User talk:APTA

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.

Daniel Case (talk) 02:09, 2 September 2013 (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.

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

Requested username:

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

Request reason:

Understand My Error

Decline reason:

The conversation below ("I don't work for APTA", "Yeah you do", "Well, okay I do, but technically...") strikes me as suspiciously evasive, to say the least. Why didn't you just 'fess up to your connection in the first place? As it is, this reads a lot like an attempt to wheedle your way around the block by claiming that you don't have a conflict of interest when you quite clearly do. You will not be permitted to edit regarding the APTA or related topics again. Bearing this in mind, do you wish to edit Wikipedia in other areas? If so, please post a new unblock request below , detailing the subjects you would like to write about instead. Yunshui 雲‍水 11:50, 10 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I apologize for not reading the user name guidelines before selecting my name. Although I did select APTA, I do not work for them and was not looking to promote the organization. I'm an avid player of the sport and noticed that key info was missing and wanted to get it across. The APTA and platform tennis are intricately tied, but I can absolutely refrain from mentioning them and still get the awesomeness of the sport across to those who are looking for more information.

Please let me know if I can provide any more information to get my user name updated. I do truly apologize. Sara Lanthier

Why did you pick APTA as your username if you are not connected to them? Singularity42 (talk) 02:30, 7 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

FYI – APTA Board of Directors Cindy(talk) 10:23, 7 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. I didn't say I wasn't connected. I am an unpaid, volunteer board member yes. I'm not trying to sell the APTA, I'm only trying to get information across about the sport. Okay, thank you for your answer. 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. Singularity42 (talk) 13:02, 7 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]