User talk:Al Seckel

Welcome!

Hello, Al Seckel, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! Thatcher131 02:58, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I noticed your complaint about the article you wrote on yourself having been proposed for deletion. The proposed deletion tag was removed but please be aware that the next step, should someone still wish to delete it, is a formal process called Wikipedia:Articles for deletion.

The biggest problem with your article is that you wrote it about yourself. Wikipedia strongly discourages autobiography. This is not a bar to having an article but means it will get additional scrutiny to make sure the subject (you) meets the guidelines for notability of living persons (abbreviated WP:BIO) and verifiable sources (abbreviated WP:V). Finally, the article is in need of a style cleanup to make it read more like a neutral encyclopedia article (see the policy WP:NPOV). As I hope you understand, it is hard (but not impossible) to write a neutral POV article about yourself. However as you seem to be a professional writer, you should be able to overcome this.

For starters, look at the introductory links above in the welcome box. Another good resource is Wikipedia:Your first article. It will also help to stave off potential deletion if you post a message to the talk page of the article acknowledging that it needs some work and asking for assistance, rather than have people assume it is a deletion candidate. It is important to know that hundreds of new articles get created every day, many by people that are truly non-notable (like high schoolers writing about their girlfriends or their garage band) so it is commonplace for some editors to examine newly created pages and tag those that seem to fall short of the biography guidelines. It certainly can be a jarring experience for a first-timer.

I noticed that when you posted to the administrator's noticeboard, you did not log in to your account. You should always log in so that your contribution history will be properly linked to you, and always remember to sign your name with wikipedia's special form (~~~~) which will automatically create a time-stamped signature.

I hope this introduction helps. Feel free to contact me if you would like further assistance. Thatcher131 03:11, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]