AgScribe

Welcome!

The Wikipede and the Picture Tutorial. (image credit)

Welcome!

Hello, AgScribe, and welcome to Wikipedia! I have noticed that you are fairly new! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. I also see that some of your recent edits show an interest in the use of images and/or photos on Wikipedia.

Did you know that ...

• ...Wikipedia has a very stringent image use policy?
• ...most images from Flickr, online news websites, and other web sources are copyrighted?
• ...Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously?
• ...freely-licensed images should be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, a central location for images where they can be used on all Wikipedia projects?
• ...we recommend that new users use our "files for upload" process – at least until you get the hang of things?

If you are stuck, and looking for help, please come to the New contributors' help page, where experienced Wikipedians can answer any queries you have! Or, you can just type {{Help me}} on your talk page, and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Here are a few other good links for newcomers:

• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• Contributing to Wikipedia
• How to edit a page
• Help pages
• Introduction
• Manual of Style

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Wikipedia:Questions or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome!  —C.Fred (talk) 13:52, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

Thank you!

Managing a conflict of interest

Hello, AgScribe. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, 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 article subjects for more information. We ask that you:

• avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, colleagues, company, organization, clients, or competitors;
• propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (you can use the {{edit COI}} template)—don't forget to give details of reliable sources supporting your suggestions;
• disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest § How to disclose a COI);
• avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see Wikipedia:Spam § External link spamming);
• do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.

In addition, you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to 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 Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure.

Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicizing, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. I just noticed the edit summary on this edit, which indicates that you have a conflict of interest with J. Scott Angle and likely also with Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. —C.Fred (talk) 13:57, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

October 2024

Hello AgScribe. The nature of your edits, such as the one you made to J. Scott Angle, gives the impression you have an undisclosed financial stake in promoting a topic, but you have not complied with Wikipedia's mandatory paid editing disclosure requirements. Paid advocacy is a category of conflict of interest (COI) editing that involves being employed (or being compensated in any way) by a person, group, company or organization to promote their interests. Paid advocacy on Wikipedia must be disclosed even if you have not specifically been asked to edit Wikipedia. Undisclosed paid advocacy is prohibited by our policies on neutral point of view and what Wikipedia is not, and is an especially serious type of COI; the Wikimedia Foundation regards it as a "black hat" practice akin to black-hat search-engine optimization.

Paid advocates are strongly discouraged from direct article editing, and should instead propose changes on the talk page of the article in question if an article exists. If the article does not exist, paid advocates are strongly discouraged from attempting to write an article at all. At best, any proposed article creation should be submitted through the articles for creation process, rather than directly.

Regardless, if you are receiving or expect to receive compensation for your edits, broadly construed, you are required by the Wikimedia Terms of Use to disclose your employer, client and affiliation. You can post such a mandatory disclosure to your user page at User:AgScribe. The template {{Paid}} can be used for this purpose – e.g. in the form: {{paid|user=AgScribe|employer=InsertName|client=InsertName}}. If I am mistaken – you are not being directly or indirectly compensated for your edits – please state that in response to this message. Otherwise, please provide the required disclosure. In either case, do not edit further until you answer this message. —C.Fred (talk) 14:01, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

Hi, Fred,

Thank you for your guidance. I am trying to comply. I work Dr. Angle. Updating his wikipedia page would be considered part of the duties of my job as an aide who helps him with, among other things, communications. But I am not paid directly and specifically for updating his wikipedia page. I was confused by the link where I think you were pointing me to file appropriate disclosures. I am, of course, willing to do so.

My employer is the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, which Dr. Angle leads. I work directly for Dr. Angle as his chief of staff.

Is that sufficient disclosure, or is there anything else I need to report?

Thanks for your patience.

Chris AgScribe (talk) 14:11, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

You said "Updating his wikipedia page would be considered part of the duties of my job"....this is sufficient to trigger the paid editing disclosure requirement of the Terms of Use. It does not require specific instructions to make edits. 331dot (talk) 14:49, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

Make sure you are logged in when posting. 331dot (talk) 14:50, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

You might find WP:BOSS relevant. Also WP:About you and our FAQ for article subjects. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:14, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

Your account has been indefinitely blocked from editing because it has been used for advertising or promotion, which is contrary to the purpose of Wikipedia. Also, your username gives the impression that the account represents a business, organisation, group, or web site, which is against the username policy.

If you intend to make useful contributions instead of promoting your business or organization, you may request unblock and a username change. In your reasons, you must follow all these steps:

1. Disclose any compensation you may receive for your contributions in accordance with the paid-contribution disclosure requirement; and
2. Convince us that you understand the reason for your block and that you will not repeat the kind of edits for which you were blocked; and
3. Describe in general terms the contributions that you intend to make if you are unblocked; and
4. Provide a new username.

To do this, insert the text {{unblock-spamun|Your proposed new username|Your reason here}} at the bottom of your talk page. Replace the text "Your proposed new username" with your new username and replace the text "Your reason here" with your reasons to be unblocked.

Please note that the new username you choose cannot already be taken and in use by another account. You can search to see if the username you'd like to choose is available. If the search returns that no global account with that username exists, that means it is still available.

Appeals: If, after reviewing the guide to appealing blocks, you believe this block was made in error, you may appeal it by adding the text {{unblock|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}} at the bottom of your talk page. Replace the text "Your reason here" with the reasons you believe the block was an error, and publish the page. Orange Mike | Talk 20:26, 8 October 2024 (UTC)

{{unblock-spamun|Chris Moran|Old name sounds like a business, which I'm not}}

If you intend to make useful contributions instead of promoting your business or organization, you may request unblock and a username change. In your reasons, you must follow all these steps:

1. Disclose any compensation you may receive for your contributions in accordance with the paid-contribution disclosure requirement; and ANSWER: I do not receive compensation for my contributions to Wikipedia. I am employed by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), so I seek to add factual biographical updates to the entry of the leader of UF/IFAS.
2. Convince us that you understand the reason for your block and that you will not repeat the kind of edits for which you were blocked; and ANSWER: I understand that wikipedia is not to be used as a vehicle to promote an organization. I do not intend to do so, only to present biographical information and descriptive information, not promotional.
3. Describe in general terms the contributions that you intend to make if you are unblocked; and ANSWER: I intend to update biographical details for J. Scott Angle, including honorifics, career information, updates, etc.
4. Provide a new username. ANSWER: See above. I do believe my real name, Chris Moran, has not yet been taken.

To do this, insert the text {{unblock-spamun|Your proposed new username|Your reason here}} at the bottom of your talk page. Replace the text "Your proposed new username" with your new username and replace the text "Your reason here" with your reasons to be unblocked. AgScribe (talk) 20:52, 11 October 2024 (UTC)

You need to remove the "nowiki" tags that are around your request for it to display properly.

Your employment is sufficient to trigger the paid editing disclosure requirement, it does not require specific payment for edits(otherwise every paid editor would deny being specifically paid to edit). You yourself said it was part of your job duties to make edits.

You will also need to specifically tell us how you will make contributions, consistent with WP:COI.

You don't have to use your real name if you don't wish to, your username only needs to be individualistic. 331dot (talk) 21:30, 11 October 2024 (UTC)

This user's request to be unblocked to request a change in username has been reviewed by an administrator, who declined the request. Other administrators may also review this block, but should not override the decision without a good reason (see the blocking policy). Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

AgScribe (block log • active blocks • global blocks • autoblocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))

---

Requested username:

Chris Moran (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Request reason:

Trying this again. Not sure what nowiki tags are

Old name sounds like a business, which I'm not

I'm fine with using my real name. Not trying to be secretive or witty.

Seeking access to continue edits to the J. Scott Angle page. Future edits would be consistent with those I have already made, updating his employment history, adding new honors. I now understand that the paid editing disclosure will appear with the page, but I hope to be granted restored editing privileges so that I can add/subtract from the entry. AgScribe (talk) 18:34, 12 October 2024 (UTC)

Decline reason:

Please answer asilvering's question below in a fresh unblock request. Thanks, HouseBlaster (talk • he/they) 17:19, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

I've fixed the formatting for your request. I'd suggest clicking "edit" at the top to edit this page, and not "reply". The reply feature is imperfect (it does not accommodate unblock requests well) and doesn't work well in all situations. 331dot (talk) 18:41, 12 October 2024 (UTC)

Hi Chris, I think you haven't quite understood the paid editing guidelines yet. Have a look at WP:COI again, specifically the bit at WP:UPE. Can you give us a concrete example of one edit you'd want to make, and what steps you'd take to do it? A small edit is fine. -- asilvering (talk) 02:49, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

The kind of edits I would want to make would be:

1. Job title changes. For example, he was appointed provost and then returned to his former role as senior vice president. If he changes job titles, I would want to update that.
2. Honors. For example, tomorrow he will be inducted into the Academy of Science, Engineering & Medicine of Florida. I would like to edit his entry to change the verb tense on the mention of that award to reflect that it has now actually happened.
3. Photo. I would like to add a photo.

As far as what steps I'd take to do it, I'm not sure what you mean. I would log in and change the language or add the new bit of information. Are you saying I should alert editors ahead of time? Happy to do so. AgScribe (talk) 20:27, 31 October 2024 (UTC)

What are the reliable sources you'd cite for 1 and 2, and describe how you'd arrange the photo shoot for 3. —C.Fred (talk) 20:40, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

For 1, I can't say because I am speculating on future events. But if he gets a new job or retires, there will likely be a university news release I can link to.

For 2, right now I'm only asking to change verb tenses because he got an honor today. There is currently no university news release on it, but his induction is confirmed here: https://www.asemfl.org/inductees/2024-inductees/ Of course if he wins honors in the future, I will want to add that and will cite the awarding organization to document it.

For 3, I have a photo I have been trying to insert for weeks. I have had the university photographer who took the photo try to contact wikipedia saying he took the photo and authorizes its use. I'm at a stalemate there, no answer. Can someone advise me on how I can get the photo included on his wikipedia page?

Thanks for your help and guidance on this. AgScribe (talk) 20:46, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

For 3, the photographer should follow the instructions at commons:Commons:Volunteer Response Team from their university email to confirm their status with the university, their authority to donate the image, and that they are licensing the image under Creative Commons license or placing it into the public domain. —C.Fred (talk) 20:53, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

For 2, https://www.asemfl.org/inductees/2024-inductees/ supports that he is being inducted at some point in 2024, but it does not specify the date of the induction. —C.Fred (talk) 20:54, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

Hi, C.Fred,

The agenda reflecting the date of the induction ceremony is here: https://www.asemfl.org/asemfl-2024-meeting/ If you scroll just beneath the green shaded area you'll see that on Nov. 1 at 11:10 a.m. there was an induction ceremony. AgScribe (talk) 21:24, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

So far you have not offered any examples of any legitimate purpose for which you would use this account, as opposed to adding to or subtracting from the article about your boss. You really don't seem to understand that such edits would be the worst possible things you could be seeking permission to do. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:01, 31 October 2024 (UTC)