Wikipedia is not for sale. We are not simply another advertising venue
available to the corporations of the world. We have mechanisms for
corporations to suggest changes to our content and it is called the talk
page.
Lets look at the changes likely made by Burger King staff in more detail:
In this edit this sentence "The Whopper is a burger, consisting of a
flame-grilled patty made with 100% beef with no preservatives, no fillers
and is topped with daily sliced tomatoes and onions, fresh lettuce,
pickles, ketchup and mayo, served on a soft sesame seed bun."
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whopper&type=revision&diff=773836335&oldid=773833110>
was
added not once but twice. And than was added again following its first
removal.
In this edit this sentence "The Whopper, also known as America’s favorite
burger, has a flame-[[grilling|grilled]] patty made with 100% beef with no
preservatives, no fillers and is topped with daily sliced tomatoes and
onions, fresh lettuce, pickles, ketchup and mayo, served on a soft sesame
seed bun. Whopper and America’s Favorite Burger are trademarks of Burger
King Corporation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whopper&diff=773807497&oldid=773585358>"
was added.
One of the accounts did not disclosed their relationship to the company in
question. And yes this is spam, so they did spam Wikipedia. See
[[WP:PEACOCK]]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Puffery>
and [[WP:NPOV]] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars>, the
latter of which is pillar number 2.
This is not the first time the marketing department at a multi billion
dollar company has tried to adjust our content for the company's /
shareholder's gains. A few years back a couple of the heads of marketing at
Medtronic
<https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/08/wikipedia-editors-for-pay/393926/>,
along with a number of physicians one of whom they had paid more than a
quarter of a million dollars, tried to remove the best available evidence
regarding vertebroplasty, a procedure which medicare spent at the time more
than a billion dollars a year on. Half a dozen paid editors working
together can easily get a majority in many of our decision making processes.
Our readers deserve a Wikipedia which is written independently of the
subject mater in question. Our readers have been harmed by undisclosed paid
editing in the past. These are individuals typically less savvy and less
wealthy than the executives at a large corporation. I am sorry but our
readers are the ones that deserve our attention and our protection. We
already have the Wifione case
<http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/03/manipulating-wikipedia-promote-bogus-business-school-316133.html>
were Wikipedia was used to promote an unethical Indian university and
therefore we played a role in misleading the students who applied. We must
do better.
James
On Fri, Apr 14, 2017 at 5:23 AM, Gnangarra <gnangarra(a)gmail.com> wrote:
but they didnt spam, nor did they introduce any false
hoods, or remove
controversial content, they just put a description of the Whopper for the
opening sentence. As Andy said rather than biting and creating arguments
amongst ourselves would it not be better to have used the opportunity to
benefit the community in a positive way.
On 14 April 2017 at 18:44, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 14 April 2017 at 11:38, Andy Mabbett
<andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk>
wrote:
A far better (and less WP:BITEy) outcome would be
to get then to
Pretty sure WP:BITE doesn't apply in the case of deliberate abuse for
clear purposes of spamming.
- d.
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