User talk:OptimalWebmaster

May 2014

You have been blocked indefinitely from editing for advertising or promotion. From your contributions, this seems to be your only purpose. If you think there are good reasons why you should be unblocked, you may appeal this block by adding the following text below this notice: {{unblock|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}}. However, you should read the guide to appealing blocks first. MER-C 02:20, 10 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Reference: See WikiProject Spam report. MER-C 02:32, 10 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This user's unblock request has been reviewed by an administrator, who accepted the request.

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

Request reason:

I would like to appeal my block as I have been providing a service to the Wikipedia community by repairing broken links. I have spent many hours studying and doing my best to do this in exactly the means and format required and have not attempted to advertise for any purpose. I have found that making edits repairing references that are broken is a great way to contribute and feel as though I am a valuable part of the community. I would like more clarity on how better to serve the Wikipedia community and request the ban to be lifted. Thank you for your consideration. It is good to know someone is monitoring for advertisers who might discredit or harm wiki articles. -Jeremy OptimalWebmaster (talk) 06:13, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Accept reason:

OK, having consulted the blocking administrator and the other administrator who commented here, I am willing to unblock you. You are clearly here for the purpose of making constructive changes, and I can well imagine how frustrating it must be to be blocked for such reasons. Sorry you have been kept waiting so long. However, your username does not fit Wikipedia's username policy. (I personally don't agree with the policy, but that is irrelevant: we have to accept policies.) You therefore need to request a change of username to something which doesn't suggest the account represents an organisation or someone working "officially" on its behalf. Something like "Fred at Optimal" would be OK if you want to keep the link to Optimal. Instructions on how to request a change of username are at Wikipedia:Changing username. Apologies that this is so troublesome for you: my own view is that Wikipedia is far more bureaucratic than it needs to be. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 19:21, 16 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Why did you use multiple domains to host the archived content, all of which would not be linked on Wikipedia otherwise?
Please explain your choice of username.
How are you going to contribute to Wikipedia if you were unblocked? MER-C 07:33, 10 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

-MER-C I am the webmaster for a number of organizations, hence the username, and am always writing, developing, updating, archiving content and resources for these organizations and related organizations. When I am working on something for an organization and come across a broken link I update the link with the files that the organizations hosts. If I am unblocked, I will continue to update outdated and broken content as there are thousands of dead links that still exist on Wikipedia, and will be sure to do so in ways that do not intentionally promote any particular organization and retain only accurate information and references. Thank you! -Jeremy

As a minimum, the username is unacceptable as per WP:U and would need to be changed the panda ₯’ 23:43, 12 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That, and you should not be linking to the sites you maintain because you have a Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. MER-C 12:04, 13 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

-MER-C or DangerousPanda Please add the word "webmaster" to the Wikipedia:U#Inappropriate_usernames to avoid this lack of clarity for future contributors. I cannot update it until my ban is lifted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:U#Inappropriate_usernames

If my username must be changed for the ban to be lifted, please change my name to "owm" if that is suitable and inform me as to how to login in the future with the new username and then update the article Wikipedia:Username_policy to include "After your username is changed, you may login with the new username and password" if that is correct.

Also, please update the Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest to change the wording from "Using material you have written or published is allowed within reason, but only if it is relevant, conforms to the content policies, including WP:SELFPUB, and is not excessive. Citations should be in the third person and should not place undue emphasis on your work. When in doubt, defer to the community's opinion." to include: "You should not be linking to sites that you maintain even for the purposes of dead link repair by means of hosting archived content to fix broken links."

As I was not adding material that appeared to advance the interests or promote the visibility of an article's author, the author's family, employer, clients, associates or business, or place the author in a conflict of interest as the Wikipedia:Conflict of interest forbids, there will need to be additional clarity added to this as an additional forbiddance to avoid people from hosting anything for the sake of repairing dead links. You may also want to add something to the Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Proposals/Dead_Link_Repair and Wikipedia:Link_rot sections as well to include this additional forbiddance. On one consideration though, with the vast amounts of broken links existing on Wikipedia, users currently employing this method of contibuting to Wikipedia now not being able to contribute in this manner may make the managment of broken link repair occur at a much slower rate as I have read a number of tutorials on broken link building that are published online before beginning the work that I have been doing. Thank you for your consideration. -Jeremy — Preceding unsigned comment added by OptimalWebmaster (talk • contribs) 19:37, 14 May 2014‎