User talk:Josh Smylie

Managing a conflict of interest

Hello, IndiGOAutoGroup. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for article subjects for more information. We ask that you:

avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, colleagues, company, organization, clients, or competitors;
propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (you can use the Edit Request Wizard), including links or details of reliable sources that support your suggestions;
disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest § How to disclose a COI);
avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see Wikipedia:Spam § External link spamming);
do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.

In addition, you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution which forms all or part of work for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. See Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure.

Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicizing, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. Equine-man (talk) 21:11, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Your account has been indefinitely blocked from editing because it has been used for advertising or promotion, which is contrary to the purpose of Wikipedia. Also, your username gives the impression that the account represents a business, organisation, group, website, or role, which is against the username policy.

If you intend to make useful contributions instead of promoting your business or organization, you may request unblock and a username change. In your reasons, you must follow all these steps:

Disclose any compensation you may receive for your contributions in accordance with the paid-contribution disclosure requirement; and
Convince us that you understand the reason for your block and that you will not repeat the kind of edits for which you were blocked; and
Describe in general terms the contributions that you intend to make if you are unblocked; and
Provide a new username.

To do this, insert the text {{unblock-spamun|Your proposed new username|Your reason here}} at the bottom of your talk page. Replace the text "Your proposed new username" with your new username and replace the text "Your reason here" with your reasons to be unblocked.

Please note that the new username you choose cannot already be taken and in use by another account. You can search to see if the username you'd like to choose is available. If the search returns that no global account with that username exists, that means it is still available.

Appeals: If, after reviewing the guide to appealing blocks, you believe this block was made in error, you may appeal it by adding the text {{unblock|reason=Your reason here ~~~~}} at the bottom of your talk page. Replace the text "Your reason here" with the reasons you believe the block was an error, and publish the page. Alexf^(talk) 23:30, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Unblock request

This user is asking to be unblocked to request a change in username.

Josh Smylie (block log • active blocks • global blocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))

Requested username:

Josh Smylie (talk · account availability check · rename user)

Request reason:

I am a salaried employee of indiGO Auto Group, and as such, I may be considered to have a financial connection to the organization. I am not receiving separate payment for editing Wikipedia, but I understand that my employment creates a Conflict of Interest (COI) and qualifies as a paid contribution under Wikipedia’s disclosure policy. I therefore disclose that any edits or drafts I make related to indiGO Auto Group, its leadership, or affiliated projects are being made on behalf of my employer as part of my normal job duties.

I understand that I was blocked because my earlier edits may have violated Wikipedia’s conflict-of-interest and paid-contribution disclosure requirements. My intent was to provide accurate, factual information, but I now recognize that Wikipedia requires strict neutrality, independent sourcing, and transparent disclosure when editing about one’s own organization. I understand that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia built on verifiable, independent, and neutral content, not a platform for promotion. Going forward, I will avoid any promotional language and will make requests for article changes via the Talk page or through the Articles for Creation (AfC) process so that neutral editors can review them.

If unblocked, I plan to contribute factual, neutrally written information about indiGO Auto Group that is supported by independent and verifiable sources such as newspapers, trade publications, and official business records. I will only suggest edits or drafts for review by independent editors, and I will strictly follow Wikipedia’s paid-contribution disclosure and COI policies on all futre edits

Administrators should consider discussing any unblock with the blocking administrator (see the blocking policy).

Administrator use only:

If you ask the blocking administrator to comment on this request, please replace this template with the following:

{{unblock-un on hold | 1=blocking administrator | 2=Josh Smylie | 3=I am a salaried employee of indiGO Auto Group, and as such, I may be considered to have a financial connection to the organization. I am not receiving separate payment for editing Wikipedia, but I understand that my employment creates a Conflict of Interest (COI) and qualifies as a paid contribution under Wikipedia’s disclosure policy. I therefore disclose that any edits or drafts I make related to indiGO Auto Group, its leadership, or affiliated projects are being made on behalf of my employer as part of my normal job duties.


I understand that I was blocked because my earlier edits may have violated Wikipedia’s conflict-of-interest and paid-contribution disclosure requirements. My intent was to provide accurate, factual information, but I now recognize that Wikipedia requires strict neutrality, independent sourcing, and transparent disclosure when editing about one’s own organization. I understand that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia built on verifiable, independent, and neutral content, not a platform for promotion. Going forward, I will avoid any promotional language and will make requests for article changes via the Talk page or through the Articles for Creation (AfC) process so that neutral editors can review them.

If unblocked, I plan to contribute factual, neutrally written information about indiGO Auto Group that is supported by independent and verifiable sources such as newspapers, trade publications, and official business records. I will only suggest edits or drafts for review by independent editors, and I will strictly follow Wikipedia’s paid-contribution disclosure and COI policies on all futre edits | 4=~~~~}}

If you accept the unblock request, replace this template with the following:

{{unblock-un reviewed | 1=Josh Smylie | reason=I am a salaried employee of indiGO Auto Group, and as such, I may be considered to have a financial connection to the organization. I am not receiving separate payment for editing Wikipedia, but I understand that my employment creates a Conflict of Interest (COI) and qualifies as a paid contribution under Wikipedia’s disclosure policy. I therefore disclose that any edits or drafts I make related to indiGO Auto Group, its leadership, or affiliated projects are being made on behalf of my employer as part of my normal job duties.


I understand that I was blocked because my earlier edits may have violated Wikipedia’s conflict-of-interest and paid-contribution disclosure requirements. My intent was to provide accurate, factual information, but I now recognize that Wikipedia requires strict neutrality, independent sourcing, and transparent disclosure when editing about one’s own organization. I understand that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia built on verifiable, independent, and neutral content, not a platform for promotion. Going forward, I will avoid any promotional language and will make requests for article changes via the Talk page or through the Articles for Creation (AfC) process so that neutral editors can review them.

If unblocked, I plan to contribute factual, neutrally written information about indiGO Auto Group that is supported by independent and verifiable sources such as newspapers, trade publications, and official business records. I will only suggest edits or drafts for review by independent editors, and I will strictly follow Wikipedia’s paid-contribution disclosure and COI policies on all futre edits | accept=Allowing username change to requested username. Please select an option from [[Wikipedia:Changing username]] and file a request as soon as possible to avoid re-blocking. ~~~~}}

If you decline the unblock request, replace this template with the following, replacing {{subst:Decline reason here}} with any specific rationale. If you do not edit the text after "decline=", a default reason why the request was declined will be inserted.

{{unblock-un reviewed | 1=Josh Smylie | reason=I am a salaried employee of indiGO Auto Group, and as such, I may be considered to have a financial connection to the organization. I am not receiving separate payment for editing Wikipedia, but I understand that my employment creates a Conflict of Interest (COI) and qualifies as a paid contribution under Wikipedia’s disclosure policy. I therefore disclose that any edits or drafts I make related to indiGO Auto Group, its leadership, or affiliated projects are being made on behalf of my employer as part of my normal job duties.


I understand that I was blocked because my earlier edits may have violated Wikipedia’s conflict-of-interest and paid-contribution disclosure requirements. My intent was to provide accurate, factual information, but I now recognize that Wikipedia requires strict neutrality, independent sourcing, and transparent disclosure when editing about one’s own organization. I understand that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia built on verifiable, independent, and neutral content, not a platform for promotion. Going forward, I will avoid any promotional language and will make requests for article changes via the Talk page or through the Articles for Creation (AfC) process so that neutral editors can review them.

If unblocked, I plan to contribute factual, neutrally written information about indiGO Auto Group that is supported by independent and verifiable sources such as newspapers, trade publications, and official business records. I will only suggest edits or drafts for review by independent editors, and I will strictly follow Wikipedia’s paid-contribution disclosure and COI policies on all futre edits | decline={{subst:Decline reason here}} ~~~~}}

IndiGOAutoGroup (talk) 16:49, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have renamed your account. Another uninvolved admin will review your unblock request. PhilKnight (talk) 17:18, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]
If you want to write an article about your company, that is not easily accomplished; please read WP:BOSS, and show it to your superiors/colleagues. Most companies do not actually merit Wikipedia articles(even some that may have them and we just haven't removed yet). Writing a new article is the most difficult task to perform on Wikipedia, and it's even harder with a conflict of interest/paid relationship.(for example, business records are primary sources that are only useful in certain situations, never to establish that the business is notable as Wikipedia uses the word). My advice is that you not worry about writing a new article for now; it seems like that there may be existing articles that you want to propose changes to. What sorts of changes do you want to propose? 331dot (talk) 21:28, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There are also good reasons for your company to not want an article about it, such as disgruntled customers or other bad actors vandalizing it, if only temporarily. Any information, good or bad, can be in an article as long as it appears in an independent source and is not defamatory. 331dot (talk) 21:29, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]