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What's the policy on glossaries, such as those found in Category:Glossaries? Do they violate Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary? — Remember the dot ( talk) 23:48, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
There have recently been a couple of posts on the reference desk which have concerned me greatly. In one, an editor told someone who had asked about hearing voices that the voices were telling him to kill himself. I removed the comment, and left a message on the offending editor's talk page expressing my concern. There is now a thread on "bathtub suicides" on the science desk, which also concerns me, as it appears to be heading in the direction of "painless, relaxing etc" methods of killing oneself. I have expressed my concern in the thread, but I wonder if WP has a specific policy relating to this? I feel it is highly dangerous for a resource like Wikipedia to in any way suggest that there are acceptable/relaxing/painless ways of commiting suicide. DuncanHill 12:23, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
It's worth pointing out that the Humanities ref desk question does not mention suicide. It is a guy asking if others have experienced the phenomenon of hearing voices. It is a bit disturbing because it sounds like someone who is experiencing the onset of schizophrenia. I think that User:Skittle responded very well - he suggested that the poster reach out to someone who cares about him, possibly a doctor, without implying that the poster was crazy. One highly inappropriate response was removed. I am curious to see if other editors think that this situation was handled well. I think it was, but It might be worth looking to see if the American Psychiatric Association has any guidelines on how to handle this kind of thing. Maybe the foundation can consult them or a psychiatrist to make sure that we're being helpful and for the purposes of CYA. I don't know if this situation is widespread enough to warrant that though. GabrielF 14:08, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
I’m sorry that this thread seems to have ended in hard feelings as this is really is a topic that should be settled. As the Wikipedian who originally started the Wikipedia:Responding to suicidal individuals article (later moved) I too am concerned with the projects lack of consensus on this issue. However reverting questions that are SUICIDE THEAMED is censorship. We are ultimately not responsible for the actions of those who use Wikipedia. To make my point I’m tempted to propose a policy by which any comment about extreme sports must be reverted (because it could cause injury or death) or any comment about unprotected sex must be reverted (because someone might get an STD). However such proposals obviously do not belong on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not censored. Thanks, -- S.dedalus 02:45, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
This is a tricky area because there's a variety of people seeking advice, and a variety of people giving advice. Often people giving advice have no idea what they're talking about. Wiki has standards to cover this kind of thing, no original research, verifiable information, etc. Sometimes people are arseholes. That's not okay, but luckily Wiki has rules about being civil, and I very much hope that editors calmly keep that rule. People seeking advice are either just curious, or they have suicidal ideation. Why doesn't wp:BEANS apply here? Dan Beale 21:57, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Also, what to do about articles which happen to be related to suicide? Should an article on coproxamol (distalgesic) not mention that it was one of the commonest drugs used for suicide in the UK, which led to it being withdrawn? What about various famous cliff tops? I dunno. The werther effect is real, but I don't think that means Wiki should self-censor. Dan Beale 21:59, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
I recently got this template on my talk page, making me think I had an important new message (which I did get one of soon after). User:Connell66, and possibly other users, is spreading this template to other users' talk pages, seemingly chosen at random, for the purpose of "WikiLove". Is this a good idea? -- NE2 02:40, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
When I first came on Wikipedia a few months back, I was chastised repeatedly for putting sandbox pages as subpages of user pages or mainpages, as in Filll/sandbox. I was told to make them as subpages of talk pages, as in user talk:Filll/sandbox. Now I see some people making sandbox pages as subpages of user pages. Is this permittable now? Did I just misunderstand before?-- Filll 17:08, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Discussion at WT:BAN. Navou banter 12:50, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
Is it possible to re-fashion rejected policy proposals as essays? The specific page I had in mind is WP:EXPERT. It's been inactive for quite some time, but still provides some useful aspects and could become a very good essay. — AldeBaer ( c) 00:45, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
I guess it's all about whether you find it useful as an essay or not. Do you want to cite it in discussions for the arguments it makes? If so it might make a good essay. There's no real formal process, it looks like it's already tagged. It's good to make it clear that it started out as a policy proposal, which this page also seems to do. -- W.marsh 19:53, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
It seems to gain a concensus of support (see talk page) since the creation of the proposal, but it hasn't been updated in over 3 weeks. I decided to revive this proposal in the village pump for people to give lasting comments/objection. Can anybody give some lasting comments in the proposal's talk page so we can decide whether it should be a policy or not?-- Pre ston H 16:07, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
Hello. A few of us have become concerned with the present trend for naming Wiki "settlement" articles: each country seems to impose its own method of disambiguation (and local geography for the same), and this tends to make Wiki look chaotic as a whole - especially to readers researching a subject that covers several countries unfamiliar to them.
Would it be possible to make a single Wiki-wide naming convention for all placenames? A few of us are looking into the question here. Please join in! THEPROMENADER 10:44, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
I was just reading about Wikipedia's nofollow policy on a blog. I find it irresponsible of Wikipedia to graciously accept so much incoming page rank from the web, but to return none. In short, it's like Wikipedia is saying, "don't trust our links, Google." Why is this still being used? Is there still an open forum to discuss this policy? Thanks -18:32, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
I've noticed that several university articles use images of the respective coats of arms that have been drawn up by Wikipedians from the original blazons and have been uploaded as GFDL content. Various possible examples can be found here, here, but I'll just examine Image:Cambridge University Crest - flat.png here as a test case. This coat of arms will almost certainly be a trademark of the University of Cambridge; so how is it possible to redraw a copy of the arms, modelled as closely as possible on the original design described within the blazon, and release the image under the GFDL? -- Kwekubo 16:39, 15 July 2007 (UTC)
To try to improve the signal-to-noise ratio at AfD, I have posted a proposal at Wikipedia_talk:Deletion_policy#Require_discussion_before_deletion that would require initiating a discussion on an article's talk page prior to initiating an AfD discussion. The reasons behind this proposal are in the discusion at the link above, and a previous discussion linked from there. Additional input from the community is requested in that forum. Dhaluza 13:37, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
why does wikipedia only use the International Phonetic Alphabet i have never seen a dictionary in which they use the International Phonetic Alphabet and the wikipedia page for it is very confusing. if someone with knowledge in the subject could make a simple chart for the it and make a conversion chrt for IPA symbols and other common Phonetic Alphabets that would be great.
I wanted to link PSSI to be redirected to Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity, but I find instead that someone has used this for a foreign acronym: [1]. I know a disambiguation page can be created, but what is the policy on this? Seems that English should take precedence on English Wikipedia.-- Filll 16:50, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
Moved to WT:U Mel sa ran 18:37, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
As a RC-patroller, I see it several times a day, that users move content per copy & paste (or cut & paste) from one article to another one, neither mentioning at least the 5 main authors of the original article nor terming the original article. In my understanding (and as we handle this so on de.wikipedia) this is a violation of the GFDL (esp. section 4B).
Example (only to illustrate the point, the question is more generally):
In these cases, contrary to a page move, the history get lost and it seems that the copy&paster is the only author of the content. I wonder why it was told me that such things are no violation of the GFDL and this is tolerated. -- Oxymoron 83 17:40, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
I'd like feedback on an essay I developed from talk page comments by others. There seems to be some misunderstanding how tagging works. THF 02:14, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
User:DrVarkey has, on his userpage, a list of "Good Things" and "Bad Things". The only item in the Bad Things list is Stephen C. Sillett, a scientist whose research this user has been disputing. How does this compare to Wikipedia:User page's bits about what may not be on a userpage, especially the Jimbo quote "libelling people on userpages is a bad idea, and in fact, using userpages to attack people or campaign for or against anything or anyone is a bad idea"? Nyttend 14:19, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
A proposal has passed at
WP:WAF and
WP:SBS to allow in-universe succession boxes in articles with fictional elements. A template was created,
Template:s-fic, to deal with the in-universe-ness of the succession boxes and a proposal to delete the template failed last week. I am wonder what needs to be done to cancel this policy and allow succession boxes officially on templates, because currently succession boxes such as those of the
Kings of Arnor are not technically allowed in their articles, although they provide an excellent method of navigating the multiple generations of kings and heirs. Similar succession boxes have been removed from certain
Harry Potter and
Star Wars pages, as well as many others. Can anyone tell me how to do this, because I would really like to know. Thank you!
–
Whale
y
land (
Talk •
Contributions ) 00:58, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
Me, Andre and WJBscribe have created a set of guidelines for the changing usernames process, in an attempt to standardise our existing practices, as well as create a formal set of guidelines that reflects current pratice. Note that if the community decides to grant this guideline status, then there will be very little to no change in our existing practices at changing usernames, and usurpations. I am posting notices on several pages in an attempt to gain consensus on the talk page of the proposal to promote it to guideline. All input is welcome. -- Deskana (banana) 21:17, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
I have heard that if there is content that relates directly to you, you can get control of that. Is this true? Lkieffer 17:09, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
When is it appropriate to apply archiving bots to talk pages? Wikipedia Talk: Spoiler has had an archiving bot applied despite not being particularly busy. Complaints about it have been ignored, and it has been suggested that talk pages with a low level of activity should be blanked as a matter of course. There does not seem to be any policy relating to such things, and the justifications offered boil down to 'I post here'.-- Nydas (Talk) 07:30, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
I am wondering about when blogs become useful as references. Some blogs are written by known figures who are notable already from their other writing, or from their qualifications or expertise. Some are associated with people who give their real names and professional positions and credentials. Some science blogs have been highly rated. For example, Nature magazine placed a "review of some of the best blogs written by working scientists" on its website in July 2006. [2] [3].
Some examples:
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?-- Filll 16:52, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
Should congress be capitalized in the uses below and why?
According to Wikipedia:Manual of Style (capital letters)#Institutions, all these should be lower case, just like "The university offers financial aid.". But almost all such uses of congress and similar words are capitalized in Wikipedia articles. - Pgan002 04:59, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
Some peoples here in Wikipedia are not like they should be. For example:
If someone write two things in an article at once, one thing that is correct and should be there, and another that can be more doubtful or even wrong. When someone see the change, they undo ALL changes, even the correct one.
Some peoples makes the article fit their meaning, if someone tryes to correct it, they put it back with a little twist that is not actually wrong, but they makes the truth the way they want it.
< >
I also want to say it is not a good idea to remove short articles, because nobody write them longer. Little information is better than none.
Helpsloose 17:45, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
The problem your refering to is known in Wikipedia as reverting it is a quick way to change an article that may be a victim of vandilization, the best way to deal with this is to simply state in your edit summary what you are doing, editors are less likely to revert a page if the content descriptor indicates what's actually been said. Deathawk 02:59, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
User FerryUser, also editing from 172.209.243.209, has been inserting a strange template on upcoming film articles. The intention appears to be to list all 2008 movies in order of release? Anyway, I can't really call it vandalism, but I think that it's clearly inappropriate and the user refuses to stop. Any ideas on how to handle this? - Chunky Rice 19:27, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
When I first came on Wikipedia a few months back, I was chastised repeatedly for putting sandbox pages as subpages of user pages or mainpages, as in Filll/sandbox. I was told to make them as subpages of talk pages, as in user talk:Filll/sandbox. Now I see some people making sandbox pages as subpages of user pages. Is this permittable now? Did I just misunderstand before?-- Filll 17:08, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
How Come Whenever Actor Joel Wheatley Is Added to wikipedia he is deleted i feel this is discrimination against one of the best gay actors of our generation — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.159.68.200 ( talk)
I object to the language in WP:NPOVD that calls adding a tag a "last resort."
Identification of problems in articles is an important task in the creation of a reliable encyclopedia. "Tags" are often used to indicate problems. Some people object to tagging instead of fixing, but tags do have their place.
The encyclopedia is way too large for anyone to read the whole thing, and there is a lot of value in tagging particular articles for particular problems. Tagging makes it easier for people who have expertise or interest in a particular area to hone in on things they can work on, it warns readers about rough patches (so they don't think a disputed passage is authoritative), and it encourages more passers-by to pitch in. Sure, it's better if people fix the problems they find, but complex problems can take a long time to untangle, and not everyone has the information immediately at hand to do the job right. An editor who places a tag has no obligation other than to justify the inclusion of the tag on the talk page if the tag is challenged.
Criticisms (as expressed through article tags) and incremental editing are an important part of writing a collaborative encyclopedia, and should be welcomed rather than discouraged. Wikipedia values contributions from everyone, whether or not they have contributed before, and even whether or not they are experts. Even novices and non-experts can help improve presentation without changing the underlying information. It is important to listen to even casual readers who find an article to be biased or confusing or unconvincing. They might not have the expertise to fix those problems, but the fact that they report these symptoms means that the encyclopedia could probably be doing a better job.
The problem with Wikipedia is one of false negatives, not false positives: there are too many pages that should be tagged that are untagged. WP:NPOVD's "last resort" language, and ambiguities about responsibility for fixing problems, requires editors to babysit those pages. The policy should be less hostile to casual editors who don't have the time to babysit pages, but who can draw attention to problems in the encyclopedia for editors with more time. There are literally thousands of pages with POV problems in Wikipedia, and only a small fraction are tagged. THF 12:41, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Helo, I'm from Indonesian Wikipedia. Lately, there is an electronic magazine who are willing to provide us photos, mostly celebrities. They used copyright license but permitting wikipedia to use those photos. And they have their web address printed above the photos. I would like to know the policy in english wikipedia (or maybe general policy of wikipedia, if any)? Thanks. roscoe_x 13:00, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
At long last, the bug that prevented using a redirect with a tag into the middle of an article, such as Dynasty (TV series)#Main characters has been fixed in Wikimedia. This is useful for dealing with characters and items in fiction that don't rate a separate article. Per WP:FICT, characters and such that don't meet the standards for notability by themselves are supposed to be mentioned as paragraphs in the main article, rather than as separate articles. I suggest that redirects into the main article be used when this situation comes up, and someone creates an article that doesn't really meet WP:FICT but refers to something bigger that does. It's a useful tool for RC patrollers.
We might want to consider extending this to music. For bands and musicians that are just barely notable per WP:BAND, one article for the band, with redirects for band members and albums, might be sufficient. I'd suggest that notability for a specific song or album is there only if the song or album reached some official threshold of notability, like going gold or platinum. If a song or album didn't make it big, it only needs a paragraph in the band's article. -- John Nagle 16:35, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
When a non-Wikimedia site places an image from Wikipedia or the Commons directly on one of their pages, users likely won't know that it comes from Wikipedia or the Commons or who originally created the image. They might think it was created by the site's own staff or comes from a commercial stock-image collection. Although I don't think we should ban hotlinking, given the headaches it would create for webmasters with limited disk space, I think it would be a good idea to at least add the image-description-page URL to the metadata, where possible. It also means bandwidth gets used up without bringing in any name recognition or visibility for the Edit This Page links. There are thus four options:
Which option do you all like best? Neon Merlin 18:52, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
Also, I don't think this is a Wikipedia issue, but rather a foundation issue. — The Storm Surfer 19:00, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
I just came across Talk:Termite, which has an enormous amount of untranslated text in some language written with the Arabic alphabet. Is it appropriate to delete this text, since the large majority of the talk page's users (including me) can't possibly benefit from the text? Nyttend 14:15, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
If it's a foreign language it serves absolutely no purpose per the principles of what the talk page on an English Wikipedia is for and can be removed without notice. DreamGuy 09:20, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
You can always remove it to the talk page too. pschemp | talk 13:26, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
There is currently an edit war going on at the Eagles and Don Henley pages over whether or not links to fan sites should be included on the pages for the artists concerned. One of the people who removed the links stated on the Talk Page "The Wikipedia DMOZ template has been substituted into the EL linkfarm to prevent users from re-adding links to their personal fan webpages. This has already been done on many other music related articles where external link violations are common.(see AC/DC, Motorhead ...etc). The DMOZ open directory project is free and open for any website owners to add their own personal pages and is Wikipedia approved. 156.34.142.158 17:29, 30 July 2007 (UTC)" and has refused to comment further despite questions being raised by other users. My view on this is that SOME fan sites provide useful additional information about artists that cannot be included in Wikipedia - and therefore a handful of good fan sites enhance Wikipedia. It is the responsibility of editors on Wikipedia to decide which sites are spam and which add useful information, and Wikipedia should not be delegating this task to DMOZ. Since the person (s) removing the links don't want to comment further I wondered if anyone else had a view on this? Is this official policy as one editor stated here : [8] because I don't interpret the policy he quotes in the same way? Thanks for your thoughts. Kelpin 07:51, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
I recently got this template on my talk page, making me think I had an important new message (which I did get one of soon after). User:Connell66, and possibly other users, is spreading this template to other users' talk pages, seemingly chosen at random, for the purpose of "WikiLove". Is this a good idea? -- NE2 02:40, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
Hi there, I recently attempted to post some information about the company Booking.com, an internet travel site. It was removed within minutes of me uploading it, and i was wondering why exactly? All of its competitors and similar companies, such as Expedia and Priceline, have pages with their information, and my piece of writing was in no way advertising or promoting any aspect of the company. Thanks, Samorro
User:IrishLizard has been replacing pages with a note that the page has been deleted and salted, although the user is not an administrator. For example, see this version of The Treaty. Is there additional penalty for impersonating administrators, or should this be treated as normal vandalism? Nyttend 15:01, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
There are many lists of mentions of various topics in Wikipedia. Some of these are better done than others, but some editors don't feel they belong in an encylopedia. On there other hand, there's a significant number of people here who really dig writing these lists. Sometimes they are useful to people. One of them has a comment on the talk page saying how useful it was for a school project. We're ending up with something vaguely like the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, but for mass media. Is it possible to transwiki these, what are essentially directories of citations, to Wikisource or Wikiquote? Squidfryerchef 04:01, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
Are fair use album covers permitted to be used in articles about individual songs? I would think not, because they fail to satisfy WP:FUC#8; they do not really "significantly increase readers' understanding of the topic". See, for instance, Image:The White Album.jpg#filelinks. Mel sa ran (formerly Salaskаn) 21:29, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
As I read through Wikipedia articles, I noticed something I wasn't familiar to. It is the high level of nationalism British people have for their respective constituent country and a rejection of the "UK" entity. While I'm not writing here to argue this, but to discuss some of the inconsistency and confusion in Wikipedia articles any non-British reader might encounter. First, non-British are only familiar with the UK, they might be able to identify England and Scotland but rarely Wales; I find it odd that there isn't any page in Wikipedia that clarifies this issue, instead, it takes for granted that regular reader share the way of thinking of British people and find it perfectly normal to reference locations by their consitituent country (instead of UK); nationalities (English, Scottish, instead of British) and flags (flag of England instead of the UK flag). In addition, this leads to some inconstistencies between pages maintained by UK Wikipedians and others that don't (take a look at List of counties in Rhode Island).Could someone clarify this issue, and maybe write a guideline, policy, page about it. Thank you. CG 12:29, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
I'm glad that my post has initiated some discussion, but I think that my point hasn't been understood clearly. I wasn't looking for a change in convention and usage but for a clarification. I think that the usage of city, constituent country is pretty clear and analogous to city, state. However I don't understand, and this what needs to be clarified, is primarly why the flags of the constituent countries are used instead of the UK flag. And why UK isn't treated as a country like non-british people would view it. CG 19:22, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
The page you want is British Isles (terminology). Perebourne 14:43, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
It is interesting that on the JK Rowling page the editors are adament that she be referred to as English opposed to British. Now, if I was to change the Tony Blair page to show him as a Scottish Politician it would be reverted to British right away wouldn't it? I think the only solution is to create policy which forces the use of British. Can I just add, the idea of being Scottish or English is romantic fantasy the UK Government does not recognize its citizens as being English or Scottish but British, thus these nationalities don't exist. Gavin Scott 01:20, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Quite frankly we do have a lot of vaguely nationalist bullshit in the UK where people regard their various regions or sub-nations as if they were sovereign states. I to have noticed the tendency to "provincialise" various bios etc as being 'Gloucester, England' or 'Aviemore, Scotland' etc. Quite frankly i think it should be immediate region "(i.e. Surrey, Moray, Cornwall, Galloway etc' and then the nation-state which is obviously 'UK'. A common POV amongst the British of various parts of that country is a problem imo and ive commented against it before. The UK is no different to France (Britanny, Languadoc, Burgunday etc) or Italy (Lombardia, Papal States, Sicily, Naples etc) or any other vaguely historic nation although its inhabitants would like to believe it is some special case. Immediate region and then overall sovereign state is the way it should be broken down i.e. "Texas, USA". siarach 23:45, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
(whether or not this is legitimate i wont pass judgement) regarded as part of England within the UK therefore has no bearing on this current discussion. The day it is officially accepted that Cornwall is distinct to Greater England then fair enough we might discuss it as if it was truly distinct - a status only really valid for Scotland as the other founding nation of the United Kingdom - considering the fact that Ireland and Wales became parts of the UK as colonies/part of England. siarach 23:51, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
I have created the page Wikipedia:Manual of Style (United Kingdom-related articles) so that the proposal can be developed and discussed. Readro 19:31, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
We cannot agree on which namespace some of these pages belong in: {{ Contents pages (header bar)}}:
That's the very condensed version, with many tangential issues. Previous discussions abound, most recently here, here, here, and here.
Please advise. -- Quiddity 17:40, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
A bunch of normally reliable sources have many links to vague, unsourced, unattributable, information. An example would be (but is not limited to) something like "Data on hard drives that is overwritten can still be recovered using 'mysterious, secret, methods'." Thus Wikipedia distributes urban myth. There's no real evidence that X happens, but because a lot of sources say X happens Wikipedia says X happens, and not "These sources say X happens". What should an editor do in this situation? Should I ask for sources that verify that X actually happens, or should I edit the article to reflect the fact that it's the sources that say X happens, and that X might not happen, or should I just leave it, and accept that this is what Wikipedia is? Dan Beale 10:35, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
Can anybody participate in Wikipedia talk:Autoconfirmed Proposal/Straw Poll so we can decide ehter it is a policy/guideline or not?-- Pre ston H 16:26, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
Inaccuracy on Wikipedia is, generally, quickly corrected, especially on frequently-visited pages. However, accuracy and neutrality are not the same thing, and specific opinions are increasingly being put forward by implication. For example, the statement "Drinking Coca-Cola makes you immortal" would be easily deleted as unprovable, while statements such as "Many believe drinking Coca-Cola", or "it is often cited that drinking Coca-Cola makes you immortal" would not.
The solution to this problem is to use a tool rarely used in the main encyclopedia, the strike, which could prove invaluable to the resolution of this dilemma. It's main advantage is that, while the information is still accessible, the reader will be made aware of any biased implications and take them into account accordingly. After all, Wikipedia is about presenting the evidence, not the conclusions. — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
Gorsak (
talk •
contribs)
I used the "Coca-Cola" example as a neutral arguement, as I doubt, although I cannot be certain, that there is anyone who seriously believes that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gorsak ( talk • contribs)
I've noticed a recent influx of people that are going around slapping speedy delete tags on any image that happens to not state its fair use rationale. Granted, it's policy, but my problem is that these people are also tagging images that are clearly useful to the article itself. And by "clearly", I mean things like book covers and film posters, things that are standard to every article of its type. These people need to help by adding fair use rationales themselves, not by deleting the images because somebody else didn't. They are creating undue extra work that needs to be done in having to refind and resubmit these images, which is a major hassle.-- SeizureDog 13:32, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
I've reviewed the matter in depth and have serious qualms about whether the bot is duly approved. However, given the size of the problem with old images here, I've found it more constructive to actually work towards a solution than argue against the bot, as long as the people organized around deleting images are willing to pay some attention. Some kind of bot is necessary, so the real goal is finding a process that works. Wikidemo 21:18, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
I've recently started writing fair use rationales for images that I actually think are fair use, and I've found it a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Granted, I generally deal with articles about historical events rather than living people, so it's easier to justify the use of the image. But really, you just need to do a few basic things: state that the image is low resolution and give it's source, explain why it's important to use in the article it's being used in, explain why it isn't replaceable with a free content image (non repeatable historic event, corporate logo, etc.), and explain how the use of the image will not prevent the copyright holder from profiting from the image. Writing a good fair use rationale (which is the responsibility of the uploader, BTW) takes 15 minutes at most. Natalie 16:58, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
Honestly, I've looked long and hard but I just can't find any guidance on what makes a place notable enough to be in Wikipedia. I'm amazed at some of the tiny places around where I live which have entries on here, places that I doubt even the people who actually live there regard as terribly significant. Crimond, for example, barely even exists. I know Crimond - it's the sort of place you'd cycle through and not notice it was there (as I do, frequently). 7 kilobytes on pretty much nothing? That looks likes a vanity page to me. - 88.110.150.100 16:47, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
True, but the fact that I exist if verifiable, but I don't have an article. Although a small town, Crimond has a nice sized article. What I really hate is articles that say "So-and-so is a villiage in the XYZ department of Brazil" or something like that and no other information. True, it may be notable, but I'd say to delete it and recreate the article when there's some useful information. Crimond may be useful, but Seyeds and Osinniki are not. Reywas92 Talk 18:56, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
On reflection, I was probably a bit harsh on Crimond. But look at the other places listed as Villages in Aberdeenshire and a lot of them are just little stubs and sub-stubs, and for many there doesn't seem much hope of there being any "notable" information to put in them. - 88.109.59.160 08:37, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Today in following a talk page link, I found myself at an editor's user page and saw that he stated he is 15 years old, that he had posted his full name, and that he has email enabled on his account. I left him a welcome message and asked him to remove his last name from his page and advised him to keep his personal information private.
This got me thinking about how many editors there must be who are children or young teens, and how Wikipedia policy and practice addresses that concern.
Does anyone know if Wikipedia has statistics on how many children or young teens are actively editing?
I did some searching and found this essay: Wikipedia:Youth protection. It is not a policy or a guideline, though it does contain some important information.
I was not able to find anything else about this. Does anyone know of a current policy or guideline on this topic? If so, please provide the link.
If there is not such a guideline, there should be. We need it both for adult editors-in-general to know the parameters of interacting with self-identified child editors, and we also should have a special welcome template that is written for child editors - or maybe two versions - one for children and one for young teens.
For example, it doesn't help to have a guideline that experienced Wikipedia adult editors know about if the children editors are not aware of it and themselves make the mistake of posting their photograph or personal information on their user pages. If we had a welcome template for young editors, and we made sure that editors in general are aware of it - for example by adding a link to it in the basic welcome templates - then when an editor goes to post on a user's talk page, if they see that the user is a self-identified child editor, they could add the template, which would explain to the child that they should protect their own identity, not use their real name, not post their birthday or school name, photo, etc.
We might consider a procedure or guideline to allow editors, or administrators, within guidlines, to remove personally identifiable information from user pages of children.
In addition to the details listed in the Wikipedia:Youth protection essay, we should also consider what happens when a child encounters the various kinds of Wikipedia editor personalities or challenges on talk pages, etc, and how the child or young teen communicates themselves. For example, most of us have encountered disruptive or tendentious editors, and sometimes their comments can be quite insulting or even downright mean. How would a child experience comments like that directed at them? Maybe the child editor welcome template should include some advice on how to not take that personally, or what to do if someone is mean to them.
The child-editor welcome template could also include instructions for a child about what to do if someone tries to email them from their user page, or if someone posts inappropriate content on their page. We do have the Wikipedia:Youth protection essay for adults to read, but that doesn't help the child know what to do if someone contacts them inappropriately.
As it is now, do we even have a place for a child to report a problem? WP:AN could be, but it's pretty complicated for someone young and inexperienced. Maybe a simpler page would be better for this. It would probably not be very active, but if something appeared there, it could be important.
I'm not sure about where to draw the lines on this, so I am posting the concern here to generate some discussion.
Maybe this is a non-issue because we don't have many child-editors, or maybe this has already been worked out, so if it has, please let me know.
But if not, let's discuss it and come up with some guidelines. -- Parzival418 Hello 22:26, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
Amarkov, I'm not really sure how old you are, but there is a big difference between a 10 year old user and a 16 year old user. I would say that the suggestion of having one page for teenagers and one page for children is probably a good idea. Perhaps the teenager page could emphasize the "Wikipedia is not myspace" aspect as well. Natalie 18:02, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
Interested editors, please visit with your comments at Wikipedia talk:Young Users. If anyone knows editors who are parents or educators, please invite them as well. Thank you. -- Parzival418 Hello 20:09, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
Considering that "Trivia" or "Pop culture" sections keep popping up like mushrooms after a rainstorm, I would like to know if it would ever be acceptable for an editor to unilaterally remove one of these sections from an article. The consensus seems to be that Trivia is "bad" but deleting a giant section of an article might not be looked upon very kindly, either. So, for example, if I was to remove the "in Popular culture" section from the article Mr. T, would I be violating any kind of policy (assuming I announced my intentions beforehand on the talk page)? GhostPirate 06:26, 15 August 2007 (UTC)
I asked this on Wikipedia talk:Lead section but received no answer. On an article like Interstate 15 in Arizona, bolding the title but not linking within it results in ridiculous sentences like "Interstate 15 in Arizona is the portion of Interstate 15 in the U.S. state of Arizona." Is the proper solution to bold nothing? -- NE2 00:43, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
Please see the proposal at Wikipedia talk:Non-free content#A rational change (pun intended). — Remember the dot ( talk) 01:24, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
Here's a funny little story which played out last week. It's not the first time this happens but it's rarely so delightfully clear. Take a look at Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/Images of Fcb981 A user wants to licence his images so that commercial use of them is not allowed. He gets told that this isn't allowed and his images will be deleted - he has to use a free licence. Oh dear, an impasse. But wait! Someone comes and suggests he can just use the GFDL - its terms are so onerous that they'll effectively stop almost all commercial use of the images. The user happily switches to GFDL-only and the images are kept. Brave GNU world we live in... Haukur 23:53, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
I find it distasteful that two doctors who were never thought of murderers but assisted two famous people to die ( Max Schur for Sigmund Freud and Bertrand Dawson, 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn for George V of the United Kingdom) are in a category with Josef Mengele and Harold Shipman. The category was created by Special:Contributions/Malick78 who keeps on reverting me when I try and remove the categories from these two doctors. I would appreciate other opinions on whether I am in the right here. Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 12:33, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
I beleive that a Spoiler Warning should be manditory for all plot summaries that give away all or most important details. For those many who have never been on Wikipedia and think that a plot summary is just an overview like on the back or front of a book. It takes like only 5 seconds to add. It is kind to all. Rembrant12 22:57, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
But it does not make that clear everywhere. No offence but you are doing something that many people do. You beleive that if you know something that seems obvious to you, it is obvious to everyone. IT IS NOT! It is not clear in saying "Plot Summary" it gives awway details. I myself first believed it was an overview with no important details put up. And I am not saying put up a template but just "SPOILER WARNING, gives away important information" will make it clear to everyone that it gives away details. Rembrant12 23:22, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
As I have said, you are still being short minded. IT IS NOT OBVIOUS!!!!! It is not a pointless warning! Many people including myself thought it to be an overview with no details given away. You must specify these things! Rembrant12 19:03, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
Allright. You are being short-minded still so I will give you insight on a mind like mine. I did not first beleive Wikipedia to be and encyclopedia. I believed it to be a website with good and yet totally horrible information. Not many people are genius's like you believe yourself to be or are. You must delve into the mind of others to actually help and be kind to them. You refuse to look into the subject and put it in lamen terms. You must learn that to keep people happy and coming to Wikipedia you must be kind to those and understand those less intillegnt that you. You must learn that to must people plot summary is an overview and till you know this, as I have been trying to explain, Wikipedia will never, I repeat NEVER cease to make people disappointed and angry. Rembrant12 19:23, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
[deleting myself -- wrong page, sorry] Claudia 19:37, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
That is true but, we need to try to be kind to people so they come back. 10 seconds of time and it makes all the difference. Rembrant12 19:50, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
I agree wi/ all. Razorclaw ( talk · contribs) 21:49, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
I don't think this is the place to discuss this. — The Storm Surfer 14:30, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
Forgive what I am about to say, but, YOU IMBASOLS. You are treating this with the belief that everyone has the same considerable brain power. I cannot say you are understanding, for you are as understanding about this as Hitler was about the Jews. I say add SPOILER WARNING to the template. that would be good.
Rembrant12 02:15, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
I've noticed that a number of images depicting works of modern art are tagged as copyrighted and included in WP under fair use, despite the fact that the artists have died more than 70 years ago. Shouldn't these images be considered as being in the Public Domain? I've seen this pattern in quite a few images and have inquired in the relevant Image talk pages, however (a) I want to know if my reasoning is correct and (b) if it is correct, it would be interesting to find out weather this is a generalized pattern with more such images of works of art whose creators died more than 70 years ago and have been inappropriately tagged as copyrighted.
The images I've spotted so far are these:
-- Michalis Famelis (talk) 12:30, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
If they died over 70 years ago then they are public domain.
Wikidudeman
(talk) 12:40, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
There have been several reverts on the Main Page today based on whether or not the blurb for the Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion article should use a copyrighted picture of the painting itself. Following a discussion about the picture at Talk:Main Page#Fair use image on the main page?, it looks like the subject is being reopened for discussion on the issue at large at Wikipedia talk:Non-free content criteria exemptions#TFA/Main Page exemption, revisited. It'd be helpful to get some broad discussion to determine the community's consensus on the issue. 17Drew 21:19, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
Good morning,
The other day I discovered that an article was posted on Wikipedia related to a member of my family. My cousin was convicted of drug manufacturing and smuggling in the United Kingdom and is currently serving a twenty year sentence there. I find it disgraceful that an article has been posted about him - especially as the article discusses the matter in a manner that is subtly biased toward his so-called "cause".
What can I do to have this article removed?
Thank you.
I have proposed a new guideline on video game article naming conventions here. These are all things that we have been going by but haven't been written down yet. ~ JohnnyMrNinja 10:16, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
WP:COI simultaneously refers to two things:
This leads to unnecessary confusion: WP:COI permits editors with a conflict of interest to participate on Wikipedia, subject to certain procedural limitations, but other editors misread that to believe that the existence of a conflict of interest violates WP:COI, leading to a lot of time wasted on the COI noticeboard. (For example: WP:COI requires editors with a conflict of interest to discuss edits on the talk page. An editor left a lengthy report accusing me of violating WP:COI because I was discussing edits on the talk page while I had a conflict of interest.) Someone can be subject to WP:COI and comply with WP:COI: it's a two-part inquiry, and some sort of disambiguation is necessary to distinguish the two to avoid these problems. THF 08:05, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
What's the policy on articles on people that seem to be "notable" only for one event? For instance, I just ran across Glenn Kopitske. It's a great article - well sourced and everything. But would Glenn be notable for any other reason? -- SatyrTN ( talk | contribs) 17:05, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
The argument that people known for a single event are not notable is soft at best. Some events are infamous, of lasting importance, influential on other events, etc. What it's really getting at is that Wikipedia is not a newspaper. Matters of fleeting interest shouldn't be covered. These people too are known for a single event or achievement, yet quite notable: Neil Armstrong, Lee Harvey Oswald, Mark Spitz. Wikidemo 18:55, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
If it's really an article about one event, rather than a biography of the person, then move it to a title that reflects that. In this case, it's become Glenn Kopitske murder, although I think Murder of Glenn Kopitske would be better. Night Gyr ( talk/ Oy) 20:20, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
Moved to WT:U Mel sa ran 18:37, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
As a RC-patroller, I see it several times a day, that users move content per copy & paste (or cut & paste) from one article to another one, neither mentioning at least the 5 main authors of the original article nor terming the original article. In my understanding (and as we handle this so on de.wikipedia) this is a violation of the GFDL (esp. section 4B).
Example (only to illustrate the point, the question is more generally):
In these cases, contrary to a page move, the history get lost and it seems that the copy&paster is the only author of the content. I wonder why it was told me that such things are no violation of the GFDL and this is tolerated. -- Oxymoron 83 17:40, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
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What's the policy on glossaries, such as those found in Category:Glossaries? Do they violate Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary? — Remember the dot ( talk) 23:48, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
There have recently been a couple of posts on the reference desk which have concerned me greatly. In one, an editor told someone who had asked about hearing voices that the voices were telling him to kill himself. I removed the comment, and left a message on the offending editor's talk page expressing my concern. There is now a thread on "bathtub suicides" on the science desk, which also concerns me, as it appears to be heading in the direction of "painless, relaxing etc" methods of killing oneself. I have expressed my concern in the thread, but I wonder if WP has a specific policy relating to this? I feel it is highly dangerous for a resource like Wikipedia to in any way suggest that there are acceptable/relaxing/painless ways of commiting suicide. DuncanHill 12:23, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
It's worth pointing out that the Humanities ref desk question does not mention suicide. It is a guy asking if others have experienced the phenomenon of hearing voices. It is a bit disturbing because it sounds like someone who is experiencing the onset of schizophrenia. I think that User:Skittle responded very well - he suggested that the poster reach out to someone who cares about him, possibly a doctor, without implying that the poster was crazy. One highly inappropriate response was removed. I am curious to see if other editors think that this situation was handled well. I think it was, but It might be worth looking to see if the American Psychiatric Association has any guidelines on how to handle this kind of thing. Maybe the foundation can consult them or a psychiatrist to make sure that we're being helpful and for the purposes of CYA. I don't know if this situation is widespread enough to warrant that though. GabrielF 14:08, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
I’m sorry that this thread seems to have ended in hard feelings as this is really is a topic that should be settled. As the Wikipedian who originally started the Wikipedia:Responding to suicidal individuals article (later moved) I too am concerned with the projects lack of consensus on this issue. However reverting questions that are SUICIDE THEAMED is censorship. We are ultimately not responsible for the actions of those who use Wikipedia. To make my point I’m tempted to propose a policy by which any comment about extreme sports must be reverted (because it could cause injury or death) or any comment about unprotected sex must be reverted (because someone might get an STD). However such proposals obviously do not belong on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not censored. Thanks, -- S.dedalus 02:45, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
This is a tricky area because there's a variety of people seeking advice, and a variety of people giving advice. Often people giving advice have no idea what they're talking about. Wiki has standards to cover this kind of thing, no original research, verifiable information, etc. Sometimes people are arseholes. That's not okay, but luckily Wiki has rules about being civil, and I very much hope that editors calmly keep that rule. People seeking advice are either just curious, or they have suicidal ideation. Why doesn't wp:BEANS apply here? Dan Beale 21:57, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
Also, what to do about articles which happen to be related to suicide? Should an article on coproxamol (distalgesic) not mention that it was one of the commonest drugs used for suicide in the UK, which led to it being withdrawn? What about various famous cliff tops? I dunno. The werther effect is real, but I don't think that means Wiki should self-censor. Dan Beale 21:59, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
I recently got this template on my talk page, making me think I had an important new message (which I did get one of soon after). User:Connell66, and possibly other users, is spreading this template to other users' talk pages, seemingly chosen at random, for the purpose of "WikiLove". Is this a good idea? -- NE2 02:40, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
When I first came on Wikipedia a few months back, I was chastised repeatedly for putting sandbox pages as subpages of user pages or mainpages, as in Filll/sandbox. I was told to make them as subpages of talk pages, as in user talk:Filll/sandbox. Now I see some people making sandbox pages as subpages of user pages. Is this permittable now? Did I just misunderstand before?-- Filll 17:08, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Discussion at WT:BAN. Navou banter 12:50, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
Is it possible to re-fashion rejected policy proposals as essays? The specific page I had in mind is WP:EXPERT. It's been inactive for quite some time, but still provides some useful aspects and could become a very good essay. — AldeBaer ( c) 00:45, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
I guess it's all about whether you find it useful as an essay or not. Do you want to cite it in discussions for the arguments it makes? If so it might make a good essay. There's no real formal process, it looks like it's already tagged. It's good to make it clear that it started out as a policy proposal, which this page also seems to do. -- W.marsh 19:53, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
It seems to gain a concensus of support (see talk page) since the creation of the proposal, but it hasn't been updated in over 3 weeks. I decided to revive this proposal in the village pump for people to give lasting comments/objection. Can anybody give some lasting comments in the proposal's talk page so we can decide whether it should be a policy or not?-- Pre ston H 16:07, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
Hello. A few of us have become concerned with the present trend for naming Wiki "settlement" articles: each country seems to impose its own method of disambiguation (and local geography for the same), and this tends to make Wiki look chaotic as a whole - especially to readers researching a subject that covers several countries unfamiliar to them.
Would it be possible to make a single Wiki-wide naming convention for all placenames? A few of us are looking into the question here. Please join in! THEPROMENADER 10:44, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
I was just reading about Wikipedia's nofollow policy on a blog. I find it irresponsible of Wikipedia to graciously accept so much incoming page rank from the web, but to return none. In short, it's like Wikipedia is saying, "don't trust our links, Google." Why is this still being used? Is there still an open forum to discuss this policy? Thanks -18:32, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
I've noticed that several university articles use images of the respective coats of arms that have been drawn up by Wikipedians from the original blazons and have been uploaded as GFDL content. Various possible examples can be found here, here, but I'll just examine Image:Cambridge University Crest - flat.png here as a test case. This coat of arms will almost certainly be a trademark of the University of Cambridge; so how is it possible to redraw a copy of the arms, modelled as closely as possible on the original design described within the blazon, and release the image under the GFDL? -- Kwekubo 16:39, 15 July 2007 (UTC)
To try to improve the signal-to-noise ratio at AfD, I have posted a proposal at Wikipedia_talk:Deletion_policy#Require_discussion_before_deletion that would require initiating a discussion on an article's talk page prior to initiating an AfD discussion. The reasons behind this proposal are in the discusion at the link above, and a previous discussion linked from there. Additional input from the community is requested in that forum. Dhaluza 13:37, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
why does wikipedia only use the International Phonetic Alphabet i have never seen a dictionary in which they use the International Phonetic Alphabet and the wikipedia page for it is very confusing. if someone with knowledge in the subject could make a simple chart for the it and make a conversion chrt for IPA symbols and other common Phonetic Alphabets that would be great.
I wanted to link PSSI to be redirected to Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity, but I find instead that someone has used this for a foreign acronym: [1]. I know a disambiguation page can be created, but what is the policy on this? Seems that English should take precedence on English Wikipedia.-- Filll 16:50, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
Moved to WT:U Mel sa ran 18:37, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
As a RC-patroller, I see it several times a day, that users move content per copy & paste (or cut & paste) from one article to another one, neither mentioning at least the 5 main authors of the original article nor terming the original article. In my understanding (and as we handle this so on de.wikipedia) this is a violation of the GFDL (esp. section 4B).
Example (only to illustrate the point, the question is more generally):
In these cases, contrary to a page move, the history get lost and it seems that the copy&paster is the only author of the content. I wonder why it was told me that such things are no violation of the GFDL and this is tolerated. -- Oxymoron 83 17:40, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
I'd like feedback on an essay I developed from talk page comments by others. There seems to be some misunderstanding how tagging works. THF 02:14, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
User:DrVarkey has, on his userpage, a list of "Good Things" and "Bad Things". The only item in the Bad Things list is Stephen C. Sillett, a scientist whose research this user has been disputing. How does this compare to Wikipedia:User page's bits about what may not be on a userpage, especially the Jimbo quote "libelling people on userpages is a bad idea, and in fact, using userpages to attack people or campaign for or against anything or anyone is a bad idea"? Nyttend 14:19, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
A proposal has passed at
WP:WAF and
WP:SBS to allow in-universe succession boxes in articles with fictional elements. A template was created,
Template:s-fic, to deal with the in-universe-ness of the succession boxes and a proposal to delete the template failed last week. I am wonder what needs to be done to cancel this policy and allow succession boxes officially on templates, because currently succession boxes such as those of the
Kings of Arnor are not technically allowed in their articles, although they provide an excellent method of navigating the multiple generations of kings and heirs. Similar succession boxes have been removed from certain
Harry Potter and
Star Wars pages, as well as many others. Can anyone tell me how to do this, because I would really like to know. Thank you!
–
Whale
y
land (
Talk •
Contributions ) 00:58, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
Me, Andre and WJBscribe have created a set of guidelines for the changing usernames process, in an attempt to standardise our existing practices, as well as create a formal set of guidelines that reflects current pratice. Note that if the community decides to grant this guideline status, then there will be very little to no change in our existing practices at changing usernames, and usurpations. I am posting notices on several pages in an attempt to gain consensus on the talk page of the proposal to promote it to guideline. All input is welcome. -- Deskana (banana) 21:17, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
I have heard that if there is content that relates directly to you, you can get control of that. Is this true? Lkieffer 17:09, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
When is it appropriate to apply archiving bots to talk pages? Wikipedia Talk: Spoiler has had an archiving bot applied despite not being particularly busy. Complaints about it have been ignored, and it has been suggested that talk pages with a low level of activity should be blanked as a matter of course. There does not seem to be any policy relating to such things, and the justifications offered boil down to 'I post here'.-- Nydas (Talk) 07:30, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
I am wondering about when blogs become useful as references. Some blogs are written by known figures who are notable already from their other writing, or from their qualifications or expertise. Some are associated with people who give their real names and professional positions and credentials. Some science blogs have been highly rated. For example, Nature magazine placed a "review of some of the best blogs written by working scientists" on its website in July 2006. [2] [3].
Some examples:
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?-- Filll 16:52, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
Should congress be capitalized in the uses below and why?
According to Wikipedia:Manual of Style (capital letters)#Institutions, all these should be lower case, just like "The university offers financial aid.". But almost all such uses of congress and similar words are capitalized in Wikipedia articles. - Pgan002 04:59, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
Some peoples here in Wikipedia are not like they should be. For example:
If someone write two things in an article at once, one thing that is correct and should be there, and another that can be more doubtful or even wrong. When someone see the change, they undo ALL changes, even the correct one.
Some peoples makes the article fit their meaning, if someone tryes to correct it, they put it back with a little twist that is not actually wrong, but they makes the truth the way they want it.
< >
I also want to say it is not a good idea to remove short articles, because nobody write them longer. Little information is better than none.
Helpsloose 17:45, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
The problem your refering to is known in Wikipedia as reverting it is a quick way to change an article that may be a victim of vandilization, the best way to deal with this is to simply state in your edit summary what you are doing, editors are less likely to revert a page if the content descriptor indicates what's actually been said. Deathawk 02:59, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
User FerryUser, also editing from 172.209.243.209, has been inserting a strange template on upcoming film articles. The intention appears to be to list all 2008 movies in order of release? Anyway, I can't really call it vandalism, but I think that it's clearly inappropriate and the user refuses to stop. Any ideas on how to handle this? - Chunky Rice 19:27, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
When I first came on Wikipedia a few months back, I was chastised repeatedly for putting sandbox pages as subpages of user pages or mainpages, as in Filll/sandbox. I was told to make them as subpages of talk pages, as in user talk:Filll/sandbox. Now I see some people making sandbox pages as subpages of user pages. Is this permittable now? Did I just misunderstand before?-- Filll 17:08, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
How Come Whenever Actor Joel Wheatley Is Added to wikipedia he is deleted i feel this is discrimination against one of the best gay actors of our generation — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.159.68.200 ( talk)
I object to the language in WP:NPOVD that calls adding a tag a "last resort."
Identification of problems in articles is an important task in the creation of a reliable encyclopedia. "Tags" are often used to indicate problems. Some people object to tagging instead of fixing, but tags do have their place.
The encyclopedia is way too large for anyone to read the whole thing, and there is a lot of value in tagging particular articles for particular problems. Tagging makes it easier for people who have expertise or interest in a particular area to hone in on things they can work on, it warns readers about rough patches (so they don't think a disputed passage is authoritative), and it encourages more passers-by to pitch in. Sure, it's better if people fix the problems they find, but complex problems can take a long time to untangle, and not everyone has the information immediately at hand to do the job right. An editor who places a tag has no obligation other than to justify the inclusion of the tag on the talk page if the tag is challenged.
Criticisms (as expressed through article tags) and incremental editing are an important part of writing a collaborative encyclopedia, and should be welcomed rather than discouraged. Wikipedia values contributions from everyone, whether or not they have contributed before, and even whether or not they are experts. Even novices and non-experts can help improve presentation without changing the underlying information. It is important to listen to even casual readers who find an article to be biased or confusing or unconvincing. They might not have the expertise to fix those problems, but the fact that they report these symptoms means that the encyclopedia could probably be doing a better job.
The problem with Wikipedia is one of false negatives, not false positives: there are too many pages that should be tagged that are untagged. WP:NPOVD's "last resort" language, and ambiguities about responsibility for fixing problems, requires editors to babysit those pages. The policy should be less hostile to casual editors who don't have the time to babysit pages, but who can draw attention to problems in the encyclopedia for editors with more time. There are literally thousands of pages with POV problems in Wikipedia, and only a small fraction are tagged. THF 12:41, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Helo, I'm from Indonesian Wikipedia. Lately, there is an electronic magazine who are willing to provide us photos, mostly celebrities. They used copyright license but permitting wikipedia to use those photos. And they have their web address printed above the photos. I would like to know the policy in english wikipedia (or maybe general policy of wikipedia, if any)? Thanks. roscoe_x 13:00, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
At long last, the bug that prevented using a redirect with a tag into the middle of an article, such as Dynasty (TV series)#Main characters has been fixed in Wikimedia. This is useful for dealing with characters and items in fiction that don't rate a separate article. Per WP:FICT, characters and such that don't meet the standards for notability by themselves are supposed to be mentioned as paragraphs in the main article, rather than as separate articles. I suggest that redirects into the main article be used when this situation comes up, and someone creates an article that doesn't really meet WP:FICT but refers to something bigger that does. It's a useful tool for RC patrollers.
We might want to consider extending this to music. For bands and musicians that are just barely notable per WP:BAND, one article for the band, with redirects for band members and albums, might be sufficient. I'd suggest that notability for a specific song or album is there only if the song or album reached some official threshold of notability, like going gold or platinum. If a song or album didn't make it big, it only needs a paragraph in the band's article. -- John Nagle 16:35, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
When a non-Wikimedia site places an image from Wikipedia or the Commons directly on one of their pages, users likely won't know that it comes from Wikipedia or the Commons or who originally created the image. They might think it was created by the site's own staff or comes from a commercial stock-image collection. Although I don't think we should ban hotlinking, given the headaches it would create for webmasters with limited disk space, I think it would be a good idea to at least add the image-description-page URL to the metadata, where possible. It also means bandwidth gets used up without bringing in any name recognition or visibility for the Edit This Page links. There are thus four options:
Which option do you all like best? Neon Merlin 18:52, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
Also, I don't think this is a Wikipedia issue, but rather a foundation issue. — The Storm Surfer 19:00, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
I just came across Talk:Termite, which has an enormous amount of untranslated text in some language written with the Arabic alphabet. Is it appropriate to delete this text, since the large majority of the talk page's users (including me) can't possibly benefit from the text? Nyttend 14:15, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
If it's a foreign language it serves absolutely no purpose per the principles of what the talk page on an English Wikipedia is for and can be removed without notice. DreamGuy 09:20, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
You can always remove it to the talk page too. pschemp | talk 13:26, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
There is currently an edit war going on at the Eagles and Don Henley pages over whether or not links to fan sites should be included on the pages for the artists concerned. One of the people who removed the links stated on the Talk Page "The Wikipedia DMOZ template has been substituted into the EL linkfarm to prevent users from re-adding links to their personal fan webpages. This has already been done on many other music related articles where external link violations are common.(see AC/DC, Motorhead ...etc). The DMOZ open directory project is free and open for any website owners to add their own personal pages and is Wikipedia approved. 156.34.142.158 17:29, 30 July 2007 (UTC)" and has refused to comment further despite questions being raised by other users. My view on this is that SOME fan sites provide useful additional information about artists that cannot be included in Wikipedia - and therefore a handful of good fan sites enhance Wikipedia. It is the responsibility of editors on Wikipedia to decide which sites are spam and which add useful information, and Wikipedia should not be delegating this task to DMOZ. Since the person (s) removing the links don't want to comment further I wondered if anyone else had a view on this? Is this official policy as one editor stated here : [8] because I don't interpret the policy he quotes in the same way? Thanks for your thoughts. Kelpin 07:51, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
I recently got this template on my talk page, making me think I had an important new message (which I did get one of soon after). User:Connell66, and possibly other users, is spreading this template to other users' talk pages, seemingly chosen at random, for the purpose of "WikiLove". Is this a good idea? -- NE2 02:40, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
Hi there, I recently attempted to post some information about the company Booking.com, an internet travel site. It was removed within minutes of me uploading it, and i was wondering why exactly? All of its competitors and similar companies, such as Expedia and Priceline, have pages with their information, and my piece of writing was in no way advertising or promoting any aspect of the company. Thanks, Samorro
User:IrishLizard has been replacing pages with a note that the page has been deleted and salted, although the user is not an administrator. For example, see this version of The Treaty. Is there additional penalty for impersonating administrators, or should this be treated as normal vandalism? Nyttend 15:01, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
There are many lists of mentions of various topics in Wikipedia. Some of these are better done than others, but some editors don't feel they belong in an encylopedia. On there other hand, there's a significant number of people here who really dig writing these lists. Sometimes they are useful to people. One of them has a comment on the talk page saying how useful it was for a school project. We're ending up with something vaguely like the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, but for mass media. Is it possible to transwiki these, what are essentially directories of citations, to Wikisource or Wikiquote? Squidfryerchef 04:01, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
Are fair use album covers permitted to be used in articles about individual songs? I would think not, because they fail to satisfy WP:FUC#8; they do not really "significantly increase readers' understanding of the topic". See, for instance, Image:The White Album.jpg#filelinks. Mel sa ran (formerly Salaskаn) 21:29, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
As I read through Wikipedia articles, I noticed something I wasn't familiar to. It is the high level of nationalism British people have for their respective constituent country and a rejection of the "UK" entity. While I'm not writing here to argue this, but to discuss some of the inconsistency and confusion in Wikipedia articles any non-British reader might encounter. First, non-British are only familiar with the UK, they might be able to identify England and Scotland but rarely Wales; I find it odd that there isn't any page in Wikipedia that clarifies this issue, instead, it takes for granted that regular reader share the way of thinking of British people and find it perfectly normal to reference locations by their consitituent country (instead of UK); nationalities (English, Scottish, instead of British) and flags (flag of England instead of the UK flag). In addition, this leads to some inconstistencies between pages maintained by UK Wikipedians and others that don't (take a look at List of counties in Rhode Island).Could someone clarify this issue, and maybe write a guideline, policy, page about it. Thank you. CG 12:29, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
I'm glad that my post has initiated some discussion, but I think that my point hasn't been understood clearly. I wasn't looking for a change in convention and usage but for a clarification. I think that the usage of city, constituent country is pretty clear and analogous to city, state. However I don't understand, and this what needs to be clarified, is primarly why the flags of the constituent countries are used instead of the UK flag. And why UK isn't treated as a country like non-british people would view it. CG 19:22, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
The page you want is British Isles (terminology). Perebourne 14:43, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
It is interesting that on the JK Rowling page the editors are adament that she be referred to as English opposed to British. Now, if I was to change the Tony Blair page to show him as a Scottish Politician it would be reverted to British right away wouldn't it? I think the only solution is to create policy which forces the use of British. Can I just add, the idea of being Scottish or English is romantic fantasy the UK Government does not recognize its citizens as being English or Scottish but British, thus these nationalities don't exist. Gavin Scott 01:20, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Quite frankly we do have a lot of vaguely nationalist bullshit in the UK where people regard their various regions or sub-nations as if they were sovereign states. I to have noticed the tendency to "provincialise" various bios etc as being 'Gloucester, England' or 'Aviemore, Scotland' etc. Quite frankly i think it should be immediate region "(i.e. Surrey, Moray, Cornwall, Galloway etc' and then the nation-state which is obviously 'UK'. A common POV amongst the British of various parts of that country is a problem imo and ive commented against it before. The UK is no different to France (Britanny, Languadoc, Burgunday etc) or Italy (Lombardia, Papal States, Sicily, Naples etc) or any other vaguely historic nation although its inhabitants would like to believe it is some special case. Immediate region and then overall sovereign state is the way it should be broken down i.e. "Texas, USA". siarach 23:45, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
(whether or not this is legitimate i wont pass judgement) regarded as part of England within the UK therefore has no bearing on this current discussion. The day it is officially accepted that Cornwall is distinct to Greater England then fair enough we might discuss it as if it was truly distinct - a status only really valid for Scotland as the other founding nation of the United Kingdom - considering the fact that Ireland and Wales became parts of the UK as colonies/part of England. siarach 23:51, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
I have created the page Wikipedia:Manual of Style (United Kingdom-related articles) so that the proposal can be developed and discussed. Readro 19:31, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
We cannot agree on which namespace some of these pages belong in: {{ Contents pages (header bar)}}:
That's the very condensed version, with many tangential issues. Previous discussions abound, most recently here, here, here, and here.
Please advise. -- Quiddity 17:40, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
A bunch of normally reliable sources have many links to vague, unsourced, unattributable, information. An example would be (but is not limited to) something like "Data on hard drives that is overwritten can still be recovered using 'mysterious, secret, methods'." Thus Wikipedia distributes urban myth. There's no real evidence that X happens, but because a lot of sources say X happens Wikipedia says X happens, and not "These sources say X happens". What should an editor do in this situation? Should I ask for sources that verify that X actually happens, or should I edit the article to reflect the fact that it's the sources that say X happens, and that X might not happen, or should I just leave it, and accept that this is what Wikipedia is? Dan Beale 10:35, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
Can anybody participate in Wikipedia talk:Autoconfirmed Proposal/Straw Poll so we can decide ehter it is a policy/guideline or not?-- Pre ston H 16:26, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
Inaccuracy on Wikipedia is, generally, quickly corrected, especially on frequently-visited pages. However, accuracy and neutrality are not the same thing, and specific opinions are increasingly being put forward by implication. For example, the statement "Drinking Coca-Cola makes you immortal" would be easily deleted as unprovable, while statements such as "Many believe drinking Coca-Cola", or "it is often cited that drinking Coca-Cola makes you immortal" would not.
The solution to this problem is to use a tool rarely used in the main encyclopedia, the strike, which could prove invaluable to the resolution of this dilemma. It's main advantage is that, while the information is still accessible, the reader will be made aware of any biased implications and take them into account accordingly. After all, Wikipedia is about presenting the evidence, not the conclusions. — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
Gorsak (
talk •
contribs)
I used the "Coca-Cola" example as a neutral arguement, as I doubt, although I cannot be certain, that there is anyone who seriously believes that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gorsak ( talk • contribs)
I've noticed a recent influx of people that are going around slapping speedy delete tags on any image that happens to not state its fair use rationale. Granted, it's policy, but my problem is that these people are also tagging images that are clearly useful to the article itself. And by "clearly", I mean things like book covers and film posters, things that are standard to every article of its type. These people need to help by adding fair use rationales themselves, not by deleting the images because somebody else didn't. They are creating undue extra work that needs to be done in having to refind and resubmit these images, which is a major hassle.-- SeizureDog 13:32, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
I've reviewed the matter in depth and have serious qualms about whether the bot is duly approved. However, given the size of the problem with old images here, I've found it more constructive to actually work towards a solution than argue against the bot, as long as the people organized around deleting images are willing to pay some attention. Some kind of bot is necessary, so the real goal is finding a process that works. Wikidemo 21:18, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
I've recently started writing fair use rationales for images that I actually think are fair use, and I've found it a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Granted, I generally deal with articles about historical events rather than living people, so it's easier to justify the use of the image. But really, you just need to do a few basic things: state that the image is low resolution and give it's source, explain why it's important to use in the article it's being used in, explain why it isn't replaceable with a free content image (non repeatable historic event, corporate logo, etc.), and explain how the use of the image will not prevent the copyright holder from profiting from the image. Writing a good fair use rationale (which is the responsibility of the uploader, BTW) takes 15 minutes at most. Natalie 16:58, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
Honestly, I've looked long and hard but I just can't find any guidance on what makes a place notable enough to be in Wikipedia. I'm amazed at some of the tiny places around where I live which have entries on here, places that I doubt even the people who actually live there regard as terribly significant. Crimond, for example, barely even exists. I know Crimond - it's the sort of place you'd cycle through and not notice it was there (as I do, frequently). 7 kilobytes on pretty much nothing? That looks likes a vanity page to me. - 88.110.150.100 16:47, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
True, but the fact that I exist if verifiable, but I don't have an article. Although a small town, Crimond has a nice sized article. What I really hate is articles that say "So-and-so is a villiage in the XYZ department of Brazil" or something like that and no other information. True, it may be notable, but I'd say to delete it and recreate the article when there's some useful information. Crimond may be useful, but Seyeds and Osinniki are not. Reywas92 Talk 18:56, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
On reflection, I was probably a bit harsh on Crimond. But look at the other places listed as Villages in Aberdeenshire and a lot of them are just little stubs and sub-stubs, and for many there doesn't seem much hope of there being any "notable" information to put in them. - 88.109.59.160 08:37, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Today in following a talk page link, I found myself at an editor's user page and saw that he stated he is 15 years old, that he had posted his full name, and that he has email enabled on his account. I left him a welcome message and asked him to remove his last name from his page and advised him to keep his personal information private.
This got me thinking about how many editors there must be who are children or young teens, and how Wikipedia policy and practice addresses that concern.
Does anyone know if Wikipedia has statistics on how many children or young teens are actively editing?
I did some searching and found this essay: Wikipedia:Youth protection. It is not a policy or a guideline, though it does contain some important information.
I was not able to find anything else about this. Does anyone know of a current policy or guideline on this topic? If so, please provide the link.
If there is not such a guideline, there should be. We need it both for adult editors-in-general to know the parameters of interacting with self-identified child editors, and we also should have a special welcome template that is written for child editors - or maybe two versions - one for children and one for young teens.
For example, it doesn't help to have a guideline that experienced Wikipedia adult editors know about if the children editors are not aware of it and themselves make the mistake of posting their photograph or personal information on their user pages. If we had a welcome template for young editors, and we made sure that editors in general are aware of it - for example by adding a link to it in the basic welcome templates - then when an editor goes to post on a user's talk page, if they see that the user is a self-identified child editor, they could add the template, which would explain to the child that they should protect their own identity, not use their real name, not post their birthday or school name, photo, etc.
We might consider a procedure or guideline to allow editors, or administrators, within guidlines, to remove personally identifiable information from user pages of children.
In addition to the details listed in the Wikipedia:Youth protection essay, we should also consider what happens when a child encounters the various kinds of Wikipedia editor personalities or challenges on talk pages, etc, and how the child or young teen communicates themselves. For example, most of us have encountered disruptive or tendentious editors, and sometimes their comments can be quite insulting or even downright mean. How would a child experience comments like that directed at them? Maybe the child editor welcome template should include some advice on how to not take that personally, or what to do if someone is mean to them.
The child-editor welcome template could also include instructions for a child about what to do if someone tries to email them from their user page, or if someone posts inappropriate content on their page. We do have the Wikipedia:Youth protection essay for adults to read, but that doesn't help the child know what to do if someone contacts them inappropriately.
As it is now, do we even have a place for a child to report a problem? WP:AN could be, but it's pretty complicated for someone young and inexperienced. Maybe a simpler page would be better for this. It would probably not be very active, but if something appeared there, it could be important.
I'm not sure about where to draw the lines on this, so I am posting the concern here to generate some discussion.
Maybe this is a non-issue because we don't have many child-editors, or maybe this has already been worked out, so if it has, please let me know.
But if not, let's discuss it and come up with some guidelines. -- Parzival418 Hello 22:26, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
Amarkov, I'm not really sure how old you are, but there is a big difference between a 10 year old user and a 16 year old user. I would say that the suggestion of having one page for teenagers and one page for children is probably a good idea. Perhaps the teenager page could emphasize the "Wikipedia is not myspace" aspect as well. Natalie 18:02, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
Interested editors, please visit with your comments at Wikipedia talk:Young Users. If anyone knows editors who are parents or educators, please invite them as well. Thank you. -- Parzival418 Hello 20:09, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
Considering that "Trivia" or "Pop culture" sections keep popping up like mushrooms after a rainstorm, I would like to know if it would ever be acceptable for an editor to unilaterally remove one of these sections from an article. The consensus seems to be that Trivia is "bad" but deleting a giant section of an article might not be looked upon very kindly, either. So, for example, if I was to remove the "in Popular culture" section from the article Mr. T, would I be violating any kind of policy (assuming I announced my intentions beforehand on the talk page)? GhostPirate 06:26, 15 August 2007 (UTC)
I asked this on Wikipedia talk:Lead section but received no answer. On an article like Interstate 15 in Arizona, bolding the title but not linking within it results in ridiculous sentences like "Interstate 15 in Arizona is the portion of Interstate 15 in the U.S. state of Arizona." Is the proper solution to bold nothing? -- NE2 00:43, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
Please see the proposal at Wikipedia talk:Non-free content#A rational change (pun intended). — Remember the dot ( talk) 01:24, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
Here's a funny little story which played out last week. It's not the first time this happens but it's rarely so delightfully clear. Take a look at Commons:Commons:Deletion requests/Images of Fcb981 A user wants to licence his images so that commercial use of them is not allowed. He gets told that this isn't allowed and his images will be deleted - he has to use a free licence. Oh dear, an impasse. But wait! Someone comes and suggests he can just use the GFDL - its terms are so onerous that they'll effectively stop almost all commercial use of the images. The user happily switches to GFDL-only and the images are kept. Brave GNU world we live in... Haukur 23:53, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
I find it distasteful that two doctors who were never thought of murderers but assisted two famous people to die ( Max Schur for Sigmund Freud and Bertrand Dawson, 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn for George V of the United Kingdom) are in a category with Josef Mengele and Harold Shipman. The category was created by Special:Contributions/Malick78 who keeps on reverting me when I try and remove the categories from these two doctors. I would appreciate other opinions on whether I am in the right here. Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 12:33, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
I beleive that a Spoiler Warning should be manditory for all plot summaries that give away all or most important details. For those many who have never been on Wikipedia and think that a plot summary is just an overview like on the back or front of a book. It takes like only 5 seconds to add. It is kind to all. Rembrant12 22:57, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
But it does not make that clear everywhere. No offence but you are doing something that many people do. You beleive that if you know something that seems obvious to you, it is obvious to everyone. IT IS NOT! It is not clear in saying "Plot Summary" it gives awway details. I myself first believed it was an overview with no important details put up. And I am not saying put up a template but just "SPOILER WARNING, gives away important information" will make it clear to everyone that it gives away details. Rembrant12 23:22, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
As I have said, you are still being short minded. IT IS NOT OBVIOUS!!!!! It is not a pointless warning! Many people including myself thought it to be an overview with no details given away. You must specify these things! Rembrant12 19:03, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
Allright. You are being short-minded still so I will give you insight on a mind like mine. I did not first beleive Wikipedia to be and encyclopedia. I believed it to be a website with good and yet totally horrible information. Not many people are genius's like you believe yourself to be or are. You must delve into the mind of others to actually help and be kind to them. You refuse to look into the subject and put it in lamen terms. You must learn that to keep people happy and coming to Wikipedia you must be kind to those and understand those less intillegnt that you. You must learn that to must people plot summary is an overview and till you know this, as I have been trying to explain, Wikipedia will never, I repeat NEVER cease to make people disappointed and angry. Rembrant12 19:23, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
[deleting myself -- wrong page, sorry] Claudia 19:37, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
That is true but, we need to try to be kind to people so they come back. 10 seconds of time and it makes all the difference. Rembrant12 19:50, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
I agree wi/ all. Razorclaw ( talk · contribs) 21:49, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
I don't think this is the place to discuss this. — The Storm Surfer 14:30, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
Forgive what I am about to say, but, YOU IMBASOLS. You are treating this with the belief that everyone has the same considerable brain power. I cannot say you are understanding, for you are as understanding about this as Hitler was about the Jews. I say add SPOILER WARNING to the template. that would be good.
Rembrant12 02:15, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
I've noticed that a number of images depicting works of modern art are tagged as copyrighted and included in WP under fair use, despite the fact that the artists have died more than 70 years ago. Shouldn't these images be considered as being in the Public Domain? I've seen this pattern in quite a few images and have inquired in the relevant Image talk pages, however (a) I want to know if my reasoning is correct and (b) if it is correct, it would be interesting to find out weather this is a generalized pattern with more such images of works of art whose creators died more than 70 years ago and have been inappropriately tagged as copyrighted.
The images I've spotted so far are these:
-- Michalis Famelis (talk) 12:30, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
If they died over 70 years ago then they are public domain.
Wikidudeman
(talk) 12:40, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
There have been several reverts on the Main Page today based on whether or not the blurb for the Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion article should use a copyrighted picture of the painting itself. Following a discussion about the picture at Talk:Main Page#Fair use image on the main page?, it looks like the subject is being reopened for discussion on the issue at large at Wikipedia talk:Non-free content criteria exemptions#TFA/Main Page exemption, revisited. It'd be helpful to get some broad discussion to determine the community's consensus on the issue. 17Drew 21:19, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
Good morning,
The other day I discovered that an article was posted on Wikipedia related to a member of my family. My cousin was convicted of drug manufacturing and smuggling in the United Kingdom and is currently serving a twenty year sentence there. I find it disgraceful that an article has been posted about him - especially as the article discusses the matter in a manner that is subtly biased toward his so-called "cause".
What can I do to have this article removed?
Thank you.
I have proposed a new guideline on video game article naming conventions here. These are all things that we have been going by but haven't been written down yet. ~ JohnnyMrNinja 10:16, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
WP:COI simultaneously refers to two things:
This leads to unnecessary confusion: WP:COI permits editors with a conflict of interest to participate on Wikipedia, subject to certain procedural limitations, but other editors misread that to believe that the existence of a conflict of interest violates WP:COI, leading to a lot of time wasted on the COI noticeboard. (For example: WP:COI requires editors with a conflict of interest to discuss edits on the talk page. An editor left a lengthy report accusing me of violating WP:COI because I was discussing edits on the talk page while I had a conflict of interest.) Someone can be subject to WP:COI and comply with WP:COI: it's a two-part inquiry, and some sort of disambiguation is necessary to distinguish the two to avoid these problems. THF 08:05, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
What's the policy on articles on people that seem to be "notable" only for one event? For instance, I just ran across Glenn Kopitske. It's a great article - well sourced and everything. But would Glenn be notable for any other reason? -- SatyrTN ( talk | contribs) 17:05, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
The argument that people known for a single event are not notable is soft at best. Some events are infamous, of lasting importance, influential on other events, etc. What it's really getting at is that Wikipedia is not a newspaper. Matters of fleeting interest shouldn't be covered. These people too are known for a single event or achievement, yet quite notable: Neil Armstrong, Lee Harvey Oswald, Mark Spitz. Wikidemo 18:55, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
If it's really an article about one event, rather than a biography of the person, then move it to a title that reflects that. In this case, it's become Glenn Kopitske murder, although I think Murder of Glenn Kopitske would be better. Night Gyr ( talk/ Oy) 20:20, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
Moved to WT:U Mel sa ran 18:37, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
As a RC-patroller, I see it several times a day, that users move content per copy & paste (or cut & paste) from one article to another one, neither mentioning at least the 5 main authors of the original article nor terming the original article. In my understanding (and as we handle this so on de.wikipedia) this is a violation of the GFDL (esp. section 4B).
Example (only to illustrate the point, the question is more generally):
In these cases, contrary to a page move, the history get lost and it seems that the copy&paster is the only author of the content. I wonder why it was told me that such things are no violation of the GFDL and this is tolerated. -- Oxymoron 83 17:40, 3 August 2007 (UTC)