Hello - in response to your message on my talk page, I understand that it takes some time to get to know all the policies, guidelines, and general practice around here. Even I am still learning new things about the project! If you ever have questions about policies or such, there are plenty of places to get help. First, you can simply place {{helpme}} on your article's talk page, and someone will stop by shortly to offer you assistance. There's other information and help resources here Wikipedia:New contributors' help page.
Regarding the links in general, here is the primary spam guideline: WP:SPAM. Check out section 4 of that guideline (how not to be a spammer) for advice on the handling of external links to ensure you don't get flagged as a spammer in the future.
Regarding the specific link you mention, I am honestly not very familiar with the lean manufacturing field; however, if Paul can be considered "a well-known, professional researcher writing within his field of expertise", then his article might qualify as a reliable source. See WP:RS, specifically section 6.3 (self published sources). If so, instead of just adding the link to his article, add information that can be learned about from the article, and then cite it, following WP:CITE guidelines. Wikipedia is in need of more authoritatively cited information. "Bare links" really do not help an article much, as WP is aiming for a print version.
If you still feel strongly that one of your links could be useful to an article, but don't feel it would be an appropriate source for cited info (or don't feel comfortable writing up a citation yourself), you can also feel free to mention the link on the article's talk page (the "discussion" tab each page has). Each article has one, and is meant for discussion methods for improving the article. By bringing up your link there, other editors can discuss the link and determine if it is useful for adding. If they all agree, it has the weight of consensus to back it up. You may even find someone may use the link as a citation all on their own!
Lastly, you're probably right about the other links - Wikipedia is suffering from "linkspam" in a major way right now. There are many articles that do contain inappropriate links that someone just hasn't had a chance to review yet. Of the articles you mentioned, I haven't yet had the opportunity to fully review the existing links. Just because they are there though doesn't mean they have a right to be. if you do come across other inappropriate links, I encourage you to either remove them yourself, or bring it up on the article's talk page. You can also add the following tag to the external links section of articles that you feel have an excessive amount of inappropriate links: {{cleanup-spam}}. This tag will alert other editors like myself that there is an article to review.
I hope this explanation helps and isn't too long winded for you! I will also leave a formal Wikipedia welcome message for you below, which contains several useful guidelines and other information. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns --AbsolutDan (talk) 13:23, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
Welcome!
Hello, Heners, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:
- The five pillars of Wikipedia
- How to edit a page
- Help pages
- Tutorial
- How to write a great article
- Manual of Style
I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! --AbsolutDan (talk) 13:23, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
- You're welcome! Again, don't hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions --AbsolutDan (talk) 21:25, 10 August 2006 (UTC)