User talk:GreeningM

November 2012
Welcome to Wikipedia. Everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia. However, please do not add promotional material to articles or other Wikipedia pages, as you did to John Ellison. 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. Theroadislong (talk) 19:22, 15 November 2012 (UTC)

Hello, GreeningM. We welcome your contributions to Wikipedia, but if you are affiliated with some of the people, places or things you have written about in the article John Ellison, you may need to consider our guidance on conflicts of interest.

All editors are required to comply with Wikipedia's neutral point of view content policy. People who are very close to a subject often have a distorted view of it, which may cause them to inadvertently edit in ways that make the article either too flattering or too disparaging. People with a close connection to a subject are not absolutely prohibited from editing about that subject, but they need to be especially careful about ensuring their edits are verified by reliable sources and writing with as little bias as possible.

If you are very close to a subject, here are some ways you can reduce the risk of problems:


 * Avoid or exercise great caution when editing or creating articles related to you, your organization, or its competitors, as well as projects and products they are involved with.
 * Be cautious about deletion discussions. Everyone is welcome to provide information about independent sources in deletion discussions, but avoid advocating for deletion of articles about your competitors.
 * Avoid linking to the Wikipedia article or website of your organization in other articles (see Spam).
 * Exercise great caution so that you do not accidentally breach Wikipedia's content policies.

Please familiarize yourself with relevant content policies and guidelines, especially those pertaining to neutral point of view, verifiability of information, and autobiographies.

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. Theroadislong (talk) 19:24, 15 November 2012 (UTC)

You have been blocked indefinitely from editing, because you have been using Wikipedia only for promotion, and also because your account clearly represents a business, and has a username which does not comply with Wikipedia's username policy. (This was explained to you on the talk page of your previous account.) I note that you have denied editing with a conflict of interest, which is absurd, as your company describes the person you have been writing about as "Our client". Although you do not explicitly say so, you also appear to think that your editing has not been promotional in character. If you sincerely do not see your writing as promotional, then it is clear that one or (more likely) both of two things applies: (1) you are so closely involved in the subject you have written about that you are unable to stand back from the subject and see how your writing will look from the detached perspective of an uninvolved person, and/or (2) you work in marketing, and are so used to reading and writing marketing speak every day that you have become desensitised to it, and cannot see it when it is there. These are, in fact, two of the main reasons why Wikipedia's conflict of interest guidelines strongly discourage editing of a subject in which one has a close involvement: quite apart from blatant spammers who deliberately set out to use Wikipedia for promotion, even someone who sincerely intends to edit neutrally may find it hard or impossible to do so if they have such an involvement. There is no way that "His autobiography chronicles his life filled with tremendous hardship and violent racism. Through it all, John not only survives but finds love and acceptance- and earns a place among his peers as a respected songwriter and performing artist", for example, can be seen as neutral writing


 * What can I do now?

If you have no interest in writing about some other topic than your client, you will probably not be allowed to edit Wikipedia again. Consider using one of the many websites that allow this instead. If you do intend to make useful contributions about some other topic, you must convince a Wikipedia administrator that you mean it. To that end, please do the following:


 * Add the text on your user talk page.
 * Replace the text "Your proposed new username" with a new username you are willing to use. See Special:Listusers to search for available usernames. Your new username will need to meet our username policy.
 * Replace the text "Your reason here" with your reason to be unblocked. In this reason, you must:
 * Convince us that you understand the reason for your block and that you will not repeat the edits for which you were blocked.
 * Describe in general terms the contributions that you intend to make if you are unblocked.

Please note that, in order for your request to have a reasonable chance of success, you must address the conflict of interest issue, and make it clear that your editing will not be promotional, and will not be made on behalf of your group. If you believe this block was made in error, you may appeal this block by adding the text below but you should read the guide to appealing blocks first. JamesBWatson (talk) 21:37, 15 November 2012 (UTC)