Welcome

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Hello, Joshua Eaton, 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 at the help desk, or place {{Help me}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by clicking   or by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your username and the date. Also, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field. Below are some useful links to help you get started. Happy editing! Liz Read! Talk! 04:26, 3 June 2021 (UTC)Reply

Joshua Eaton, you are invited to the Teahouse!

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Hi Joshua Eaton! Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia.
Be our guest at the Teahouse! The Teahouse is a friendly space where new editors can ask questions about contributing to Wikipedia and get help from experienced editors like John from Idegon (talk).

We hope to see you there!

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16:05, 3 September 2020 (UTC)


Category:Buddhist teachers accused of sexual misconduct has been nominated for renaming

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Category:Buddhist teachers accused of sexual misconduct has been nominated for renaming. A discussion is taking place to decide whether this proposal complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. Marcocapelle (talk) 19:38, 25 May 2021 (UTC)Reply

Hello, Joshua,
Deletion discussions are an interesting place to frequent to see how consensus among editors is determined and how policies are interpreted. Liz Read! Talk! 04:30, 3 June 2021 (UTC)Reply

Category:Sexual misconduct allegations involving Buddhist leaders has been nominated for discussion

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Category:Sexual misconduct allegations involving Buddhist leaders has been nominated for possible deletion, merging, or renaming. A discussion is taking place to decide whether this proposal complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. Skyerise (talk) 15:52, 3 June 2021 (UTC)Reply

Conflict of Interest notice

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  Hello, Joshua Eaton. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on the page Surya Das, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for organizations for more information. We ask that you:

  • avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, colleagues, company, organization or competitors;
  • propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (you can use the {{request edit}} template);
  • disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest#How to disclose a COI);
  • avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see WP:Spam);
  • do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.

In addition, you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution which forms all or part of work for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. See Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure.

Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. In particular, you should not be adding material to Wikipedia based on your own reporting, as this could be construed as driving traffic to your articles. Skyerise (talk) 22:39, 6 June 2021 (UTC)Reply

  • Thanks for your note, Skyerise! A few things:
      • I don't have external relationship with the people, places or things on the page Surya Das, as defined by conflict of interest guideline.
      • I have not edited or created any Wikipedia articles about myself, my family, friends, colleagues, company, organization or competitors.
      • I have not linked to my organization's website in any Wikipedia articles.
      • All of my relevant personal and professional affiliations are disclosed on my user page.
      • I am not paid for my contributions to Wikipedia. I am a volunteer Wikipedia contributor.
      • I do not receive compensation based on traffic to the article I cited in my edit on the page Surya Das. I reported that article a freelance, contract basis for a flat, pre-arranged fee.
      • Subject-matter expertise is not a conflict of interest under Wikipedia:Conflict of interest#External relationships, provided that "external roles and relationships in their field of expertise do not interfere with their primary role on Wikipedia."
      • Citing one's own work is not a conflict of interest under Wikipedia:Conflict of interest#Citing yourself, provided that "it is relevant, conforms to the content policies, including WP:SELFPUB, and is not excessive." Joshua Eaton (talk) 23:48, 6 June 2021 (UTC)Reply
The way you cited yourself in Surya Das was excessive, needlessly quoting a long paragraph. No other editor would have done that as it was not necessary to the reporting of the facts. The subsequent creating of a category to highlight that article and then arguing to keep that category also reeks of self-promotion. Skyerise (talk) 11:54, 7 June 2021 (UTC)Reply
The long paragraph I quoted in Surya Das was his press release on the allegations, not my own writing. I quoted it in the interest of fairness because I thought it was important to give him ample opportunity to defend and explain himself — not to promote myself or my work. In other words, I quoted his press release defending himself because I wanted to go out of my way avoid bias in writing that section. I'm fine with removing it if others think it isn't necessary, but that was my motivation.
As for the category, I created it because sexual misconduct by Buddhist leaders is a major topic of discussion within Buddhist communities in the U.S., and it's received a lot of attention in both the Buddhist and mainstream press. The Surya Das and Sakyong Mipham articles are the only ones in that category that cite my reporting, and the Surya Das article is the only one to which I've added the citation to my own work. I honestly don't see how creating a category with many articles in it, only two of which cite my work and only one of which I've edited, is self-promoting.
Finally, as for arguing to keep the category — I think it's important, and it seemed to me that deleting it was arbitrary and inconsistent with the way that other categories are being treated. I'm also very new to editing on Wikipedia and still very much learning the ropes, so I could be wrong! But a disagreement is not the same as a conflict of interest. As Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard says, "COI allegations should not be used as a 'trump card' in disputes over article content." The same, I think, applies to disputes over categories.
What I'm saying is, I've reported on this topic for the same reason I created the category — I think it's interesting, noteworthy and a matter of public interest. If I wanted to promote myself or my work, there are much better ways to do it.
As Wikipedia:Conflict of interest#Reporting to the conflict of interest noticeboard says, "During the COIN discussion, avoid making disparaging remarks about the user in question, their motives or the subject of the article(s)" (emphasis added). This obviously isn't Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard, but I think it would be best if we followed the same guidelines here. Joshua Eaton (talk) 16:45, 7 June 2021 (UTC)Reply