User talk:Mark77210

Welcome!

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May 2012
Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia, your addition of one or more external links to the page Isolation tank has been reverted. Your edit here to Isolation tank 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 (http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/floattalk/) 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) 08:38, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Please do not add inappropriate external links to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not a collection of links, nor should it be used for advertising or promotion. Inappropriate links include (but are not limited to) links to personal web sites, links to web sites with which you are affiliated, and links that attract visitors to a web site or promote a product. See the external links guideline and spam guideline for further explanations. Because Wikipedia uses the nofollow attribute value, its external links are disregarded by most search engines. If you feel the link should be added to the article, please discuss it on the article's talk page rather than re-adding it. Thank you. --Ronz (talk) 15:45, 21 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Ronz' removals are in line with Wikipedia's policies on external links (follow his links above). If a not-for-profit site carries listings, discussions or directories of manufactured products, including specifications, it can't be linked from here. Wikipedia is not a directory, either directly or by proxy. If you read the relevant policies, this should become clear; but if you're still puzzled and would like to submit each link on this page, we can discuss them one at a time. Haploidavey (talk) 18:50, 21 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Hi Haploidavey, I do not have the same interpretation as you of that rule the because the rule does not explicitly state what you says it states. Even if your interpretation is correct, clearly there are exceptions to it otherwise it would be self-defeating to have this rule. Some sites, such as a Chamber of Commerce site (I hope this is a good example), may have listings or directories but they have plenty of other valuable info. And what about a site with thousands of pages, one which happens to be a directory? Basically, I don' agree with this deletion, but I don't quite understand the dispute settlement procedure yet. Who decides here? Also, there were three links to floatation associations. Is it your opinion that these links violate the same rule or a different rule? Mark77210 (talk) 19:51, 22 May 2012 (UTC)Mark77210

Hi Mark. OK, I'll deal with these one at a time. If you still wish to challenge their removal, it would be best to post them at External links/Noticeboard and argue your case there. If you wish to challenge current policy and guidelines, I encourage you to do so at the talk-page of the same noticeboard. But I must also point out that the article itself already carries a deal of content not cited to reliable sources; so do the links, which all carry content of unknown authorship, and have unknown editorial oversight. The article and the disputed links make at least some medical claims, so the requirements of WP:MEDRS must apply, and they're strict and thorough; the enthusiastic, anecdotal evidence presented in the links would not qualify. Sources must be peer reviewed by qualified health professionals who are specialists in the field.


 * Floating FAQ; insufficiently sourced, unclear oversight, carries listings, ads, and links to similar. More importantly, the opening statements contain vague, unsupported claims: "Floatation is a widely accepted internationally treatment supported by over fifty years of documented clinical and anecdotal research." This is contradicted by the last link in this list, which says that the cost of flotation treatment is currently not a reimbursable medical expense. See also WP:MEDRS
 * Float center locator Ditto, plus commercial listings and links
 * List of Manufacturers Ditto
 * Float for Health Insufficiently sourced health claims, unclear oversight, advertising
 * UK Floatation Tank Association essentially a trading association, certainly offering no more information that could be found in a well-developed, well-cited featured article, and some information that would not be allowed in such an article in the first place (see also WP:MEDRS again). Readers interested in joining associations, or in buying products and services, can find them for themselves, online.
 * German Floatation Association Ditto
 * Swedish Floatation Association Ditto
 * Float Talk A blog; no editorial or content oversight by qualified health professionals
 * Float Summit This is simply a summary description of scheduled events at the conference.

I hope this helps. Best, Haploidavey (talk) 14:00, 23 May 2012 (UTC)