Wikipedia Shut My User:HighTechDad Page Down. Fast.

I have all respect for Wikipedia. I source it in many articles I write and often start my research there. I have always had a desire to have a listing there for HighTechDad but I know how difficult it is to get an un-biased listing. And it is really frowned up if you create or edit your own article. My hope was that some day, some enterprising follower or reader of mine would do it. Both my father and my step-mother have listings.

I had decided to create a Wikipedia User page (not to be confused with an Article) as I was doing some research on Google Knowledge Graph (part of is spurred on by trying to ensure that my online presence and persona were ready for mobilegeddon – Google’s move to showcase better mobile-friendly sites). I came across an article by Tony Edward on Elite SEM and was starting to follow some of his instructions. I first tried to set up a Freebase.com profile but the site is no longer accepting entries and was in “read-only” mode.

So since I couldn’t do that, I decided I would create a User page within Wikipedia as per Tony’s. Creating a page was easy enough to do, or so I thought. I figured I would follow Tony’s example. I listed out how I created the online persona “HighTechDad” and tried to associate with my name. I listed out a bit about me (pretty much taken from my site – hightechdad.com) and added a few of my social properties: Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, etc. Google indexed my listing pretty quickly and I received a Google Alert about it. In fact (and a bit of a spoiler here), the only way I can now see my Wikipedia User page is via the Google cached version of it (shown below as an image since the link to the cache will probably be deleted).

Here’s what I wrote (which I thought was seemingly non-promotional and harmless):

HighTechDad is a name and persona created by Michael Sheehan. Michael Sheehan created the website: www.HighTechDad.com (previously known as blog.techdad.net until it was fully migrated to www.hightechdad.com). More information about HighTechDad/Michael Sheehan can be found at: https://www.hightechdad.com/about .

Avid technologist, content marketer, blogger, social media pundit, writer, loving husband and father of 3 beautiful girls living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I write about technology, consumer electronics, cloud computing, gadgets, software, hardware, parenting “hacks,” and other tips & tricks. I’m a fan of all technology that is new, exciting and valuable.

I work at Intel as a Journalist for Intel Free Press and am a Social Media Strategist there as well. All of content on this site is my opinion and not of any employer or company unless otherwise noted.

Social Links: Twitter: @HighTechDad YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/HighT3chDad Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/hightechdad

Within a few hours, one of the many, quite active Wikipedia editors had flagged my account for “speedy deletion” because “the page appears to be blatant advertising which only promotes or publicises a company, product, group or service, and which is a violation of our policies regarding acceptable use of users pages.” That makes sense, I guess. I used my online persona: “HighTechDad” instead of my real-name(?).

Hmm. Ok, I get it. Wikipedia really watches over its content. And I’m very comfortable with that. That is what makes Wikipedia a fairly good source for relatively bias-free content. But, I figured perhaps there was a bit of confusion around what I was trying to do. Yes, I’m a complete newbie when it comes to EDITING or CREATING content on Wikipedia (I’ve always been a bit scared to do so). But I figured I would add a bit more background information as to why I created the User Page so I created a “Contested Deletion” comment on the Talk page of my User Page (again, all of this was new to me).

I wrote:

This page is not unambiguously promotional, because… The information on the HighTechDad User page is merely a means to provide information behind the person who coined the name. I have a long established online presence and wanted to add information to my user page so that other interested parties would know who I am and where my written content resides (purely for information purposes only). I have no desire to promote myself and view Wikipedia to be a valuable source for me and others. The term “HighTechDad” is my nickname that I have grown into an online persona. I have several links from 3rd parties who talk about me, my writing and the help that I provide. I do plan on adding more 3rd party links to my User page for credibility. —HighTechDad

I also wrote on the Talk page of the user who initially flagged me for speedy deletion, trying to “plead my case.”

I guess that didn’t fly. Within hours, my User:Page was deleted AND, on top of that, my account was “blocked indefinitely” from editing Wikipedia (which, by the way, wasn’t something I had been planning on doing).

So, from being inspired to being on Wikipedia, making a quick effort to do so, being flagged for speedy deletion, commenting on why it wasn’t promotional, to my User:Page being deleted AND my account being “blocked indefinitely,” less than 24 hours passed. Whew. Gotta hand it to Wikipedia and the policing editors. They are on the ball and efficient. Here is the history of events”

But it does leave me feeling a bit upset. I won’t quite look at Wikipedia the same again. It’s almost a two-edged sword. I appreciate that they are so diligent about keeping the content factual. But on the other side, the response was so quick and “cutting” (with out any means to discuss truly), that I’m reluctant to contribute and edit (or even donate when they have their donation campaigns).

However, if one of my readers wants to take it upon themselves to create an actual Wikipedia page for me, I wouldn’t complain.

Has anyone else had similar or different experiences with Wikipedia? I’d love to hear your story. Leave a comment!

HTD says: Don’t you love Wikipedia’s high standard for policing content?