RVDSouza

Avoiding copyright problems

Hello, and welcome. While we appreciate your contributing to Wikipedia, there are certain things you must keep in mind about using information from your sources to avoid copyright or plagiarism issues here.

• You can only copy/translate a small amount of a source, and you must mark what you take as a direct quotation with double quotation marks (") and a cited source. You can read about this at Wikipedia:Non-free content in the sections on "text". See also Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners, for how to cite sources here.
• Aside from limited quotation, you must put all information in your own words and structure, in proper paraphrase. Following the source's words too closely can create copyright problems, so it is not permitted here; see Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing. (There is a college level introduction to paraphrase, with examples, hosted by the Online Writing Lab of Purdue.) Even when using your own words, you are still, however, asked to cite your sources to verify information and to demonstrate that the content is not original research.
• Our primary policy on using copyrighted content is Wikipedia:Copyrights. You may also want to review Wikipedia:Copy-paste.
• In very rare cases (that is, for sources that are public domain or compatibly licensed), it may be possible to include greater portions of a source text. However, please seek help at the help desk before adding such content to the article. 99.9% of sources may not be added in this way, so it is necessary to seek confirmation first. If you do confirm that a source if public domain or compatibly licensed, you will still need to provide full attribution; see Wikipedia:Plagiarism for the steps you need to follow.
• Also note that Wikipedia articles may not be copied without attribution. If you want to copy from another Wikipedia project or article, you can, but please follow the steps in Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia.

It's very important that contributors understand and follow these practices, as policy requires that people who persistently do not must be blocked from editing.

Most of the content you've added to Andrew Nicholson (basketball) has had to be removed, I'm afraid, as it copied other sources, including http://www.gobonnies.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/nicholson_andrew00.html and http://www.thescore.com/ncaab/articles/85807-st-bonaventure-s-nicholson-becoming-extraordinary. You're welcome to write about this basketball player, but you cannot do it by copying from other websites, except as described above. Otherwise, you must put the information into your own words. Because of our particular policies on living people, you must also provide a reliable source to support any information you add, even if it is positive information. Please see WP:BLP and WP:IRS.

If you have any questions about this, you are welcome to visit me at my talk page. Thank you. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 19:38, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

While you were editing the article, I was re-adding the material that I could, which may include the material that you were hoping to recover, but I cannot send you a copy of the page itself as it includes copyright content to which we have no right. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 19:46, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

The personal life section seems to be mostly usable. I've brought it back, with a few minor changes. The lead also does not seem to be copied. If there is other content you believe to be clear of copyright concerns, please let me know. I'll be happy to look at it in the history to see if there's more that can be salvaged.

Making references takes just a little bit of practice. The simplest way to make one is something like this: <ref>[http://whatever.com Title]</ref>. If you want to use the same reference more than once, you'd do <ref name="something">, and then the next time you want to use the same note, all you have to do is type <ref name="something"/>. There are also "templates" that can help you format references. You'd probably mostly run into {{citeweb}}. It's got pretty detail instructions there about how to use it. There's way more detailed instruction, with pictures, at Help:Footnotes. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 20:32, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Check your mail. :) --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 20:53, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Like this. I gave one of your references a nickname that connects to the title of the piece, "Nod", and told it <ref name="Nod">. The Mediawiki software now knows that when I refer to that reference, that's the one I mean. The important part is to remember that when you use that same reference elsewhere in the article, you have to "close" it with a /, like <ref name="Nod"/>. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 21:08, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes, you're doing great. Most people don't pick up on the "ref" methods that quickly. :) One thing, though; ideally, each reference should have its own name. Maybe one of those should be "2011-2012 St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball Postseason Guide." --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 21:25, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Getting pictures of living people is pretty hard; we have strict rules about them.

The best first step I know is to go to Flickr and search for him, looking only for images that are licensed under Creative Commons for modification and non-commercial use. I tried that and didn't find anything. The next thing is to look for an image of the guy online and write to the photographer and ask them. Sometimes they're willing to grant us license. I was delighted to get two images for Jimmy Norman that way. The trick is to make sure that the person hosting the image actually owns it; fan sites quite often just take stuff off the internet. We've got some sample letters you can use at Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission. It's important to get them to specify a license that we can use. If they just say, "You can use that" or "You can upload that on Wikipedia," we're not allowed to take it. If you're a big fan, you can always try writing to the team or to the man himself. They/he might be willing to donate a picture for the article. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 21:43, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

You'd need permission from the photographer unless he has a transfer of copyright, which he may for publicity pictures. You might have better luck contacting the press agent for the team. The example letters are here: Wikipedia:Example requests for permission. You would upload the image on Wikimedia Commons, which is the image repository all of the Wikimedia Foundation's projects share. They have an "upload Wizard" that can help you: Commons:Special:UploadWizard. You would put this template on the image page: {{OTRS pending}}. And then you would mail your permission letter to permissions-commonswikimedia.com. You can ask the person with the picture to "fill out" Wikipedia:Declaration of consent for all enquiries and mail that in, but I would ask them to cc you so you can make sure they do it. Otherwise, the image will probably be deleted. :/ --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 21:56, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Absolutely; you're very welcome to. I don't get on quite as much during the work week, though, but if you need help quickly, you might drop by Wikipedia:Teahouse or Wikipedia:New contributors' help page. They're good people and will respond pretty soon. :) --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 22:22, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Your recent edits

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Speedy deletion nomination of File:AndrewNicholson44.jpg

A tag has been placed on File:AndrewNicholson44.jpg requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section F9 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the image appears to be a blatant copyright infringement. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted images or text borrowed from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

If you think that the page was nominated in error, contest the nomination by clicking on the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion" in the speedy deletion tag. Doing so will take you to the talk page where you can explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but do not hesitate to add information that is consistent with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Eeekster (talk) 20:23, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

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