User talk:Urban Allyance

October 2016
Please do not remove maintenance templates from pages on Wikipedia, as you did to Ralf Schuetz, without resolving the problem that the template refers to, or giving a valid reason for the removal in the edit summary. Your removal of this template does not appear constructive, and has been reverted. Thank you. MPD (Talk to me!) 17:07, 18 October 2016 (UTC)

Hi, this is my first post and I'm confused about the messages and how to answer them. My contribution is recommended for deletion? I violated copyrights? I have no idea why and what I did wrong. I did not even post any images so how could I have violated a copyright. It was not my intention to violate any regulations, let alone spam. All the help and getting started pages are so overwhelmingly complex and I have no idea where to begin. What can I do to straighten things out?


 * The text was copied from the artist's website, which has a copyright notice. That means that both the text and images are copyrighted. You can't copy and paste copyrighted text into a Wikipedia article. The only way to re-use that text on Wikipedia for be for him to donate the text via the proper procedure.
 * Not every person or thing that exists gets to have an article. Wikipedia is selective about the topics it includes, with notability criteria that must be met for an article to exist. There are specific criteria for people, especially living persons. In a nutshell, a person must have already received significant coverage in reliable third-party sources. The artist's own website isn't enough to show that he is notable enough for inclusion.
 * You also stated on the article talk page that you know the artist personally. If you have a close relationship with him, this could be considered a conflict of interest and impair your ability to adhere to the required neutral point of view. You should have a look at Wikipedia's plain and simple conflict of interest guide. --Drm310 (talk) 19:28, 18 October 2016 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Ralf Schuetz


A tag has been placed on Ralf Schuetz, requesting that it be deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under two or more of the criteria for speedy deletion, by which pages can be deleted at any time, without discussion. If the page meets any of these strictly-defined criteria, then it may be soon be deleted by an administrator. The reasons it has been tagged are:
 * It seems to be unambiguous advertising which only promotes a company, product, group, service or person and would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become encyclopedic. (See section G11 of the criteria for speedy deletion.) Please read the guidelines on spam and FAQ/Business for more information.
 * It appears to be a clear copyright infringement. (See section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion.) For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing. If the external website belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text — which means allowing other people to modify it — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Donating copyrighted materials. If you are not the owner of the external website but have permission from that owner, see Requesting copyright permission. However, even if you use one of these processes to release copyrighted material to Wikipedia, it still needs to comply with the other policies and guidelines to be eligible for inclusion. If you would like any assistance with this, you can ask a question at the help desk.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Wikishovel (talk) 17:09, 18 October 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia. Because we have a policy against usernames which give the impression that the account represents a group, organization or website, I have blocked this account; please take a moment to create a new account with a username that represents only yourself as an individual and which complies with our username policy or request a change of username. You should also read our conflict of interest guideline and be aware that promotional editing is not acceptable regardless of the username you choose. If your username does not represent a group, organization or website, you may appeal this username block by adding the text at the bottom of your talk page. You may simply create a new account, but you may prefer to change your username to one that complies with our username policy, so that your past contributions are associated with your new username. If you would prefer to change your username, you may appeal this username block by adding the text at the bottom of your talk page. Thank you. JohnCD (talk) 20:16, 18 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Advice, and explanation of what you did wrong and what you can do next, here within a couple of hours. Meanwhile, read Copying text from other sources and the Plain and simple conflict of interest guide. JohnCD (talk) 20:18, 18 October 2016 (UTC)

Advice
The problems were:
 * Username: Wikipedia accounts must be for individuals only, who are personally responsible for them and accounts whose names are the names of groups or organizations are not permitted.
 * Copyright: you must not copy material into Wikipedia, see Copying text from other sources. Publication under Wikipedia's CC-BY-SA license allows any reader to copy, modify and re-use for any purpose including commercial. Therefore, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted information without a formal release from the actual copyright holder, showing that they understand and agree to this. Assertion of permission to reproduce is not enough. How to make such a release is explained at WP:Donating copyrighted materials.
 * Notability and sources: it is very seldom worth making a copyright release, because copying a subject's own publicity material does not make a satisfactory encyclopedia article. Also, articles need references showing "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject" both to establish Notability and to provide sources for an article which is an outside, independent view of the subject, not just the story the subject wants to tell the world. For background to this, see User:JohnCD/Not a noticeboard.
 * Promotion and COI: Wikipedia is not for advertising or promotion in any form. Your username is the name of an organization in which Ralf Schuetz is a partner. Even with an individual username, that gives you a strong Conflict of interest, so that you should not write about him directly, but may make suggestions on article talk pages, or submit a draft article via WP:Articles for creation for review by uninvolved users. See the Plain and simple conflict of interest guide.

I am sorry if this is all more difficult than you expected, but that is because you thought Wikipedia was another social-networking site like Facebook where you could simply post a copy of your promotional material. If Wikipedia were like that, it would be easier to write for, but it would be no more use than Facebook as a work of reference,

What you can do now, if you want to proceed:


 * Choose a username which represents only you as an individual. It may be based on your real name, or not, as you choose (see WP:REALNAME for some considerations), but it should not be the name of any other living person. A username of the form "Ayinde at Urban Allyance" would be acceptable, and would serve to declare your affiliation. Make an unblock request at the foot of this page, as described in the block notice, giving your proposed name and saying that you have read and accept all this advice.


 * Note that you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use ("Paid contributions without disclosure" under section 4), and in some jurisdictions by laws against covert advertising, to disclose your interest in any edits for which you expect remuneration, either directly or because you are making them in the course of paid employment.


 * Read Your first article for advice.


 * Read Notability, Notability (summary) and WP:ARTIST. Collect references showing "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject." Significant means more than just listing-type mentions; reliable excludes Youtube, Facebook, blogs, places where anyone can post anything; independent excludes the subject's own website, affiliated ones such as galleries selling his work, and anything based on press releases. The test is, have people not connected with the subject thought him significant enough to write substantial comment about?

"When writing about subjects that are close to you, don't use your own personal knowledge of the subject, and don't cite yourself, your web site, or the subject's web site. Instead, use what is written about the subject by other people, independently, as your sources. Cite those sources in your very first edit.  If you don't have such sources, don't write."
 * Use WP:Articles for creation to make a draft. Take great care to write in a neutral tone - facts about achievement, not glowing adjectives. There is good advice at User:Uncle G/On notability:


 * Choose the option to send your draft for review by an experienced user, who will either accept it or give you feedback.

The WP:Teahouse is a place where new users can ask for advice and help. JohnCD (talk) 21:51, 18 October 2016 (UTC)