User talk:Mmeskis
Why can't I edit Wikipedia?
Your account's edits and/or username indicate that it is being used on behalf of a company, group, or organization for purposes of promotion and/or publicity. The edits may have violated one or more of our rules on spamming, which include: adding inappropriate external links, posting advertisements, and using Wikipedia for promotion. Although Wikipedia has a great many articles on companies, groups, and organizations, it is considered inappropriate for such groups to use Wikipedia to write about themselves. In addition, usernames like yours are disallowed under our username policy.
- Am I allowed to make these edits if I change my username?
Probably not. See Wikipedia:FAQ/Organization for a helpful list of frequently asked questions by people in your position. Also, review the conflict of interest guidance to see the kinds of limitations you would have to obey if you did want to continue editing about your company, group, or organization. If this does not fit in with your goals, then you will not be allowed to edit again. Consider using one of the many websites that allow this instead.
- What can I do now?
You are still welcome to write about something other than your company or organization. If you do intend to make useful contributions on some other topic, you must convince a Wikipedia administrator that you mean it. To that end, please do the following:
- Add the text
{{unblock-spamun|Your proposed new username|Your reason here}}below this message box. - Replace the text "Your proposed new username" with a new username you are willing to use. See Special:Listusers to search for available usernames. Your new username will need to meet our username policy.
- Replace the text "Your reason here" with your reason to be unblocked. In this reason, you must:
- Convince us that you understand the reason for your block and that you will not repeat the edits for which you were blocked.
- Describe in general terms the contributions that you intend to make if you are unblocked.
{{unblock-spamun|mmeskis|Hi-I am still a little unclear as to why I was blocked. I was attempting to add the site of our nonprofit that offers families information on Dravet syndrome and associated conditions, which include GEFS+. I did this after seeing that other wikipages such as those for Drager syndrome, listed external links to nonprofits that dealt with the disorder. If I am unblocked, could you clarify what the limitations are for listing said link? I intend to continue to make contributions on any pages that deal with SCN1A/sodium channel epilepsies and to compose a page on Dravet syndrome as it is a separate entity from GEFS+, although they are within the same disorder spectrum. Thank you for your consideration.}}
Wikipedia is a high-profile target for people whose sole wish is to promote their organization rather than build an encyclopedia. As such, accounts named for a particular group are generally not appropriate. You suggest above that you are the sole user of this account, but I would also like to mention that role accounts controlled by more than one person are also disallowed. Now that this block is lifted, please make a request to Wikipedia:Changing username as soon as possible. This will remove the direct appearance that your account is being used solely to promote an outside organization, but you should still be careful when deciding whether or not to link to dravetfoundation.org. The guideline for what external links should be used in an article is at Wikipedia:External links, and if any editor objects to the link you should raise a discussion at the relevant talk page, available by clicking the discussion tab at the top of any article. A basic rule of thumb is that every link should be more useful to the readers here than to the owners of the linked page.
On a more personal note, your proposed page looks to this uninformed reader like an excellent idea. There is some helpful advice at Wikipedia:Your first article for making sure that you meet the notability threshold; you may also be interested in Wikipedia:Reliable sources and Wikipedia:Reliable sources (medicine-related articles). If you have any other questions or would like any help or advice, please do not hesitate to contact me at User talk:2over0. Good luck and happy editing. - 2/0 (cont.) 17:12, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
Block
[edit]I saw Tnxman307 (talk · contribs)'s revert show up on my Watchlist and saw it had been followed with an immediate block. While technically correct per our Blocking policy, this could have been handled much better IMO, specifically concerning our guideline: Please do not bite the newcomers.
Rare epilepsy syndromes (such as GEFS+ -- Generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus) are rather neglected on Wikipedia. That article was mostly written a long time ago by an academic and is far too technical for the general reader to understand. It would be great if someone else with a special interest in the subject was able to help improve it.
User Dravetfoundation (talk · contribs) is right that many other articles contain similar links to charities. Our external links policy would probably reject the link on the grounds that it "does not provide a unique resource beyond what the article would contain if it became a featured article." That's a tough requirement to judge any external website and one that would eliminate the vast majority I dare say. If one were to ignore-all-rules, it could be argued the link was OK for now given how rare the disease is, the current state of the article (inaccessible), and that the site does contain useful information.
I hope you are not put off editing Wikipedia and manage to get your username sorted and block resolved. Please be aware that even if you change your name, you should read our Conflict of interest guideline. Adding external links or otherwise promoting the Dravet Foundation is likely to lead to trouble. You may request such details, if appropriate, on an article talk page and leave it for another editor to judge.
If you do continue editing medical subjects, you may be interested in our two medical guidelines: WP:MEDMOS and WP:MEDRS. Those are in addition to all the other policies and guidelines!!
Please note I am not an admin. -- Colin°Talk 17:21, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
Update: Just noticed the above section on unblocking. Good. Colin°Talk 17:22, 22 February 2010 (UTC)