User talk:Earnestly

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For a clean start, as you are not blocked, you are allowed to remove all these messages per WP:BLANKING, and I personally recommend to do so, as a symbolic measure and new beginning. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 14:18, 20 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome![edit]

Hello, Earnestly, and welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Unfortunately, one or more of the pages you created, such as Confederate Hellcat, may not conform to some of Wikipedia's content protocols, and may not be retained. In short, the topic of an article must be notable and have already been the subject of publication by reliable and independent sources.

Please review Your first article for an overview of the article creation process. The Article Wizard is available to help you create an article, where it will be reviewed and considered for publication. For information on how to request a new article that can be created by someone else, see Requested articles. If you are struck, come to the Teahouse, where experienced Wikipedians can help you thru the processes.

New to Wikipedia? Please consider taking a look at the our introductory tutorial or reviewing the contributing to Wikipedia page to learn the basics about editing. Below are a few other good pages about article creation.

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions ask me on my talk page or you can just type {{help me}} on this page, followed by your question, and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! ~Amkgp 15:28, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on Confederate Hellcat requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to be an unambiguous copyright infringement. This page appears to be a direct copy from https://www.confederate.com/product-page/2020-f-117-hellcat. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images taken from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites or other printed material as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

If the external website or image belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text or image — which means allowing other people to use it for any reason — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. The same holds if you are not the owner but have their permission. If you are not the owner and do not have permission, see Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission for how you may obtain it. You might want to look at Wikipedia's copyright policy for more details, or ask a question here.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. ~Amkgp 15:28, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on Confederate Hellcat Speedster requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to be an unambiguous copyright infringement. This page appears to be a direct copy from https://www.confederate.com/product-page/2020-f-131-hellcat-speedster. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images taken from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites or other printed material as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

If the external website or image belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text or image — which means allowing other people to use it for any reason — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. The same holds if you are not the owner but have their permission. If you are not the owner and do not have permission, see Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission for how you may obtain it. You might want to look at Wikipedia's copyright policy for more details, or ask a question here.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. ~Amkgp 15:30, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on Confederate P-51 Combat Fighter requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to be an unambiguous copyright infringement. This page appears to be a direct copy from https://www.confederate.com/fa13. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images taken from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites or other printed material as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

If the external website or image belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text or image — which means allowing other people to use it for any reason — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. The same holds if you are not the owner but have their permission. If you are not the owner and do not have permission, see Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission for how you may obtain it. You might want to look at Wikipedia's copyright policy for more details, or ask a question here.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. ~Amkgp 15:32, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on Confederate F-117 Fighter requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to be an unambiguous copyright infringement. This page appears to be a direct copy from https://www.confederate.com/media. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images taken from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites or other printed material as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

If the external website or image belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text or image — which means allowing other people to use it for any reason — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. The same holds if you are not the owner but have their permission. If you are not the owner and do not have permission, see Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission for how you may obtain it. You might want to look at Wikipedia's copyright policy for more details, or ask a question here.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. ~Amkgp 15:33, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on Confederate FA-13 Combat Bomber requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to be an unambiguous copyright infringement. This page appears to be a direct copy from https://www.confederate.com/fa13. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images taken from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites or other printed material as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

If the external website or image belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text or image — which means allowing other people to use it for any reason — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. The same holds if you are not the owner but have their permission. If you are not the owner and do not have permission, see Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission for how you may obtain it. You might want to look at Wikipedia's copyright policy for more details, or ask a question here.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. ~Amkgp 15:35, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia and copyright[edit]

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

  • 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 cite the source using an inline citation. You can read about this at Wikipedia:Non-free content in the sections on "text". See also Help: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 the 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.
  • If you own the copyright to the source you want to copy or are a legally designated agent, you may be able to license that text so that we can publish it here. Understand, though, that unlike many other sites, where a person can license their content for use there and retain non-free ownership, that is not possible at Wikipedia. Rather, the release of content must be irrevocable, to the world, into the public domain (PD) or under a suitably-free and compatible copyright license. Such a release must be done in a verifiable manner, so that the authority of the person purporting to release the copyright is evidenced. See Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.
  • In very rare cases (that is, for sources that are PD or compatibly licensed) it may be possible to include greater portions of a source text. However, please seek help at Wikipedia:Media copyright questions, the help desk or the Teahouse 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 is 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 or translated without attribution. If you want to copy or translate from another Wikipedia project or article, you must follow the copyright attribution steps in Wikipedia:Translation#How to translate. See also 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. If you have any questions about this, you are welcome to leave me a message on my talk page. Thank you. ~Amkgp 15:36, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on Confederate Wraith requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G12 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to be an unambiguous copyright infringement. This page appears to be a direct copy from https://www.confederate.com/product-page/2020-wraith. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images taken from other web sites or printed material, and as a consequence, your addition will most likely be deleted. You may use external websites or other printed material as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. This part is crucial: say it in your own words. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

If the external website or image belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text or image — which means allowing other people to use it for any reason — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. The same holds if you are not the owner but have their permission. If you are not the owner and do not have permission, see Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission for how you may obtain it. You might want to look at Wikipedia's copyright policy for more details, or ask a question here.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. ~Amkgp 15:58, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"‎License Granted"[edit]

Hi Earnestly,

thank you for the announced intent to donate copyrighted materials. However, you might not yet have added the required statement to your website. Please have a look at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.

Best regards,
~ ToBeFree (talk) 17:56, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Managing a conflict of interest[edit]

Information icon Hello, Earnestly. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for organizations for more information. We ask that you:

  • avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, colleagues, company, organization or competitors;
  • propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (you can use the {{request edit}} template);
  • disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest#How to disclose a COI);
  • avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see WP:Spam);
  • do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.

In addition, you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution which forms all or part of work for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. See Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure.

Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 18:02, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

May 2020[edit]

Information icon Please do not add original research or novel syntheses of published material to articles. Please cite a reliable source for all of your contributions. Thank you. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 18:02, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Confederate Hellcat moved to draftspace[edit]

An article you recently created, Confederate Hellcat, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations from reliable, independent sources. (?) Information that can't be referenced should be removed (verifiability is of central importance on Wikipedia). I've moved your draft to draftspace (with a prefix of "Draft:" before the article title) where you can incubate the article with minimal disruption. When you feel the article meets Wikipedia's general notability guideline and thus is ready for mainspace, please click on the "Submit your draft for review!" button at the top of the page. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 18:06, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Confederate Hellcat Speedster moved to draftspace[edit]

An article you recently created, Confederate Hellcat Speedster, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations from reliable, independent sources. (?) Information that can't be referenced should be removed (verifiability is of central importance on Wikipedia). I've moved your draft to draftspace (with a prefix of "Draft:" before the article title) where you can incubate the article with minimal disruption. When you feel the article meets Wikipedia's general notability guideline and thus is ready for mainspace, please click on the "Submit your draft for review!" button at the top of the page. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 18:06, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Confederate F-117 Fighter moved to draftspace[edit]

An article you recently created, Confederate F-117 Fighter, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations from reliable, independent sources. (?) Information that can't be referenced should be removed (verifiability is of central importance on Wikipedia). I've moved your draft to draftspace (with a prefix of "Draft:" before the article title) where you can incubate the article with minimal disruption. When you feel the article meets Wikipedia's general notability guideline and thus is ready for mainspace, please click on the "Submit your draft for review!" button at the top of the page. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 18:06, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

An article you recently created, Confederate P-51 Combat Fighter, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations from reliable, independent sources. (?) Information that can't be referenced should be removed (verifiability is of central importance on Wikipedia). I've moved your draft to draftspace (with a prefix of "Draft:" before the article title) where you can incubate the article with minimal disruption. When you feel the article meets Wikipedia's general notability guideline and thus is ready for mainspace, please click on the "Submit your draft for review!" button at the top of the page. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 18:06, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Confederate Wraith moved to draftspace[edit]

An article you recently created, Confederate Wraith, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations from reliable, independent sources. (?) Information that can't be referenced should be removed (verifiability is of central importance on Wikipedia). I've moved your draft to draftspace (with a prefix of "Draft:" before the article title) where you can incubate the article with minimal disruption. When you feel the article meets Wikipedia's general notability guideline and thus is ready for mainspace, please click on the "Submit your draft for review!" button at the top of the page. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 18:06, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

An article you recently created, Confederate FA-13 Combat Bomber, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations from reliable, independent sources. (?) Information that can't be referenced should be removed (verifiability is of central importance on Wikipedia). I've moved your draft to draftspace (with a prefix of "Draft:" before the article title) where you can incubate the article with minimal disruption. When you feel the article meets Wikipedia's general notability guideline and thus is ready for mainspace, please click on the "Submit your draft for review!" button at the top of the page. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 18:06, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You state on the talk page of the draft (and all the others above) that you have submitted permission. If you have sent it to the OTRS team, please place {{OTRS pending}} on the talk page of the article. If you have not, then you need to read Wikipedia:Volunteer Response Team. But frankly, those drafts cannot go into mainspace as they are. They are too promotional and are not supported by acceptable references, see WP:42. SpinningSpark 23:24, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reasons left by Spinningspark were:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.
SpinningSpark 23:27, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Teahouse logo
Hello, Earnestly! Having an article declined at Articles for Creation can be disappointing. If you are wondering why your article submission was declined, please post a question at the Articles for creation help desk. If you have any other questions about your editing experience, we'd love to help you at the Teahouse, a friendly space on Wikipedia where experienced editors lend a hand to help new editors like yourself! See you there! SpinningSpark 23:27, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reasons left by Spinningspark were:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.
SpinningSpark 23:30, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your submission at Articles for creation: Confederate Hellcat (May 18)[edit]

Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reasons left by Spinningspark were:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.
SpinningSpark 23:32, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reasons left by Spinningspark were:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.
SpinningSpark 23:33, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reasons left by Amkgp were:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.
~Amkgp 02:15, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reasons left by Amkgp were:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.
~Amkgp 02:15, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reasons left by Amkgp were:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.
~Amkgp 02:16, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your submission at Articles for creation: Confederate Hellcat (May 19)[edit]

Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reasons left by Amkgp were:  The comment the reviewer left was: Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.
~Amkgp 02:16, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If this was the first article that you created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

The page Draft:Confederate FA-13 Combat Bomber has been deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under two or more of the criteria for speedy deletion, by which pages can be deleted at any time, without discussion. As the page met any of these strictly-defined criteria, it was deleted by an administrator. The reasons it has been deleted are:

If the external website or image belongs to you, and you want to allow Wikipedia to use the text or image — which means allowing other people to use it for any reason — then you must verify that externally by one of the processes explained at Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials. The same holds if you are not the owner but have their permission. If you are not the owner and do not have permission, see Wikipedia:Requesting copyright permission for how you may obtain it. You might want to look at Wikipedia's copyright policy for more details, or ask a question here.

Please do not recreate the material without addressing these concerns, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If you think this page should not have been deleted for this reason, you may contact the deleting administrator, or if you have already done so, you may open a discussion at Wikipedia:Deletion Review ~ ToBeFree (talk) 11:13, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

May 2020[edit]

Stop icon with clock
You have been blocked from editing for a period of 2 weeks for advertising or self-promoting in violation of the conflict of interest and notability guidelines. Once the block has expired, you are welcome to make useful contributions.
If you think there are good reasons for being unblocked, please read the guide to appealing blocks, then add the following text below the block notice on your talk page: {{unblock|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}}.  ~ ToBeFree (talk) 11:17, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know where to start, Earnestly. After being informed about copyright policy and acknowledging it with messages on talk pages, you copied content from financialexpress.com in verbatim. After being informed about the conflict of interest guidelines, you continued to use Wikipedia for advertising. You then took the time of three volunteers, asking each the same question (WP:COITALK, WP:IDHT), claiming to have been "invited and asked to post pages on each model of motorcycle models"? If I understand correctly, there was no such personal invitation, and if there was one, it happened without knowledge about your conflict of interest.

In a nutshell: Stop using Wikipedia as a platform for your commercial promotion, and find something else to write about. Preferably something you have no financial connection to.

Ideas for useful contributions can be found at the community portal and the Task Center. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 11:25, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There have been two problems with this account: the account has been used for advertising or promotion, which is contrary to the purpose of Wikipedia, and your username indicates that the account represents a business or other organisation or group or a web site, which is also against policy, as an account must be for just one person. Because of those problems, the account has been blocked indefinitely from editing. Additionally, if you receive, or expect to receive, compensation for your contributions to Wikipedia, you must disclose who is paying you to edit.

If you intend to make useful contributions other than promoting your business or organisation, you may request an unblock. To do so, post the text {{unblock-spamun|Your proposed new username|Your reason here}} at the bottom of your talk page. Replace the text "Your proposed new username" with a new username you are willing to use. See Special:CentralAuth 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 that reason, you must:

  • Convince us that you understand the reason for your block and that you will not repeat the kind of 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. To do so, please read the guide to appealing blocks, then add the text {{unblock|Your reason here}} at the bottom of your talk page, replace the text "Your reason here" with your reason for thinking that the block was an error, and publish the page. SpinningSpark 12:22, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Confederate Motorcycles[edit]

My name is Ernest Lee. I am directing the following message to the moderators solely in an effort toward improvement of the encyclopedia, to communicate my intentions in a courteous and considerate way according to the guidelines set out in Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines.

I am an attorney and entrepreneur. I sincerely apologize for anything that I have done that violated the Wikipedia rules.

Firstly, my username was originally ernestleedotcom which was a representation of ernestlee.com my personal website though college and law school. That site later became the website for my law firm Ernest Lee LLP. At that time, I changed my username to Earnestly to reflect my own name, which is fairly common, used in a unique way. That being said, I respect the opinion of SpinningSpark when he says that my username still "indicates that the account represents a business or other organisation or group or a web site" but respectfully disagree that my username indicates that my account is for other than "one person", myself. Please feel free to delete my username if you feel it continues to violate the terms and conditions of the Wikipedia platform.

I did initially set out to make contributions to the Confederate Motors page to update it with information about my company after I purchased it. There was a significant amount of inaccurate press, some cited in the Article, stating that Confederate Motorcycles was no longer in existence. The company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to correct these inaccuracies in the media. I did not intend to violate any Wikipedia rules in doing so and realize that each of the moderators, ~Amkgp, SpinningSpark and ~ ToBeFree to which I responded donate their time and considerable knowledge of the Wikipedia platform. Based upon my brief research I see that each is likely often faced with instances of gross violations of the rules for other than sincere purposes. I submit that any breach of said rules on my own part was wholly inadvertent and unintentional and apologize for wasting the time of the above mentioned moderators.

I accept the judgment of ~Amkgp and SpinningSpark in blocking me indefinitely. I am not asking to be unblocked as I do not have the time to make any other contributions to the Wikipedia platform. I intend to devote my efforts to continuing to disseminate accurate information about Confederate Motorcycles on other platforms and hope that the public will be able to get the story of the company there. I will not be revoking the several licenses that we have granted for the use of our own copyrighted photographs of our new location in Birmingham Alabama nor of the six new models of motorcycles we are building there. We will leave these images on Wikipedia Commons for use by the public domain.

I hope that someone other than myself will correct the inaccuracies on the Wikipedia Article on Confederate Motors. Namely, the article says that "the Warhawk will be the first new Curtiss model in 110 years, and it will be the final gas-powered motorcycle" citing an inaccurate article published by Mike Hanlon on February 21, 2018. The Wikipedia article also states that "In 2018, the Warhawk model based on there P51 Fighter will be the last and final gas-powered motorcycle, only 35 bikes will be produced." without any citation. Confederate Motorcycles has in fact had gross revenues of more than US$3,000,000 and has manufactured and/or distributed more than 30 motorcycles other than the Curtiss Warhawk since the article published by Mike Hanlon was printed over two years ago. We are in fact still building the Curtiss Warhawk for Curtiss Motorcycles and four additional models of motorcycle; the Confederate Hellcat, Hellcat Speedster, the F-117 Fighter and the Wraith. The current article as published significantly harms the reputation and economic interests of my company Confederate Motorcycles. While some people close to me suggested early on that I should focus my efforts on the media outlets other than Wikipedia, I was merely trying to set the record straight and understand now that it is not my place to do so on the Wikipedia platform. I will now take the advice that I was given and focus my efforts elsewhere.

Again, I sincerely apologize for taking up your time and wish each of you well.

Regards

Earnestly (talk) 14:13, 19 May 2020 (UTC)Earnestly[reply]

Thank you for taking that so well (not the usual response we get), but really, it is rarely a good idea for directors of companies to edit their own company's article on Wikipedia. I wish you well in your enterprise. SpinningSpark 15:59, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Earnestly,
Thank you very much for the detailed, understandable explanation of the situation, and of your reasonable motivation.
I personally do not believe that the username is a problem, but if necessary, it can easily be fixed via Special:GlobalRenameRequest. As "Ernestleedotcom" has been blocked with an explicit encouragement to create a new account with a more policy-compliant name, I do also not believe that there has been intentional sockpuppetry. I had silently blocked "Earnestlyernestlee" in a way that does not technically prevent you from editing with any other account, to ensure that you use only one account in the future, interpreting the usage of multiple accounts as an accident.
My main concern is the promotional editing; I chose a temporary block because I believe that it has happened in good faith. It would have surprised me if there had been further promotion after the two weeks.
I am not opposed to the correction of factual errors, or at least the removal of factually incorrect information, via edit requests at Talk:Confederate Motors, when done openly as the owner of the company. This is currently prohibited due to the block, but I personally would support an unblock request if it comes with the clear promise not to edit Confederate Motors directly anymore, and not to make direct article edits or draft creations about Confederate Motors anywhere else on Wikipedia in the future either. As copyright has also been an issue, the request should include a short explanation of what went wrong regarding WP:COPYVIO, and a credible promise not to copy text from any website again, just to make sure that misunderstandings about free licensing and plagiarism won't reoccur.
There is no deadline for an unblock request; you are welcome to make one even years later, using the instructions at WP:GAB. Ideally, when you do so, your motivation for editing Wikipedia should not solely be focused on the company. Perhaps you would like to edit Wikipedia articles as a volunteer, completely unrelated to your financial interests, in the future. If this is the case, or if this has at least become an additional motivation for requesting to be unblocked, please mention this in your unblock request. Ideally provide some examples for edits you would like to make (which article, which edit).
I wish you all the best!
~ ToBeFree (talk) 16:39, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you both Spinningspark ToBeFree for your review and for your comments. I changed my username Ernestleedotcom because of a request to do so. There certainly was not intentional sockpuppetry there. I also did not realize that "Earnestlyernestlee" existed but I may have created that username when I was looking for another to use in changing from ernestleedotcom. I will not be using any other username including that one to edit any articles. I would like to submit edit requests as Spinningspark has suggested at Talk:Confederate Motors openly as the owner of the company. I realize now that this is what I should have done in the first place and hope that I will be able to get the inaccurate information in the article changed. I promise that I will not edit Confederate Motors directly and will not make direct article edits or draft creations about Confederate Motors anywhere else on Wikipedia in the future. Given that I am now better (but I would not yet say well) versed in the rules of Wikipedia, I may be willing to volunteer, completely unrelated to my own financial interests, in the future. I have knowledge of several industries that I have been involved in over the last 40 years including accounting, legal, and retail and wholesale coffee and coffee equipment but which I currently have no direct financial interest. Please also accept my apologies for any appearance of plagiarism that occurred. I initially provided my own independently gathered information but was instructed that I needed to have third party sources. I thereafter used the words of third party sources and felt that I had attributed those words to their authors through my citation. I now realize that in the encyclopedia editing world simply attributing the words to the author (as it would be in legal citation) is not enough. I should have paraphrased their words and then attributed the information contained in my own paraphrase to each of them. I admit that I was frustrated at that point because I felt as though every time that I did what I thought was what I was being asked to do I ended up stepping on another proverbial landmine. End of the day, I have learned my lesson. Thank you for your understanding. Earnestly (talk) 17:44, 19 May 2020 (UTC)Earnestly[reply]
Spinningspark, I think we should just re-set the original block. No complicated calculations or expiry dates, 2 weeks it would be. Earnestly, if you're unblocked, or while waiting if the automatic expiry is re-enabled, please have a look at WP:RSP. While the huge table on that page is not a policy itself, the reasons given for the table entries can probably be very helpful to learn about possible pitfalls. Combined with the two sections "WP:BURDEN" and "WP:ONUS" of the verifiability policy, that would be my personal recommended literature before continuing to edit. And with that in mind, I personally don't see a need for an indefinite block anymore. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 20:18, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you both Spinningspark ToBeFree for consideration and understanding. I will not give you a reason to regret it. Regards, Earnestly (talk) 20:21, 19 May 2020 (UTC)Earnestly[reply]
(edit conflict) (actually, keeping any block in this situation is probably just punitive; I currently can't really imagine a kind of noticeable disruption that would immediately occur if the block wasn't there. The user has effectively appealed the block in a way that would make me remove even the two week block if I were the blocking administrator.) ~ ToBeFree (talk) 20:25, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
No worries. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 20:25, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've unblocked. I leave it to you whether to restore the original two week block, from the sound of it, you're not inclined to do so. I reiterate that the user is strongly recommended not to directly edit articles with which they have a conflict of interest (coi), and remind the user that they are obliged by the terms of use of the site to declare their coi, prefereably on the talk page of every article to which they make, or propose, a contribution. SpinningSpark 21:48, 19 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Understood and assured. Earnestly (talk) 22:47, 19 May 2020 (UTC)Earnestly[reply]
Thanks, Spinningspark and Earnestly. Sounds good to me, no concerns from my side at this time. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 14:16, 20 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

A belated welcome![edit]

The welcome may be belated, but the cookies are still warm!

Here's wishing you a belated welcome to Wikipedia, Earnestly. I see that you've already been around a while and wanted to thank you for your contributions. Though you seem to have been successful in finding your way around, you may still benefit from following some of the links below, which help editors get the most out of Wikipedia:

If you don't already know, you should sign your posts on talk pages by using four tildes (~~~~) to insert your username and the date.

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Again, welcome! ~ ToBeFree (talk) 14:17, 20 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Talk page edits[edit]

I'm assuming that this edit is due to you. If it isn't, please ignore this message. We don't generally delete talk page posts by other editors. We also don't even delete our own posts if they have been replied to by someone else. If you want to withdraw a previous comment in a discussion, then the usual thing to do is just to say you are withdrawing it in a new comment at the bottom of the thread. If the original comment would lead to confusion if left to stand, then you can use strikethrough. See Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines for further information.

On the requested edits, it would be ok to delete those as there has been no substantial discussion, but you must do it from the same account that posted them so we know it is you. In any case, they are likely to be marked not done soon if you just leave them alone. SpinningSpark 10:59, 29 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Apologies again. I am trying to comply with various requests. I received the following message from ~ ToBeFree

"For a clean start, as you are not blocked, you are allowed to remove all these messages per WP:BLANKING, and I personally recommend to do so, as a symbolic measure and new beginning. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 14:18, 20 May 2020 (UTC)"

Pardon the confusion on my part and apparent misunderstanding of what I have been asked to do. I am respectfully asking ToBeFree or whoever else is moderating to remove any messages that they do not want on any Talk Page. Again, my sincere apologies. I also apologize for not being logged in when I made the changes. I thought I was. Earnestly (talk) 11:45, 29 May 2020 (UTC)Earnestly[reply]

Oh right, I see the confusion now. User:ToBeFree was referring to the posts on this page, your own talk page. You are allowed to remove any discussion you wish on your own page, although many editors prefer to create an archive page to move them to. ToBeFree has wrapped those conversations in a template at the top of the page so they are no longer visible, but they are still there which you can see if you go into edit mode. The message was meant to explain what the hidden content is and why it was hidden, but it was a bad way to introduce a new user to some of our more advanced markup. We don't mind whether you delete them or not, or whether you keep them hidden or not. It is up to you, ToBeFree just thought that you might not want them visible because they reflect badly on you. SpinningSpark 12:13, 29 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much, Spinningspark – yes, that's it. 🙂 Sorry for having unintentionally encouraged blanking on any other page. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 12:16, 29 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Understood. I want to leave this thread up so that other moderators have access to the dialog that I have had with moderators in the past and so that I can have a log to remember what we discussed. I am not worried that they may reflect badly on me. I am what I am. I try to be as accommodating as possible and appreciate the effort that everyone has made to assist me in my education. Earnestly (talk) 12:45, 29 May 2020 (UTC)Earnestly[reply]

Your draft article, Draft:Confederate Hellcat[edit]

Hello, Earnestly. It has been over six months since you last edited the Articles for Creation submission or Draft page you started, "Confederate Hellcat".

In accordance with our policy that Wikipedia is not for the indefinite hosting of material deemed unsuitable for the encyclopedia mainspace, the draft has been nominated for deletion. If you plan on working on it further, or editing it to address the issues raised if it was declined, simply edit the submission and remove the {{db-afc}}, {{db-draft}}, or {{db-g13}} code.

If your submission has already been deleted by the time you get there, and you wish to retrieve it, you can request its undeletion by following the instructions at this link. An administrator will, in most cases, restore the submission so you can continue to work on it.

Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia! UnitedStatesian (talk) 02:47, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Your draft article, Draft:Confederate Wraith[edit]

Hello, Earnestly. It has been over six months since you last edited the Articles for Creation submission or Draft page you started, "Confederate Wraith".

In accordance with our policy that Wikipedia is not for the indefinite hosting of material deemed unsuitable for the encyclopedia mainspace, the draft has been nominated for deletion. If you plan on working on it further, or editing it to address the issues raised if it was declined, simply edit the submission and remove the {{db-afc}}, {{db-draft}}, or {{db-g13}} code.

If your submission has already been deleted by the time you get there, and you wish to retrieve it, you can request its undeletion by following the instructions at this link. An administrator will, in most cases, restore the submission so you can continue to work on it.

Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia! UnitedStatesian (talk) 02:48, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Earnestly. It has been over six months since you last edited the Articles for Creation submission or Draft page you started, "Confederate F-117 Fighter".

In accordance with our policy that Wikipedia is not for the indefinite hosting of material deemed unsuitable for the encyclopedia mainspace, the draft has been nominated for deletion. If you plan on working on it further, or editing it to address the issues raised if it was declined, simply edit the submission and remove the {{db-afc}}, {{db-draft}}, or {{db-g13}} code.

If your submission has already been deleted by the time you get there, and you wish to retrieve it, you can request its undeletion by following the instructions at this link. An administrator will, in most cases, restore the submission so you can continue to work on it.

Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia! UnitedStatesian (talk) 15:48, 30 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Earnestly. It has been over six months since you last edited the Articles for Creation submission or Draft page you started, "Confederate Hellcat Speedster".

In accordance with our policy that Wikipedia is not for the indefinite hosting of material deemed unsuitable for the encyclopedia mainspace, the draft has been nominated for deletion. If you plan on working on it further, or editing it to address the issues raised if it was declined, simply edit the submission and remove the {{db-afc}}, {{db-draft}}, or {{db-g13}} code.

If your submission has already been deleted by the time you get there, and you wish to retrieve it, you can request its undeletion by following the instructions at this link. An administrator will, in most cases, restore the submission so you can continue to work on it.

Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia! UnitedStatesian (talk) 15:54, 30 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Earnestly. It has been over six months since you last edited the Articles for Creation submission or Draft page you started, "Confederate P-51 Combat Fighter".

In accordance with our policy that Wikipedia is not for the indefinite hosting of material deemed unsuitable for the encyclopedia mainspace, the draft has been nominated for deletion. If you plan on working on it further, or editing it to address the issues raised if it was declined, simply edit the submission and remove the {{db-afc}}, {{db-draft}}, or {{db-g13}} code.

If your submission has already been deleted by the time you get there, and you wish to retrieve it, you can request its undeletion by following the instructions at this link. An administrator will, in most cases, restore the submission so you can continue to work on it.

Thank you for your submission to Wikipedia! UnitedStatesian (talk) 15:55, 30 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]