User talk:Democracy International e.V.

Hello JohnCD, it is a pity you blocked my account. I was intending to write an article on the organisation Democracy International e.V. - www.democracy-international.org. So I understand I have to change my username in order to submit an article on this organisation whose cause - I think and hope - should be noteable for a Wikipedia article. Best regards, --Democracy International e.V. (talk) 15:38, 31 July 2013 (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; please take a moment to create a new account with a username that represents only yourself as an individual and which complies with our username policy. It also appears that 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. You may wish to consider one of these alternative outlets. If your username does not represent a group, organization or website, you may appeal this username block by adding the text below this notice. You may simply create a new account, but you may prefer to change your username to one that complies with our username policy, so that your past contributions are associated with your new username. If you would prefer to change your username, you may appeal this username block by adding the text below this notice. Thank you. JohnCD (talk) 17:37, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for your message. As the block notice says, it is policy that Wikipedia accounts must be for individuals only, who are personally responsible for them, and accounts whose names represent groups or organizations are not permitted. You are welcome to request an unblock in order to change username, or simply to abandon this account and set up a new, individual account. The username you choose may be related to your real name or not, as you choose (see WP:REALNAME for some considerations), but it should not be the name of any other living person or of any group or organization.

I must also tell you that Wikipedia is not a place for people or organizations to "tell the world" about themselves. One reason why group accounts are not allowed is that they are invariably here for what we would consider promotional purposes. Even with an individual account, in editing about your organization you would have, from our point of view, a Conflict of interest, and you should read that and the Plain and simple conflict of interest guide. That is quite a long read, but it will save you time in the end.

In summary, you should not directly post an article about your organization, but may write a draft to be reviewed by uninvolved users. If it is to be accepted, you will need to make a strong effort not to think of yourself as writing for the organization: you are writing for Wikipedia about  the organization, from outside.

There are two important ways in which Wikipedia differs from "notice-board" sites like Myspace and Facebook:
 * Nobody "owns" a Wikipedia article, least of all its subject: other people can and will edit it. If your organization wants an article it can control, Wikipedia is not the place for it.
 * Wikipedia is selective about subjects for articles. The inclusion criterion is called Notability and is not a matter of opinion but has to be demonstrated by references showing "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject." Significant means more than just listing-type mentions; reliable excludes Myspace, Facebook, blogs, places where anyone can post anything; independent excludes the subject's own website, affiliated ones and anything based on press releases. The test is, have people not connected with the subject thought it significant enough to write substantial comment about?
 * That test applies also to non-commercial organizations and "good causes", because Wikipedia is not here to tell the world about your noble cause.

I do not want to be discouraging, but Wikipedia does not do much to tell people what it is not for, and many new users who approach it as a free promotion platform waste a lot of time and energy to no effect.

Regards, JohnCD (talk) 21:03, 31 July 2013 (UTC)