User talk:Spike the Bee

August 2020
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 or other organisation or group or a 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. Salvio 10:46, 7 August 2020 (UTC)


 * On the subject of expert editors, yes, Wikipedia very much welcomes contributors with expert knowledge - but within the constraints of an encyclopedia environment. As an example, much of Wikipedia's coverage of medical topics is well respected. It is mostly not written by specialists, but by people with more general knowledge who have the ability to understand and summarize published material according to our policies of Verifiability and Reliable Sources. But we do have a number of medical professionals who provide invaluable contributions and guidance in developing medical articles. Such articles can start off rough (often very rough), but through the combined efforts of general editors and medical professionals, I think we do pretty well overall. But there are big potential pitfalls when it comes to expert contributions, because it is easy for experts to fall foul of Wikipedia's Conflict of Interest policy. And that's where your problems arose, as you started here by writing a promotional sounding piece about your own company. I hope that helps with your understanding. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 10:45, 10 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia does not allow company or group accounts - accounts are for individuals only. So you must specify a username that does not represent your company (and you can't have "NA" anyway, as that already exists). You also need to get rid of all the "we" and "us" in your latest request, and assure us that your account will only be used by you personally. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 13:05, 10 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Keep in mind that many users use a pseudonym for a good reason, such as privacy issues, fear of government surveillance, if they edit about topics culturally inappropriate for them, and other reasons. If you choose not to, that is your decision. No one has said you were "banned for life" from editing about beekeeping, but you will first need to edit in other areas to show you can abide by Wikipedia guidelines and do things like adhere to neutral point of view.
 * Wikipedia actually prefers that editors have little if any connection to what they are editing about, though expert editors are welcome as described above. This is because Wikipedia summarizes what independent reliable sources state. There are projects that only permit experts in subjects to edit about those subjects, but this is not one of them. Someone else will review your request. 331dot (talk) 20:02, 10 August 2020 (UTC)
 * To add onto that, we prefer that people do not write about things closely related to them, like themselves or their companies, because that is a conflict of interest. Its hard to write neutrally about yourself or your business. How would you feel if the page about Walmart could be written by Walmart's PR people? We are very strict about that kind of thing because it reflects on how reliable and trustworthy we are. What sort of things would you edit if unblocked?  CaptainEek  Edits Ho Cap'n!⚓ 01:54, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

We want to help you, but you have to meet us halfway. You had criticized people using pseudonyms and I provided some reasons people do. There are editors in countries like Russia, Iran, and China (just as examples) that fear what their governments will do to them if they see their edits. Some just don't want others to know what they see on the internet. If those are not concerns of yours, that's fine. Use your real name if you wish.

You seem to greatly misunderstand the nature of Wikipedia. It is in essence a content aggregator, where people summarize what independent reliable sources state about article subjects. It is not for writing about "about the rise and fall the Japanese Emperor based on my experience of The Man In The High Castle". It is also not a place for experts to provide their personal knowledge. They too must summarize independent reliable sources. As I stated, there are other projects that limit participation to experts in fields, and if you wish to find one and no longer participate here, you may withdraw your request. Otherwise, you will need to find other topics to edit about in the short term and agree to not violate the conflict of interest policy. 331dot (talk) 08:58, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

I have renamed your account from NaturalApiary, and someone else will review your request. 331dot (talk) 14:43, 11 August 2020 (UTC)