This is an archive of past discussions with User:ThylacineHunter. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
This archive covers from my start on Wikipedia up to my renaming due to a COI.
Welcome!
Hello, Trainsofvictoria, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by Supdiop 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.
Hello! Trainsofvictoria,
I noticed your article was declined at Articles for Creation, and that can be disappointing. If you are wondering or curious about 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! Supdiop(talk)14:34, 9 July 2015 (UTC)
Your user name
Welcome to Wikipedia. I noticed that your username, "Trainsofvictoria", may not meet Wikipedia's username policy because it appears to represent a group rather than an individual person. Shared accounts are not permitted, and neither are advertising or promotional editing. If you believe that your username does not violate our policy, please leave a note here explaining why. As an alternative, you may ask for a change of username, or you may simply create a new account for editing. Thank you. --Diannaa (talk) 00:27, 10 July 2015 (UTC)
Hi, my name is the name of my site; which aims to bring correct information relating to train lines, stations, locomotives and companies from Victoria, Australia. This is my own personal site, run only by me. I intend to use it only to correct any wrong information that is posted of Wikipedia. Trainsofvictoria (talk) 02:53, 10 July 2015 (UTC)
Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by Dodger67 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.
Hello! Trainsofvictoria,
I noticed your article was declined at Articles for Creation, and that can be disappointing. If you are wondering or curious about 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! Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:59, 1 August 2015 (UTC)
In accordance with our policy that Articles for Creation 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}} 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.
Please do not add inappropriate external links to Wikipedia, as you did to MT type cars. Wikipedia is not a collection of links, nor should it be used for advertising or promotion. Inappropriate links include, but are not limited to, links to personal websites, links to websites with which you are affiliated (whether as a link in article text, or a citation in an article), and links that attract visitors to a website or promote a product. See the external links guideline and spam guideline for further explanations. Because Wikipedia uses the nofollow attribute value, its external links are disregarded by most search engines. If you feel the link should be added to the page, please discuss it on the associated talk page rather than re-adding it. Thank you. Melcous (talk) 14:33, 20 July 2016 (UTC)
Hi and thanks for your messages on my talk page. The issue is one of conflict of interest. As the notice above says, what you should do is go to the talk page of the relevant article, and suggest the link there. Then if other editors agree that it is useful and relevant, they can add the link to the article. Thanks, Melcous (talk) 09:26, 21 July 2016 (UTC)
New Challenge for Oceania and Australia
Hi, Wikipedia:WikiProject Oceania/The 10,000 Challenge and Wikipedia:WikiProject Australia/The 5000 Challenge are up and running based on Wikipedia:The 10,000 Challenge which has currently produced over 2300 article improvements and creations. The Australia challenge would feed into the wider region one and potentially New Zealand could have a smaller challenge too. The main goal is content improvement, tackling stale old stubs and important content and improving sourcing/making more consistent but new articles are also welcome if sourced. I understand that this is a big goal for regular editors, especially being summertime where you are, but if you'd like to see large scale quality improvements happening for Oceania and Australia like The Africa Destubathon, which has produced over 1700 articles in 5 weeks, sign up on the page. The idea will be an ongoing national editathon/challenge for the region but fuelled by a series of contests to really get articles on every province and subject mass improved. The Africa contest scaled worldwide would naturally provide great benefits to Oceania countries, particularly Australia and attract new editors. I would like some support from existing editors here to get the Challenges off to a start with some articles to make doing a Destubathon worthwhile and potentially bring about hundreds of improvements in a few weeks through a contest! Cheers.♦ --MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:12, 24 November 2016 (UTC)
Google Code-In 2019 is coming - please mentor some documentation tasks!
Hello,
Google Code-In, Google-organized contest in which the Wikimedia Foundation participates, starts in a few weeks. This contest is about taking high school students into the world of opensource. I'm sending you this message because you recently edited a documentation page at the English Wikipedia.
I would like to ask you to take part in Google Code-In as a mentor. That would mean to prepare at least one task (it can be documentation related, or something else - the other categories are Code, Design, Quality Assurance and Outreach) for the participants, and help the student to complete it. Please sign up at the contest page and send us your Google account address to google-code-in-admins@lists.wikimedia.org, so we can invite you in!
From my own experience, Google Code-In can be fun, you can make several new friends, attract new people to your wiki and make them part of your community.
If you have any questions, please let us know at google-code-in-admins@lists.wikimedia.org.
We are currently in the process of converting the various rail succession templates to Adjacent Station modules. Hence we will shortly be starting to delete the various Succession templates to Template:Adjacent stations which uses the new modules. The new modules for Sydney Trains, NSW TrainLink and closed lines - the last currently under the name State Rail Authority - are now available - also see the category link above. Hence we suggest that you change the links in your sandbox at least for those within the next few weeks. The deletion process for Sydney Metro which I dont think you have a link to, will start in the next week or so followed by the closed line link. Fleet Lists (talk) 23:28, 10 August 2020 (UTC)
September 2021
Initially I wasn't going to block this account, but suggest a change of username as I found little evidence in your edits of promotional editing. Then I stumbled across edits where you were actually promoting your own website, such as here. You will not be able to continue using this choice of username nor make edits relating to your website should you request and eventually be unblocked. -- Longhair\talk06:18, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
I'm aware that rules may have changed since you first began editing, but as it stands today, your username is a violation of the username policy (that rule has been around for quite some time), and by adding your website URL to articles here, you're entering into promotonal editing territory / conflict of interest editing. I see that most of your edits have been productive here. I'll also add that your website doesn't carry any advertising and is most informative, so I have no concerns relating to paid editing in any way. -- Longhair\talk07:19, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
I suggest replacing your current unblock request with the proper template where you choose a new username to carry on with, and your edit history will remain intact. To add that template, add {{unblock-spamun|Your proposed new username|Your reason here}} to your talk page, and filling in the relevant areas with your own information. Remove the current unblock request once that is done.
As I am the administrator who blocked you, another administrator will review your unblock request and advise from there. I wouldn't worry too much about going back and removing all old links. For all I know, other editors may consider your website to be a reliable source of information... I've blocked you for policy violations, not so much the quality of your edits which are mostly fine from what I can tell. -- Longhair\talk07:34, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
I would like to (at the moment) keep with the current request, if there is a chance to keep this username. It had built up an amount of 'goodwill' that I will lose if I become someone else. As for the links back in 2016, they are all identical to what I have been violated for and date from 20th to 21st July 2016 (as I have said before, this was from before I was aware I couldn't do that)--Trainsofvictoria (talk) 07:48, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
I'm sure there's a way to perform a mass search for such links, but I am not aware how that's done off the top of my head without looking into the means of doing so. I've been away for some time recently also and as you know things change rapidly here. It's not a 5 minute job I suspect. If that's what you want to happen I can look into how to perform such an action if you like. Meanwhile, standby and another administrator will review your unblock request. -- Longhair\talk08:53, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
I can list all 23 pages it is on as they were the first few edits I made on here. Although I'm surprised I've been blocked from something 5 years ago.--Trainsofvictoria (talk) 08:57, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
Wikipedia is a big place. I've blocked folks that have been in the wrong 10 years ago :D.... anyway now that you've indicated a date range for such edits I'll take a look later tonight. I'm in Victoria, Australia also so the timezone is right on dinner time here :D -- Longhair\talk09:01, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
Thank you. It is the pages from between 23:40, 20 July 2016 and 00:36, 21 July 2016. A couple of them have already been removed by others, when I was first made aware of the problem. I was under the impression the person who informed me and removed them was going to do the rest, (and I sort of forgot to go back and check). I'm also Victoria, Australia (and I like trains, another reason why I picked that name)--Trainsofvictoria (talk) 09:09, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
Without these link to my site, and me not linking anymore to my site. Except in the rare instance where no other referenceable material exists (eg. something that only exists in a closed facebook group), where I'll add it as a suggestion to the talk page as per what Melcous said on my talk page July 2016.
Under the username policy - Promotional names section... The following types of usernames are not permitted because they are considered promotional: Usernames that unambiguously represent the name of a company, group, institution or product. However usernames that contain such names are sometimes permissible; see Usernames implying shared use.
Usernames implying shared use.... However, usernames are acceptable if they contain a company or group name but are clearly intended to denote an individual person
Yes, I am an individual person and I run my own site by myself. I'm from Victoria, Australia and I like trains form Victoria, Australia, not trains in general, hence the username "Trains of Victoria"--Trainsofvictoria (talk) 09:35, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
The problem is, your username is an exact match for your website domain name. It's clear any adding of your website links here ceased some time ago when you were advised. Again, as I made the block, it's required of me to allow another administrator to review any subsequent unblock. Administrators can see the editing history so they'll be able to tell you've responded to previous issues here positively. -- Longhair\talk09:39, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
I think there's a broader discussion to be had here (or perhaps elsewhere like WikiProject Trains perhaps), as I performed a search for your website link and found only one article where it remains, being Yaapeet railway line. I took a look, and there's several rail related websites which may or may not be suitable. If I remove yours, for reasons mentioned above, do I also remove the others which are also clearly rail fan hobbyist-like websites? I don't know enough about railways to know which sites you folks consider to be reliable sources of information, as most of you appear to be hobbyists editing according to your interests here. That's hardly a crime, but I won't remove your links just yet because I feel there's discussion to be had relating to what's a reliable source and what isn't... -- Longhair\talk09:51, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
Longhair, in relation to your comment re-Yaapeet railway line, first of all, I have never edited that page (I was actually unaware it existed until you pointed it out).
Probably around 95% of railway sites covering railways in australia are run by railfans. This is due to the fact that, at least here in Victoria, some of the last official information published by the companies in charge of the railway was back in the 1980's. Although I can exactly speak for all the other sites, there are a few like me that do an extreme amount of research through what information we can find to publish the most accurate info we can. Whether that is from an old railway document (most are not available anymore) or from a closed Facebook group where there is picture proof of something. These groups are closed to limit access to information of exact asset locations, (eg carriages, buildings, etc) to prevent some people from finding them and destroying them through vandalism or arson (yes, this has actually happened from an open Facebook group).
The reason I chose to also edit Wiki is that I was found a page for a railway line that was 90% made up, and unsupported by references to that line (although they did reference the surrounding lines). Another reason I joined was there is a lack to some of the information I cover on my site (eg railway accidents, liveries, etc), this information seems to be lacking in documentation anywhere.
Should I do all the research for these sort of things for myself and then sit around hoping one day someone might decide to update it to Wikipedia? or should I, as they say, "pull my finger out" and do it myself?--Trainsofvictoria (talk) 01:29, 5 September 2021 (UTC)
Hence my comment above... I know many of you rail fan folk are somewhat subject-matter experts when it comes to railways, and that official sources and sometimes scarce. That's why I think there's a wider discussion to be had on the topic of reliable railway sources. The article on Yaapeet railway line, as you can see, there's a bit of "me too" style stuff going on, where one rail fan page adds a reference, and the rest follow, ending up with a WP:REFBOMB in the lead section of the article alone (with 9 references... sheesh). I'm no railway expert but I can tell many of you folk who dedicate your time and research into the topic are closer than I'll ever be. In the absence of reliable source websites, has anyone actually written a comprehensive book on the topic of Australian railways which could be used? I realise too that any such book would quickly become out of date. Hopefully your unblock request should be reviewed soon. I can't see your existing username passing muster and being accepted, but the editing concerns have at least been resolved from my end. -- Longhair\talk01:38, 5 September 2021 (UTC)
Another thing I'd like to point out, either the Wikipedia:Username policy#Promotional names or even Website need to be expanded to define what a "commercial web page" actually is. My interpretation is that a commercial site would make money (as opposed to non-commercial). When I created my account back in 2015, I was informed of the username policy by Diannaa (see § Your user name above) I was asked to leave a note explaining why I believe that my username does not violate the policy. Under my interpretation of the policy and in particular the term "commercial web page" I stated my explanation. As no other matter arose from that, I was under the impression my username was acceptable.--Trainsofvictoria (talk) 13:08, 5 September 2021 (UTC)
Comment for reviewing administrator: I am willing to treat this block as a username softblock as this editor has clearly ceased adding links to their website several years ago when requested to do so. -- Longhair\talk09:57, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
Usernames that unambiguously represent the name of a company, group, institution or product - My site is neither a company, group, institution or product
Email addresses and URLs that promote a commercial web page and don't simply identify a person - Not a commercial site, it is run by just me. It is also a descriptive name, I like trains that are in the state of Victoria, Australia
As for inappropriately promotional behaviors - I acknowledge I did reference to my site back in 2016 (5 years ago), where there was little other sources to reference for articles that were on here. I was warned about it and it stopped. The person who warned me, reverted it on one or two of the pages (but not the others). I was under the impression that they would do the others and I forgot about them--Trainsofvictoria (talk) 04:07, 8 September 2021 (UTC)
I know that changing my username may seen like a small thing to some people, but after having it for 5 years I've grown quite attached to having it. After all this time, looking at a Wikipedia page without it being in the top corner just doesn't seem right. My name reminds me of how inexperienced I was back when I started. Back then I was afraid to change an incorrect detail, now when I look at it now, it gives me the confidence to make new pages that are missing. Does anyone else feel that same thing when they look at their username? If I had of been blocked back in 2016, sure, I would have changed my name straightaway, no problem, but after 5 years it's become part of me.--Trainsofvictoria (talk) 15:56, 9 September 2021 (UTC)
Thanks for that. There has been a bit or random editing on locomotives the past 2 or so months, and even cases of people deleting a record of a loco when it has been scrapped. --Trainsofvictoria (talk) 03:11, 8 September 2021 (UTC)
Note: Should be written as "North Shore Sidings" not as "North Shore, Victoria sidings". North Shore Sidings is the name of the place, just as "Newport Workshops" is never written as "Newport, Victoria Workshops". --Trainsofvictoria (talk) 10:53, 12 September 2021 (UTC)
Done IEV100 as per Vicsig page needs to be added to Metro Trains Melbourne under either "Maintenance trains" or under "Former Fleet" (as it is still currently in service awaiting decommissioning as it's replacement, EV120, is now entering service). Note: it is of a different type to IEV102 that is already listed. --Trainsofvictoria (talk) 02:58, 13 September 2021 (UTC)
Welcome to Wikipedia. Because we have a policy against usernames which give the impression that the account represents a group, organization or website, I have blocked this account; please take a moment to create a new account with a username that represents only yourself as an individual and which complies with our username policy or request a change of username.
It also appears that your account is intended to be used for the purpose of telling the world about an organization, person or cause that you consider worthwhile. Unfortunately, many good causes are not sufficiently notable for their own Wikipedia article, and all users are discouraged from editing in any area where they have an inherent conflict of interest. You may wish to consider one of these alternative outlets. Additionally, if your contributions to Wikipedia form all or part of work for which you are, or expect to be, paid, you mustdisclose who is paying you to edit.
Please also note that you are permitted to use a username that contains the name of a company or organization if it identifies you individually, such as "Sara Smith at XYZ Company", "Mark at WidgetsUSA", or "FoobarFan87".
If your username does not represent a group, organization or website, you may appeal this username block by adding the text {{unblock|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}} at the bottom of your talk page.
You may simply create a new account, but you may prefer to change your username to one that complies with our username policy, so that your past contributions are associated with your new username. If you would prefer to change your username, you may appeal this username block by adding the text
{{unblock-un|new username|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}}
at the bottom of your talk page. Please note that you may only request a name that is not already in use, so please check here for a listing of already taken names.
My old name was that of my own personal site, run only by me, that makes no financial gain. For my own site I am constantly checking through every possible resource (well over 100 other sites and other recourses) to gather correct and accurate information. I was then using those sources to update stub (and occasionally correct) articles on here that relate to the railways in Victoria, Australia. What the violation is referencing is from back when I was first starting on Wikipedia, and was unaware I couldn't link to my own site (see July 2016 section on my talk page which is from the same date as the one you tagged). I am now aware I should request a link to my site via the talk page. I only intend to add this to talk pages where there are no other pages anywhere on the internet (eg the South Australian Railways Brill railcar page that was referenced. At the time, there was no other site that dealt with the fact that Victorian Railways also owned one). I thought I should add a sourced reference as opposed to just making a random section saying they did. I hope to be able to continue to use this username, as it has started to gain a bit of trust amongst other railway people, and railway preservation groups as a sign I am qualified on the topic of the railways in the state of Victoria, Australia. If I am unable to continue using it, I could possible change to something along the lines of VictorianTrainMan
From re reading COI, I have some questions I'm a little confused about.
If I am not referencing work published by myself, but instead use the books, documents and other internet sites I am gathering information from (eg obscure source that it may take some other user 10+ years to stumble across), does this fall under a COI? Do I need to disclose it?
{{UserboxCOI}}, if I list a general topic that is a COI under the text parameter, do I still need to put {{Connected contributor}} on every page I edit? and what about COI in the edit summary or are they a given?
Do I need to declare a COI for a topic I am knowledgeable about (eg If I was a hobby fisherman, would I need list it if I edited a page to do with fishing)? What about every other edit on Wikipedia done by someone who is knowledgeable about something, should we be only editing articles we personally know nothing about to avoid COI?
Re citing myself, adding a reference to work published by myself (eg a link to my website) and none by other researchers, as these other sources don't conform to Wikipedia's approved sources (eg closed Facebook group) is this allowed? (Especially if there is photographic evidence in the group)
I'm not trying to nit-pick or anything, I just though these things were a little vague and I currently have no way to talk to anyone about clarifying these questions that came up. Hope this is useful to improve the COI page.--Trainsofvictoria (talk) 09:31, 13 September 2021 (UTC)
I think it depends on the username. In your case since there is a connection alleged to a more specific organization, a late block might be more justifiable. Even if it's a coincidence, though, I'd probably think it would be better to change it slightly.
Since there's been quite a delay in reviewing your unblock request, I am willing to unblock your account upon a change of username, or unblock you to request same. Your username is an exact match for the domain name of your website and it is due to that similarity I blocked your account. Do you have an alternative username in mind? -- Longhair\talk03:15, 27 September 2021 (UTC)
I'm unsure of a new username. Everytime I think of one I like (at that moment), after a couple of days, I want to change it to something else as I no longer like it. -- Trainsofvictoria (talk) 10:18, 28 September 2021 (UTC)
I have just removed all old COI links to my site from back in 2016. Any links, currently on or added directly to a page (not via a method suggested as per WP:COIEDIT) that now go to my site ARE NOT added by me. -- ThylacineHunter (talk) 02:43, 7 October 2021 (UTC)
