Mediatrac

Your account has been blocked indefinitely from editing Wikipedia because it appears to be mainly intended or used for publicity and/or promotional purposes. Please read the following carefully.

Why can't I edit Wikipedia?

Your account's edits and/or username indicate that it is being used on behalf of a company, group, celebrity or other well-known individual, or organization for purposes of promotion and/or publicity. The edits may have violated one or more of our rules on spamming, which include: adding inappropriate external links, posting advertisements, and using Wikipedia for promotion. Wikipedia has many articles on companies, groups, and organizations, but such groups are generally discouraged from using Wikipedia to write about themselves. In addition, usernames like yours are disallowed under our username policy.

Am I allowed to make these edits if I change my username?

Probably not. See WP:FAQ/Organizations for a helpful list of frequently asked questions by people in your position. Also, review the conflict of interest guidance to see the kinds of limitations you would have to obey if you did want to continue editing about your company, group, or organization. If this does not fit in with your goals, then you will not be allowed to edit again. Consider using one of the many websites that allow this instead.

What can I do now?

You are still welcome to write about something other than your company or organization. If you do intend to make useful contributions on some other topic, you must convince a Wikipedia administrator that you mean it. To that end, please do the following:

• Add the text {{unblock-spamun|Your proposed new username|Your reason here}} on your user talk page.
• Replace the text "Your proposed new username" with a new username you are willing to use. See Special:Listusers to search for available usernames. Your new username will need to meet our username policy.
• Replace the text "Your reason here" with your reason to be unblocked. In this reason, you must:

• Convince us that you understand the reason for your block and that you will not repeat the edits for which you were blocked.
• Describe in general terms the contributions that you intend to make if you are unblocked.

If you believe this block was made in error, please see how to appeal a block. Ckatz^chat_spy 21:01, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

This user's request to be unblocked to request a change in username has been reviewed by an administrator, who declined the request. Other administrators may also review this block, but should not override the decision without a good reason (see the blocking policy). Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

Mediatrac (block log • active blocks • global blocks • autoblocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))

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Requested username:

PLGI (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Request reason:

Because I don't know exactly why this user (MediaTrac) is blocked, it's hard to provide a direct explanation. If it was releated to Username, I'm happy to change it; I had no idea I should not use a company name. I actually thought I was being more transparent by doing this. Would be better if that was explicit in the signup process. If it was due to the edit I made, I'm baffled. Nothing in the edit pointed to our company, inferred we were in any way related or involved, or was promotional in any way. I genuinely thought I was adding value by pointing out that auto dealers - in addition to grocery stores, hotels, etc. - are offering loyalty programs. It's an important thing for consumes to know. But if that's considered self-promotion, then I suppose I am guilty and deserve to be banned. Sorry. Mediatrac (talk) 00:47, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Decline reason:

This account was blocked because it appears that you're here for promotional purposes, as is shown by your username and your edit. Additionally, from this request, it appears that this account may be intended to be used by multiple people - I see you wrote "our company", for example. Unless both of these issues are addressed, you won't be unblocked. עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 10:00, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Response to unblock request by non-administrator

While the Wikipedia community appreciates your disclosure of any possible conflict of interest, it is best that you not do this via your username or signature. I suggest disclosing any possible conflicts of interest on your user talk page instead. There are additional concerns regarding the use of company names as usernames. One such concern is that accounts are not supposed to be shared, and accounts that represent an organization or company generally end up getting shared. I can't seem to find any edits of yours that would be considered spam, but I'd strongly suggest not editing articles in which you may have a conflict of interest until you are comfortable with your understanding of WP:COI and WP:BESTCOI, as well as other relevant content policies and guidelines.

Also, don't be discouraged by the "indefinite" block on your account. Everyone makes mistakes, and we'd rather see you be a constructive editor than disappear. Just have some faith in the administrators and feel free to ask them how you can resolve the matter, and I'm sure the block will be lifted. --Tathar (talk) 02:20, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

The main problems, as I see it, are:

• your username represents a corporation, which is contrary to the user name guidelines;
• your edit to Loyalty program - while not strictly advertising a specific company - was directly related to and complimentary of the business that your company undertakes

You have a clear conflict of interest with regard to this topic; while you are welcome to contribute in other areas, you should avoid direct changes related to your field. --Ckatz^chat_spy 08:29, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for the additional information. You have been most helpful. I am brand new to the Wikipedia thing and honestly didn't consider that my username and apparent COI in my edit would be verboten. After reading the COI article, it appears I did (unintentionally!) breach that trust of the wiki community. I understand the ecosystem here is delicate. I thought that, being a subject matter expert (yes, because I work for a company in the field) in the article in which I was editing would have been considered a good thing; I truly thought the Wikipedia community would encourage editing by people who work in the field relating to articles being edited. But it appears I crossed some sort of line. I guess my username didn't help; again, I thought I was being more transparent and I also had no idea my username would appear anywhere near the article. I also thought I was very neutral/unbiased in my edit. Anyway, I'll see if I can change my username to something personal rather than business related. Now I just have to figure out how to do that.Mediatrac (talk) 15:40, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Everyone makes mistakes. As long as you learn from them, nobody will hold them against you in the future. The community would rather see you improve as an editor than simply go away. The problem is that it's very hard for an editor with a possible COI to be neutral on the subject, even if they're trying to be. For articles in which you have a potential conflict of interest, I would suggest disclosing any COI you may have and proposing your changes in the article's talk page in the future so that other editors can review your work and improve on what you want to add, per WP:COI compliance and WP:SCOIC. --Tathar (talk) 17:13, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the good advice. I will certainly follow it in the future. Do you suggest that I attempt to change my username or just abandon it and create a new account? Mediatrac (talk) 17:49, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

I strongly encourage you to go through the username change procedure. You will need an administrator to help you do that. Also, creating another account would be a bad idea on Wikipedia, for reasons that an administrator is better able to explain. --Tathar (talk) 21:02, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

It looks to me like all of the problems here have been essentially resolved:

• Mediatrac's willing to name change to PLGI per the previous request, so the username issue's essentially resolved.
• The COI issue's been discussed at length, and I'm confident that Mediatrac understands how to respond to COI situations now.
• The concern over the account possibly being shared has been addressed by Mediatrac agreeing to change his/her username to something personal rather than business-related. I'm reading between the lines a bit, but if Mediatrac clarifies that he/she won't share use of the account, then this will unambiguously be a non-issue.

Mediatrac, you should consider submitting an unblock request so it can be reviewed. --Tathar (talk) 02:50, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Unblocked, sorry this could have been handled better. Prodego ^talk 17:10, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Mediatrac, now that you're unblocked, you may wish to change your username at WP:CHU instead of here. --Tathar (talk) 19:25, 12 May 2011 (UTC)