User talk:Ostaustria

Your account has been blocked indefinitely from editing Wikipedia because it appears to be mainly intended for publicity and/or promotional purposes. If you intend to edit constructively in other topic areas, you may be granted the right to continue under a change of username. 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, website 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, although if you can demonstrate a pattern of future editing in strict accordance with our neutral point of view policy, you may be granted this right. See Wikipedia's FAQ for 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, organization, or clients. If this does not fit in with your goals, then you will not be allowed to edit Wikipedia again.

What can I do now?

If you have no interest in writing about some other topic than your organization, group, company, or product, you may consider using one of the many websites that allow this instead.

If you do intend to make useful contributions here about 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, you may appeal this block by adding the text {{unblock|Your reason here}} below, but you should read the guide to appealing blocks first. Alexf^(talk) 00:03, 19 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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.

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

Requested username:

none given (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Request reason:

This is a legitimate office within the Austrian Embassy in Washington DC, but I am very new to Wikipedia and am confused why I have been blocked before even being allowed to figure out how to create a page. Once a page was created I hoped to open it up to all interested editors to edit and add to the information, as there are multiple office's from the Austrian Ministry for the Office of Science and Technology around the world. Is this normal protocol for all new users?

Decline reason:

You have not proposed a new name that is not indicative of a group or multiple users and complies with our username policy and have not stated that you have read and understand our conflict of interest policy. Please do so before we can continue. Alexf^(talk) 21:14, 20 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This user's request to be unblocked to request a change in username has been reviewed by an administrator, who accepted the request.

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

Requested username:

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

Request reason:

Personal name. But if this one isn't good either it can be changed again.

Accept reason:

Allowing username change to requested username. Please put this request in at Wikipedia:Changing username as soon as possible to avoid re-blocking. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 15:32, 24 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It's fine. But consider the following query:

Here are a few key questions:

Do you understand that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and not a business directory?
Do you understand conflict of interest?
Do you understand that to be considered for an encyclopedia article, the subject must be notable?

You are currently blocked because your username appears directly related to a company, group or product that you have been promoting, contrary to the username policy. Changing the username will not allow you to violate the 3 important principles above. Daniel Case (talk) 15:17, 21 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

{{unblock-auto|1=ip address|2=autoblock message|3=blocking admin}}

I've voided the autoblock template as you're blocked directly. Could you answer Daniel Case's questions? PhilKnight (talk) 19:36, 21 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Understandable. I picked the user name because I thought it would add legitimacy to any edits related to Austrian pages. It was a thoughtless choice. To answer the questions:

   Do you understand that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and not a business directory? Yes. 
   Do you understand conflict of interest? Yes. 
   Do you understand that to be considered for an encyclopedia article, the subject must be notable? Yes.

Perhaps it might be better if I delete this account all together. I created it to edit a page with old information that needed to be updated (I'm assuming someone made the post in 2007, because the name and source changed in 2013). But since I violated a number of rules it might be better to delete this account and just leave the page with the old info, readers can probably figure it out for themselves. How do I go about deleting this account?

We can never delete accounts, but you can simply stop logging into it. I can decline the above unblock request as moot. However, if you want to edit Wikipedia in the future, you will need to deal with this block first. We are never opposed with correcting wrong information - those with WP:COI simply need to suggest sourced changes on the article talkpage...and remember that your org's website is never acceptable as a source. So ... your call: I can either decline the above unblock and replace the contents of this page with an "indefinitely blocked" message, or we can move forward with changing your username so that you can propose the needed changes. If you haven't made a choice in the next few days, myself or another admin can implement the former on your behalf the panda ₯’ 12:03, 24 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]