User talk:Julia Fahy

Welcome!
Welcome to Wikipedia, Julia Fahy! Thank you for your contributions. I am Money emoji and I have been editing Wikipedia for some time, so if you have any questions, feel free to leave me a message on my talk page. You can also check out Questions or type at the bottom of this page. Here are some pages that you might find helpful: Also, when you post on talk pages you should sign your name using four tildes ( ~ ); that will automatically produce your username and the date. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! 💵Money💵emoji💵💸 11:26, 6 May 2019 (UTC)
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Patricia O'Brien
There are strong pointers to what Wikipedia calls Conflict of Interest (COI) in your edits to this page. The fact that you have edited this page exclusively would normally raise suspicions. The main problem is that the lengthy list of external links you have put is entirely outside of Wikipedia norms and in my opinion not acceptable. Wikipedia advises that I make this case to you here on your talk page and only if there is not an appropriate response to contact the Conflict of Interest Noticeboard. See Wikipedia Conflict of Interest.2001:BB6:951D:5D58:99C8:ED21:C3DB:7722 (talk) 23:38, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

Sorry, forgot I was not logged in. Aineireland (talk) 23:39, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

Hi Julia, Have replied to you at the talk page you usedAineireland (talk) 00:12, 20 May 2019 (UTC)

Hi, I am wondering if you could advise me on the above. I would really appreciate your guidance, as I am a bit lost on Wikipedia. The talk page referred to above can be found here. Thank you in advance! Julia Fahy (talk) 13:18, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

''text below copied from User talk:2001:BB6:951D:5D58:99C8:ED21:C3DB:7722. Please continue the discussion here to keep it all in one place''

Hi Aine,

Thank you for your message, and for bringing this to my attention. I am currently working as an intern in the Irish Embassy in France, and was tasked by Ambassador O'Brien to edit her Wikipedia page and add the links. It is a source that many people use to gather information about her, and she felt it was important for the information to accurately reflect her life and work. Although I understand that the quantity of external links looks unusual, and I haven't seen this before, I didn't realise that it would violate Wikipedia rules. I will see to it that the quantity of links is reduced. How many external links would be acceptable to keep?

Thank you for your help with resolving this situation.

Julia — Preceding unsigned comment added by Julia Fahy (talk • contribs) 9 May 2019 (UTC) (UTC)

Hi Julia, Sorry I only just saw this. I am just an ordinary person editing Wikipedia like anyone else. I don't feel qualified to suggest the appropriate number of external links. However, I am aware of an administrator called Brownhaired Girl who is very helpful and might advise you. If you go to the View history section on Ambassador O'Brien's page you will see that on 1 January 2018 she edited the page. You can click on the talk button beside her name and send her a message.

Thank you for your courteous response. Aineireland (talk) 00:03, 20 May 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for your advice Aine, I'll contact her now :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Julia Fahy (talk • contribs) 23 May 2019 (UTC) (UTC)

Hi Julia.

Welcome to Wikipedia, and thank you for your interest in improving coverage of Irish diplomats. Sorry that you are starting off with a bit of a tangle, but I hope we can sort it all out to everyone's satisfaction.

@Aineireland is right. You do have a conflict of interest here, per your disclosure that you are working as an intern in the Irish Embassy in France, and was tasked by Ambassador O'Brien to edit her Wikipedia page and add the links.

That is clear breach of Wikipedia's policy: WP:COI, so I have left a formal notice about this below. I have also reverted your latest edits to.

I will try to explain this simply:
 * Wikipedia is not a form of social media or an advertising page or a noticeboard. It is an encyclopedia, with strict editorial policies about content, including Verifiability, using reliable sources, and neutral point of view.
 * So it is obviously inappropriate for anyone to write their own autobiography on Wikipedia, or to instruct someone else to do that for them.

However, Wikipedia does want to improve its coverage of WP:Notable people, so there is a way we can work together.

The solution is that you use the article's talk page — in this case Talk:Patricia O'Brien — to propose changes to the article. Just use the request edit template, and type your changes below it. Those changes will be reviewed by others who do not have a conflict of interest, and they will decide whether to implement the changes.

The details are set out at WP:DISCLOSE. Note that I have already done the first steps for you: I have added a notice to Talk:Patricia O'Brien declaring your interest, and I have placed a similar declaration at User:Julia Fahy.

I suggest that you may want to draw this to attention of Ambassador O'Brien, who I am sure will want you to work in accordance with Wikipedia policies.

If I can be of any help, please let me know. You can call my attention to any page just by pinging me:, and so long as you remember to sign your post using  , I will get a notification.

Good luck with your internship. Irish embassy in Paris sounds like the best internship ever, so I hope that you are having a great time as well as learning lots.

Best wishes, -- Brown HairedGirl  (talk) • (contribs) 16:39, 23 May 2019 (UTC)

Hi, thank you so much for your advice and for explaining this so clearly - I really appreciate it! And thank you also for your patience and understanding while I try to navigate Wikipedia, any misstep on my part was by no means ill-intentioned, but rather due to a lack of understanding as to how the platform works.

As it seems that a lot of people use Wikipedia to gather information about Ambassador O'Brien before they meet her, the original aim behind this task was to remove incorrect information (for example, it claimed she was married to someone who she is not in fact married to), to add her honourary doctorate award, and a photo. After this, she thought it would be a nice idea to add her speeches as well, however we didn't understand that this is not the platform on which to do so. Additionally, the unusually large number of edits I have made was due to figuring out how Wikipedia works, as I didn't understand why my edits were disappearing and thought it was something I was doing (but I understand this now!), and at the beginning, I was saving edits in increments because it kept timing out.

From now on, I will suggest edits as you have recommended. And do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything else.

Thanks again, you've been so helpful! Best wishes, Julia Fahy (talk) 08:52, 24 May 2019 (UTC)

Managing a conflict of interest
Hello, Julia Fahy. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about in the page Patricia O'Brien, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for organizations for more information. We ask that you:


 * avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, company, organization or competitors;
 * propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (see the request edit template);
 * disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see WP:DISCLOSE);
 * avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see WP:SPAM);
 * do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.

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

Also please note that editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Per your comment at special:diff/896246786, when you state working as an intern in the Irish Embassy in France, and was tasked by Ambassador O'Brien to edit her Wikipedia page and add the links.  Brown HairedGirl  (talk) • (contribs) 16:01, 23 May 2019 (UTC)