Hello, I'm Nyth83. I wanted to let you know that I removed one or more external links you added to the page Ford N-Series tractor, because they seemed to be inappropriate for an encyclopedia. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page, or take a look at our guidelines about links. Thank you. For a more detailed explanation, please refer to WP:FANSITE #11 Nyth63 16:02, 9 January 2015 (UTC)
- The relevant guideline under the section Links normally to be avoided is number 11: Blogs, personal web pages and most fansites.... The N-newsletter would be classified as a fan site and normally should be avoided. Also look and number one: Any site that does not provide a unique resource beyond what the article would contain if it became a featured article. I don't believe that it would meet that criteria. If you feel very strongly that the link should be included, feel free to start a discussion on the article's talk page explaining why. Another good approach would be to review the N-newsletter site for interesting and factual content that would be appropriate to add to the article. Be sure you don't cut-and-paste. Paraphrase and write the information in your own words and then add references to the site. Even better are references to outside third party sources. Input and fresh insights are always welcome! Nyth63 17:48, 9 January 2015 (UTC)
- I had almost deleted the tractor data link also, but the bare page that is linked has no advertising on it and does not contain promotional type verbiage or prose. It is just a list of specifications for the tractor, many of which do not fit within the standard infobox template. Therefore it can be considered a unique resource outside of the featured article content criteria. Nyth63 17:55, 9 January 2015 (UTC)
Nyth83 - thanks for the explanation - though I will humbly disagree with your fan site description. If you look at one of the recent articles on the N-News website entitled "How To Buy an N-Series tractor" http://n-news.com/2013/03/how-to-buy-a-ford-n-series-tractor-1939-1952/ - when I noticed that this article comes up on page one of a google search when searching for Ford 8N (and several tractor guys recommended it to me a year ago) I realized it was directly pertinent to old fords - hence my interest in making it available to anyone looking on Wikipedia - maybe you would feel it more appropriate that that exact article get linked? If so, do you want me to do that? If you still think this is a bad idea, I don't think I will start a discussion on the articles talk page - mostly because I don't know how to do it and I am not interested in making trouble, only to make information about old tractors available. thanks tractornut1939 Tractornut1939 (talk)
- Looking at the N-News site, it also runs into problems with criteria #6: Sites that require payment or registration to view the relevant content. The most relevant materials on the site appear to me contained in the archive which requires payment to view. The free page you listed about buying a tractor would certainly be a good source but I don't think that it would qualify for inclusion in the external link section as the information in there could be written into the article (paraphrased, of course) and then sourced to the page with an in-line citation. Keep in mind that, in general, the policy on Wikipedia is that external links are expected to be used sparingly and avoided as much as possible, which is why there is a such a long list of link types to avoid. The encyclopedia is intended to stand on it's own and not depend on the reader to go to external sites to get all the information they need on the subject. And also to avoid any copyright issues, information should not be cut and pasted into the articles.
- I strongly encourage you to practice writing content that you want people to know about into the article. If you need help getting started, copy a paragraph you wish to edit to your sandbox page, make the edit there and then leave me a message on my talk page that you would like me to review it or make suggestions, then you can copy and past that finished section back into the main article. You should see a link to your sand box at the top right of every page. If not, create the page by clicking this link: sandbox There are a lot of people here that will help you out learning your way around wikipedia, you just gotta ask. Nyth63 00:06, 10 January 2015 (UTC)