What is the policy (or information about the policy) on dealing with/reporting whitewashing or smearing by interested/paid parties? An example was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Congressional_Staffer_Edits but it doesn't seem to be under any category... is there any kind of policy? Should there be?

I almost don't want to justify the practice with a defense, because then it sets up a game/conflict for people to "win" at by "beating" Wikipedia. But it would be foolish to ignore what will be more prevalent as Wikipedia grows.

What is the policy (or information about the policy) on dealing with/reporting whitewashing or smearing by interested/paid parties? An example was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Congressional_Staffer_Edits but it doesn't seem to be under any category... is there any kind of policy? Should there be? I almost don't want to justify the practice with a defense, because then it sets up a game/conflict for people to "win" at by "beating" Wikipedia. But it would be foolish to ignore what will be more prevalent as Wikipedia grows. Also, I think it would be good for the community to tackle this, because otherwise the Foundation and Jimbo will take the lead, and they have a necessarily conflict/legal-dispute/panic-mode bias toward the issue, since they're always on the receiving end of irate phone calls or Ann Coulters in their face or controversy-seeking journalists. I for one don't think the "no interested parties" policy idea is very good, but I can see it being implemented if a better framework isn't put in place before all hell breaks loose. An ounce of prevention and all that. But only an ounce! Sorry for the rambling if there's already work that's been done on this issue and I just haven't seen it. _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l(a)Wikipedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l