jf_wikipedia@mac.com wrote:
On Nov 3, 2006, at 6:49 PM, Ray Saintonge wrote:
It's more important that potential conflicts of interest be declared so that the person's perspective is clear.
That was also discussed in talk page at [[WP:COI]]. I agree with you that declaration of COIs is important as it encourages transparency. But other editors are of the opinion that such declarations are meaningless in this context. I would appreciate your comments in talk.
After reading through that article and its talk page I can only regard it as so much excess verbiage to be cut severely. The problem with my getting involved in such a page is that I would waste a lot of time arguing over things that have little bearing on what I prefer to do. If it so happens that someone accuses me of a conflict of interest I can wait until then toi argue about what the policy should be.
It would be nice if people declared their conflicts of interest, but this kind of detailed rules is an absolute disincentive. I am not concerned with harassing people who might have these conflicts of interest. I very much prefer keeping their opinions there where they can be seen for what they are. Even PR people should have a place. If they claim that they are being paid to keep an article favorable to their client it's a promise that they can't keep, and it may even be fraudulent for them to accept money that they can't fulfill, but that is between them and their "client".
Ec