Linda Lemasters, Director, EFC

Wikipedia and copyright

Hello Linda Lemasters, Director, EFC, and welcome to Wikipedia. Your addition to Education Facilities Clearinghouse has had to be removed, as it appears to have added copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder. While we appreciate your contributing to Wikipedia, there are certain things you must keep in mind about using information from your sources to avoid copyright or plagiarism issues here.

• You can only copy/translate a small amount of a source, and you must mark what you take as a direct quotation with double quotation marks (") and a cited source. You can read about this at Wikipedia:Non-free content in the sections on "text". See also Help:Referencing for beginners, for how to cite sources here.
• Aside from limited quotation, you must put all information in your own words and structure, in proper paraphrase. Following the source's words too closely can create copyright problems, so it is not permitted here; see Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing. (There is a college-level introduction to paraphrase, with examples, hosted by the Online Writing Lab of Purdue.) Even when using your own words, you are still, however, asked to cite your sources to verify information and to demonstrate that the content is not original research.
• Our primary policy on using copyrighted content is Wikipedia:Copyrights. You may also want to review Wikipedia:Copy-paste.
• If you own the copyright to the source you want to copy or are a designated agent, you may be able to license that text so that we can publish it here. However, there are steps that must be taken to verify that license before you do. See Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.
• In very rare cases (that is, for sources that are public domain or compatibly licensed), it may be possible to include greater portions of a source text. However, please seek help at the help desk before adding such content to the article. 99.9% of sources may not be added in this way, so it is necessary to seek confirmation first. If you do confirm that a source is public domain or compatibly licensed, you will still need to provide full attribution; see Wikipedia:Plagiarism for the steps you need to follow.
• Also note that Wikipedia articles may not be copied without attribution. If you want to copy from another Wikipedia project or article, you can, but please follow the steps in Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia.

It's very important that contributors understand and follow these practices, as policy requires that people who persistently do not must be blocked from editing. If you have any questions about this, you are welcome to leave me a message on my talk page. Thank you. — MusikAnimal ^talk 14:25, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of User:Linda Lemasters, Director, EFC

A tag has been placed on User:Linda Lemasters, Director, EFC requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to consist of content copy-and-pasted from other websites. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such pages may be deleted at any time.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, you can place a request here. McGeddon (talk) 15:28, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Contested deletion

This page should not be speedy deleted as an unambiguous copyright infringement, because... This is simply not true. There are no copyright laws against publishing this public information. It is general information about the United States Department of Education funded grant for the Education Facilities Clearinghouse. The George Washington University is the fiscal agent for these public funds. I need an explanation before I can respond to this claimed violation. Thank you! --24.249.18.42 (talk) 17:15, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Okay, it looks like the ed.gov content is public domain. efc.gwu.edu seems less clear. I've removed the speedy deletion template. --McGeddon (talk) 19:26, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Thank you. . .I think I better understand the questions. Our EFC Website is hosted by GWU, as it is the fiscal agent. The Web address of efc.gwu.edu being referenced for the information about the Clearinghouse in no way is plagiarizing or not giving credit to the university. My staff and I at the EFC are responsible for all content and wrote the descriptive information about the Educational Facilities Clearinghouse. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Linda Lemasters, Director, EFC (talk • contribs) 20:48, 25 June 2014‎

Is this user page intended to be a draft for an article you want to see at Education Facilities Clearinghouse? --McGeddon (talk) 06:52, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

I just want to have general information posted about the Clearinghouse and its existence. The NCEF that currently comes up when a search is made with "Education Facilities Clearinghouse," is no longer the current entity supported by the USDOE grant. My goal is simply to have the current Clearinghouse in Wikipedia and information about it. Thank you.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Linda Lemasters, Director, EFC (talk • contribs) 12:18, 26 June 2014‎

I'm afraid Wikipedia very explicitly disallows this: "Userspace is not a free web host and should not be used to indefinitely host pages that look like articles". If your organisation does not currently meet the criteria required for a full article, then it is not appropriate to have a page about it on the Wikipedia site, in any location. --McGeddon (talk) 17:19, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

I am a novice with this. What do I need to do? Thank you for your patience.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Linda Lemasters, Director, EFC (talk • contribs) 01:44, 27 June 2014‎

It looks like the article you created was deleted on sight for:

1. being promotional in tone,
2. being a straight copy-and-paste from websites which were not clearly identified as being public domain, and
3. offering "no indication of importance".

Fixing either of the first two fixes the other: the article just needs to be written to be in the neutral, factual tone taken by other Wikipedia articles, even if this is only a couple of paragraphs. The only other thing a new article really needs is a couple of reliable sources that have written about the organisation, which will also provide an "indication of importance".

I've moved your draft to Draft:Education Facilities Clearinghouse where you're welcome to improve it. Note that as the director of the organisation you're writing about you have an unambiguous conflict of interest - some advice on how to handle this can be found at Wikipedia:FIRST#Are_you_closely_connected_to_the_article_topic.3F. When you're happy with the draft and think that it meets the requirements listed above, just hit the big "Submit your draft when you are ready for it to be reviewed!" button on its page and somebody will take a look. --McGeddon (talk) 08:37, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks so much. . .will do!

Your submission at Articles for creation: Education Facilities Clearinghouse (July 4)

Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time.
Please read the comments left by the reviewer on your submission. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.

• If you would like to continue working on the submission, you can find it at Draft:Education Facilities Clearinghouse.
• To edit the submission, click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window.
• If you need any assistance, you can ask for help at the Articles for creation help desk or on the reviewer's talk page.

Thank you for your
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LukeSurl ^{t c} 11:13, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

Hello! Linda Lemasters, Director, EFC, I noticed your article was declined at Articles for Creation, and that can be disappointing. If you are wondering or curious about 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! LukeSurl t c 11:13, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

Teahouse talkback: you've got messages!

Hello, Linda Lemasters, Director, EFC. Your question has been answered at the Teahouse Q&A board. Feel free to reply there!
Please note that all old questions are archived after 2-3 days of inactivity. Message added by MadScientistX11 (talk) 02:33, 5 July 2014 (UTC). (You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{teahouse talkback}} template).

Education Facilities Clearinghouse

Hello Linda. As you can see, your draft (in a much altered and expanded form) is now in article space. Talk:Education Facilities Clearinghouse has a note from me explaining the article's structure and contents. One word of caution... This is an encyclopedia article, not the place to repeat the contents of your website or to publicize new initiatives, etc. That's what the link to in the External links section is for. If readers are interested they will click on the link. Please do not use the page to add "updates" about the progress of the program or new additions to the website. Per our conflict of interest guidelines, if there is new information which you feel is significant or essential, please post a comment to that effect on Talk:Education Facilities Clearinghouse and other editors (including me) will evaluate it to see if it would be a suitable addition to the article. I would appreciate it if you could pass this message onto other personnel and/or people associated with the program or GW. Best wishes, Voceditenore (talk) 06:36, 6 July 2014 (UTC)