G'day y control (any relation to Karen O?),

few days ago, i added my photoblog to the list on "photoblog" page. however, i noticed it was removed. it's a legit photoblog, and when i re-edited it, i didn't find any specifications to adding a website - just the fact that it had to be a "photoblog".

We have policies and guidelines and holy writ and other such things that loosely define what you can and can't add --- first and foremost is WP:NOT (type that into the search box and click "go"), which states that Wikipedia is *not* a link farm, and does not indiscriminately add links to other websites. For the most part, though, we operate on common sense. Consider the following tests, which aren't (to my knowledge) enshrined anywhere, but are pretty common:

1) What is your purpose in adding the link? Is it to advertise your 'blog, or to improve our article? 2) What benefit does the link bring to the article? 3) Why did *you* add it, and not someone else?

my website was just opened, and there's not too many photos, but enoght to be on the list (or so i thought). i emailed the user who edited the page, and asked why they deleted it. i wasn't in the best of mood, so i might've sounded harsh. he never replied, so i assumed it might've been a mistake on his part.

No. No, there were *not* enough photos. There's a whole heap of famous, notable, productive and long-lived photoblogs out there, which we can point to as an example of the genre. What does yours add to our article?

today, i noticed it was removed by "Cryptic" without a notice and without a reason. i emailed him quickly asking why the website got deleted. to which he blocked me for the following reasons "Zero contributions; being used to send spam via wikipedia email". i DID NOT say anything in a mean way to him, and i didn't spam him, i simply asked a question. and of course i have 0 contribution, because i've just joined the website!

What is your Wikipedia username? It's clearly not "y control", since that name's already taken. We can't help you unless we know who you are on-wiki.

i feel the removale of my website was without reason - i couldn't find a reason anyway. there are no ads on my website, and the main part of it are photos. there were no specifications to add a website, so why was mine taken off?

Why not? We're building an *encyclopaedia*. You wanted to *advertise* instead. You don't have the right to complain when told you couldn't.

also, my block was unfair, since i did not email cryptic in paticular with any sort of spam. i simply asked him why the site was blocked, so i could fix it.

If you can tell us who you are, I can review your contributions and talk to Cryptic about possibly unblocking you. Note, though, that you won't be unblocked if you insist on adding links to your own websites.

Good authors are always welcome, even people who are here for reasons other than altruistically improving the encyclopaedia. However, those who are more interested in pushing a point of view, advertising a product, etc., must accept that we are not a free-for-all.

You *can*, if you like, just waltz in and add a link to advertise yourself, as you've done. However, you *must* accept that it may well be removed, and people will glare at you. We're here to produce an encyclopaedia, not to provide free advertising to upstart 'blogs.

-- Mark Gallagher 0439 704 975 "What? I can't hear you, I've got a banana on my head!" - Danger Mouse