User talk:BBCForum

Welcome
Hello, BBCForum, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions.

I notice that one of the first articles you edited 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. Your recent contributions may have already been reverted for this very reason.

To reduce the chances of deletion, you might like to draft your article before submission, then ask me or any other editor to proofread it. To start creating a draft article, just click your user name at the top of the screen when you are logged in, and edit that page as you would any other. 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.

The one firm 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. It is also worth noting that Wikipedia generally does not allow editors to have usernames which specifically link them to one company or corporation. If your username does have such a name, it would be advisable for you to request a change of username.

If you are stuck, and looking for help, please come to the New contributors' help page, where experienced Wikipedians can answer any queries you have! You can also just type   on your user page, and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Here are a few other good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Where to ask a question or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! Ckatz chat spy  02:44, 19 May 2011 (UTC)
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Administrators Noticeboard
Hello. This message is being sent to inform you that there is currently a discussion at Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. The thread is BBCForum_mass_linking_to_radio_shows.. Thank you. --OpenFuture (talk) 12:54, 1 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I have marked the above discussion as following our conversation below and no other editors chiming in.  Kim Dent-Brown   (Talk)  19:10, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

June 2011
Welcome to Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia. However, the username you have chosen (BBCForum) seems to imply that you are editing on behalf of a group, company or website.

There are two issues with this :
 * 1) It is possible that you have a conflict of interest. In keeping with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, you must exercise great caution when editing on topics related to your organization.
 * 2) Your account cannot represent a group of people. You may wish to create a new account with a username that represents only you. Alternatively, you may consider changing your username to avoid giving the impression that your personal account is being used for promotional purposes.

Regardless of whether you change your name or create a new account, you are not exempted from the guidelines concerning editing where you have a conflict of interest. For information on how to contribute to Wikipedia when you have a conflict of interest, please see our frequently asked questions for organizations. Thank you. Strange Passerby (talk • cont) 13:06, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

Problems and solutions?
Hi there, I'm going to make an assumption that you work for the BBC and are trying to link to some of the Corporation's output on relevant articles. If this is the case then there is a slight problem, one with the username mentioned above, and another with the Wikipedia policy on external links. You won't realise this, but many WP articles get spammed by external organisations trying to drive internet traffic to their sites, hence the rather draconian rules essentially forbidding people from linking to their own websites in this way.

May I suggest a way out? (1) that you request a new user name to avoid the conflict of interest problem inherent in the current one. (2) that you post future links to WP article talk pages rather than direct to the article? You can then let other editors evaluate the worth of the link and avoid any suspicion of driving traffic to the BBC site. In case you don't realise, every WP article has a talk page sitting behind it which you get to by hitting the 'discussion' tab at the very top of the page - it's a place to discuss the article and suggest changes behind the scenes.

Please just reply here by editing this page as you would any other if you want to discuss this further, and/or go to the blue link above to the administrators' noticeboard discussion. Best wishes, Kim Dent-Brown   (Talk)  15:29, 1 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Hello Kim, thank you very much for your help. As I said on the thread, I was unfamiliar with the relevant restrictions of WP. Indeed, our links are quite relevant to each article, however I understand the concern. In the future I will proceed to the discussion page before posting any links to the programme. BBCForum (talk) 15:44, 1 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Great, I think that's a good way forward. It means you can alert other editors to the existence of these links, but leave their inclusion to the decision of other editors without a conflict of interest. I'll leave the discussion at AN/I for a while in case other editors have a view, then mark it as closed later tonight if no-one else objects to our plan. Kim Dent-Brown   (Talk)  15:48, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia. Because we have a policy against usernames that give the impression that the account represents a group, organization or website, I have blocked this account; you are welcome to create a new account with a username that represents only you.

Additionally, it appears your account is intended to be used for the purpose of telling the world about an organization or cause that you consider worthwhile. Unfortunately, many good causes are not sufficiently notable for their own Wikipedia article, and all users are discouraged from editing in any area where they have an inherent conflict of interest, though you may wish to consider one of these alternative outlets. If your username doesn't represent a group, organization or website, you may appeal this username block by adding the text below this notice. Thank you. -- Orange Mike  &#x007C;   Talk  21:14, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

Hi again, I have discussed the above block with the blocking admin, who agrees that an unblock to permit you to change your username is the best way forward. I have unblocked you and you can now edit WP again. Please make your first edit a visit to this page where you will see the instructions for creating a new username. Your original edits so far will be carried across, so that your full contribution history remains intact. Sorry for the bureaucracy and if you have any problems, please just reply here. All the best, Kim Dent-Brown   (Talk)  14:09, 3 June 2011 (UTC)