{{helpme}} How do I get permission to work on one of the articles with a padlock on it?

Article become locked at different levels - some are only editable by adminstrators, and some only by established users. I cannot tell which one you're looking at editing. If after reading the article's talkpage you feel that page protection is unnecessary, go to WP:RFUP. If you have a proposed edit, you can suggest it on the talkpage - if it achieves WP:CONSENSUS an administrator can make it. (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 13:07, 27 February 2010 (UTC)Reply
Okay, I am taking your advice here. This is a very frustrating way to improve the encyclopedia. I'm not sure I'm going to participate very often if it is this difficult to simply add a citation reference to a zoology article. -- Bayshorer (talk) 13:21, 27 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Further to your request on the Elephant talk page, just to clarify not all animal related articles are protected only high profile ones such as elephant are, so editing other articles in the future should be alot easier however you must still provide reliable sources in order to add information to articles. Cheers ZooPro 00:50, 28 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

From what I've seen, there is no mandate that "you must still provide reliable sources in order to add information to articles". Indeed, looking at Recent changes this most recent addition of information to an article shows no sign of being reliably sourced. -- Bayshorer (talk) 17:29, 28 February 2010 (UTC)Reply
I suspect that what ZooPro meant was that you must still provide reliable sources. They can't possibly be expected to make sure everyone does. They're just one person, after all. I'm sure they already fixed the problem you pointed out and have left similarly helpful advice for that user. Happy editing! Delicious carbuncle (talk) 14:49, 1 March 2010 (UTC)Reply

February 2010 edit

  Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia, we must insist that you assume good faith while interacting with other editors, which you did not on Talk:Elephant. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you. ZooPro 23:36, 28 February 2010 (UTC)Reply