User talk:Cumberland Courier

June 2009
Please do not add inappropriate external links to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not a collection of links, nor should it be used for advertising or promotion. Inappropriate links include (but are not limited to) links to personal web sites, links to web sites with which you are affiliated, and links that attract visitors to a web site or promote a product. See the external links guideline and spam guideline for further explanations. Since Wikipedia uses the nofollow attribute value, its external links are disregarded by some search engines, including Google. If you feel the link should be added to the article, please discuss it on the article's talk page rather than re-adding it. -- (ɔ|ʇ) uıɐʌoɥɔ ʞɹɐɯ 01:22, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

So I assume this is based on affiliation, because I'm pretty sure the link was relevant, considering the Manly Daily is known as 'the bible' in that area. I notice that a blog is in the current list of links, yet a site that services the Manly community can't be featured. You could perceive it as promotion, but then you'd also have to admit that it adds value and depth for anyone interested in that region, and it would be one of the few links that leads to a page that is continually topical. I definitely think there should be room for community newspapers in the link sections for suburbs/region. Who else can provide a current snapshot of a region/suburb? And yes I was aware of the no follow policy so my aim wasn't to boost ranking. Let me know what you think. cheers, G Cumberland Courier (talk) 02:47, 25 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Your affiliation plays a part, but the main reason is that Wikipedia is not there to provide a collection of links. If people want up-to-date information about an area, they can google it.  Please see our External link guideline for a description of what is considered an appropriate external link.  For places, the guideline is generally interpreted to only accept links to local-government sites.  Links that promote a product are very seriously frowned upon.
 * If there are other links (such as the blog) that are not appropriate, then they will likely be removed in time (I'm going to go and evaluate it after I've finished writing this message).
 * By the way, links to products are considered perfectly acceptable in articles about that product. For example, the external link in Manly Daily is fine.  I could even imagine such an external link being relevant if we had an article about "print media in Sydney's Northern Beaches" (although some might disagree with me on that one). -- (ɔ|ʇ) uıɐʌoɥɔ ʞɹɐɯ 03:01, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Right. But I assume the affiliation rule would prevent me from making sure there were entries for our publications, or is an entry for a product different in that case? As for that blog, i wouldn't worry about it. I was merely using it as a comparison. Thanks for the clarification. G Cumberland Courier (talk) 03:16, 25 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes and no. It's best to avoid editing articles that you might have a conflict of interest in, but minor, non-controversial edits are generally overlooked.  If you were to go through and completely rewrite Manly Daily for example, then you're going to attract a lot of negative attention (even though the article is drastic need of a rewrite).  Fixing spelling mistakes, grammar or adding relevant links is likely to be fine.  See our Conflict of interest behavioural guideline for more about this kind of stuff.
 * The safest way of going about editing articles for which you may have a conflict of interest is to make suggestions on the talk page, and let other editors make the actual changes. If you find you aren't getting anywhere by that approach (if it seems noone is reading the talk page), then feel free to contact me and I'll see what I can do. -- (ɔ|ʇ) uıɐʌoɥɔ ʞɹɐɯ 04:22, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Good advice. Thanks for your time. G Cumberland Courier (talk) 05:23, 25 June 2009 (UTC)