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, celebrity or other well-known individual, 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. See WP:FAQ/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 again. Consider using one of the many websites that allow this instead.
- What can I do now?
You are still welcome to write about something other than your company, organization, or clients. If you do intend to make useful contributions on 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.
- Comment: :While you may see your own site as a useful resource, you have missed one important fact (and you are not the first). This is not American Wikipedia - it's a worldwide Wikipedia in English. Creating a page for your site is unlikely to be a true worldwide view of the available data. This is why the chemical suppliers (e.g Alfa Aesar, Aldrich) always ask for one's country before allowing an MSDS to be viewed - because there are (and probably always will be) some national variations, even with GHS - REACH will tend to fatten up EU MSDs in time to come. In addition the supplier's do not restrict their viewing of MSDSs to 5 free ones, they are all free - thus adding your site would also bring an advertising component - as I assume after the 5 free ones, that one has to pay. Ronhjones (Talk) 21:09, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
- Comment: Hi Ron - Thanks for your comment. I agree that this is a worldwide Wikipedia, not an American Wikipedia - furthermore, I am aware of the differences between the hazard communication standards of various countries. I don't agree with all of your points but appreciate the respectful way in which you've shared your point of view. I stand by my original contention that we have many free resources on our website that anyone interested in MSDSs would find useful - regardless of their country of origin. Furthermore, if the issue is advertising, with a lowercase a - then I think that covers just about everyone with an external link on the page. Not trying to quibble - just saying - five free MSDS look ups in one of the largest online databases is sufficiently valuable for the thousands of companies and individuals that take advantage of our offer. All of that said, it's a moot point. I will leave it to others to share our resources on Wikipedia, and I will restrict my offerings to those areas outside of my expertise (small joke). Thanks and kind regards, bjharbaughSDSonline (talk) 21:48, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
- I was called in, as the blocking admin to make a comment. I have no issues with the name change (the new name). I still have the same issues with the COI, as the user politely explains that he is intending to keep talking about his industry and his company. I recuse myself as I already have voiced my opinion by blocking in the first place and leave it to the reviewing admin to decide. As stated, I have no issue with the new chosen name. The user should read the Business FAQ before proceeding though to fully understand the issue from Wikipedia's point of view. -- Alexf(talk) 23:32, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
- Alex...Thank you for weighing back in. Just to clarify, I said in my first post "...as I understand it, since I work for the company I'm not actually allowed to link to it." And in my second post that I would "leave it to others to share our resources online and I would restrict myself to topics outside my expertise." The last part of the second line was a small joke - For instance, I assume there would be no conflict of interest if I were to create a page about butterflies, or add valuable content to pages dedicated to mimes. Both of which I know little about. But I might come across an interesting fact on mimes and add a citation somewhere. Who knows. bjharbaughSDSonline (talk) 02:26, 18 October 2011 (UTC)
- I have read the Business FAQ and will have no trouble following its prescribed course of actions going forward. Thank you. bjharbaugSDSonline (talk) 16:43, 18 October 2011 (UTC)
SDSonline (block log • active blocks • global blocks • autoblocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))
Requested username:
bjharbaugh (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
Request reason:
I understand I was blocked for a myriad of reasons. 1. My username was being used by a company for publicity, 2. Adding in appropriate links and 3. Conflict of interest. I will try hard not to violate these rules, or give the appearance of violating these rules - which is just as bad in Wikidpedia's eyes - since it is understandably difficult for Wikipedia and its admins to read the thoughts of its users and to understand every contributors intent. I added an external link on the material safety data sheet page to my company's website because I was very proud of the new resources we added and genuinely believed them to be of use to those looking for information related to MSDSs. We have the largest database - which is notable - and which folks can access for free to look up to 5 MSDSs - we also have several information pages that explain OSHA's hazard communication standard, which is the main reason folks need MSDSs, as well as a current event blog that keeps visitors up to date on compliance issues. Rather than link to each of these items individually, I linked to our home page which has several of the elements discussed above on that page. Now the home page also has strong calls to action for potential customers and I'm guessing some of the items I listed above were missed so it looked like just a spam link. I get it. More importantly, as I understand it, since I work for the company I'm not actually allowed to link to it. That's a nuance of Wikipedia I missed since my last visit. I'm not sure it's the greatest policy - since often the people working for a company are best able to share the most beneficial elements of a company - but again, I get it. It's the Wild West out here without some fences. Looking at the other external links on that page, I thought I was keeping within the spirit of the external links on that page. Again, my intent was not malicious. That said, I hope you will unblock my account and accept the new username. (FYI - the user name SDSonline was not a clever attempt to be somebody other than MSDSonline. Material safety data sheets are going to be getting a name change as OSHA aligns the HazCom standard with GHS. They will be called SDSs and our company will likely move to the name SDSonline. Finally - since I am unable to share our resources, I hope you will consider looking at our site and linking to it. You will find, as I described above, there are a number of resources for folks interested in MSDSs on our website. Thank you for your reconsideration and dedication to Wikipedia. BradSDSonline (talk) 3:33 pm, Today (UTC−4)
Accept reason:
Allowing username change to requested username. Please put this request in at Wikipedia:Changing username as soon as possible to avoid re-blocking. Elen of the Roads (talk) 14:01, 24 October 2011 (UTC)