User talk:Robertbreich

Welcome!

Hello, Robertbreich, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:

Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing 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! —C.Fred (talk) 19:28, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

October 2013

Hello, I'm C.Fred. I noticed that you made a change to an article, Robert Reich, but you didn't provide a reliable source. It's been removed for now, but if you'd like to include a citation and re-add it, please do so! If you need guidance on referencing, please see the referencing for beginners tutorial, or if you think I made a mistake, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thank you. —C.Fred (talk) 19:28, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Username concerns

Welcome to Wikipedia. I noticed that your username, "Robertbreich", may not meet Wikipedia's username policy because it is the name of a notable person, Robert Reich, whose article you have edited. If you are Reich himself, you may wish to contact the Volunteer Response Team to verify your identity via email. If you are not Reich—and that includes if you are his employee, agent, or the like—you should probably avoid using that username. If you are any other party, you may not use the username at all. If you believe that your username does not violate our policy, please leave a note here explaining why. As an alternative, you may ask for a change of username, or you may simply create a new account for editing. Thank you. —C.Fred (talk) 19:28, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

In response to this message at my talk page:

Hi C.Fred. Thanks for your message, and for your willingness to help this Wikipedia newbie. My usage has been limited to making minor changes to Professor Reich's page, as I am his assistant, hence my lack of knowledge with regard to all of the intricacies of posting, editing, etc. With regard to the change that I've been making to Professor Reich's spouse, my reliable source is Professor Reich, himself. Is that something that I should note when I make that change? Is my username inappropriate, given that any changes that I will make to Professor Reich's page will only be at Professor Reich's request? Thank you very much for any assistance you can provide.

Robertbreich (talk) 20:51, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's a bad idea, as his assistant, to edit in his name. It's better to edit under your own name. That said, it's good that you declared you have a conflict of interest with Reich.
Wikipedia prefers secondary sources to primary sources. Thus, a newspaper article commenting on Reich's remarriage is a better source than a statement by Reich himself or the wedding announcement he/they placed in the paper. There are limited circumstances when self-published sources or statements made by a subject about themselves are admissible. In any case, his first wife would not be removed from the article; instead, we'd note the nature of the end of their marriage (divorce or death of spouse) and that he married again.
In all cases, you should cite the source you use. Verifiability is a core policy of Wikipedia. Other editors should be able to identify the source you use and vet the change against your source. The source doesn't have to be online, but interested users need to know how to track it down. Don't worry about the intricacies of <ref> tags just yet; if you put in a bare url to a source, other editors can help format it.
I do think the username violates the username policy, since you are not Mr. Reich. (Further, consider the verifiability guideline: the only thing telling us that you're his assistant is your claim to be! Playing the devil's advocate, anybody could make that claim; how can I verify your identity?) You might want to contact the Volunteer Response Team via email. They assist in these matters, and since it's communication via email, it's not open for everybody to see.
Finally, whether you keep this name or change your username, you have a conflict of interest because you are his assistant. You are not categorically forbidden from editing his article; however, you are expected to follow the neutral point of view and reliable sourcing policies even more closely than an unrelated editor. Not every related editor does it, but in a fair number of cases, bias creeps into the article, intentional or not. —C.Fred (talk) 21:20, 29 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This account has been blocked indefinitely from editing Wikipedia because your username, Robertbreich, does not meet our username policy.

Your username is the only reason for this block. You are welcome to choose a new username (see below) and continue editing.

A username should not be promotional, related to a "real-world" group or organization, misleading, offensive or disruptive. Also, usernames may not end in the word "bot" unless the account is an approved bot account.

You are encouraged to choose a new account name that meets our policy guidelines and create the account yourself. Alternatively, if you have already made edits and you wish to keep your existing contributions under a new name, then you may request a change in username by:

Adding {{unblock-un|your new username here}} on your user talk page. You should be able to do this even though you are blocked, as you can usually still edit your own talk page. If not, you may wish to contact the blocking administrator by clicking on "E-mail this user" on their talk page.
At an administrator's discretion, you may be unblocked for 24 hours to file a request.
Please note that you may only request a name that is not already in use, so please check here for a listing of already taken names. The account is created upon acceptance, thus do not try to create the new account before making the request for a name change. For more information, please see Wikipedia:Changing username.

If you feel that you were blocked in error, you may appeal this block by adding below this notice the text {{unblock|Your reason here}}, but you should read our guide to appealing blocks first. Alexf^(talk) 13:57, 27 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]