User talk:RatliffCreek

May 2021
 Your account has been blocked indefinitely from editing because of the following problems: the account has been used for advertising or promotion, which is contrary to the purpose of Wikipedia, and your username indicates that the account represents a business, organisation, group, or web site, which is against the username policy.

You may request a change of name and unblock if you intend to make useful contributions other than promoting your business or organization. To do this, first search Special:CentralAuth for available usernames that comply with the username policy. Once you have found an acceptable username, post the text at the bottom of your talk page. Replace the text "Your proposed new username" with your new username and replace the text "Your reason here" with your reasons to be unblocked. In your reasons, you must:
 * Disclose any compensation you may receive for your contributions in accordance with the Paid-contribution disclosure requirement.
 * Convince us that you understand the reason for your block and that you will not repeat the kind of edits for which you were blocked.
 * Describe in general terms the contributions that you intend to make if you are unblocked.

Appeals: If, after reviewing the guide to appealing blocks, you believe this block was made in error, you may appeal it by adding the text at the bottom of your talk page. Replace the text "Your reason here" with the reasons you believe the block was an error, and publish the page. Longhair\talk 22:19, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

There is a "DavidATodd" username which prevents me from renaming your account to that. I've properly formatted your request to allow a rename- please replace the red linked "David A Todd" with a new choice. Your username does not have to be your real name. Please also describe your connection to the Society and what other topics you might edit about. 331dot (talk) 08:17, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

Managing a conflict of interest
Hello, Conservation History Association of Texas. 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 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, colleagues, company, organization or competitors;
 * propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (you can use the request edit template);
 * disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see Conflict of interest);
 * 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 are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to 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 Paid-contribution disclosure.

Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. Longhair\talk 22:38, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

Rename not successful.
The chosen username is too similar to an existing username or it used to be username of someone else that got renamed: DavidATodd. Please choose again.11:38, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

I am proposing RatliffCreek as the new username. I hope it passes muster. I did not see that it had yet been claimed.

Thank you for walking me through the conflict of interest rules. I am embarrassed that I did not understand them better and comply before. I am affiliated with the Conservation History Association of Texas. I interview the narrators for the Association archive. I am not a paid editor for Wikipedia contributions. I work to avoid comments about myself, family, friends, colleagues, but would like to maintain an accurate description of the Association. This is a small non-profit, so it is difficult to find people who are knowledgeable about the NGO, but not conflicted. I wonder what you would advise. Would it be workable to list RatliffCreek as a connected contributor, describe the COI on my user page, and include a statement in the edit summary for my COI contributions? Thanks for your thoughts - David
 * Just FYI if you are paid by the organization in any capacity, you are a paid editor, you don't have to be specifically paid for edits or specifically directed to edit. In any event, are there any contributions you wish to make to the broader encyclopedia, that are unrelated to your conflict of interest? 331dot (talk) 19:11, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for clarifying the payments and COI issue.

As for contributions to the broader encyclopedia, I would like to make contributions on items related to environmental history, geography and law, especially for the state of Texas. I have some expertise and interest, and think I could help.
 * Do you have any association with or knowledge of the account?  (it's okay if that was an old account of yours, since you are not using it simultaneously)  In looking at the article on the organization, it looks like that account created the article on its user page in 2011 and moved it into draft space without a review. To be frank I think it might have benefited from one, as the sources given currently are not appropriate for establishing that the organization meets the special Wikipedia definition of a notable organization.  Wikipedia articles must do more than merely tell about the subject and what it does.  A Wikipedia article must summarize what independent reliable sources with significant coverage have chosen on their own to say about the organization, showing how it meets Wikipedia's definition of notability.  Significant coverage does not include press releases, annoucements of routine activities, brief mentions, staff interviews, or other primary sources. Wikipedia is interested in what others say about the organization, not what it says about itself.  The state of the article now, combined with your statement that "small non-profit, so it is difficult to find people who are knowledgeable about the NGO, but not conflicted" leads me to think- unfortunately- that the organization does not meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines. At the moment, that doesn't mean something must happen to it immediately- but changes will need to be made at some point and I almost wonder if it should be moved to Draft space(which did not exist in 2011) so that it can be worked on and submitted for a review so other eyes can look on it.  If it was a draft, you could work on it without submitting edit requests at least until the article passed a review by an independent reviewer.
 * Anyway- the reason I bring all this up- is that typically in these circumstances we want the editor in question to edit in other areas first so that they can demonstrate their understanding of Wikipedia guidelines on other, unaffiliated articles before they work on something with which they have a conflict of interest. Would you be willing to put your contributions regarding the Association on the back burner and contribute to other areas for a time? If  finds that satisfactory and you agree, I would be willing to remove the block.  331dot (talk) 18:25, 30 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I have renamed your account. 331dot (talk) 18:26, 30 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I have no further issue and happy for an unblock to proceed. -- Longhair\talk 20:12, 31 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Just waiting on RC's reply. 331dot (talk) 20:36, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

It appears that the block on my RatliffCreek account remains, so could I please ask a kind administrator to delete the Conservation History Association of Texas Wiki page, due to the concerns mentioned above? Thanks for your help. RatliffCreek (talk) 17:03, 7 September 2021 (UTC) David
 * I have done so, both as an author request and on notability grounds. If you intend to make other edits in the future as described above, I can remove the block. 331dot (talk) 17:26, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for your help. Please remove my account as well. David
 * It is not possible to remove an account, but if you don't wish to participate here further, we will just close the unblock request so you can abandon the account. Note that if you change your mind in the future, you may request unblock at that time. 331dot (talk) 18:03, 7 September 2021 (UTC)