Bahaikipedia:Help desk

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Contents 1 Authors Categories 2 Esoteric meanings in Baha'i faith ... ooops I clearly should have posted this in another section... ideas? 3 New page creation 4 Permission to upload images on Wiki Commons.

[edit] Authors Categories

I'm confused about the various Authors categories. From the top-level Categories page I can go to People and then Authors. This gives me a page at the URL http://www.bahaikipedia.org/Category:Authors that lists only 12 well-known Baha'i authors. However, there are many more authors listed under the URL http://www.bahaikipedia.org/Authors. It's not clear to me where this is linked from, if anywhere. And then there is a list of "Authors missing important information", at URL http://www.bahaikipedia.org/Category:Authors_missing_important_information. Again, this doesn't seem to be linked in from any other categories, although most of the authors in the system have a link back to that page from their pages.

It seems to me there should just be one Authors page, accessible from People/Authors, and that if a list is to be maintained of "Authors missing important information" this should probably be a subcategory of Authors. When information is added, an author could then be removed from that list and placed on the main list.

Or am I missing something here? Thanks!

--Dale

Hi Dale,

This is a result of my initial inexperience with mediawiki software during the very beginning states of this project. Books and authors were the first information to be added before I had a good understanding of how categories work (and how easy the are) so I had Authors almost finished before learning about Categories. When I realized that maintaining that page would be difficult I started Category:Authors with the plan to move everyone there, just have not done it yet. Part of the reason is that on Authors the information is displayed very nicely, all on one page. If you move to categories it sorts by last name but displays the first name first. So it's not a good way to list people, in my opinion. All this are the reasons for what you see, so I'd appreciate any feedback you have. As for authors missing information category, that can easily be added to Category:Authors or somewhere else.

David 00:28, 10 October 2007 (MDT)

David,

In looking at how author pages are coded to put them into the Category:Authors list, it looks to me like the only way to get around having them print first/last (although they are sorted on last name) would be to recreate the author pages themselves to have the last name first. That would be a lot of work, so I would probably suggest just letting it go as is. It may not be ideal, but it works well enough, I think. About the only other alternative would be to place the non-category author index page under Category:Authors, but that just introduces an extra level of structure. I don't think I'd recommend that.

If you want, I could work on adding category links to the uncategorized authors as I have time. The "missing information" list also doesn't have them sorted by last name, which should be fixed.

It might also be helpful to have a statement of what kind of "important information" is needed for authors in order to get them off of the "missing" list. I was thinking of adding some biographical info for myself and Kathy (although I read somewhere that that's not good form, but I don't think anyone other than us knows enough about us to add such information!), but wasn't quite sure how to go about it.

Dale

Hi Dale,

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Yes you are right that about that being the only way to get the last names to show up first, but it is not worth it. The question remains if we should keep Authors after getting everyone in Category:Authors, what do you think? As for that "important information" I really have no idea, haha. For this project I am sure others would agree that it is ok to add information about yourself and your wife. I will work on getting authors sorted in "missing information" by last name. The problem comes up because they are added to that category by a template. I think wikipedia has solved this with something called "Default sort" so I will see about doing that here.

Regards, David 19:34, 10 October 2007 (MDT)

David,

I don't see much use in keeping Authors once Category:Authors has been updated. For one thing, it would open up a possibility for errors since every author would have to be added to two places instead of one. It might also be confusing to users to have two pages doing the same basic thing.

I noticed that the individual author pages have what I think is a template as the first line. If so, can we modify that template to automatically place authors into Category:Authors? If so, that might be the best way to get everyone moved over there. If not, I will be happy to work on manually coding them when necessary. I'd like to learn a bit about templating and see how this one works, if possible. Thanks!

--Dale

David,
I'm trying to reply to your last post in the above question, but getting a spam reject. Not sure why.
Dale

Hi Dale,

This wiki has been receiving a lot of spam lately so we implemented a few features that should help stop it. Our only other option was to stop anonymous editing all together, and I don't want to do that. Anyway the problem has been fixed and you should no longer be receiving that message. Regards, David 20:20, 15 October 2007 (MDT)

David,

Thanks!

--Dale

[edit] Esoteric meanings in Baha'i faith ... ooops I clearly should have posted this in another section... ideas?

Hello... I'm a new potential Bahai, who has recently been attending educational classes on the religion with a friend of mine. I come from a strictly atheist - although deeply philosohpical/metaphyically-inclined - intellectual background, but have recently gone through experiences which have inevitably led me to - at least - a desire to the outward practice of Baha'i faith... mainly as a 'vehicle' for connecting, on a structured, regular basis, with the deep, unknowable truth.

My interpretations of Baha'u'llah's teachings, however, i doubt would be shared by many - if any - other Bahai's around. I feel that there is definitely a way of 'mining' Baha'i teachings for gems that are helpful towards one's own life, but that, given that the region is self-admittedly relative, adapted to the time and place in which it was founded, that many of the outward themes are more 'crowd-control' than anything else - which, for some reason, I'm perfectly OK with.

The main issue is that, I do not know whether, as a radically esoteric interpreter of religious 'revelation,' - as well as what has become an utter disinterest in convincing others of my own way of thinking - I would be accepted fully into the Baha'i community. Perhaps this mind-body that is 'me' is simply too stubbornly metaphysical to take someone like Baha'u'llah at his *literal* word. Is this problematic from the view of the community itself. Any thoughts?

Hello,
I don't feel quite qualified to answer you since I've had to use the dictionary to understand what you're talking about but I'd suggest you read Shoghi Effendi's God Passes By. If you have a question about a specific situation or quote or something like that I'd probably be of more help.
Best, David 09:26, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

[edit] New page creation

Hi! I would like to create a new page on the Chinese version of Bahaikipedia but have no idea on how to do it? I have went into the tutorial part but it then links to wikipedia. Please advice, thanks!

Hello, we were having a bad spam problem there so those features were disabled temporarily. I have removed the restrictions for now, but please create an account there so I can restore them until a more permanent solution is found. Best, David 14:30, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Cool! Thanks, David! :)

No problem, I'm trying to upgrade the anti-spam now so I hope I don't break anything :) David 19:12, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I think you have break something there?? I don't see my page creation appeared there! ??

Can you be more specific? What page were you trying to create? Did it ask you to answer a question before submitting the page? David 04:25, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Hi :)! Thank you for your interest to contribute to this project! Welcome! I've just created a new page there today, and things turn out alright now! :) Well, only logged in users can create an article. In the search box to the left, type the title of the new article, then click Go. If the Search page reports "No page with that title exists" then you can click the red "Create the page" link to start editing your article. So, kindly sign up as a user first as David has suggested you. Hope we've answered you! :) By the way, if you like to communicate with me in Chinese, you may leave your message in the Help desk in the Chinese version also. Happy editing! :) Alicia 15:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Permission to upload images on Wiki Commons.

Hello!I would like to ask if you could give me permission to upload the BahaiKipedia images on Wiki Commons. My only purpose is to provide more information about the Bahá´í Faith and teach the Faith through the Wikipedia articles.I´ve written most of the Bahá´í articles in the Portuguese Wikipedia and so far I was only able to upload the images that are past 70 years of age. So I would be really greatful if you could help me on this,specially since uploading images isn´t my expertise when it comes on all the copyrights system.Pioneiro09 11:46, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

Hi Pioneiro09, if you look at my user page on Bahaikipedia Commons: c:User:David you will find there a number of images I have taken myself and are available in the public domain. All those images can be uploaded to Wikipedia commons without worry. As for all the other images on Bahaikipedia, many come from wikipedia (so you should be able to use them already) and others from media.bahai.org which would not be acceptable to wikipedia. If you'd like me to participate in the actual uploading to Wikipedia commons I am happy to do that, I've been meaning to get around to it myself actually. Just point me in the direction of the images you'd like. Best, David 15:31, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

Well first I apologize that I couldn't reply any sooner due to some disfunctions in my pc, but thanks for offering to upload the images for me. This really means a lot for me and of course for the promotion of the Faith. Since I mostly translate English articles into Portuguese articles I even post the same images as well but I was only able to do so with pictures older than 70 years of age. Anyway the articles I wrote where I tried to post the image were:

-Universal House of Justice (history section) if you don't know portuguese than you can write in the image "Os primeiros membros da Casa Universal de Justiça em 1963."

-Hands of the Cause you can write in the image "Mãos da Causa reunidos em abril de 1963."

-Both Martha Root and Rúhíyyih Khanum you can just add their names in the images.

Anyway any doubt or help you need just let me know.You can position the images just like the English articles or where you think it looks best.Any suggestion just let me know ok.Again thank you a lot! .Pioneiro09 11:46, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Hi Pioneiro, can you bring DF me up to speed on what you've tried to do already with regard to adding images from Wikipedia? Otherwise I won't know where to start to help you. It looks like all the images in question are uploaded only to the English Wikipedia because they are all used under "fair use" guidelines. In the English Wikipedia the template used is here: [1], do you have something like that in Portuguese?

If you do not you'll need to go about creating it before the images could be used without getting deleted, though you can try without a template and just include the "fair use rational" which basically states in Portuguese "There are no similar free images available, it is being used for informative purposes only, inclusion adds significantly to the article". I can try uploading the images and adding them but since I don't know Portuguese I won't be able to write the fair use rationale, you'll need to do that. See here: [2] [3] [4] and ([5] best example). All those images require that fair use rationale. Until you write one you can't use the images, but you just need to copy I think what's on the English for the reason it can be used. Let me know if any of this makes sense, or if there is anything else I can do. As for the Universal House of Justice, you can also use these images: ([6] mine) or [7].

Best, David 20:02, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Hi David, thanks for the advices. Anyway I saw something in the Portuguese Commons in the uploading section and it is written "Important Note: The Wikipedia in Porteguese and the Wikimedia Commons don permit the usage of media files (such as images and audios) under the argumente of fair use." What would you recommend to do with this statement? With regards, Pioneiro09 12:39, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Hi Pioneiro, that's strange, considering Wikipedia is all run by the same foundation. So on the local version of Wikipedia you're looking at you can't upload images under the claim of 'fair use'? I know you can't on Commons. That's really too bad, and I find it hard to believe considering so much is used with that claim, images of book covers, cd covers, photos of people. If you can't upload under 'fair use' then you can't use the images. I'd suggest just getting as much content about the Baha'i Faith on the Portuguese Wikipedia as possible, maybe things will change in the future. If you run into a road block you can always start Bahaikipedia in Portuguese, hah ;) Best. David 15:46, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the help a lot. Yes, unfortunately it's harder than I taught but I'm happy to continue the writing of the Bahá'í articles since the really important thing for me is the content. I might try to see with some of the Portuguese Wikipedia administrators or maybe some Bahá'í website who might display images for me in a next occasion. And oh yes, I'm really considering to start a Bahaikipedia in Portuguese you can really count on me if you want. With regards, Pioneiro09 00:16, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Hi Pioneiro, that really sounds great. Good luck with your work there and if you want me to open a Portuguese Bahaikipedia please just message me and I'll do that. Best, David 04:36, 19 September 2008 (UTC)