Wikipedia user submission question

July 12, 2006 3:04 PM

My friend submitted information about his artwork to wikipedia. They accepted his submission but it only shows up when you search for it as "user: inky dreadfuls". What is the user heading? Why would it not show up with the other articles? What can he do to get rid of the user heading? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Inky_Dreadfuls
posted by stavx to Computers & Internet (18 answers total)

I'm not a wikipedia editor, but isn't there something about "no self-editorializing"... as in, you can't add information about yourself (and your own artwork would probably be considered tightly linked to yourself)

I'm guessing that's why the user page is where it got put, rather than with the rest of the articles.
posted by hatsix at 3:09 PM on July 12, 2006

I'm pretty sure it would be called out as a "vanity article" and voted for deletion if it were placed as an actual article rather than a userpage.
posted by Gator at 3:10 PM on July 12, 2006

Your friend created the account "Inky Dreadfuls" and edited his "user page". I don't believe this is a vanity article because the information has been put under his own user name. He probably meant to edit this page.

(btw, searching for "User:Inky_Dreadfuls", that seems to work.)
posted by null terminated at 3:11 PM on July 12, 2006

oops, misread Gator. You could have your friend redirect the "inky dreadfuls" page to his user page, but this may also be frowned upon.
posted by null terminated at 3:12 PM on July 12, 2006

(by the way, I like his work, and the write-up seems pretty factual, rather than the usual "so and so is sooo awesome and highly acclaimed")
posted by hatsix at 3:12 PM on July 12, 2006

This question would be best asked at Wikipedia, but the short answer is that (1) Wikipedia doesn't generally allow people to submit or edit articles about themselves, and (2) Wikipedia doesn't generally allow articles about artists, musicians, bands, etc. without some evidence that the subject is notable (e.g., an artist who has been profiled in the New York Times or a band whose record went platinum).

The shorter answer, based only on reading the information that you linked, is that I doubt Wikipedia will accept your friend's article.
posted by cribcage at 3:13 PM on July 12, 2006

I read a bit of Wikipedia's help with editing and policy sections, and it appears to cover the general thrust of your questions. I'll summarize what I found.

What is the user heading?

The user heading indicates that it a wikipedia user's page.

Why would it not show up with the other articles?

It is a separate namespace. The main name space is reserved for encyclopedic content.

What can he do to get rid of the user heading?

Basically, wait he should wait until his work achieves sufficient prominence that other wikipedia editors feel his work deserves an entry and create they it themselves. According to wikipedia policy:

It is a faux pas to write about yourself, according to Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder.

You should wait for others to write an article about subjects in which you are personally involved. This applies to articles about you, your achievements, your business, your publications, your website, your relatives, and any other possible conflict of interest.

However, the same policy permits limited biographical information on one's own Wikipedia user page:

Your userpage is for anything that is compatible with the Wikipedia project. It is a mistake to think of it as a homepage: Wikipedia is not a free host, webspace provider, or social networking site. Instead, think of it as a way of organizing the work that you are doing on the articles in Wikipedia, and also a way of helping other editors to understand with whom they're working.

Some people add a little information about themselves as well, possibly including contact information (email, instant messaging, etc), a photograph, their real name, their location, information about your areas of expertise and interest, likes and dislikes, homepages, and so forth. If you are concerned with privacy, you may not want to emulate this.

This is presumably why they permit the information on his own user page.
posted by RichardP at 3:24 PM on July 12, 2006

I don't think he submitted the article at all. He created a user page, which aren't part of the Wikipedia at all (and thus not searchable. If he had submitted it, it would show up autmoatically immediately (there's no concept of "accepting" an article). If someone didn't like it, it would be delete, but it hasn't been, which implies it never existed.

Self-created articles are only deleted if the subject isn't notable (the page mentioned is borderline.
posted by cillit bang at 3:26 PM on July 12, 2006

From the way this question was worded I suspect there is great confusion about how wikipedia works.

There is no such thing as "submission". To make a change you edit a page. That's it. There is no review, no supervision, the change is immediate. Of course, somebody else can later come along and change your change, but that doesn't change the fact that anyone can instantly change any page at any time (with some few exceptions for things like the main page.)

So when you say that your friend submitted something and it ended up in a User page that means he messed up and just edited his user page. If he actually wanted to create or edit an article then he should have done that instead. However, as everyone has said here already, it sounds like that would be borderline acceptable, and it might be deleted.
posted by Rhomboid at 3:39 PM on July 12, 2006

The article has been created.
posted by cribcage at 3:59 PM on July 12, 2006

I am a wikipedia editor, for whatever that's worth, but then again so is your friend. I think people have pretty much answered the question. However, there is a page at the Wikipedia URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inky_Dreadfuls so maybe your friend made a sample page, uploaded it to that URL but then also had one on his user page as well? The history on that page seems to show that this user created the actual page. Or, what cribcage said. Please feel free to email me or ask here if you have any more questions about how Wikipedia works.
posted by jessamyn at 4:06 PM on July 12, 2006

The article has been created.

And already speedied.
posted by oaf at 4:12 PM on July 12, 2006

Yeah, this article is probably not long for the main space at wikipedia because even though it was not technically posted by your friend, your friend did write the content for it [as evidenced by your friend's user page] and as such it goes against vanity page guidelines. You can read about the speedy deletion criteria here and specifically the deletion of vanity articles policy. You and/or your friend may want to read up on the notability guidelines to sort of understand where Wikipedia is coming from on this.
posted by jessamyn at 4:21 PM on July 12, 2006

Your friend's work is not notable and Wikipedia is not a free web host so the article should and will be deleted.
posted by beerbajay at 5:22 PM on July 12, 2006

Not notable?! Who made you an expert? The simple fact that someone's comics aren't yet widely disseminated does NOT make them less notable. The poster's friend is rather talented, in this user's humble opinion.

[[stands up for lesser-known comics artists everywhere]]
posted by limeonaire at 8:07 PM on July 12, 2006 [1 favorite]

Hey, beerbajay, don't bite the newbies, dude.

Frankly, I think a friendly explanatory comment is a lot less biting-the-newbies than what usually happens: out of nowhere, a speedy deletion box magically appears on your new page ("What's a 'speedy deletion'?") and soon afterwards your page is just deleted ("Where did my page go?").
posted by chrismear at 9:41 PM on July 12, 2006

"not notable", as in, most people have not heard of him, and this page seems to serve more as a promotionnal token of his work, than a fair account. Wikipedia is not a personnal host, nor a fan page.

"The poster's friend is rather talented". Wow, dude, if I had to add a page for all my talented friends, that would hog WP's servers.

Anyway : proposed WP policy on notability, with a section on self-publication - which seems to be the case here.
posted by XiBe at 5:27 AM on July 13, 2006

Not biting; just being stern and clear. No judgement about the quality of his friend's work was meant, made, or implied.

I wish your friend good luck becoming notable.
posted by beerbajay at 5:30 AM on July 13, 2006