User talk:KayJen2

September 2013
Greetings. It is generally not considered proper to edit someone else's user page, as you did at User:Columbia Police SC. That user is already under investigation for a possible violation of Wikipedia's user name policy, and the content of that user page may be removed. Please avoid making further substantial edits to this page.

If you have an interest in the subject and wish to continue working on it as an article draft, please copy the content to your user sandbox. This will allow you to continue working on it without the risk of it being deleted.

Please note that if you are affiliated with the subject you're writing about, you should disclose this as per Wikipedia's conflict of interest guidelines. Thanks. --Drm310 (talk) 16:12, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

Response to your email
Hello KayJen2, and thanks for your email. I have decided to reply here in the interests of keeping this discussion public, and so other Wikipedia editors can add comments or other points of view.

There are a couple of different issues you raised, so I will address them separately. Bear with me, as this might be a little lengthy. Whenever you see words coloured in blue text, that is a link to an appropriate Wikipedia policy or guideline page. I would encourage you to follow them to become more familiar with what I'm discussing.

The page you were editing
The page you created and were editing, User:Columbia Police SC, isn't a article but rather a user page. User pages and user talk pages (like this one) form a part of Wikipedia called the "user space". User pages are optional pages to show basic information about yourself and/or your Wikipedia-related activities. User talk pages are meant for messages from, and discussion with, other editors.

User pages are not meant for writing draft articles. A more appropriate place is a user's "sandbox", an area where you can work on a draft article outside of the main article space. I assume that you are not familiar with this, so I've taken the liberty of copying your content to your sandbox: User:KayJen2/sandbox.

Your relationship to the subject
In your email to me, you disclosed that you are employed by the Columbia Police Department. This means that you have a conflict of interest (COI) in this situation. Editors who have a personal or professional connection to the subject of an article they are editing are not prohibited from contributing, but it is discouraged, particularly if you have a financial interest as a paid employee of the organization. It is reasonable to expect that this relationship can undermine your ability to remain neutral, one of Wikipedia's core policies.

I was wary when you said your superior directed you to create a Wikipedia article for your organization. This is often motivated by a desire to portray the organization in a favourable manner instead of a dispassionate viewpoint. Wikipedia exists to inform its readers, not to promote the interests of its articles' subjects. Here's a statement that illustrates this point:

It is the mission of the Columbia Police Department (CPD), to professionally protect and serve with virtue to reducing crime, thus, enhancing the quaility of life in the city of Columbia, South Carolina.

The statement I bolded demonstrates puffery, using terms that make unprovable proclamations about a subject's importance, instead of using facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance. This is often interpreted as a warning sign that the editor's intent is to promote the subject instead of writing about it objectively.

Going forward

 * 1) Review Wikipedia plain and simple conflict of interest guide. This will help you gain a more thorough understanding of the policies and what is expected of a COI editor.
 * 2) Openly disclose your affiliation on your user page. You can choose to omit your real name, as you have the right to privacy. You can see my own COI declaration as an example.
 * 3) Continue working on your article in your sandbox. Write in the most neutral tone possible while avoiding subjective language. Strive to verify statements using reliable, independent sources. Your own website can be considered a valid primary source for basic facts, but not for interpretation or analysis of those facts.
 * 4) Don't copy statements word-for-word from your website, as this constitutes a copyright violation. Copyrighted material may be donated, but there is a separate procedure that must be followed.
 * 5) Understand that if your article is accepted and created, others may edit it in the future and you cannot prevent them from doing so. No one owns an article, and disagreements over content are calmly resolved through proper dispute resolution channels.
 * 6) Seek the assistance of more experienced editors when you need help. The Teahouse is a great place to obtain assistance from experienced volunteers.

I hope that this has given you some assistance and direction. Please feel free to contact me on my talk page if you have any more questions. Best of luck to you. --Drm310 (talk) 04:22, 26 September 2013 (UTC)