User talk:Jmanster9

Welcome!

Hello, Jmanster9, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using 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 your question on this page and then place {{help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! JohnCD (talk) 11:29, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Monash University Faculty of Information Technology

I don't need to send you a copy of the article I deleted a year ago, because it was a straight copy of the Faculty's website at http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/about/about-faculty.html. There are all kinds of things wrong with that:

It's copyright, and Wikipedia cannot accept copyright text unless a formal release has been made by the copyright holder
No doubt that could be fixed, but it is far too promotional in tone: "prestigious", "outstanding", "enormous breadth and depth of teaching... " Those are puffery, "peacock terms", and that is not an encyclopedia article, it is an advertisement. Wikipedia is not for marketing/PR-speak fluff like that; one of our key policies is WP:Neutral point of view

Either of those would be enough to get it deleted at sight, but also:

It doesn't give any independent references to establish notability, a requirement to have a Wikipedia article, which is not a matter of opinion but has to be demonstrated by showing "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject."
It was input by user Monashstaff (talk), who clearly had a WP:Conflict of interest.

With regard to notability, although a good many University department articles do creep in, it is often hard for them to establish independent notability if challenged, and the precedent established at a number of deletion discussions (see WP:OUTCOMES#Education) has been that:

Departments or degree programs within a university, college, or school are generally not considered notable unless they have made significant contributions to their field (e.g., University of Chicago Department of Economics), or produced a number of notable graduates (USC School of Cinematic Arts, Oxford PPE).

You too, if you are editing on behalf of the department, have a conflict of interest; that need not stop you, but you should be careful to declare your interest in any discussions, and to follow the guidelines in:

WP:Best practices for editors with conflicts of interest.

The links in the welcome paragraph will tell you more, particularly WP:Your first article, and these may also help (I'm sorry to give you so much to read, but it may save you time in the end):

Regards, JohnCD (talk) 11:29, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Another useful guideline I've only just found (I think your website designer should perhaps read it too): Wikipedia:Avoid academic boosterism. JohnCD (talk) 18:58, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]