I was contacted by a well-known journalist about a message he received from someone who said he created Wikipedia articles for GHC250/$62 each, and could do one for him.
I was told of 2 additional cases all in the space of a week. And these wiki business people even leave their contacts for further negotiations.
I was given advice by a Wikimedia staff on how to go about this as a community. Here it goes:
"1. Expose this person and (gently) shame him for undisclosed (presumbly he does not disclose this?) paid editing, which is against the WMF Terms of Use.
2. Drafting a press release describing that practice and explaining how articles are written on Wikipedia, about whom, and how no amount of payment could guarantee non-notable people or orgs would be covered, or keep promotional language in or negative facts out."
*Interpreting the above advice, it means that when people do paid-editing, they are to disclose it in the manner stated here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid-contribution_disclosure. If not, WMF terms will be breached.*
*Secondly it will be good that we draft the suggested press release and make sure Ghanaians online are aware of the situation.* Additional reading:
Wikipedia:Paid editing (policy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid_editing_(policy)* (Failed proposal)* Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid-contribution_disclosure Some People Get Paid a Lot of Money to Edit Wikipedia Pages http://time.com/money/3994949/wikipedia-paid-editors/ Should I pay for a Wikipedia article? https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/09/21/on-paying-for-wikipedia-articles/
Finally if you have any comments, suggestions, or want to volunteer for anything at at all regarding this matter, please hop on.
Regards, -- Sandister Tei Video Journalist | Head of Social Media – Citi FM | Rep – Wikipedian Community (Gh)
*Letters to Marissa https://medium.com/letters-to-marissa | Wikipedian Community (Gh) http://www.wmgh.org/ | Purple People https://www.facebook.com/thatpurplelife/*
I have this issue with people asking me if they pay for being on Wikipedia, I guess its about time we make noise about it to stop people from falling victim to that.
I would want to volunteer for this matter Sandister.
Kind Regards,
On 8 November 2016 at 10:56, Sandister Tei sandistertei@gmail.com wrote:
I was contacted by a well-known journalist about a message he received from someone who said he created Wikipedia articles for GHC250/$62 each, and could do one for him.
I was told of 2 additional cases all in the space of a week. And these wiki business people even leave their contacts for further negotiations.
I was given advice by a Wikimedia staff on how to go about this as a community. Here it goes:
"1. Expose this person and (gently) shame him for undisclosed (presumbly he does not disclose this?) paid editing, which is against the WMF Terms of Use.
- Drafting a press release describing that practice and explaining how
articles are written on Wikipedia, about whom, and how no amount of payment could guarantee non-notable people or orgs would be covered, or keep promotional language in or negative facts out."
*Interpreting the above advice, it means that when people do paid-editing, they are to disclose it in the manner stated here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid-contribution_disclosure. If not, WMF terms will be breached.*
*Secondly it will be good that we draft the suggested press release and make sure Ghanaians online are aware of the situation.* Additional reading:
Wikipedia:Paid editing (policy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid_editing_(policy)* (Failed proposal)* Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid-contribution_disclosure Some People Get Paid a Lot of Money to Edit Wikipedia Pages http://time.com/money/3994949/wikipedia-paid-editors/ Should I pay for a Wikipedia article? https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/09/21/on-paying-for-wikipedia-articles/
Finally if you have any comments, suggestions, or want to volunteer for anything at at all regarding this matter, please hop on.
Regards,
Sandister Tei Video Journalist | Head of Social Media – Citi FM | Rep – Wikipedian Community (Gh)
*Letters to Marissa https://medium.com/letters-to-marissa | Wikipedian Community (Gh) http://www.wmgh.org/ | Purple People https://www.facebook.com/thatpurplelife/*
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