Halvalla

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Hello, Halvalla, and welcome to Wikipedia. We appreciate encyclopedic contributions, but some of your recent contributions, such as your edit to the page Valhalla High School (New York), seem to be advertising or for promotional purposes. Wikipedia does not allow advertising. For more information on this, please see:

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Please also see WP:Avoid academic boosterism • Gene93k (talk) 18:20, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

Help me!

Please help me with...

What would constitute edits for "promotional purposes" or "academic boosterism" when editing a local high school's Wikipedia page? I took the following page of another high school that is close to Valhalla as an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Greeley_High_School

It seems like that page is full of text meant for promotional purposes and "academic boosterism" ... Is that allowed? If so, could I add a reference to, for example, the Blue Ribbon award granted to Valhalla High School?

Or should I simply provide citations for my edits?

Thanks! Halvalla (talk) 18:04, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

Halvalla (talk) 18:04, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

The text you added is much more promotional than the text on the other article you cite(see WP:OSE as to why citing other similar articles is usually not a good idea). Wikipedia articles should only summarize what independent reliable sources state about a subject. Your language like "Character and community are a cornerstone to Valhalla High School, our students and staff" is impossible to independently verify, as what the school considers to be a "cornerstone" is subject to change by the school at any time.

If you work for this school(which I gather from the "our staff" you wrote; you are required to comply with the paid editing policy and declare that status, you should also review conflict of interest. 331dot (talk) 18:23, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

Halvalla (talk) 18:04, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Hello, Halvalla, and welcome. For starters, I would not use another article as a standard to compare, for it may have similar issues that have gone unnoticed. "Promotional purposes" refers to excessive addition of content, usually not from reliable third-party sources, that seems to promote an entity rather than describe it neutrally in an encyclopedic manner.

That said, adding generic descriptions or well-known awards cited to reliable sources is permitted. On the contrary, specific details only found on school websites, statistics pages, or insignificant awards (i.e. that do not lead to widespread recognition) that any school could possibly win could comprise "boosterism" and would be irrelevant (to an encyclopedia article) at best, blatantly promotional at worst. This is why, say, New York City's specialized high schools are recognized and described as such, whereas other public schools aren't necessarily, even when their school band wins a citywide music competition or research students win first awards at a citywide or statewide science fair. The former is a well-known distinction of academic prowess, whereas the latter almost certainly cannot be reliably sourced, even though such accomplishments might mean a great deal to the school involved. As a rule of thumb, though, always provide citations for your edits, especially when there could be reason to cast doubt or suspect bias.

Finally, your username bears a striking similarity to the school article you were editing. If you have any connection (called a conflict of interest on Wikipedia), you must declare it, and take extra care with your language and sourcing if you choose to write about it (or ask someone else to review your edits).

I hope this answers your questions. ComplexRational (talk) 18:27, 4 March 2020 (UTC)