User talk:Rachel Helps (BYU)

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Notice to all users: my topic ban (TBAN)[edit]

I have been banned from editing LDS Church-related content on Wikipedia because I did not sufficiently disclose my external relationships in my personal editing. Specifically, I did not disclose that I am friends with Michael Austin (writer) when I created that page, nor did I disclose that I have contributed to The ARCH-HIVE when I created that page. I am not allowed to edit any page related to the LDS Church. This include pages for people who are members of the LDS Church. This includes participating in talk page discussions. I am allowed to disclose any further details about my COIs on pages I've edited. I am happy to assist with research and discuss what I know of Mormon studies off-wiki. Feel free to email me from the "Email this user" link under the "User" dropdown.

COI template disclosure on talk pages of pages we've worked on[edit]

Hi, I'm putting this on my talk page just in case other users who are watching this page are interested in this discussion. @Valereee, my student just added the paid contribution template to Talk:L. P. Hartley. Is that what you had in mind? Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 21:32, 25 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, exactly, thanks, Rachel! Valereee (talk) 14:28, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

An update on this--I've gone through the categories for 19th, 20th, and 21st century articles adding the connected contributor template using AWB. I tried to skip pages that already had a connected contributor template, but I may have duplicated information on some pages. There were four pages where I knew of an additional external relationship to the subject, which I disclosed where I thought of them. I plan to add the connected contributor template to the other pages in the maintenance categories. Afterwards, I will see if I can generate lists from my previous students' contribution histories and add them to their appropriate pages. I probably won't finish until mid-May because of other obligations I need to attend to. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 16:54, 12 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No deadlines, progress is always good! Valereee (talk) 18:17, 12 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Topic ban[edit]

Per this ANI discussion, you are indefinitely topic banned from LDS Church-related topics, broadly construed. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:41, 13 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for letting me know, ScottishFinnishRadish. I have some questions about the extent of the ban. Are you the right person to ask? Other editors have informed me that topic bans apply to all pages, including sandbox pages and talk pages. This is what I understand about the ban so far:

1. I am not allowed to add COI templates to the talk pages of pages I have edited in the past. Therefore I will be stopping my little project, mentioned above, to do so. I also cannot request that another user add them on the AWB project request page.

2. I have a few potential COIs that I believe are worth declaring (external relationships with subjects I've written about). However, all the people involved in them are Mormon. How would you like me to proceed? I could declare them in a section here (but would that be violating the TBAN?). Or I could email someone.

3. I have OCD and it is difficult for me to think of any page that is not, somehow, related to Mormonism. For instance, one of my students is working on the page for Dorothy Wordsworth. But yesterday, when one of my classmates mentioned participating in the Wordsworth trust internship, I realized that BYU as an institution has a relationship with Wordsworth as an institution that goes beyond us having a Wordsworth collection in our special collections. No one at the Wordsworth Trust has asked us to edit Wordsworth pages--I doubt they even know my team exists. Maybe the best thing to do would be to declare it. Also, one of the professors in the English department at BYU, Paul Westover, is a Wordsworth scholar and he was cited on the Dorothy Wordsworth page before my student started working on it. We were going to ask him for advice on editing the page, but my student decided not to after realizing he was cited on the page. I think it's okay for us to consult with Paul Westover about the page--would you agree?

I have other questions, but these three seem the most temporally relevant. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 15:43, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Per advice on WPO, I'm going to post at AN asking if it's okay if I post the COI notices on talk pages. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 15:56, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. One and two seem to be covered by the AN thread. I don't see an objection to you adding COI notices. As for number three, I would seek clarification at AN, as that is right at the edges of related to the LDS Church, broadly construed. As far as consulting with someone with a clear COI on the topic, it depends on what "consult with" means. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:31, 22 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry to butt in here, I was reading through this talk page and was surprised to see the topic ban notice at the end. Please clarify, does this also apply to editing by proxy? That is, does the ban also apply to the student employees hired by this editor to edit LDS-related articles? ~Anachronist (talk) 17:19, 22 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

WP:PROXYING covers this. In short, yes, it applies to editing by proxy. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 17:40, 22 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Perhaps the four currently-employed students listed on the user page should receive topic ban notices also.

One further question: Does this ban extend to making edit requests on talk pages of article with COI topics? Although these editors clearly have a COI, that's what edit requests are for, to provide a way for COI editors to have their suggested contributions reviewed by the community. It just seems wrong if the topic ban also extends to edit requests. ~Anachronist (talk) 20:29, 22 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I assume that the ban also applies to edit requests. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 17:55, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see why it would. That's the whole point of edit requests after all. Specifically, the {{edit COI}} tag is intended for COI editors to use on talk pages. If I were you, I'd ask for clarification, as ScottishFinnishRadish also suggested above. ~Anachronist (talk) 20:37, 7 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Edit requests violate the topic ban. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 20:59, 7 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Okay. That seems like a nonsensical position to take, however, given that "both sides have equal footing in policy" in the closing statement. So be it. In any case it's up to Rachel Helps to appeal. Thanks for the clarification. ~Anachronist (talk) 03:45, 8 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]