User talk:Addywashington16

April 2016
Hello, I'm Valenciano. I wanted to let you know that I undid one or more of your recent contributions to British International School of Washington because they appeared to be promotional. Advertising and using Wikipedia as a "soapbox" are against Wikipedia policy and not permitted. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about Wikipedia. Thank you. Valenciano (talk) 14:43, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

You may be blocked from editing without further warning the next time you use Wikipedia for soapboxing, promotion or advertising. Drmies (talk) 16:44, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

Welcome!
Hello, Addywashington16, and welcome to Wikipedia!&#32;Thank you for your contributions.

I noticed that one of the first articles you edited was British International School of Washington, which appears to be dealing with a topic with which you may have a conflict of interest. In other words, you may find it difficult to write about that topic in a neutral and objective way, because you are, work for, or represent, the subject of that article.&#32;Your recent contributions may have already been undone for this very reason.

To reduce the chances of your contributions being undone, you might like to draft your revised article before submission, and then ask me or another editor to proofread it. See our help page on userspace drafts for more details. If the page you created has already been deleted from Wikipedia, but you want to save the content from it to use for that draft, don't hesitate to ask anyone from this list and they will copy it to your user page.

One rule we do have in connection with conflicts of interest is that accounts used by more than one person will unfortunately be blocked from editing. Wikipedia generally does not allow editors to have usernames which imply that the account belongs to a company or corporation. If you have a username like this, you should request a change of username or create a new account. (A name that identifies the user as an individual within a given organization may be OK.)

In addition, you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation (see WP:PAID).

Here are some pages that you might find helpful:
 * The plain and simple conflict of interest guide
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * Contributing to Wikipedia
 * Tutorial
 * How to edit a page and How to develop articles
 * How to create your first article (using the Article Wizard if you wish)
 * Simplified Manual of Style

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, or ask your question on this page and then place  before the question. Again, welcome! Drmies (talk) 16:45, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

April 2016
You have been blocked indefinitely from editing for advertising or promotion. From your contributions, this seems to be your only purpose. If you think there are good reasons why you should be unblocked, you may appeal this block by first reading the guide to appealing blocks, then adding the following text to the bottom of your talk page:. Widr (talk) 20:12, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

how to avoid being promotional?
Hello, As you may seen, my account has been blocked from editing. I actually don't know why since I didn't edit promotional material on Wikipedia, and every line is substantiated by third party. So what should I do now if want to keep edit? Should I change my account name or submit the content to you before I publish it? Please let me know, thanks.

Addywashington16 (talk) 16:00, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I will reply more fully in an hour or two, but in the meantime:
 * Don't set up a new account with a different username: that would be "sockpuppetry".
 * If you are connected with the school, read Conflict of interest and the Plain and simple conflict of interest guide.
 * JohnCD (talk) 17:34, 27 April 2016 (UTC)


 * First, a note about how Wikipedia works. What I see on the article history is an edit war, with your edits being reverted by several other users, with edit summaries like "Rv promotional edits, Wikipedia is not the place for the school to plug itself" and "Reverted 12 edits by Addywashington16 (talk): As before. PLEASE read up on our guidelines for neutral editing", but simply being repeated by you. Edit warring is not allowed, and leads to blocks, because if it is tolerated articles end in the state preferred by the most obstinate edit-warrior. This is explained at WP:BOLD, revert, discuss cycle. If you boldly make an edit you think would improve the encyclopedia, but it is then reverted, you should not simply repeat it, but discuss the issue on the article talk page and try to reach WP:Consensus with other users. If you cannot reach consensus, there are WP:Dispute resolution procedures.


 * Next, the content. The first thing to say, which if I had my way would be written in letters of fire on the sign-on page, is: Wikipedia is not a platform for organizations to tell the world about themselves. That is not what an encyclopedia is for, and an encyclopedia that allowed it would cease to be a useful encyclopedia and become simply an advertising noticeboard. See User:JohnCD/Not a noticeboard fro some background.


 * What you wrote included phrases like "comprehensive, thematic, creative curriculum ... innovative arts curriculum... outstanding online, in school and worldwide experiences... world class learning practices... " Those are PR-speak, "peacock terms", puffery, the sort of stuff one expects to read (and discount) on an organization's own website, but they have no place in an encyclopedia article, which requires a neutral point of view, and in fact as far as Wikipedia is concerned they are red flags indicating promotional intent. If there were any doubt that what you wrote was the school telling the story is wants the world to hear, it would be removed by your use of the first person: "giving our students daily access to global opportunities... Allowing our students to develop a truly international perspective... "


 * If you really cannot see that what you wrote was promotional, I can only assume that you are too close to the subject to be able to stand back and see it from an objective view. This is one of the main reasons why Wikipedia's conflict of interest guideline strongly discourages editing on a subject to which you have a personal connection.


 * For that reason, and because some of the material you posted was actually taken from the Nordanglia website, I assume that you are employed by or connected with the school. If you have read the plain and simple conflict of interest guide you now know that you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use ("Paid contributions without disclosure" under section 4), and in some jurisdictions by laws against covert advertising, to disclose your interest in any edits where you have a COI, and that you should not edit the article directly, but may make suggestions on the article talk page, for consideration by uninvolved users, understanding that we want the content to be accurate but are not here to promote the school.


 * If you want to continue to edit, the pink block notice tells you how to place an unblock request at the bottom of this page. The reason you give should include a statement of your connection to the school, and an undertaking that you have read and understood the conflict-of-interest guidelines, and will edit only in accordance with them.


 * JohnCD (talk) 19:43, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Requesting unblock
I will leave your unblock request for another administrator to consider, but I have some comments to make: In searching for the source of those phrases, I was concerned to find that "world class learning practices" feature in articles about several other British International schools, and at British International School of Chicago Lincoln Park another single-purpose account has been making edits very similar to yours. If there is a concerted promotion campaign going on, we have a problem. You say you are a volunteer for the school: can you tell me, were you asked by them, or by Nordanglia, to work on this article? JohnCD (talk) 22:01, 28 April 2016 (UTC)
 * You speak of "their website". If you mean the article, please be clear, it is not theirs, it is Wikipedia's article about them.
 * You also mention material "substantiated by third-party websites", but some of the glowing phrases are from Nordanglia's website, and as proprietors of the school they are not an independent source.
 * If unblocked, you shouldn't be editing the article directly, only suggesting changes. If you think it should be reverted to its state before you began to edit, you can suggest that, though it should be possible to make some improvements based on your ideas.