in place for rectifying them and/or alerting the sender? Ian Fieggen 22:56, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I'll also reinterate that color and EXIF data are important to files, though adobe proprietary data sectors may not be useful, and may be a result of a file not being properly exported for 'web' by the application. (Macromedia Fireworks, for example, does some awful things to PNG files if you don't export them). --Kevin_b_er 00:33, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

If you want to get something useful done, post a patch on bugzilla and start a conversation on the wikitech-l list. The village pump is not a good place for development planning.

In general, we expect uploaded images to include EXIF metadata: this is both useful and desireable.

Generated thumbnails should, generally speaking, not include a lot of metadata. If and only if you see large metadata chunks being carried over into generated thumbs, then and only then do we need to do something about it. Please limit discussion and work to only this case; the above conversation includes a lot of useless-looking fighting which doesn't seem to address the actual issue.

Rendered thumbs for files other than SVG and DjVu are currently generated using ImageMagick. If you intend to work on this issue, please begin with the necessary basic research: checking the online documentation for ImageMagick for EXIF-related issues and options.

Once you know a) the problem space and b) a recommendation, then you can provide some specific suggestions in the appropriate developer forum. (Eg a patch on bugzilla and a post on wikitech-l to make sure people look it over.) --brion 00:59, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Okay, this sounds too heavy for me. I'd need to determine the extent of the problem (presumably by browsing), learn how ImageMagick works and how Wikipedia implements it, figure out a solution, then familiarise myself with the various forums on Wikipedia and persons to whom to address such suggestions. Whilst I'm someone who likes to help, I don't want to be pushing my own barrow uphill. If Wikipedia couldn't care less about bandwidth and would rather just have all images kept intact, that's fine, I was only making a suggestion. Ian Fieggen 03:58, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Deleting Pages

Hello I was trying to delete 2 pages today Wikipedia:WikiProject Stock Exchange World Wide and British American Football League system but I found out that it is harder to do than I thought. I tried to follow directions. The pages I tried to delete I created. Could you tell me what I did wrong. Thanks John R G 07:47, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I've deleted Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Stock Exchange World Wide (per request of creator John R G). British American Football League system is now on AFD discussion and should run through there (you could have put a {{prod}} on that, but not now, since it is already on AFD). You can dig into the description of the process fungus at Wikipedia:Deletion policy. For the Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Stock Exchange World Wide I would have blanked it and put {{db-author}} on it (but I'm not sure if this is completely in-line with current ceremony). If you are lost with all this, you can always ask your friendly neighbour wiki-plumber for help :). --Ligulem 09:07, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

requesting sidebar programming help

anything would help. The sidebar proposal has been approved. The discussion is at Wikipedia talk:Village pump (proposals)/Sidebar redesign/programming. Thanks. --gatoatigrado 15:56, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Weird page name problem

Any clue on what is going on with Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/NuclearUmpf‎? It's a real page, its in my contribs [4], its listed on the WP:RFCU page, but when I copy or type out the name somewhere else to make a wikilink its a redlink. Is there a hidden character in the name or some other problem? I've never seen anything like this before. Thatcher131 16:28, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

There are special characters at the end of the name: Wikipedia:Requests_for_checkuser/Case/NuclearUmpf%E2%80%8E. I suggest moving. Tizio, Caio, Sempronio 16:32, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

How did you figure that out, and are there also special characters in User:NuclearUmpf's user name? Thatcher131 16:33, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I figured it out by hovering over the link in your contribs and looking at the destination (but Tizio beat me to it). User:NuclearUmpf has no special characters. I think that particular special character sequence is a direction mark (used to mix left-to-right and right-to-left text); people sometimes catch them inside a copy-and-paste range without realising (because they're invisible). --ais523 16:38, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

(EC) I watched the URL bar in my browser :-). As far as I can tell there is no special char in that username. The weird part is - I cannot move Wikipedia:Requests_for_checkuser/Case/NuclearUmpf‎. The move form keeps adding these characters to the page name. Tizio, Caio, Sempronio 16:40, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I've just moved it for you (by going to the end of the new name with the End key and then backspacing one character). --ais523 16:45, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

You just reverted my move (presumably due to the same problems)... Do you want me to revert it back to the title without the characters again? --ais523 16:47, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Your most recent move has now put it back in the right place. --ais523 16:48, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I figured out that move was possible by editing a local copy of the move page, but removed the extra char from the old name instead of the new one. Everything should be fixed now. Tizio, Caio, Sempronio 16:52, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

This appears to be finally fixed now. The page is at the proper location, and the wierd character(s) aren't on the WP:RFCU page anymore since I just removed them. --Kevin_b_er 21:09, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

language markup and template clutter

your input is requested at Template_talk:ArB#deprecate. dab (ᛏ) 18:36, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

No way to express "Placed in public domain by creator other than oneself" for images

There's no way to express, during image upload, that an image was explicitly placed in the public domain by the creator, when the person uploading it was not the creator. I ran into this when uploading Image:Grandinheadrestraint.gif. The source of the picture says "This headholding device is in the public domain and can NOT be patented. Diagrams are published in T. Grandin 1993, Livestock Handling and Transport, CABI Publishing, p. 306. This was done to make this device readily available and to improve animal welfare." There's no way I can express that via the menu options, and since there are 'bots that read image uploads and delete them if they don't approve, this matters. I had to classify the image as a "political poster", which is the closest option available in the menus. --John Nagle 19:19, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

{{PD-release}} is what you're looking for. Specify a license of "None" when uploading, then go back and add that template in with {{PD-release}} --Kevin_b_er 21:09, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

How to Prod for duplication of existing article

I see recent articles which duplicate existing articles under a different title. Justice of the victors is the same as the existing Victor's justice, and the new Electricity vampire is the same as the existing standby power. I expect that the editor/creator of the new article did not find the existing article and saw the need for an article on the topic, but their time would be better spent improving the existing article. I do not see a criterion for speedy deleting due to duplication. How should this be handled?Edison 20:18, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

No real speedy deletion criteria, per say, but they can just be deleted if they're just a sentence or two and are obviously complete copies. Otherwise a merge, prod, or AFD is in order. —Mets501 (talk) 20:30, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

No need to prod. Changing the duplicate to a Redirect is the usually better solution in cases of duplicates that provide no new information. -- JLaTondre 20:32, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I wholeheartedly agree. Even if it's a mispelling: redirect! Someone else is bound to have made that mistake too. — Edward Z. Yang^(Talk) 23:35, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Searching for a category

I cannot for the life of me understand why I cannot search for a category that I know exists. For example, from the home page, entering "British science fiction films" and hitting "Go" does not prominently list the page "Category:British_science_fiction_films". Even if I go to the bottom of that match page, and check the box that says "Category" to explicitly search that space, the search still fails. I am forced to enter the URL by hand to get to that category page. Can someone please fix category searching?

Instead of entering "British science fiction films", enter "Category:British science fiction films". -- Hoary 04:16, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Image disappeared from taxobox

I just noticed that the image that used to be part of the taxobox on Cyclamen is now a redlink. It seems that someone recently deleted the image from EN:WP because the image appears under the same name on WP:Commons - so the image itself is legit, but for some technical reason it's not showing up in the taxobox. What to do? Thanks. --woggly 09:28, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

The image never seems to have been deleted (it's got an empty deletion log). Are you sure that the image name in the taxobox is correct? --ais523 09:38, 4 October 2006 (UTC)