Sarahehill

Welcome!

Hello, Smpcorp, and Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions to this free encyclopedia. If you decide that you need help, check out Getting Help below, ask me on my talk page, or place {{Help me}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by using four tildes (~~~~) or by clicking if shown; this will automatically produce your username and the date. Also, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field with your edits. Below are some useful links to facilitate your involvement. Yngvadottir Yngvadottir (talk) 15:38, 17 March 2014 (UTC) Getting started A tutorial • Our five pillars • Getting mentored How to: Edit a page • Upload and use images • Create your first article Intuitive guide to Wikipedia • Article Creation Wizard Getting help Frequently asked questions • Tips Where to ask questions or make comments Request administrator attention Help desk: A Wiki Styled page to ask questions on Help directory: A comprehensive list-style help contents page Policies and guidelines Neutral point of view • No original research Verifiability • Reliable sources • Citing sources What Wikipedia is not • Biographies of living persons List of policies • Three-revert rule • Sock puppetry Copyrights • Policy for non-free content • Image use policy External links • Spam • Vandalism • List of guidelines Deletion policy • Conflict of interest • Notability The community Build consensus • Resolve disputes Assume good faith • Civility • Etiquette No personal attacks • No legal threats Community portal • Village pump Signpost • IRC channels • Mailing lists Writing articles Be bold in editing • Develop an article The perfect article • Simplified manual of style Stubs • Categories • Disambiguation Peer review • Featured content Miscellaneous User pages • Talk pages Awards a registered contributor can achieve and award Clean up: General • Spam • Vandalism Join a WikiProject • Translation Useful templates • Tools • User scripts

Hi Smpcorp: Thanks for the thank you :-) I'd like to thank you also for registering an account and seeking to help improve Wikipedia. However, to justify an article on Standard Motor Products, Inc., there needs to be evidence that the company is frequently written about in reliable independent sources. Here's a summary of the requirements; Here are specific guidelines for companies. All I see so far in your draft is that linked from the New York Times summary, there is one news article. You need a couple more of those to demonstrate notability in the sense in which we use it.

Also, thank you for being open about your conflict of interest on your user page. I appreciate that, and that you are drafting the article in user space. However, your user name, being that of the company, violates our username policy: see this section. You will need to change it: Wikipedia:Changing username has the directions. Yngvadottir (talk) 15:38, 17 March 2014 (UTC)

Blocked

Welcome to Wikipedia. Because we have a policy against usernames that give the impression that the account represents a group, organization or website, I have blocked this account; please take a moment to create a new account with a username that represents only yourself as an individual and which complies with our username policy.  You should also read our conflict of interest guideline and be aware that promotional editing is not acceptable regardless of the username you choose.

If your username does not represent a group, organization or website, you may appeal this username block by adding the text {{unblock|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}} below this notice.

You may simply create a new account, but you may prefer to change your username to one that complies with our username policy, so that your past contributions are associated with your new username. If you would prefer to change your username, you may appeal this username block by adding the text {{unblock-un|new username|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}} below this notice. Thank you.

--Orange Mike | Talk 23:56, 17 March 2014 (UTC)

My account and the information has been blocked. I understand this is because the username was too close to the organization being written about. I have changed the username and made one under sarahehill. However all the information has disappeared under smpcorp. Yngvadottir also suggested the organization needs more references to legitimate sources, because we "only had one reference" from The New York Times. I am not sure where this knowledge came from or what draft he was looking at, but we had about a dozen more listed. I referenced the NYSE, and multiple New York Times articles. I referenced The New York Post, USA Today and more. In fact, we have well over a dozen or more legitimate sources. We have entire books written by outside sources about the company's history and economic model. I was not finished writing and the article, and the article was still in draft stage before seeking approval when we were blocked. We are a 96 year old company publicly traded on the NYSE. Google the name Standard Motor Products, Inc. and you will find us. How can I proceed? I am creating a very unbiased article using only information from outside sources. We sought a consultant earlier in the year who gave us tips and encouraged us that we would be able to create a page based on how many sources we have. They even said they were confidant we would be able to be on Wikipedia with their "editors'" help or we could try it ourselves and not have to pay them. We are wanting to resolve our non representation on Wikipedia internally using your guide. We are even on Wiki Invest already. Please help.

Smpcorp: I have asked the fellow administrator who deleted the draft to undelete it; I and another editor were able to find further references and I've offered to do some rewriting so that it does not appear promotional in tone. However, the reason Wikipedia has rules against conflict of interest editing is that encyclopedic writing has to be neutral, and therefore is quite different from other corporate writing, and can be extremely hard to do when one cares deeply about the topic. Wiki Invest, for example, has very different requirements.

As to the block on your account, I am not sure what you mean about the new account name; have you already registered a new one? In any event, if you wish to have this one unblocked, follow the instructions in the template; but you must understand that if you are unblocked, just as any article on the company must not be purely promotional, you must not use the account simply to promote the company. Yngvadottir (talk) 01:06, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Here it is — User_talk:Sarahehill. I've left a nice note over there. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 01:19, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

OK, I see it now. Smpcorp, making what I said above about unblocking a bit clearer in that light: you should read WP:CORPNAME and make sure you understand it, and follow the instructions above to ask to be unblocked, specifying that you have created sarahehill and will not use this account again. You should also put a statement on your new user page naming this as your previous account and declaring your conflict of interest. Yngvadottir (talk) 02:17, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

article is now live

Congratulations, see Standard Motor Products and also Talk:Standard Motor Products. However, please do NOT begin editing under your new username there, until we get this username properly unblocked, and the history of this one merged (or linked or whatever). Yngvadottir has left instructions above which make sense, methinks; let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks for improving wikipedia, it's appreciated. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 13:53, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

howdy

Hello Sarah, please call me 74. Sorry about the username-problem. It is for copyright reasons; contributions need to be from individuals, rather than from organizations, so that there is no problematic chain-of-copyright-assignment later on. Yngvadottir and I have found some refs, and they are working on getting your content back online so we all can continue improving it.  :-)   Welcome to the 'pedia. — 74.192.84.101 (talk) 01:09, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

As you will see below, the article is now live at Standard Motor Products. However, please do NOT start editing the article-talkpage (or the article), yourself, until we get your username-stuff figured out. Post the unblock-request over at the other username, and follow Yngvadottir's other instructions. You can also leave me a note, if you get stuck or need any advice/help. Click the 'talk' button next to my name, click 'new section' at the top, leave me a message, and click 'save'. I will be happy to show you the ropes around here, it won't take long. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 13:51, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

sources, please add more to the article talkpage as we find them

( moved this content to Talk:Standard Motor Products ... the article is now live  :-)

Congratulations. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 13:51, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Thank you 74. - --Sarahehill (talk) 19:44, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/01/making-it-in-america/308844/

--Sarahehill (talk) 17:47, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

I put a few colons in front of your reply. That is how it gets indented. Click edit, and you can see what I mean; since I'm replying back to you, I have two colons in front of my reply. I have put the URL of that article in The Atlantic over on the article-talkpage, see Talk:Standard Motor Products. That talkpage works just like this one, feel free to edit there; see detailed instructions below about The Bright Line Rule. I think the article will be a fine addition to wikipedia.  :-)   74.192.84.101 (talk) 23:06, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

So three colons now? Correct? Thank you!--Sarahehill (talk) 17:47, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

Renamed and unblocked

Thank you for your contributions. I've renamed your account and unblocked it. –xeno^talk 14:04, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

We do encourage somebody in your position to restrict themselves to making suggestions on the talk page of the article, for other editors without conflict of interest to consider. In the meantime, look around the place: use things like the "random article" link to find places here where a little patching and mending will be welcome, or where your personal expertise may lead you to spot problems that others have not. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:57, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Mike is correct! As an employee of the company, you are proud of the business, and thus inherently conflicted. Just like writing an article about your best friend's band, or an article about your grandmother's cooking (Best.Cookies.Evah), it will be inherently difficult to stay neutral. Best practices, then, goes like this:

• When you want to see something changed in the article (added/removed/updated/similar)
• Use bullet-proof references from WP:RS (newspapers/teevee/books/magazines/academia) with just-the-facts neutral WP:TONE and no WP:PEACOCK
• Make a specific suggestion at Talk:Standard Motor Products, which says "Hi, I think we should change XXXX to YYYY, but I have WP:COI on this topic"
• Wait a few days to see if other editors (Yngvadottir/OrangeMike/Xeno/myself/somebody) have any objections
• If needed, you can ask for somebody neutral to help out, by leaving a note at one of our user-talkpages, at the WP:TEAHOUSE, or with WP:ERQ

some extended advice, for special cases and exceptions and other such things

Normally, those are the only steps that will be required. If somebody undoes your work, no worries, that happens all the time; it just means they want to talk over the changes with you. See WP:BRD, first-bold-then-if-revert-start-discussing, which is the usual process when no WP:COI is present. In your case, we prefix the usual process and turn it into WP:DBRD which means discuss-first-until-a-neutral-editor-is-bold-then-if-reverted-continue-discussing.  :-)   Here are some atypical steps, for completeness: Usually, somebody neutral (i.e. not an employee or shareholder or relative thereof) will notice, and put the suggestion into mainspace If it's been a long time (I usually suggest waiting 7 days or so at first), and nobody has objected, but nobody has helped either... ...then leave a reply to your 'old' suggestion on the talkpage ("hearing no objections, I'll be WP:BOLD and add this myself"), and then add it But typically, you won't need to edit the actual Standard Motor Products page directly; other folks will help out. There are also some exceptions, where you might need to make some edits without any discussion; I recommend asking for help, in your early days, until you get the hang of the ropes. In particular... do not call something "vandalism" (aka call another editor a vandal) until you deeply understand the jargon around here... wikiNotable is different from notable, wikiReliable is different from reliable, and wikiVandalism is different from the colloquial everyday meaning of 'vandalism'. That said: In some situations, feel free to edit mainspace: if a vandal replace the page with "oiasdgiojoaiejiohaodgi" you can revert them If somebody inserts unsourced criticism (or unsourced praise for that matter) you can think about reverting it ("SMP is yucky" and similar) In particular, be aware that there are some vandals that will come along and make changes to dates, finances, and similar numbers. That said, except in blatantly egregious cases ("oiasdgiojoaiejiohaodgi") it will usually be best to leave a note on a user-talkpage, or ask for help at WP:TEAHOUSE The best way to build trust here, is to do your best to keep the content of the article at arm's length, plus remain unfailingly WP:NICE even when others are not.

Similarly, edits to other pages that are "related" to the company should be handled carefully. This means, the CEO's page, the pages of shareholders, the pages of competitors, the pages about products, and the pages about the automotive industry. When in doubt, always feel free to ask! Mike has the best danger-of-non-neutrality-whiskers, but feel free to ask Yngvadottir or myself or any other folks you meet here. Everybody cares about WP:NPOV. If you see that a page about a competitor is breaching WP:NOTPROMOTION, please let somebody know. Wikipedia hasn't really achieved wikiLiberty and wikiJustice for all, but with your help, we'll get there.  ;-)

  As for other pages around wikipedia, that you might like to help out with during off-the-clock hours, that would be great. We have a large selection of pages on books, movies, music, art, travel, and other such stuff. I would caution you that pages on politics, religion, psychic powers, novel theories in physics, Egyptian aliens, and ethno-nationalist conflicts can be prickly places to edit. That's not to say we don't need as much help as we can get in those areas, to keep things neutral and just-the-facts, but it is to say that those articles aren't very relaxing, at the moment. If you do try your hand, make sure to stay neutral, stick to rock-solid sources, and be excruciatingly WP:NICE to all living people at all times, keeping the high moral ground. (That's actually good advice everywhere on the 'pedia, of course.)

  I recommend giving the WP:5P a good skim: don't add stuff which is non-encyclopedic, stay neutral, everything you upload becomes free as in freedom (there are exceptions for logos and other trademarked material... ask me about that when you're ready to take that step... but all text and images must be originals that aren't already published elsewhere), always be WP:NICE to other folks here (and see WP:BLPTALK for folks *not* here), and remember that improving the encyclopedia is the important thing (we aren't supposed to be a WP:BUREAUCRACY even though we kind of turned into one by mistake). Hope this helps, let folks know if you have questions or concerns, or if you get stuck on something. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 23:02, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks 74. This is ALL so great to know.--Sarahehill (talk) 17:49, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

Standard Motor Products

Hi Sarah: I've been rewriting the article and adding additional sources, notably that article in The Atlantic. There were also some earlier changes by Orangemike. You can see what we've changed by clicking on the "history" tab at the top of the article; this takes you to a list of changes, and if you click "prev" on any line you will see what we call a "diff", namely a side by side comparison of the old and new versions with what was changed in that edit highlighted (and a display at the bottom of the page of what the article looked like at that stage). You did a good job, but you weren't finished and in addition to adding further information and references I have tried to make the wording as neutral as possible. I also found a couple of places where you had pasted in the wording from sources; don't do that in future please, except for limited quotations using either quotation marks or indentation, because Wikipedia has to be very serious about copyvio - and also because it's much easier to be neutral if you summarize. I've reworded those paragraphs. Could you now take a look at it and see if anything is inaccurate, out of date, or otherwise should be changed, and if so, make a note of it on the article talkpage? Thanks for the article (and incidentally for the opportunity to edit in yet another completely different field - I like to keep my editing as varied as I can '-) ). Yngvadottir (talk) 19:33, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

Hi Yngvadottir! Thank you. There is nothing inaccurate, out of date, or needs to be changed. There are a few things that could be added to fill in holes with brands and history. We were very involved with a Supreme Court Case for the "Right to Repair," I am looking for a source other than our own company history book. Can we have links to the Wikipedia pages of our brands like NAPA? I see the improvements you have made. I was aiming for that tone and you nailed it -- thank you. I will be back on, but wanted to give you an update. Thank you again for your instructions, guidance, and help. And of course, I am happy I was able to add some variety to your editing. :).

What about the logo? The image is around the web. Can be incorporated into the page?--Sarahehill (talk) 19:58, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

Hi again Sarah: I'm so sorry I didn't think to check by here earlier. The logo should be usable, but can only be uploaded here on en.wikipedia (not on Commons) because it will have to have a "fair use" rationale explaining that it is needed for that one article, and fair use images are not allowed on Commons - only copyright-free images. The guidelines, with links to relevant policies and information about how to fill out the upload form, are here: Wikipedia:Logos. I'm glad I got the story mostly right, and I do hope you can find an outside source on the Supreme Court case. Yes, you can link to brand names that have Wikipedia articles, but it would be best to have third-party references for those you list, and of course I see the NAPA article is actually at National Automotive Parts Association. If you want a faster response from me next time, try linking my name like this: {{U|Yngvadottir}}; the software then notifies me that I have been mentioned. (74, since he has not registered a user name, doesn't get that perk.) Yngvadottir (talk) 21:24, 5 April 2014 (UTC)