User talk:Caterhamlink

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Hi Caterhamlink. Wikipedia is not an advertising tool, and links to external sites should only be used sparingly. There really is no reason for a link to a Caterham related site to appear on articles e.g. about Reigate and Redhill. Please don't take it personally when they get removed :-) Pontificake 20:33, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Hi Pontificate
I don't know who you are but you are not local and I resent you deleting my entries. I am a local community website (and a one man operation not a corporation) and neighbour the town of Reigate. People of both towns attend each other's events, carnivals, etc and our website carrys for free information about events and charities around our areas (such as Godstone Lions charity events in Bletchingley, a village between us). We are not large cities that have services of every type and so some things in one town are not found in the other. Therefore, it is relevant that our link should be on neighbouring towns and villages. We are providing a link for people to use our website, not to sell anything.
Please stop deleting my entries from local villages. They are all covered by our area. Stick to what you know for fact or contact me to discuss.

I'm sure that your website does provide a valuable source of information for people in the area, but it isn't necessarily appropriate for inclusion in an encyclopaedia. There may be a case for including one link to a local interest website, but only if it does provide useful encylopaedic information. For example, the article on Reigate (where I lived for 25 years) already had a link to www.reigateandredhill.co.uk - a link to a site focussing on Caterham adds very little.

You will notice that I have left the link in the articles about Caterham, Kenley, Whyteleafe, Warlingham and Chaldon as they are in the area covered by your website. Pontificake 21:15, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

That doesn't explain some of the other areas you deleted such as Old Coulsdon and Hooley which whilst not specifically mentioned on our website is covered with several events throughout the year. Although not everything is strictly within the CR3 postcode much is relevant to our local surrounding areas. Next time you should have the discussion first before putting the boot in. You are being most impolite. I would have been happy to have discussed it first and would have been happy to amend my edits if appropriate or instructed by Wikpedia. We are trying to spread the word to boost attendance at local fundraising events and are not out to make huge profits or anything. Caterhamlink 21:21, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
I have also deleted your Caterham Link from the Bletchingley‎ site. The links really do need to add something and be encyclopedic. Anyone can google it and pick up this link if they really want. With a user name "Caterhamlink" I was wondering if you were promoting your own organisation anyway which isn't really in the 5 pillars. I enclose a welcome note for you too. SuzanneKn 19:29, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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 need help, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! SuzanneKn 19:29, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

  • The geographical areas that this website covers are irrelevant, it is the content that is a blatant violation of WP:EL guidelines. It is primarily a business directory and must not be added to any Wikipedia article. Caterhamlink states "We are trying to spread the word to boost attendance". That is also an abuse of Wikipedia, and these links will be deleted on sight in future. 172.215.102.205 20:32, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Spamming

Please stop adding inappropriate external links to Wikipedia. It is considered spamming and Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising or promotion. Since Wikipedia uses nofollow tags, additions of links to Wikipedia will not alter search engine rankings. If you continue spamming, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia. 172.215.102.205 20:32, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Dear Wikpedia contributor
I am a new user to Wikpedia and do not profess to understand how google rankings work. My wife and I run a local community website and are certainly not any corporation trying to spam wikpedia. I added a link to our local community website for Caterham, Chaldon, Whyteleafe and Woldingham. I also added surrounding villages but was told in no uncertain terms by other users this was not acceptable and I no longer do this. However, I appear to have been removed even from my home town and do not fully understand why. I look at other towns and villages and it appears acceptable practice for other local community websites to appear as a link on their own town.
For example, a quick look at the Coulsdon page reveals a local community magazine plus a larger corporation "All About Croydon". The second of these is not Coulsdon specific but appears to be allowed. In fact "All about Croydon" appears to be exactly a business directory and appears on every town and village for miles around and yet doesn't merit deletion so I'm more confused than ever about Wikpedia etiquette.
Please advise why you have warned me for spamming when I am now keeping to my own area as requested. I feel that our website has a large amount of community content to make a link reasonable. We are NOT "primarily a business directory" as we carry only a dozen or so business adverts to pay for the site. All other local businesses mentioned do not pay for advertising. The community section carries a large amount of content on local issues and news. Caterhamlink 21:17, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Persistent spamming

This is your last warning. The next time you insert a spam link, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia. Persistent spammers may have their websites blacklisted as well, preventing anyone from linking to them from any site that uses the MediaWiki spam blacklist, which includes all of Wikimedia and Wikipedia. 172.188.70.108 16:45, 26 March 2007 (UTC).

Caterhamlink, I've had a look at your website, and my honest view is that you haven't made a case for including the site in the Caterham article. Your site is dominated by the business directory and I don't think warrants inclusion. However, you are quite right to point out that the All About Croydon link should not be there, so I have removed it. Pontificake 18:29, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

I shall refrain from posting for the time being. I am very disappointed by the decision taken. I was very careful to link to the community page of the website and not the business part. The business part very clearly states that local businesses are listed free and there are only a few paying advertisers to subsidise running of the website which is run at a loss. The community section details many local charities, sports clubs and associations. There is a local information button linking to local blood donations, late night chemist services, local authority, museum and library links, and a number of other local groups. It's the most comprehensive source of local information available. We also display local events such as Christmas bizarres, firework and charity events, school fairs etc etc

I followed the original advice of user Pontificate and kept to my own local area but this doesn't seem to be good enough. There's also another message below about a page I never new about which must be linked to some kind of IP address thingy which is news to me.

I would like to know who I could appeal to further to perhaps resolve this as i think our community pages provide useful and valuable information. Also a cursory glance at villages further afield reveals a plethora of local websites allowed on Wikpedia funded like us with a few business adverts.

Hi Caterhamlink, in regards to the IP address thingy, any edits you made before registering this account (on the 21/01, 25/01 and 21/02/07) would appear under your IP address (the pages listed below) - a warning was posted to the IP address's talk page a few minutes after your last post, however you then registered the account 24/02/07 so may never have seen the new message alert.
Regarding the link itself, please see details about external links and conflict of interest here: Wikipedia:External links#Advertising and conflicts of interest. Refraining from posting any more of the links is a good decision - your best bet may be to just post a message to the article's talk page and let other editors discuss from there, let them post the links if they decide to.
If you wish to get a third opinion or discuss it further, reading through Wikipedia:Resolving disputes may help - although I would recommend reading through the appropriate policies (WP:EL & WP:COI as previously mentioned) first and maybe skim over their talk pages to see discussions regarding the policies. -- Zarius 14:25, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply. Very helpful. The article's talk page, is that accessed by the discussion tab at the top of the page? Don't want to get excluded for using the wrong talk page. Caterhamlink 15:28, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

That's correct, you should notice the address of the page becomes .../Talk:(article name). I would also read over the discussion here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam#Spammer keeps adding thecaterhamlink.com after multiple warnings (as posted below by A.B.).
Reviewing the link again, I would say it's unlikely it will be added. Being an encyclopaedia, the external links provided should link to more information on the subject at hand. It's not personal, I think the site looks good and seems like a good location to locate & advertise community events - it just isn't appropriate for an encyclopaedia. A more appropriate place is the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org) and I see it is already listed there.
I don't think anyone would be against adding the relevant dmoz page to the external links (using Template:dmoz) - though given the current history here, I wouldn't go adding them yourself, perhaps a request on the talk pages. This would give local residents a location to find other pages relevant to them, whilst keeping the external links appropriate to Wikipedia. Zarius 08:50, 28 March 2007 (UTC)
PS: If the business directory on the community page was cut down (it takes a large chunk of the screen - up to half, depending on resolution - at the moment) and more community information (historical information, details on current recurring events, tourist information, links to more websites - eg. council, etc) it may be more appropriate. Though I can't look at it at the moment, the virtual tour looks like a good start, but I think it needs a lot more. Note that if you do think it's changed substantially you still should post to the talk page (and I'd stick with just Talk:Caterham - you don't want 20 discussions going on) rather posting the links yourself, as per WP:COI. -- Zarius 09:38, 28 March 2007 (UTC)
PPS: I know, you would think I'd had enough :) - take a look at [1] for an example, it's a capital city & council run so obviously a lot more content, but it demonstrates a large level of community information, real estate, directories, events, etc accompanied with detailed reviews. There is advertising, but it's more subtle and worked into the rest of the website (eg. note the little 'advertise' button at bottom of the page). Note I'm not directing how you should develop the site, just what is more appropriate for Wikipedia. -- Zarius 09:48, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I've added some information on the talk page about my website and some other sources of local information. I hope this is more appropriate.

[edit] See also User talk:81.86.73.193 / Special:Contributions/81.86.73.193

Almost certainly the same spammer, before he registered this username. Also received multiple warnings from users under that account as well, so this person cannot pretend to be unaware their spamming is not acceptable. 172.188.70.108 19:52, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

I never saw this page before, as a new user I was not aware this existed and never saw this Caterhamlink 12:04, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Linking data

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--A. B. (talk) 20:11, 27 March 2007 (UTC)