Revol James

Adding links to articles

• I am posting this message to you because you are one of a fairly large group of fairly inexperienced editors who have recently been adding links to the article The Odyssey (Smith), and many of the links have been unsuitable. I said "fairly inexperienced", but that expression covers a range from several brand new accounts to some which have been around for some time, but have previously done very little editing. I shall first describe what the concern about the editing is, and then ask you whether you can clarify for me how this has happened.

• Adding links from one article to another, known as "wikilinks", can be very helpful, but it is a very common mistake among new editors to add too many wikilinks to articles, in on or other of two ways, both of which are commonly referred to as "overlinking". Firstly, a wikilink should normally be added only if it provides information which is likely to help readers of the article in which the link is placed to understand content of that article, or provide further information closely connected to content of that article. Linking to articles in other situations is not just unnecessary, it can actually be harmful, because research has established that the more irrelevant, or only slightly relevant, links there are in a page, the less likely readers are to find the ones which they might find useful. Thus, for example, nobody reading the article The Odyssey (Smith) is likely to need to consult the article clock in order to understand content of The Odyssey (Smith), nor does the article clock contain any information about Smith's Odyssey, so linking the one to the other is not likely to be helpful, but that is one of the links which have recently been added. Secondly, an article should not normally contain more than one link to any other article: just linking the first mention of the linked term is enough.

• There is nothing unusual about new or fairly inexperienced editors overlinking: as I said above, it is a very common mistake. However, for so many inexperienced editors to all come along to the same article and all start making very similar edits is most unusual; in fact I don't believe I have ever seen it before. There must be a connection; maybe someone has been organising some sort of group editing and has encouraged editors to add links to that article, or something of the kind. Are you able to give me any information which may clarify for me what is happening? JBW (talk) 22:38, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

  I'm sorry, I created my Wikipedia account to contribute to the encyclopedia, I saw those articles in recommendations for improvement, for my part I am not in any group. @JBW Revol James (talk) 23:11, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

OK, thanks for the explanation. JBW (talk) 09:39, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Blocked as a sockpuppet

You have been blocked indefinitely from editing for abusing multiple accounts as a sockpuppet of User:Claudio Antonio Ruiz per the evidence presented at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Claudio Antonio Ruiz. Note that multiple accounts are allowed, but not for illegitimate reasons, and any contributions made while evading blocks or bans may be reverted or deleted.

If you think there are good reasons for being unblocked, please review Wikipedia's guide to appealing blocks, then add the following text to the bottom of your talk page: {{unblock|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}}.  Spicy (talk) 16:17, 29 March 2024 (UTC)