Maybe we need some kind of speedy deletion process for organisations which are not notable, but which do assert notability. Of course, there would need to be safeguards - perhaps allow any established editor (>500 edits for the sake of argument) to remove the tag or have the article undeleted without discussion, like a prod undeletion. This would mean that we could remove many more articles about nn organisations and people without having to go through a five-day AfD, but anything which was notable enough for at least one established editor to support it would still get the benefit of full AfD process and discussion.
On 29/09/06, Brad Patrick bpatrick@wikimedia.org wrote:
Dear Community:
The volume of corporate vanity/vandalism which is showing up on Wikipedia is overwhelming. At the office, we are receiving dozens of phone calls *per week* about company, organization, and marketing edits which are reverted, causing the non-notable, but self-aggrandizing authors, to scream bloody murder. This is as it should be. However, I am issuing a call to arms to the community to act in a much more draconian fashion in response to corporate self-editing and vanity page creation. This is simply out of hand, and we need your help.
We are the #14 website in the world. We are a big target. If we are to remain true to our encyclopedic mission, this kind of nonsense cannot be tolerated. This means the administrators and new page patrol need to be clear when they see new usernames and page creation which are blatantly commercial - shoot on sight. There should be no question that someone who claims to have a "famous movie studio" and has exactly 2 Google hits
- both their Myspace page - they get nuked. Ban users who promulgate
such garbage for a significant period of time. They need to be encouraged to avoid the temptation to recreate their article, thereby raising the level of damage and wasted time they incur.
Some of you might think regular policy and VfD is the way to go. I am here to tell you it is not enough. We are losing the battle for encyclopedic content in favor of people intent on hijacking Wikipedia for their own memes. This scourge is a serious waste of time and energy. We must put a stop to this now.
Thank you for your help.
-Brad Patrick User:BradPatrick Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
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