Welcome! edit

Hello, Sprinkles2019, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions.

I noticed that one of the first articles you edited appears to be dealing with a topic with which you may have a conflict of interest. In other words, you may find it difficult to write about that topic in a neutral and objective way, because you are, work for, or represent, the subject of that article. Your recent contributions may have already been undone for this very reason.

To reduce the chances of your contributions being undone, you might like to draft your revised article before submission, and then ask me or another editor to proofread it. See our help page on userspace drafts for more details. If the page you created has already been deleted from Wikipedia, but you want to save the content from it to use for that draft, don't hesitate to ask anyone from this list and they will copy it to your user page.

One rule we do have in connection with conflicts of interest is that accounts used by more than one person will unfortunately be blocked from editing. Wikipedia generally does not allow editors to have usernames which imply that the account belongs to a company or corporation. If you have a username like this, you should request a change of username or create a new account. (A name that identifies the user as an individual within a given organization may be OK.)

In addition, if you receive, or expect to receive, compensation for any contribution you make, you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation to comply with our terms of use and our policy on paid editing.

Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on talk 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 {{Help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! S0091 (talk) 23:20, 8 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

Conflict of interest and Paid editing edit

Since you state that you are a PR employee of Halo Top Ice Cream and intend to edit the company's article, you have a conflict of interest as a paid contributor. Please read and comply with WP:COI and WP:PAID. Meters (talk) 23:23, 8 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

Your submission at Articles for creation: Justin Woolverton (January 9) edit

 
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by SamHolt6 was:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.
SamHolt6 (talk) 01:30, 9 January 2019 (UTC)Reply
 
Hello, Sprinkles2019! Having an article declined at Articles for Creation can be disappointing. If you are wondering why your article submission was declined, please post a question at the Articles for creation help desk. If you have any other questions about your editing experience, we'd love to help you at the Teahouse, a friendly space on Wikipedia where experienced editors lend a hand to help new editors like yourself! See you there! SamHolt6 (talk) 01:30, 9 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

Managing a conflict of interest edit

  Hello, Sprinkles2019. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about in the page Draft:Justin Woolverton, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for organizations for more information. We ask that you:

  • avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, company, organization or competitors;
  • propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (see the {{request edit}} template);
  • disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see WP:DISCLOSE);
  • avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see WP:SPAM);
  • do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.

In addition, you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution which forms all or part of work for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation (see WP:PAID).

Also please note that editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. Nathan2055talk - contribs 07:21, 9 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

April 2019 edit

 
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 for being unblocked, please read the guide to appealing blocks, then add the following text below the block notice on your talk page: {{unblock|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}}.  MER-C 10:44, 6 April 2019 (UTC)Reply
 
This user's unblock request has been reviewed by an administrator, who accepted the request.

Sprinkles2019 (block logactive blocksglobal blockscontribsdeleted contribsfilter logcreation logchange block settingsunblockcheckuser (log))


Request reason:

Hello, I would like to request that this account is unblocked. I originally made two edits, one to declare my conflict and one to create the rejected draft. I was then approached by a freelancer (suitstobed) after the failed draft attempt and he claimed to have a better way to improve this page to Wikipedia’s standards on notability, and I agreed since I believe this page is certainly notable. The freelancer was supposed to disclose his relationship with us – but did not. I’m committed to declaring any conflict I have and making sure to comply with all the rules and regulations here. This won’t happen again. Thanks for the consideration.Sprinkles2019 (talk) 02:38, 19 April 2019 (UTC)Reply

Accept reason:

See below. JamesBWatson (talk) 14:59, 16 May 2019 (UTC)Reply

  • Two reasons for the block are given in the block log: promotional editing and "meatpuppetry", i.e. getting someone else to edit for you in a dishonest way. What you say about the "freelancer" seems to fit everything that I can see in the editing history, and unlike him you were perfectly open about your conflict of interest from the start. Also, his editing was blatantly promotional, enough so in my opinion to call it "spam", but yours was much closer to being neutral. It seems to me that the "meatpuppetry" was done innocently, unaware that it was contrary to Wikipedia policy, and you have made it clear that you will not do the same again, so the block is no longer required to prevent that. As for the nature of your editing, that by itself, and without the "meatpuppetry", is, in my opinion, nowhere near promotional enough to justify a ban. That being so I am in favour of unblocking your account, but the blocking admnistrator, MER-C, may like to express an opinion. (Also if any other administrator would like to comment they are welcome to do so.) The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 10:31, 26 April 2019 (UTC)Reply
    • I'm fine with an unblock provided that they undertake not to edit about their company. MER-C 10:38, 26 April 2019 (UTC)Reply
  • Well, I would be wiling to unblock you on the basis of the weaker requirement that if you do edit about your company then you do so strictly in accordance with the conflict of interest guidelines. However, would you be willing to accept an unblock on the terms that MER-C has offered? The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 20:23, 26 April 2019 (UTC)Reply

Thank you James and MER-C for responding. To clarify JamesBWatson, for any future edits, I will suggest them on the Talk page in accordance with Wikipedia's conflict of interest guidelines and agree not to edit the page directly.

Since the block, I have spent a lot of time studying not only the guidelines, but also best practices for how individuals with a COI can be part of the process in improving an encyclopedic article. After reviewing the conflict of interest noticeboard, I can see what a big problem this is. I hope that my future edits can demonstrate to others that working with the community is the best policy, rather than undisclosed editing.Sprinkles2019 (talk) 15:50, 1 May 2019 (UTC)Reply

When you posted your message on 1 May I waited to give MER-C a chance to comment again, expecting to come back after a couple of days, but evidently I didn't. Since she or he has made over 300 edits since then and has not replied here, presumably they don't wish to express any opinion on what you have said, so I shall go ahead and unblock your account, on the basis of your statement about your future editing intentions. JamesBWatson (talk) 14:59, 16 May 2019 (UTC)Reply

Your submission at Articles for creation: Justin Woolverton has been accepted edit

 
Justin Woolverton, which you submitted to Articles for creation, has been created.
The article has been assessed as Start-Class, which is recorded on the article's talk page. You may like to take a look at the grading scheme to see how you can improve the article.

You are more than welcome to continue making quality contributions to Wikipedia. If your account is more than four days old and you have made at least 10 edits you can create articles yourself without posting a request. However, you may continue submitting work to Articles for Creation if you prefer.

Thank you for helping improve Wikipedia!

Missvain (talk) 19:53, 18 September 2019 (UTC)Reply