CDPHOPA

Possible conflict of interest

If you are affiliated with some of the people, places or things you have written about in the article California Department of Public Health, you may have a conflict of interest. In keeping with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, edits where there is a conflict of interest, or where such a conflict might reasonably be inferred, are strongly discouraged. If you have a conflict of interest, you should avoid or exercise great caution when:

1. editing or creating articles related to you, your organization, or its competitors, as well as projects and products they are involved with;
2. participating in deletion discussions about articles related to your organization or its competitors; and
3. linking to the Wikipedia article or website of your organization in other articles (see Wikipedia:Spam).

Please familiarize yourself with relevant policies and guidelines, especially those pertaining to neutral point of view, verifiability of information, and autobiographies.

For information on how to contribute to Wikipedia when you have a conflict of interest, please see our frequently asked questions for organizations. Thank you.

see also Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard -- NathanoNL [ usr | msg | log ] 00:33, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Copyright violation

Unfortunately I had to revert the edits you made to the California Department of Public Health page, since the content you added was copied verbatim from the agency's webpages that are copyrighted by the State of California. This is a copyright violation and not allowed on wikipedia. The information in the article:

1. Needs to be phrased in your own words.
2. Be neutrally worded. For example you cannot claim that, "CDPH is dedicated to optimizing the health and well-being of the people in California."; only that that is its stated mission
3. While some factual details about the department can be sourced from its own website and publications, the bulk of the article should ideally be sourced from neutral third-party sources.

Since you have an self-admitted conflict of interest and, despite your good intentions, are not yet familar with wikipedia's content policies and guidelines, I would urge you not to edit the article directly, but instead use the talkpage to present sources and information that you think should be added. Also keep in mind that editing wikipedia articles by the department's Office of Public Affairs' employee can lead to adverse publicity for the department and you personally. So it would be best to exercise caution. Regards. Abecedare (talk) 01:33, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

All is not lost; I've taken a look at the edits and distilled some of the encyclopedic information. Wikipedia should not republish the official website verbatim (there's no need, anyway, since we can just link to it). But some of the information is useful enough to paraphrase. I've taken a first-pass at it. As mentioned, feel free to comment at the talk page. While there is nothing wrong with directly editing the page yourself, the hesitance of the other editors seems to suggest erring on the side of caution - i.e. your contributions to this article should be indirect. This is probably over-cautious. In any case, you can feel free to edit the rest of Wikipedia without conflict-of-interest; it will help you get used to the de-facto and official policies around the encyclopedia. Nimur (talk) 14:17, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

I appreciate the feedback. I would like to add a link to our Office of Binational Border Health, which I had listed (along with our other offices) but it was deleted. Also, there was text (the Medical Marijuana Program) that was not contributed by CDPHOPA. I would suggest removing that external link since there is othernwise no mention of the MMP in the wikipedia entry. CDPHOPA (talk) 16:14, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Username concern

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia!

I hope not to seem unfriendly or make you feel unwelcome, but I noticed your username, and I am concerned that it might not meet Wikipedia's username policy for the following reason: your username is the acronym for the California Department of Public Health, Office of Public Affairs, and therefore violates username policy. After you look over that policy, could we discuss that concern here?

I'd appreciate learning your own views, for instance your reasons for wanting this particular name, and what alternative username you might accept that avoids raising this concern.

You have several options freely available to you:

• If you can relieve my concern through discussing it here, I can stop worrying about it.
• If the two of us can't agree here, we can ask for help through Wikipedia's dispute resolution process, such as requesting comments from other Wikipedians. Wikipedia administrators usually abide by agreements reached through this process.
• You can keep your contributions history under a new username. Visit Wikipedia:Changing username and follow the guidelines there.

Thank you. ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe Talk to Nihonjoe 18:35, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

I am an employee in the Office of Public Affairs for the California Department of Public Health. I selected the username (CDPHOPA) so my affiliation with CDPH would be easily known. I would like to retain that username for that very reason. 158.96.4.13 (talk) 18:40, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately, that violates the username policy (which can be read here). If you are not willing to change your username to one compliant with the policy, then your username will need to be blocked. Additionally, if you are here only to edit CDPH articles, that violates the conflict of interest guideline (as mentioned by others above). Please let me know what you would like to do by replying here. ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe Talk to Nihonjoe 18:48, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Can you clarify which part of the user name policy it violates? The guidelines seem to address private businesses rather than government agencies. I work for a government agency and disclosing my employer is important to me.

Regarding the COI: Wikipedia already had an entry on my agency, to which I contributed nonbiased content (without editing or deleting existing information).

For comparision I've looked at another government agency wikipedia page, that of the FBI. Much of that information has come from the FBI itself.

Thank you for your help.

158.96.4.13 (talk) 19:22, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Government agencies are treated as companies for the purposes of the username policy. As indicated above, it's strongly recommended that you not contribute directly to the article but rather contribute to the talk page. As for where information comes from, yes, a lot of information on the FBI page may have come from the FBI site or other related sources, but we don't allow the FBI to have an official (or unofficial) account to edit it or even post about it. If you are going to be contributing to articles other than those related to the CDPH, then we can allow you to continue editing as long as you change your username. If you are only interested in editing this set of articles, then your account will be blocked. ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe Talk to Nihonjoe 19:37, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Can you recommend a username that is compliant with the policy and still allows people to identify me as an employee of CDPH?

I apologize for any confusion, but you may not have a username which identifies you as an employee of CDPH. You may make a note of that fact on your userpage if you wish, but your username must be changed. Also, are you planning to edit articles unrelated to CDPH? ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe Talk to Nihonjoe 21:18, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Your account has been blocked from editing Wikipedia because it appears to be mainly intended or used for promotional purposes. Please read the following carefully.

Why can't I edit Wikipedia?

Because Wikipedia does not allow any form of spam or other promotion of people, products, companies or other groups (even non-commercial or charitable ones). Wikipedia's use for such purposes will result in the blocking of the account involved. Please read Wikipedia:FAQ/Organization and Wikipedia:Conflict of interest for our rules about this.

In addition, user accounts are for individuals only, not for companies or groups or other collective editing. Your username should reflect this. Usernames that appear to be promotional (such as those that make reference to a company or product) violate our username policy and are typically blocked to enforce that policy.

What can I do now?

If you have no interest in writing about some other topic than your organization, group, company, or product, you will probably not be allowed to edit Wikipedia again. Consider using one of the many websites that allow this instead.

If you do intend to make contributions about some other topic, you must convince a Wikipedia administrator that you mean it. To that end, please do the following:

• Add the text {{unblock|Your reason here}} below this message box.
• Replace the text "Your reason here" with your reason to be unblocked. In this reason, you must:

• Tell us what new username you want to use. Please make sure that your new username does not violate our username policy and check that it has not already been taken (click here to search).
• 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.

If instead you believe that you have been blocked by mistake (i.e., you have not in fact been using Wikipedia for promotional purposes), please write {{unblock|Your reason here}} below this message box and replace the text "Your reason here" with the reason why. See also Wikipedia:Appealing a block for more information.

--Orange Mike | Talk 01:02, 9 July 2009 (UTC) formerly with TennDeptEmpSec, later with WisDeptRev

{{unblock|more familiar with policies now. I am requesting to have my username unblocked. It was not my intention to promote my company, a government agency. There was an existing entry on my agency with two items that mentioned my agency's programs. I did not create that existing entry nor do I know who did. What was missing was any information about my agency that would have educated the public about my agency and its public health programs. I did use copyrighted information that had been created by my agency, so there are no copywrite issues. My employer (a public agency) owns the copyright. The information that I posted was neutral and fact-based; in fact, one of the administrators commented that it was pretty balanced. I would like to be able to post information again on Wikipedia, if it pertains to public health issues. I created my username in good faith to show my connection to the content. I was trying to be upfront and transparent. I appreciate your consideration. CDPHOPA (talk) 17:35, 9 July 2009 (UTC)}}

Hi CDPHOPA, we can't unblock you until you provide an alternative username that represents yourself as an individual instead of the organization that you represent. Please follow the instructions below on how to request a new username. Thanks. --  Netsnipe  â–º  01:20, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

"information about my agency that would have educated the public about my agency and its public health programs." sounds like what we call "promotional" edits, which we treat as equivalent to advertising. Agencies don't approve of a genuinely neutral point of view, because it may not match the story that management is spinning. (I speak from 34 years in state government, including in one state's Division of Public Health [some of the finest people I've ever worked with].) If that's your intention, we are going to be reluctant to unblock you. --Orange Mike | Talk 13:07, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

This account, CDPHOPA, has been blocked indefinitely from editing Wikipedia, because your username does not meet our username policy.

Your username is the only reason for this block. You are welcome to choose a new username (see below).

A username should not be promotional, related to a "real-world" group or organization, misleading, offensive, or disruptive. Also, usernames may not end in the word "bot" unless the account is an approved bot account.

Please choose a new account name that meets our policy guidelines. However, do not create a new account if you wish to credit your existing contributions to a new name through a username change. To request a username change:

1. Add {{unblock-un|your new username here}} below. You should be able to edit this talk page even though you are blocked. If not, you may wish to contact the blocking administrator by clicking on "E-mail this user" on their talk page.
2. At an administrator's discretion, you may be unblocked for 24 hours to file a request.
3. Please note that you may only request a name that is not already in use, so please check here for a list of names that have already been taken. For more information, please see Wikipedia:Changing username.

If you feel that you were blocked in error, you may appeal this block by adding the text {{unblock|Your reason here}} below, but you should read our guide to appealing blocks first.

This user's unblock request has been reviewed by an administrator, who declined the request. Other administrators may also review this block, but should not override the decision without good reason (see the blocking policy).

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

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Request reason:

If I change the username so it does not reflect my CDPH affiliation will my edits be replaced or allowed? From looking at Netsnip's comments it sounds as if that's the only issue. I've looked at other wikipedia entries for CA state agencies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:State_agencies_of_California) and they are chock full of information/education taken from agency websites and agency documents. In fact, they are providing much of the same type of information about state agencies that I was trying to provide about mine, primarly what the agencies do for the public. There are numerous examples. Exactly who posted the entries, I do not know, but the content is educational in nature as is what I had posted. I think the issue here is trying to provide information to the public while working within the Wikipedia guidelines. I don't think the background of an administrator, or an administrator's opinions about management "spin", is pertinent. I am trying to follow the guidelines and get some guidance. Are there still concerns about using copyrighted government material and COI? It would be very helpful to learn what I can do so my agency's wikipedia entry mirrors those of other state agencies that have been allowed on wikipedia. CDPHOPA (talk) 5:22 pm, Today (UTC−6) CDPHOPA (talk) 19:34, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Decline reason:

I apologize for any confusion, but you do not seem to understand (or at least unable or unwilling to grasp) the way Wikipedia works. If you are going to be editing more than articles related to your workplace and generally helping to improve the overall encyclopedia (and not just this one and any related articles), then you can have an account once your username is changed. However, you seem intent on only editing the article about the agency for which you work, so your unblock request is declined. ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe Talk to Nihonjoe 01:46, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

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If you want to make any further unblock requests, please read the guide to appealing blocks first, then use the {{unblock}} template again. If you make too many unconvincing or disruptive unblock requests, you may be prevented from editing this page until your block has expired. Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

The first thing I want to do is change my username. Can I do that while my current username is blocked? One of the problems is that I am getting feedback from numerous "administrators", and some of that information has been conflicting. Some administrators seem to want to try to predict what I will do. I am also asking questions that are going unanswered, which does not help either. 1) Can I change my username while my account is blocked? 2) Are there still concerns about using material from a copyright protected government agency website?

CDPHOPA (talk) 15:06, 14 July 2009 (UTC)