Lazamag

May 2020

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions; however, please remember the essential rule of respecting copyrights. Edits to Wikipedia, such as your edit to the page Alex Prager, may not contain material from copyrighted sources unless used with permission. It is almost never okay to copy extensive text out of a book or website and paste it into a Wikipedia article with little or no alteration, though you can clearly and briefly quote copyrighted text in the right circumstances. Content that does not comply with this legal rule must be removed. For more information on this, see:

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I hope you enjoy editing Wikipedia! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Feel free to write a note on the bottom of my talk page if you want to get in touch with me. Again, welcome! — Diannaa (talk) 01:09, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Your addition to Alex Prager has been removed in whole or in part, as it appears to have added copyrighted material to Wikipedia without evidence of permission from the copyright holder. If you are the copyright holder, please read Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials for more information on uploading your material to Wikipedia. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted material, including text or images from print publications or from other websites, without an appropriate and verifiable license. All such contributions will be deleted. You may use external websites or publications as a source of information, but not as a source of content, such as sentences or images—you must write using your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously, and persistent violators of our copyright policy will be blocked from editing. See Wikipedia:Copying text from other sources for more information. — Diannaa (talk) 00:53, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Managing a conflict of interest

Hello, Bvpicts. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about in the page Alex Prager, 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, colleagues, company, organization or competitors;
• propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (you can use the {{request edit}} template);
• 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 WP:Spam);
• 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, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. — Diannaa (talk) 21:10, 18 May 2020 (UTC)

July 2022

Your edit to Alex Prager has been removed in whole or in part, as it appears to have added copyrighted material to Wikipedia without evidence of permission from the copyright holder. If you are the copyright holder, please read Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials for more information on uploading your material to Wikipedia. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted material, including text or images from print publications or from other websites, without an appropriate and verifiable license. All such contributions will be deleted. You may use external websites or publications as a source of information, but not as a source of content, such as sentences or images—you must write using your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously, and persistent violators of our copyright policy will be blocked from editing. See Wikipedia:Copying text from other sources for more information. — Diannaa (talk) 14:54, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

File copyright problem with File:BTS Alex Prager TabithaDenholm.jpeg

Thank you for uploading File:BTS Alex Prager TabithaDenholm.jpeg. However, it is currently missing information on its copyright and licensing status. Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously. It may be deleted soon, unless we can verify that it has an acceptable license status and a verifiable source. Please add this information by editing the image description page. You may refer to the image use policy to learn what files you can or cannot upload on Wikipedia. The page on copyright tags may help you to find the correct tag to use for your file. If the file is already gone, you can still make a request for undeletion and ask for a chance to fix the problem.

Please also check any other files you may have uploaded to make sure they are correctly tagged. Here is a list of your uploads.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them at the media copyright questions page. Thanks again for your cooperation. -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:49, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Hi! This image is ©ALEX PRAGER, Courtesy of Alex Prager Studio. I added it to the image description page. Let me know if I ned to do anything else. Thanks! Bvpicts (talk) 01:08, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Please take the time to read WP:CONSENT, c:COM:VRT#Licensing images: when do I contact VRT? and c:COM:VRT#If you are NOT the copyright holder before trying to edit this file's page again because simply adding "©ALEX PRAGER, Courtesy Alex Prager Studio" is a insufficient file copyright license for Wikipedia purposes. If the copyright of this photo is owned by Alex Prager Studio and the studio is willing to give its CONSENT, then have someone from the studio send a CONSENT email as much to Wikimedia VRT for verification purposes. If, on the other hand, the copyright holder is someone else, you're going to need to get that person (or their representative) to send a CONSENT email to Wikimedia VRT. Without any way to verify coyright holder's consent, there's no way this file can be kept. Now, before anyone starts sending any emails, I strongly suggest they carefully read c:COM:L, c:COM:LRV and c:COM:ENFORCE to make sure they understand what such a thing means. Basically, the only types of free licenses that Wikipedia accepts are ones in which the copyright holder is giving their consent to pretty much allow anyone anywhere in the world to download the file at anytime and use for any purpose (including derivative and commercial uses) without needing to get separate permission to do so. So, if the copyright holder doesn't want to agree to this, they shouldn't give their CONSENT. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:19, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Understood! I just contacted VRT and sent an email to give consent. Thanks. Bvpicts (talk) 01:36, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

One thing you need to understand is that giving your CONSENT doesn't automatically guarantee that the file will end up being used in Alex Prager. As AndyTheGrump posted in one of their responses to you Helf Desk question, Wikipedia subjects don't really WP:OWN whatever is written about them on Wikipedia; in other words, their consent is not really needed for article content to be added or removed. This applies to not only textual content, but also images. The image you removed seemed fine for Wikipedia purposes as long as it's licensing is valid. Personally, the photo you've uploaded also seems OK too as long as it's copyright licensing can be sorted out, but others might feel differently. If that happens, then deciding which image to use may need to be determined through WP:CONSENSUS. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:45, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

To add to that, it would be useful to know why Prager objects to the earlier photo. I can't see anything obviously problematic with it. AndyTheGrump (talk) 01:53, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

This is not reflective of Prager's professional likeness. That earlier photo was taken as a personal portrait and should not be used for professional purposes. Bvpicts (talk) 02:04, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

What you and Prager need to understand asap is that Wikipedia is also not to be used for her professional purposes. The article about her is not to be considered part of her social media presence. You might want to take a look at WP:LUC and WP:PROUD, and explain to her that she has pretty much zero editorial control over what's written about her on Wikipedia. There are ways she can seek assistance as explained in WP:BIOSELF, but otherwise that's about it. When it comes to photos, consideration of the subject's wishes is sometimes given when the photo is question is pretty bad per WP:BLPIMAGE, but otherwise what's best for Wikipedia's purposes is what usually ends up being chosen. -- Marchjuly (talk) 02:10, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Undisclosed paid editing

Hello Bvpicts. The nature of your edits, such as the one you made to Alex Prager, 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 compensated by a person, group, company or organization to use Wikipedia to promote their interests. 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 very 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 extremely 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:Bvpicts. The template {{Paid}} can be used for this purpose – e.g. in the form: {{paid|user=Bvpicts|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. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:20, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Based upon some of your recent posts, it appears that you not only have a pretty WP:APPARENTCOI, but also might be covered by WP:PAID. If you're working on behalf of Alex Prager or her studio, then you need to make sure you properly declare your connection to her or it. Undisclosed paid editing is prohibited by the Wikimedia Fooundation's meta:Terms of Use and can lead to your account being blocked by an administrator. If you're not sure whether your connection qualifies as paid (or compensated editing), please take a look at meta:Terms of use/FAQ on paid contributions without disclosure. It better to err on the side of caution here and be transparent about any connection you have to Alex Prager by following the guidance in WP:DISCLOSE or WP:COIDISCLOSEPAY. Doing so will make it much easier for others to help you and also much easier for you to avoid problems. Trying to fly under the radar might let you skate by for awhile, but it's going to make other much more suspicious of your intentions if any connection between you and Alex Prager subsequently comes to light. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:28, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Hello! I am not being paid. I am the studio director of Alex Prager and am the sole owner of this image. I just sent the appropriate permissions email to permissions-enwikimedia.org. Thanks! Bvpicts (talk) 01:35, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

As the studio's director you're going to be considered to have a WP:FCOI in anything related to Prager or the studio; so, you would be subject to WP:PAID even though you're not a paid empolyee per se. If you disagree with this assessment, you can seek other input at WP:COIN. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:37, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Okay so I cannot upload this photo on her behalf? Who can upload this image? Bvpicts (talk) 01:42, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

You can upload the photo on her behalf as long as the copyright holder is giving their WP:CONSENT (or c:COM:CONSENT) and fully understands what that entails; you do, however, need to make sure you properly declare your connection to her or the studio as explained in WP:COIDISCLOSEPAY. You should also take a look at WP:PSCOI#Steps for engagement and WP:COIADVICE before editing any content about her in any Wikipedia articles. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:50, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Okay please let me know how to go ahead and give consent as the copyright holder beyond what I have already sent. Thanks! Bvpicts (talk) 02:05, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Just a quick note, as you have a COI with the topic (and declared so) you shouldn't edit Alex Prager directly (which is I think what the original post was referring to). Once you have sorted out the copyright problems and such, you should instead request the change of photograph on Talk:Alex Prager. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 11:16, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

How VRT works

Let me add a little bit more explaining how VRT verfication works. The copyright holder needs to send a "consent email" to Wikimedia's Volunteer Response Team (VRT) for verification purposes. You can find examples how such emails should be worded both at WP:CONSENT and c:COM:CONSENT. The copyright holder should use an official email address if at all possible (as opposed to a free email address) because it helps aid in verification. After the copyright holder sends their email, they should receive an automated reply from VRT that contains a VRT ticket number. The responses come fairly quickly so the copyright holder should check their email spam folder if they don't see one in their inbox. The VRT ticket number is sort of like a case number and the copyright holder can use it to reference their original email in any future correspondence with VRT (if necessary). VRT will only discuss private information with the copyirght holder (i.e. the emailer) and they will only discuss details via email. General queries can be made at WP:VRTN (or c:COM:VRTN), but VRT members can discuss specifics. After the copyright holder has received a response from VRT, you can added the template {{Permission pending}} to the file's page. This will let others know the VRT has been emailed and the emailed is awaiting review. If the VRT member reviewing the email finds everything to be in order, they will add the template {{Permission ticket}} to the file's page to let others know that copyright holder intent has been verified. If the VRT member finds the email to be lacking for some reason, they will add the template {{Permission received}} to the file's page and let the copyright holder know via email what else is needed. The process can take a bit of time because there are only so many VRT members, but eventually things will be sorted out one way or the other. If, by chance, the file ends up deleted before the VRT process is completed, don't panic and reupload the file. The file can be restored once it has been VRT verified. -- Marchjuly (talk) 02:05, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

Okay great! I already sent that email and have received the automated reply with a VRT ticket number. I will wait to receive the next email from the VRT member. Thank you for your help! Bvpicts (talk) 02:11, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

I've add the template {{Permission pending}} to the file's page based upon what you posted above. You can help to further clarify matters by going to the file's page, clicking "Edit" and then adding the VRT Ticket number you received in the |id= parameter field of the template: the syntax of the template I added looks like {{Permission pending|id=}]. Right now, the field is currently blank and all that you need to do is add the ticket number after the equal sign. The rest will be taken care of by VRT. If you're not sure how to add the ticket number, post it below here and I will do it for you.

You can also help clarify things by adding a FCT|file copyright license to the file 's page and by using Template:Information for the file's description. The file copyright license should be the same as the one you mentioned in your email to VRT. You can find some examples of such licenses at WP:ICT/FL and they can pretty much be added in template form to file pages. The most commonly used licenses are Creative Commons licenses, but other types of licenses are possible. There are various Creative Commmons licenses and you can find out about them here and here. Most Creative Commons licenses (CC) are OK for Wikipedia's purposes, except for "no commercial reuse" (NC), "no derivative reuse" (ND) (or any combination thereto) types of licenses. Once you release something under a CC license is pretty much non-revocable and people will be able to reuse photo as long as they comply with the terms of the license even if they do so in a way that you or Prager might not like.

You can try to place other restrictions on the resue of your photo, but these tend to be non-copyright-related and are not really a concern to the Wikimedia Foundation; so, you will be responsible for trying to enforce any such restrictions. Moreover, you will also be responsible for resolving any reuse issues outside of Wikimedia Foundation operated sites (e.g. English Wikipedia). In a nut shell, releasing your content under a free license doesn't transfer your copyright ownership to third-parties; rather, it's just making a version of said content much easier for others to use without having to contact you each time to get permission. So, as long as they're complying with the terms of the license you choose, there's very little (from a copyright standpoint) that you can do to stop them from continuing use to said content.

So, if you've uploaded this photo just for use on Wikipedia or just for non-commercial types of uses, you should email VRT again, tell them you want to rescind your consent and then just let the file be deleted because there aren't really any do-overs once everything has been verified by VRT. Since Prager makes her living as a photographer/film maker and since you are running her studio, you both probably already know most of this or have people to help you with it; many people uploading files, however, don't and only realize what a "free license" means after it's too late and they start seeing their photos being used in ways they don't like. -- Marchjuly (talk) 04:54, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

November 2022

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

You may request a change of username and unblock if you intend to make useful contributions instead of promoting your business or organization. To do this, first search Special:CentralAuth for available usernames that comply with the username policy. Once you have found an acceptable username, post 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. In your reasons, you must:

• Disclose any compensation you may receive for your contributions in accordance with the paid-contribution disclosure requirement.
• 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.
• Describe in general terms the contributions that you intend to make if you are unblocked.

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 17:05, 8 November 2022 (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.

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

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Requested username:

Studio 000 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Request reason:

I work for Alex Prager. I am her studio director. I was trying to add a photo to her page that the studio owns all rights to but I will have the photographer upload it instead. I will not try to add another photo to this page.

Decline reason:

This does not address your violations of WP:PROMO and does not tell us how you'd abide by WP:COI going forward. Yamla (talk) 19:03, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

Hello. Thanks for sending those articles. I understand that Wikipedia is not a soapbox or means of promotion. Moving forward, I will disclose my COI when involved with affected articles and will propose changes on talk pages (by using the {{request edit}} template), or by posting a note at the COI noticeboard, so that they can be peer reviewed. I didn't know this was the case but I do now. Thank you. If I still need to change my username I'd like to be apsbvp if that is okay. Thanks! 100.2.119.250 (talk) 16:56, 10 November 2022 (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.

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

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Requested username:

apsbvp (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Request reason:

Hello. Thanks for sending those articles. I understand that Wikipedia is not a soapbox or means of promotion. Moving forward, I will disclose my COI when involved with affected articles and will propose changes on talk pages (by using the {{request edit}} template), or by posting a note at the COI noticeboard, so that they can be peer reviewed. I didn't know this was the case but I do now. Thank you. If I still need to change my username I'd like to be apsbvp if that is okay. Thanks!

Decline reason:

One unblock request open at a time, please. — Daniel Case (talk) 07:19, 19 December 2022 (UTC)

Apologies! I will just respond on the other thread. 76.178.71.10 (talk) 20:07, 19 December 2022 (UTC)

Bvpicts (talk) 20:33, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

Hi! Okay. How do I go about doing that? 100.2.119.250 (talk) 16:56, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

I'll note that "Studio 000" is almost certainly not an appropriate username. See WP:USERNAME for more details. --Yamla (talk) 19:04, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

Understood! I would like to be apsbvp if that is an appropriate username. Thank you! Bvpicts (talk) 20:34, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

This user's request to be unblocked to request a change in username has been reviewed by an administrator, who accepted the request.

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

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Requested username:

apsbvp (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Request reason:

Please unblock me. I understand not to make this type of contribution again. I understand that Wikipedia is not a soapbox or means of promotion. Moving forward, I will disclose my COI when involved with affected articles and will propose changes on talk pages (by using the {{request edit}} template), or by posting a note at the COI noticeboard, so that they can be peer reviewed. I didn't know this was the case but I do now. Thank you. If I still need to change my username I'd like to be apsbvp if that is okay. Thanks!

Accept reason:

Allowing username change to lazamag, as outlined below. Please select an option from Wikipedia:Changing username and file a request as soon as possible to avoid re-blocking. This unblocking is also made with the user's understanding that they are not allowed to directly edit any articles related to Alex Prager, and must use the request edit template on those article's talk pages to request changes. Z1720 (talk) 01:22, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Bvpicts (talk) 00:51, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

I suspect that if your current username is viewed as unacceptable than this one would be as well - especially since I assume that the aps would stand for something like "Alex Prager ....". If you want a clearcut username that doesn't give away personal info, I'd suggest something like "Fakename at bvpicts/apsbvp" (obviously changing fakename to something fitting). Nosebagbear (talk) 16:42, 19 December 2022 (UTC)

Understood! How about lazamg as a username? Thanks! 76.178.71.10 (talk) 20:07, 19 December 2022 (UTC)

Apologies I was not logged in above. Can I change my username to lazamag? Thanks! Bvpicts (talk) 20:10, 19 December 2022 (UTC)

@Orangemike: as the blocking admin, are you satisfied with the explanation above about how the editor will address their COI, and the username change? Z1720 (talk) 03:42, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

Understood @Orangemike @Z1720 thanks! Bvpicts (talk) 17:08, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

The name is fine, as long as you understand that you can't be editing any Prager-related articles, even after disclosure of your COI. --Orange Mike | Talk

I have unblocked this account, per the discussion above. Please read the "Accept reason" section carefully to avoid further concerns. Z1720 (talk) 01:22, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Wonderful, thank you! Do I have to do anything else or will my username change automatically? Thanks! Bvpicts (talk) 01:30, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Please go to Special:GlobalRenameRequest to request the new username, and please wait until it is processed before editing other pages. Thanks, Z1720 (talk) 02:59, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Rename from "Bvpicts" to "Lazamag"

Rename from "Bvpicts" to "Lazamag" done -- Deepfriedokra (talk) 02:00, 7 January 2023 (UTC)