User talk:Tbarczak

June 2012
Hello, Tbarczak. Unfortunately, User:Tbarczak/sandbox has been deleted in accordance with Wikipedia's criteria for speedy deletion. There were two reasons for this:
 * 1) The content was copied from various other web pages, apparently infringing copyright. Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously, and content copied from elsewhere cannot be accepted unless there is clear evidence of copyright permission.
 * 2) The page was clearly promotion of its subject. Wikipedia is not a free advertising service, and use of any Wikipedia page for promotion is against Wikipedia policy.

It may be that you own the copyright to some of the material (though pretty certainly not to the New York Times article from which you copied), and it would be possible to give you links to pages explaining how to indicate to the Wikimedia Foundation that you own the copyright, or that you have permission from the copyright owner. However, I think it is only fair to let you know that I think doing so would be a waste of your time. In my experience, it is almost never worth the trouble of giving copyright release to the Wikimedia Foundation, because material copied from a web page of a business or organisation in this way is virtually always unsuitable for other reasons, most commonly because it is promotional in character. JamesBWatson (talk) 18:23, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Response
Hello JamesBWatson, Thanks for the feedback. This is my first attempt at creating a content page describing a location on this site. Not trying to make it promotional, but historical about the events that happened there as this place is a sort of cultural icon for the area. For what it's worth, that content you removed was only a place holder to experiment with the formatting and show it to some people. In any case, I surely don't want to violate any copyrights. I'd like to try again and see if I can create better content that doesn't cause issue, but I'll wait for a response from you to make sure that's OK so as not to get in trouble. Todd Barczak(talk) 14:42, 26 June 2012 (EST)


 * Sorry that you have had such a negative introduction to editing Wikipedia. Certainly you can have another try at writing the page if you like, and you were right to experiment in a user sandbox page rather than directly in an article. I strongly suggest writing in your own words. By all means use internet sources for finding information to write about, but don't actually copy the wording.


 * I will offer you a word of advice. In my experience, people who come new to Wikipedia and start writing articles from scratch very often have a rather negative experience, with work they do continually being deleted for one reason or another. I find that editors have a far better chance of having a successful time here if they start by making small changes to existing articles. That way you can gradually learn how Wikipedia works, and when you make mistakes (which you will, because we all do) they will be small ones, and you won't have the frustrating experience of repeatedly having substantial amounts of your work lost. After a while, you will learn what is and what isn't acceptable, and will be able to write articles without a major risk of deletion. This is just my advice, which you can accept or not, but it is based on what I have seen over the years to many editors.


 * I do hope that this early setback to your career won't put you off, and you will stay here and do good work. To help you, I am posting a "welcome" message, which includes links to various pages that may help you to learn about editing Wikipedia. Don't try to read and learn all of it before you do any editing, because there is far too much to do that. However, do have a quick look at the pages that seem most likely to be relevant, and you can keep coming back to it to look up other things when the need arises. JamesBWatson (talk) 19:00, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Welcome!
Hello Tbarczak! Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions to this free encyclopedia. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. If you you need any help, check out Getting Help below, ask me on my talk page, or place   on your talk page and ask your question there. Below are some useful links to facilitate your involvement. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by clicking or using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Finally, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field. Happy editing! JamesBWatson (talk) 19:00, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Talk page posts
I have just noticed that you posted a message at the top of my talk page. It is usual on Wikipedia talk pages to put new messages at the bottom, and if you do it the other way there is a risk that your messages may not be seen, as editors won't be looking there. I always try to remember to check for any new messages since the last time I checked, no matter where they are, but not everybody does, and even I sometimes miss one. JamesBWatson (talk) 19:05, 26 June 2012 (UTC)