User talk:ICTMFatRedcarAcademy

Welcome!

Hello, Redcaracademy, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions.

I noticed that one of the first articles you edited appears to be dealing with a topic with which you may have a conflict of interest. In other words, you may find it difficult to write about that topic in a neutral and objective way, because you are, work for, or represent, the subject of that article. Your recent contributions may have already been undone for this very reason.

To reduce the chances of your contributions being undone, you might like to draft your revised article before submission, and then ask me or any other editor to proofread it. See our help page on userspace drafts for more details. If the page you created has already been deleted from Wikipedia, but you want to save the content from it to use for that draft, don't hesitate to ask anyone from this list and they will copy it to your user page.

One firm rule we do have in connection with conflicts of interest is that accounts used by more than one person will unfortunately be blocked from editing. Wikipedia generally does not allow editors to have usernames which imply that the account belongs to a company or corporation. If you have a username like this, you should request a change of username or create a new account. (A name that identifies the user as an individual within a given organization may be OK.)

Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• The plain and simple conflict of interest guide
• The five pillars of Wikipedia
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• How to edit a page and How to develop articles
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• Simplified Manual of Style

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{Help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! SFK2 (talk) 08:36, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

What happened?

Can I get my genuine, legitimate and non-conflicting content back that I spent time working on? We are a genuine Academy in the North East of England and we are trying to update our Wikipedia page so that it is current, active and useful. The work we have done this morning was just discarded by some "moderator"

The other user was absolutely correct to revert your edits. Wikipedia is not a platform for you to advertise your school's services. I have also blocked your account, since it appears to be a shared role account intended only for promotional editing, and because the username is in violation of Wikipedia's username policy. Yunshui 雲‍水 09:15, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

You are absolutely incorrect. This is used by one person within the IT department. I am updating the schools information, not advertising the schools services? How ridiculous. So you want incorrect information listed on Wikipedia pages? Outdated and incorrect? Great. Well done.

This user's request to be unblocked to request a change in username has been reviewed by an administrator, who declined the request. Other administrators may also review this block, but should not override the decision without a good reason (see the blocking policy). Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

ICTMFatRedcarAcademy (block log • active blocks • global blocks • autoblocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))

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Requested username:

RAICTMF (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Request reason:

Want to update the page Redcar Community College with sufficient information for the general public. I don't have to advertise the Academy I am just trying to update the information. Parents have advised us it is out of date and incorrect and I am trying to put that right. Other academy's, schools and colleges in the area have a Wikipedia page that is correct and useful - we want that too. If you are unsure whether we are representing the Academy in making these unbias and justified modifications to the page, which represent us fairly and provide useful but basic information to the public about our School - then please contact the Academy on (+44) 01642 289211 where we will be happy to confirm. The basic information is incorrect, including the website address. Our local college have a suitable page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redcar_%26_Cleveland_College - why can we not? So have another local academy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunthorpe_Academy

Decline reason:

If you can post hundreds of words of such unadulterated marketing-speak as "We provide opportunities to nurture the potential in all of us", "On leaving school, Redcar Academy students will be confident, self-reliant and able to judge right from wrong", "to unlock the entrepreneurial and creative energies of our communities, by providing unique opportunities for the students and its members", and so on and so on, and sincerely regard it as merely updating information, not as attempting to use Wikipedia for promotion, then you are very unlikely to be able to edit in the neutral, detached way that is required for contributing to Wikipedia. Furthermore, nothing in what you say suggests that you even have any intention of editing in a different way from how you have edited so far. As for the other articles that you link to, you are quite right in thinking that they are rather similar in character to the article you have edited, particularly Redcar & Cleveland College, which, while not containing such blatant marketing speak as that which you posted, is certainly far too promotional in tone. I shall look into it with a view to removing some of the unacceptable content. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 10:42, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Redcaracademy (talk) 10:08, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

This diff (which, coincidentally, is a copyright violation drawn verbatim from the school's website), and hence wouldn't be allowed even if it were suitable) pretty clearly make my point for me - you were attempting to load the article with non-neutral, promotional fluff about the school, with the obvious purpose of improving its online image. One would expect that an IT professional would have the common sense to familiarise themselves with a website's basic purpose and policies before attempting to use it, but since you clearly didn't, allow me to elucidate: Wikipedia is not a form of social media, nor an advertising service, nor a business directory. We have policies strongly discouraging editing with a conflict of interest, especially when a person is being paid to edit. Rather than ranting about how you think you're in the right, perhaps you might like to do a little research into how Wikipedia works before trying to contribute here again? Yunshui 雲‍水 10:30, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

I am not ranting, I am simply trying to allow us to have an up-to-date page on Wikipedia for our establishment and I didn't not violate my own business's website copyright.

I appreciate you have a job to do, as do I - and I appreciate that you are following the guidelines you are set out to follow. I also appreciate there are rules in place and if such areas need adjusting then I am happy to do that. I wish to simply, from the moment onwards, update the general information that shows on the right hand side as per this this edit and leave the exam results and external links, if possible. The rest - I am happy to leave off. Would this be possible at all please? I understand if you can't unblock my account but can you restore the basic information and possible change the article title to Redcar Academy so it is more accurate?

Again, I do appreciate you are just doing your job. I am defensive because of your attitude towards me - which is why I responded in such a manner...but I am simply trying to do a job. To make the information about us accurate. Wikipedia is a great directory for establishments like schools and a lot of people use it for research. Redcaracademy (talk) 10:53, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

OK, that seems a reasonable request, so I have looked into it in more detail, and have done most of what you ask for.

I assume that by "the general information that shows on the right hand side" you mean the information in the box headed "Redcar Academy", known in Wikipedia jargon as an "infobox". If so, the only difference between the version you link to and the present version is the removal of a failed attempt to link to an image on another website (Wikipedia does not link to external images). I am always dubious about inclusion of exam results in an article about a school, as it seems to me that such details are the sort of thing which belongs in a school prospectus, rather than in an encyclopaedia article, and it is clear that in many, perhaps most, cases, the main purpose of inclusion is for promotion of the school. I am also unhappy about the fact that the particular selection of what to information to report about the exam results is selected by the school itself. Nevertheless, I have restored the exam results, and I have restored the link to the school web site's page on exam results, but formatted as an inline reference instead of listed separately. I emphasise, though, that I am not convinced that they should be there, and if anyone removes them again I will not defend their inclusion.

I have restored the links to the DFE page and to the page at schoolsfinder.direct.gov.uk, again as inline references, though the latter seems to be somewhat out of date, as it still uses the title "Redcar Community College". I have also restored the link to the Ofsted inspection reports page, in place of the outdated one. The link to the Ofsted "school data dashboard" refers to exam results from 2012, and since we have more up to date information, there seems little point in restoring that link.

I have moved the article to the title Redcar Academy, and created a redirect at Redcar Community College, so that anyone searching for the school under its old name will still find the article.

Since you are now willing to stick to uncontroversial editing, such as updating facts, rather than posting promotional content, I am willing to reconsider your unblock request. Wikipedia's username policy does not permit you to use the name "Redcaracademy", so any unblock request will be conditional on your requesting a username change, and not editing until that has been dealt with. My own opinion is that it is best for someone in your situation to be totally upfront about your involvement with the school, so I would suggest something like "CTMF at Redcaracademy" as a username, but that is just an opinion, not Wikipedia policy, and I don't see any policy reason for objecting to your suggestion of "RAICTMF", if you prefer that. Also, if you are unblocked, you should read Wikipedia's conflict of interest guidelines, and I suggest requesting edits to the school's page, as you have done this time, rather than directly editing it yourself. If you wish to be unblocked on the basis of what I have said, please post a note here saying so. If you include in your post {{Reply to|JamesBWatson}} and make sure that you sign your post by putting ~~~~ at the end of it, then I should receive a notification that you have posted here. (It was a matter of luck that I came back and saw your recent message: it could well have gone unnoticed for years.) The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 10:47, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

• One more point. You say "I didn't not [sic] violate my own business's website copyright." However, when you post anything to Wikipedia, you are announcing that you are licensing it under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License. In a nutshell, this means that you give permission for anyone in the world to reuse the text, either as it is or modified in any way they choose, for commercial or non-commercial purposes, subject to attributing their reuse to the Wikipedia page where you posted it. It would be very unusual for a school to authorise any of its staff to license the contents of the school's web site under such broad terms, and the existence of a notice on the school's web site saying "Copyright © 2014 Redcar Academy. All rights reserved" makes it even more improbable. Certainly, it is not safe for us to assume that the school is willing to grant such highly unlikely licensing terms on the basis of the unsubstantiated say-so of someone who chooses to create a Wikipedia account and claims to be authorised to do so. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 10:56, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

@JamesBWatson: Thank you, JamesBWatson - I feel you have been very helpful and supportive in your help and response. I would very much welcome the unblock request and the username I suggested or the one you suggested is suitable to me. Either way - it will allow me to use the Wikipedia site more openly. I am certainly happy to be completely upfront, as I have from the beginning with yourselves, about the involvement I have with the Academy as staff.

I will certainly be more cautious in future about edits I make. There are some small edits I'd like to make to the intro text on the Redcar Academy page after reviewing, such as removing the double "formerly" information and just a line to include the most recent headteacher and the age group of students who attend. Maybe a history about the date the Academy was established from a standard secondary school, if that wouldn't be a problem.

Would it be suitable to include a telephone number, fax number etc to the page for the public?

Once again I really do appreciate your support on this matter. Wikipedia links in so heavily with Google and the search results and unfortunately, previously when public searched our Academy name - they received a Wikipedia article about "Redcar Community College", which is confusing I am sure you understand. Your help and support will resolve these issues and allow people to find factual and hopefully useful information about the Academy through various sources, including Wikipedia. Redcaracademy (talk) 07:11, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

I've unblocked your account. I suggest putting in a request for name change as soon as conveniently possible. As I have indicated, my personal preference is for a username which makes your connection to the school clear, but that is not a Wikipedia policy, and it's up to you. Full instructions on requesting a username change are at Wikipedia:Changing username (in my opinion, rather too full: I think most Wikipedia policies, guidelines, etc, could be improved by being cut down to about a quarter their current length) and the place to actually make the request is Wikipedia:Changing username/Simple.

Most of the edits you suggest to the article seem fine to me. Certainly the double "formerly" in the opening is very clumsy, and I had been thinking of rewriting that sentence myself. The one thing to which I have to say "no" is the suggestion of adding telephone number, fax number etc. While your focus will naturally be on helping people such as potential parents to get in touch with the school, Wikipedia's line is that it does not exist as a service to businesses or other organisations and their clients, and adding contact information is considered unacceptable. Really, the only piece of contact information that is uncontroversial and acceptable is a single link to the school's web site, and since contact information is normally available from there, that should be sufficient. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 08:43, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

April 2014

Your account has been blocked indefinitely from editing Wikipedia because it appears to be mainly intended for publicity and/or promotional purposes. If you intend to edit constructively in other topic areas, you may be granted the right to continue under a change of username. Please read the following carefully.

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, website 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. Wikipedia has many articles on companies, groups, and organizations, but such groups are generally discouraged from using 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, although if you can demonstrate a pattern of future editing in strict accordance with our neutral point of view policy, you may be granted this right. See Wikipedia's FAQ for Organizations 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, organization, or clients. If this does not fit in with your goals, then you will not be allowed to edit Wikipedia again.

What can I do now?

If you have no interest in writing about some other topic than your organization, group, company, or product, you may consider using one of the many websites that allow this instead.

If you do intend to make useful contributions here about 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}} on your user talk page.
• 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.

If you believe this block was made in error, you may appeal this block by adding the text {{unblock|Your reason here}} below, but you should read the guide to appealing blocks first. Yunshui 雲‍水 09:16, 2 April 2014 (UTC)