User talk:Mark Heiden

In general, it's not a good idea to add a link to an external site to dozens of Wikipedia articles without discussing it first. If you are an employee or representative of the Pritzker Military Library, you may want to review our guidelines on promotional linking and how to handle potential conflicts of interest. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:21, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

:I'm sure that you can appreciate how a conflict of interest might be perceived where the Library's own External Affairs Coordinator, during working hours, appears on Wikipedia and starts adding dozens of external links back to his employer's web site. Though the Library appears to be a non-profit organization, we nevertheless tend to get a bit concerned when a lot of external links rapidly appear, particularly when they represent the bulk of an editor's contributions to Wikipedia. Though I wouldn't ever dispute that your intentions were good, your approach was of the sort that tends to raise red flags for Wikipedia regulars. The advice on this page (particularly point #9) is worth reading.

:The criteria for including external links are fairly strict, though I certainly agree with you that we fall far short of those standards in some of our articles. (Bear in mind, though, that the existence of other unsuitable links isn't a strong argument in favour of adding additional unsuitable links. If you should happen to run across pointless, promotional, or otherwise poor-quality external links in the future, feel free to remove them from the articles. The 'External links' sections of some of our popular, high-traffic articles require regular attention from a red pencil, a set of pruning shears, or a flamethrower.)

:If you should choose to add links to your Library in the future, I would urge you to do so sparingly, and bearing the following advice in mind.

:Be sure the link is on point. [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=U-boat&diff=prev&oldid=156316777 This edit] added a link to an interview with Robert Kurson, author of Shadow Divers (a book about the discovery of a U-boat wreck off the coast of New Jersey) to our article on U-boats. Is the link related to U-boats? Yes. Is it of key importance to the topic, or somehow more essential than interviews with any of myriad other authors and historians who have studied or wrote about U-boats in the last sixty years? Well...probably not.

:Similarly, [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Washington&diff=prev&oldid=157389240 this edit] added a link to an interview with Dave R. Palmer, where he discusses George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Again, many historians have discussed Washington and shared their perspectives in many different media. Is there anything that makes this interview special enough to be elevated above all others and appear in our article on George Washington?

:In general, aim to add links to the most specific articles. The Kurson interview might be suitable for Robert Kurson (when that article is created) or in Shadow Divers. The Palmer interview could be appropriate for a future article on Dave R. Palmer. While I didn't screen all of your links, many seemed to fall into this sort of tangentially-related category.

:When in doubt, use the article talk page first. All of our articles have 'discussion' or 'talk' pages; these pages can be reached by clicking on the 'discussion' tab above the article. Create a new section on the talk page (click the '+' button at the top of the page) and ask for comments or advice about the appropriateness of your proposed link. It's best to identify your affiliation with the Library, as well. If the response is positive, or there's no response for several days, then you can go ahead and add the link to the 'External links' section of the article.

:Editors here are often more welcoming and flexible if you're willing to make an effort to contribute content – writing and editing articles, uploading free images, etc. &ndsah; to Wikipedia, and not just create external links to your own organization.

:Please let me know if I can be of further assistance. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 17:21, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

::Feel free to add back links where appropriate, keeping in mind the instructions above and erring on the side of discussion before linking. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 19:00, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi, you restored a paragraph that was deleted by an anon,[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oak-Land_Jr._High_School&diff=prev&oldid=257295130] but did you actually read the paragraph? It's pretty obvious nonsense. --Elonka 17:04, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Hi,

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