Template talk:Welcomespam

Resolved issues

 * Can be archived at some distant point in time --217.184.142.47 (talk) 04:35, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

Template gets edited if not substituted and its wording on user talk page is changed
I don't know if this is true of all templates, but twice I've gone back to edit this section of a user's talk page and have ended up editing the template instead. I had forgotten to use "subst:". I'll hit edit when I'm on the user's talk page and it will take me to the "Editing Template:Welcomespam". If I'm not paying attention, then I end up changing the template, not the talk page.

As for why I was editing the text, for those new contributors that seem a little less good faith than others but who are not clearly true spammers (worthy of a true warning), I'll go back and highlight in bold the section of the text that reads:
 * "some of your recent contributions seem to be advertising or for promotional purposes. Wikipedia does not allow advertising in articles."

--A. B. 11:41, 28 October 2006 (UTC)


 * FWIW, I think Supercrossking's blanking of this template today was likely accidental. He was probably just trying to delete the text from his talk page.


 * There's something odd about this template - go to User talk:Supercrossking and try to edit the "Welcome' section by clicking on the section edit link (not the edit link at the top of the page). You'll see it kicks you to the edit window for this template, not the one for Supercrossking's talk page.


 * As noted previously, I've accidentally edited this template twice myself, thinking I was editing the text on a user's talk page.


 * This happened today even thought the template had already been substituted on Supercrossking's talk page. --A. B. 18:45, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I have protected it to prevent this. —Centrx→talk &bull; 19:08, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I believe the reason is that the template includes a header == Welcome == unlike welcome or any of the other spam templates. I'm going to go ahead and remove this.  Feel free to revert if there is good reason.  &there4; here&hellip;&spades; 00:25, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Right, it's protected beyond my reach. Will an admin please make this change?  &there4; here&hellip;&spades; 00:29, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Drop in at the top like spam while you are at it.  Thanks.  &there4; here&hellip;&spades; 00:33, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Done. —Centrx→talk &bull; 05:14, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Moved documentation
Hi, I've moved the documentation from this Talk page to the Template:Welcomespam/doc subpage, as recommended in Template doc page pattern. Please edit the template to: Welcome

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia. We appreciate encyclopedic contributions, but some of your recent contributions seem to be advertising or for promotional purposes. Wikipedia does not allow advertising in articles. For more information on this, see If you still have questions, there is a new contributor's help page, or you can write   below this message along with a question and someone will be along to answer it shortly. You may also find the following pages useful for a general introduction to Wikipedia. I hope you enjoy editing Wikipedia! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Feel free to write a note on the bottom of my talk page if you want to get in touch with me. Again, welcome!
 * Policy on neutral point of view
 * Guideline on spam
 * Guideline on external links
 * Guideline on conflict of interest
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

Thanks. 04:58, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Done. --CBD 12:11, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Template usage documentation is being transcluded onto user pages

 * Shouldn't the transcluded documentation go in the &lt;noinclude&gt; block? Right now, it is being transcluded onto user's pages.  Best, Egfrank (talk) 11:32, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
 * It looks like it's there now. -- Thin  boy  00  @829, i.e. 18:53, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Second parameter
The template doesn't work as expected if there is no 2nd parameter (user name). That could be fixed with #if magic. It might be interesting to have more parameters for other spamvertized articles instead of a user parameter, writing  instead of   should be simple. As this template is typically used on new talk pages it could start with  helping new users to keep their talk page in shape: the template is designed for WP:AGF. --217.184.142.47 (talk) 04:25, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

Advertising in other namespaces
editprotected The template says "Wikipedia does not allow advertising in articles", but the "in articles" implies that advertising is permitted in other namespaces, so should probably be removed. — Snigbrook 13:18, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
 * ✅. BencherliteTalk 18:19, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Requested edit
Hi, I'd like to pipe the words "promotional purposes" to WP:PROMOTION, since that policy is not referenced anywhere within this template. I don't think this is a controversial change or would require any discussion, since it is pretty straightforward.  Them From  Space  17:17, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Makes sense. ✅ &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 17:46, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

User pages
We get a lot of advertisements on user pages; for clarity, I propose to go further than the change two above this, and amend the template to read "Wikipedia does not allow advertising, in articles or in user pages." Any objections? JohnCD (talk) 11:31, 4 March 2011 (UTC)