User talk:Lodown3

March 2016
Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia, your addition of one or more external links to the page Onnit has been reverted. Your edit here to Onnit was reverted by an automated bot that attempts to remove links which are discouraged per our external links guideline. The external link(s) you added or changed (https://www.facebook.com/10thPlanetAustin/, https://www.facebook.com/BSYHouston/?fref=ts, https://www.facebook.com/blackswanyoga, https://www.facebook.com/bsywestgate, https://www.facebook.com/bsy183/) is/are on my list of links to remove and probably shouldn't be included in Wikipedia. If you were trying to insert an external link that does comply with our policies and guidelines, then please accept my creator's apologies and feel free to undo the bot's revert. However, if the link does not comply with our policies and guidelines, but your edit included other, constructive, changes to the article, feel free to make those changes again without re-adding the link. Please read Wikipedia's external links guideline for more information, and consult my list of frequently-reverted sites. For more information about me, see my FAQ page. Thanks! --XLinkBot (talk) 23:55, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

Conflict of interest in Wikipedia
Hi Lodown3I work on conflict of interest issues here in Wikipedia. Your edits to date are all about Onnit, and you are editing in a promotional manner, which makes it seem likely that you have some relationship with that company. I'm giving you notice of our Conflict of Interest guideline and Terms of Use, and will have some comments and requests for you below.

Hello, Lodown3. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a COI may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for organizations for more information. In particular, please:


 * avoid editing or creating articles related to you and your circle, your organization, its competitors, projects or products;
 * instead propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (see the request edit template);
 * when discussing affected articles, disclose your COI (see WP:DISCLOSE);
 * avoid linking to the Wikipedia article or website of your organization in other articles (see WP:SPAM);
 * exercise great caution so that you do not violate Wikipedia's content policies.

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

Please familiarize yourself with relevant policies and guidelines, especially those pertaining to neutral point of view, sourcing and autobiographies. Thank you.

Comments and requests
Wikipedia is a widely-used reference work and managing conflict of interest is essential for ensuring the integrity of Wikipedia and retaining the public's trust in it. As in academia, COI is managed here in two steps - disclosure and a form of peer review. Please note that there is no bar to being part of the Wikipedia community if you want to be involved in articles where you have a conflict of interest; there are just some things we ask you to do (and if you are paid, some things you need to do).

Disclosure is the most important, and first, step. While I am not asking you to disclose your identity (anonymity is strictly protecting by our WP:OUTING policy) would you please disclose if you have some connection with Onnit? You can answer how ever you wish (giving personally identifying information or not), but if there is a connection, please disclose it. After you respond (and you can just reply below), perhaps we can talk a bit about editing Wikipedia, to give you some more orientation to how this place works. Please reply here - I am watching this page. Thanks! Jytdog (talk) 23:54, 12 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Lodown3. It is clear from your edits limited only to Onnit, and those of other new users who edit only on the Onnit page, that you are engaged in promotional activity for the company. I have removed promotional and non-reliable background from the Onnit page. Wikipedia is not a location for advertising and discourages editors from conflict of interest. Please review WP:5P so you are familiar with the goals of creating and maintaining neutral encyclopedic information. --Zefr (talk) 00:29, 13 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Zefr :Jytdog I don't have a personal relationship with the company, no, but I originally found them via word of mouth and using some product. I originally just noticed that some athletes (NFL) were missing from their company profile. I added that and then noticed the Wiki entry also fails to mention the yoga, academy gym, jiu jitsu additions, etc. So, contributing these and others to the Wiki was my original intention, especially since it seems many people doubt the company or hate some people they work with, etc. Then, after those edits, the majority of the original entry seemed to be deleted, which seems unfair. If it's preferred to go back to before ANY edits were made by me, then that's understood I suppose. But, adding facts like acquisitions, athletes, etc didn't really seem promotional to me. I'm not responsible for all the original wording in the wikipedia entry and I've seen plenty companies mention their endorsers or other branches of their company too. Sorry if I've given any wrong impression but it also seems the company is getting dealt a bad hand too now with so many deletions or errors etc. Since I'm still new, I only follow this entry but do look forward to many other contributions to Wikipedia -- the experience so far seems fairly disappointing if you're in the minority. Please let me know if any edit I made was not factual or incorrectly cited, etc. Thanks! Lodown3 (talk) 16:29, 13 April 2016 (UTC)Lodown3
 * Thanks for writing back Lodown. The edits you made here and again here and even here are really, really promotional.  To be honest it is very hard to tell if someone who writes content like this: "Onnit Academy's objective is to provide not just the physical training, but a comprehensive, holistic approach to total human optimization—those primal movement types that are most important to us in the real world. Partnered with world-class trainer..." is a big fan, or works for the company (or is freelancing for it) - the effort to "sell" is really clear.  This is not how we normally write or talk about anything - it is really marketing-speak.  You also sourced things to press releases and the company's own websites - again this is something that company employees and freelancers do a lot.  Fans too.  This is an encyclopedia, and our mission here is just to share knowledge - not to sell or persuade.  If you haven't read it, please read WP:NOT, which really lays out our mission here - both by describing what we are up to, but by giving lots of examples of what we are not up to.   Maybe also take a look at the essay on WP:ADVOCACY, if you would be so kind.   And then have a look at your edits, and let me know what you think....   Thanks for talking, and for not freaking out. :)  Jytdog (talk) 06:20, 15 April 2016 (UTC)