Mean 'ole Wikipedia moderator

Posted on October 10, 2008 by Dave J.

In an email discussion with a sister company about SEO, I was told that the Wikipedia page for our type of product was deleted.

Deleted. Gone. Wiped clean. Trashed.

I didn’t create the page. I didn’t contribute. There was no mention of my company or link. It wasn’t a very detailed or valuable page. But it is just disappointing to see a page that defines what I do for a living tossed away.

The page was deleted on October 3 by a moderator with this claim: (Speedy deleted per (CSD G11), was blatant advertising, used only to promote someone or something.(TW)).

As of Google’s last cache of the page only four days earlier, there were NO links or mention of any manufacturers. The cached page did have these warnings at the top:

  • Please wikify this article or section.
  • This article needs additional citations for verification.
  • Please help improve this article by adding reliable references.
  • This article contains weasel words
  • This article is written like a personal reflection or essay

Now, I remember that our #1 competitor had a few links to reference guides and articles at an earlier time in the Wikipedia entry, but those were gone, so someone must have edited or tried to comply with an advertising warning.

Maybe an editor and a competitor of mine got into an edit war that ended with the deletion. I can only guess.

In any case, it is just plain disappointing. And it makes me leery of contributing to the page once it is resurrected. Social media -bah!

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  • David Gerard

    As a Wikipedia editor, my advice is: 1. Don’t take it personally; 2. Don’t sweat it. Become more noteworthy and someone will in due course write a good article that sticks.(The key is an article that is neutral, reads neutrally and has enough third-party references to show someone is likely to look for this topic.)

  • David Gerard

    As a Wikipedia editor, my advice is: 1. Don’t take it personally; 2. Don’t sweat it. Become more noteworthy and someone will in due course write a good article that sticks.(The key is an article that is neutral, reads neutrally and has enough third-party references to show someone is likely to look for this topic.)

  • Dave J.

    Thanks for the response David. The page was about the type of equipment our whole industry sells, not just about mine, in case that wasn’t clear in the original post.Yes, I understand that a well-written article will stick, but I was just happy that someone had put something worthy of fleshing out, until it got cut.

  • Dave J.

    Thanks for the response David. The page was about the type of equipment our whole industry sells, not just about mine, in case that wasn’t clear in the original post.Yes, I understand that a well-written article will stick, but I was just happy that someone had put something worthy of fleshing out, until it got cut.