Undisclosed paid promotional editing is one of the biggest risks we face
not only to the quality of our content but to our reputation. We need to do
a more to address it.
No company editing Wikipedia for pay should be allowed to use the Wikipedia
logo or name IMO. I am not sure how much the law allows us to enforce
though. Is "wikipediawriters" a trademark infringement?
James
On Sat, Jan 7, 2017 at 4:58 PM, Jytdog at Wikipedia <jytdogtemp1(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Just want to note that in my OP I had linked to an ANI
thread (now archived
here
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/
IncidentArchive942#Earflaps>)
about the discovery of a long term paid editor; the same editors who found
that, have found another -- this time the editor had 70K edits on en-wiki.
ANI thread is here
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:
Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&oldid=758846199#
Proposal_to_ban_FoCuSandLeArN_due_to_undisclosed_paid_editing>.
They edited on behalf of Banc de Binary, Alcoa, and some other big
players. It appears that this editor worked for
wikipediawriters.com.
Is WMF in discussions with that company, and companies like it, with regard
to following the ToU? If not, why not?
What if WMF started a list similar to Beall's list of Predatory Publishers,
of companies that advertise editing WP for pay for which there is no
evidence of them complying with the ToU? It would also be useful to list
editors associated with the companies who have been blocked or banned by
one or more WP communities (this would take some delicate work). Beside
this sort of public list (which people who want to hire paid editors would
probably appreciate being able to check), such companies could also be sent
a letter informing them of the ToU and telling them to stop using the WP
name until they start complying with the ToU - including the
blocking/banning policies - and you could link that letter in the list.
There are things the WMF could be doing that the community cannot.
On Sat, Jan 7, 2017 at 3:31 PM, Jytdog at Wikipedia <jytdogtemp1(a)gmail.com
wrote:
> Thanks for your note, Jacob.
> It is great to know that WMF is happy
to help with specific on-Wiki
> issues, working from the ground up, as it were. Yes members of the
> community are constantly playing whack-a-mole to deal with specific
> incidents.
> The reason I asked the original
question, is that from the point of view
> of myself and some other editors, the WMF could do a lot to address paid
> editing by acting where *only* it can - from the top down. Namely,
> taking efforts to prevent companies from using the Wikipedia name to
> advertise services that are performed in violation of the Terms of Use.
> That would go for both companies that provide editing services and
> companies that allow freelancers to connect with customers.
> With those companies freely (and
often mockingly) advertising their
> services, the spigot is opened wide - they constantly get more customers
> and send people here to edit. I would like to know if legal is
> authorized to take action to cut that flow off from the top. To close
the
> spigot.
> If legal is not authorized to take
such action, I would like to know why.
> Is it that the board and management have not talked through this, or that
> they have talked through and decided not to do it?
> Thanks.
> On Sat, Jan 7, 2017 at 12:41
AM, Jacob Rogers <jrogers(a)wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I want to share a few thoughts on the paid editing issue. First of all,
we
> do have the ability to enforce our terms of
use. If there are cases
where
> you're encountering a severe problem with
paid editing and community
> efforts are not able to solve it, please get in touch with us via
> legal(a)wikimedia.org and we can discuss how we can provide support
> depending
> on the details of the case. With apologies, I'm not able to discuss
> details
> of any specific cases here because we don't want to reveal information
> about ongoing or future investigations or legal actions.
>
> In general, I do want to say a few words about the role of legal tools
in
> these kinds of cases. Legal actions are a
blunt instrument: courts use
the
> same solutions to every problem, and have not
kept up with the speed of
> modern technology. So we are interested in helping to improve community
> systems and technological tools (like tools to help admins investigate
and
> block problematic users) that can make it so
that legal action isn't
> necessary in many cases.
>
> I also want to note that we've been working on a longer statement
> outlining
> some of our thoughts about our role in dealing with paid editing
concerns
> and some ways the communities can effectively
approach these issues as
> well. We plan to post this on-wiki soon.
>
> Lastly, let me say thank you to all the community members who help out
> with
> these issues. We really appreciate everyone who reports cases to us and
> helps us take action where we are able, such as reporting some job
> postings
> on third-party sites.
>
> Best,
> Jacob Rogers
>
> --
>
> Jacob Rogers
> Legal Counsel
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> NOTICE: This message might have confidential or legally privileged
> information in it. If you have received this message by accident, please
> delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the
> Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical reasons I cannot give legal
advice
>> to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff
>> members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please
>> see
>> our legal disclaimer
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.
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The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine