I am new to the editing process, so forgive me if I make mistakes. I am Maximilian de Gaynesford, and my user name is Phenomenologuy. A page about me ("Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford") was added to Wikipedia without my knowledge or permission in 2005, and since I have an interest in accurate information being given about me in a public forum, and since the original article and its updates were incorrect, I corrected them myself. In subsequent years, banners have been added to the page at various times to ask for further information to improve the page, and since no one else seemed to be doing this and I was in a good position to do so, I made the necessary improvements myself. Recently, I thought it would improve the information if a photograph of myself were included, and I went through Wikipedia's steps for doing this - in the process, making it quite clear that the picture being uploaded was a selfie. The fact that I did not create the original article explains why the name itself is misleading: I actually go under 'Maximilian de Gaynesford', and if you Google that name, you will find many references to me - they will attest that I am a reasonably well-known philosopher, with a Chair at the University of Reading, four books with excellent academic presses and am invited to present my work regularly at public events, so that there is some justification for the original decision (not mine) to include an article about me on Wikipedia. I have obviously never accepted pay for this editing, and I have neither sought nor received any form of financial benefit through doing it. My sole aim has been to ensure that a page which was created by someone else and without my knowledge should be regularly improved according to the requests and requirements of Wikipedia itself. If I can be of further help in your discussion, please do not hesitate to contact me. Phenomenologuy (talk) 09:21, 25 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

July 2019

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Hello Phenomenologuy. The nature of your edits gives the impression you have an undisclosed financial stake in promoting a topic, such as the edit you made to Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford, but you have not complied with Wikipedia's mandatory paid editing disclosure requirements. Paid advocacy is a category of conflict of interest (COI) editing that involves being compensated by a person, group, company or organization to use Wikipedia to promote their interests. Undisclosed paid advocacy is prohibited by our policies on neutral point of view and what Wikipedia is not, and is an especially egregious type of COI; the Wikimedia Foundation regards it as a "black hat" practice akin to black-hat SEO.

Paid advocates are very strongly discouraged from direct article editing, and should instead propose changes on the talk page of the article in question if an article exists, and if it does not, from attempting to write an article at all. At best, any proposed article creation should be submitted through the articles for creation process, rather than directly.

Regardless, if you are receiving or expect to receive compensation for your edits, broadly construed, you are required by the Wikimedia Terms of Use to disclose your employer, client and affiliation. You can post such a mandatory disclosure to your user page at User:Phenomenologuy. The template {{Paid}} can be used for this purpose – e.g. in the form: {{paid|user=Phenomenologuy|employer=InsertName|client=InsertName}}. If I am mistaken – you are not being directly or indirectly compensated for your edits – please state that in response to this message. Otherwise, please provide the required disclosure. In either case, do not edit further until you answer this message. TheAwesomeHwyh 17:07, 22 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

Notice of Conflict of interest noticeboard discussion

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  There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard regarding a possible conflict of interest incident with which you may be involved. The thread is Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford. Thank you. TheAwesomeHwyh 17:10, 22 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

Nomination of Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford for deletion

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A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. TSventon (talk) 09:37, 25 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

Welcome!

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Hello, Phenomenologuy, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:

You may also want to complete the Wikipedia Adventure, an interactive tour that will help you learn the basics of editing Wikipedia. You can visit the Teahouse to ask questions or seek help.

Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask for help on your talk page, and a volunteer should respond shortly. Again, welcome! TSventon (talk) 10:47, 25 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

Formatting contributions to talk pages

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Hi I hope you did not mind my editing some of your contributions today as you are new to the talk pages. For future reference:

  • If you are starting a new subject rather than responding to the previous one click on the tab at the top of the page marked "New section". This brings up a box for a headline and a box for your text. If you want to add a headline later it goes between two sets of brackets.
  • If your talk contribution has references, then adding reflist-talk in curly double brackets at the end of the section means that the references will appear in a box in the section, not at the end of the page. This is not vital but it is helpful if the page is likely to get long.
  • If you are commenting in a deletion discussion, then add Comment preceded by an asterisk and three apostrophes and followed by three apostrophes to help readers see that your contribution is a comment, not a vote. This appears as:
  • Comment
  • If you need to edit a talk contribution before anyone has responded you generally do not need to update the signature.

TSventon (talk) 12:35, 26 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

Thank you TSventon; most grateful for your editing and this help. Phenomenologuy (talk) 13:50, 26 July 2019 (UTC)Reply