User talk:Jfrusso

Welcome!

Hello, Jfrusso, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion 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 {{helpme}} before the question. Again, welcome! —C.Fred (talk) 03:51, 14 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Copyright problems with American DanceWheels Foundation

Hello. Concerning your contribution, American DanceWheels Foundation, please note that Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images obtained from other web sites or printed material, without the permission of the author(s). This article or image appears to be a direct copy from http://www.americandancewheels.org/WhatWeDo.html. As a copyright violation, American DanceWheels Foundation appears to qualify for deletion under the speedy deletion criteria. American DanceWheels Foundation has been tagged for deletion, and may have been deleted by the time you see this message.

If you believe that the article or image is not a copyright violation, or if you have permission from the copyright holder to release the content freely under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License (CC-BY-SA) then you should do one of the following:

If you have permission from the author, leave a message explaining the details at Talk:American DanceWheels Foundation and send an email with the message to "permissions-en (at) wikimedia (dot) org". See Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission for instructions.
If a note on the original website states that re-use is permitted under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) and CC-BY-SA, under CC-BY-SA, or released into the public domain leave a note at Talk:American DanceWheels Foundation with a link to where we can find that note.
If you hold the copyright to the material: send an e-mail from an address associated with the original publication to permissions-en(at)wikimedia(dot)org or a postal message to the Wikimedia Foundation permitting re-use under the CC-BY-SA and GFDL, and note that you have done so on Talk:American DanceWheels Foundation.

However, for textual content, you may simply consider rewriting the content in your own words. While we appreciate contributions, we must require all contributors to understand and comply with our copyright policy. Wikipedia takes copyright concerns very seriously, and persistent violators will be blocked from editing. Thank you. —C.Fred (talk) 03:51, 14 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Even if permission were obtained, this text would be unusuable, as it is not in neutral point of view. —C.Fred (talk) 03:51, 14 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Problems with User:Jfrusso/American DanceWheels Foundation

Greetings! I see you've recreated the ADWF article at User:Jfrusso/American DanceWheels Foundation. There are two problems that would prevent this from standing as an article (and should really lead to it being deleted now).

First, the entire text is copyright infringing. It is taken verbatim from http://www.americandancewheels.org/index.html and subpages. In the absence of a notice on the website that the text is in the public domain, it is implictly copyrighted. In the absence of a notice that the text is under GFDL or Creative Commons license, it is presumed to be an all-rights-reserved license.

Note that licensing the text under either of those terms would allow unlimited use and derivative use of the text, including commercial use. The ADWF Board should consider carefully whether they want to release the text under such a license.

Second, even if the text were under a sufficiently free license, it is still blatant advertising. It is written so heavily to promote the organization that a complete rewrite would be required.

So, what is needed for an article on ADWF to stand?

It should be in original prose as opposed to starting with text from another website.
It must be written in neutral point of view. The purpose of the article is to inform readers about the group and not promote it.

Note: Even though, as a board member, you have a conflict of interest with the subject, you are not prohibited from editing the article. However, you should make very sure that all your additions are neutral and are backed up by independent sources (see below).

It must clearly state the signficance or importance (notability) of the group. If I were rewriting the article, my lead sentence might be (assuming the facts checked out): "American DanceWheels Foundation is the first Wheelchair DanceSport association in the United States. It sponsors competitions and has developed a curriculum to teach wheelchair dancing." In that case, I've made a clear assertion of notability: it's a national-scope organization sponsoring nationwide competitions.
It must back up the assertions with independent reliable sources. While basic information (date of formation, office location) can be taken directly from the source's website, other claims should be backed up by newspaper stories (but not press releases), magazine articles, books about the subject, etc. E.g., if it won an award from a major organization, the citation for winning the award should be news coverage of the award presentation and not the ADWF web page for awards.

That said, I think ADWF is notable enough to have an article. However, I think the best course - and the one that will be the path of least resistance from accusations of blatant advertising - is to write one from scratch. Follow the template of other organizations' articles, especially ones that have been recognized as Good Articles per Wikipedia design standards. (As a quick example, Royal Canadian Air Cadets meets the standards.) —C.Fred (talk) 17:10, 14 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]