[WikiEN-l] Re: The Church of Scientology is discovered to have discovered Wikipedia!

[Sheldon Rampton]

Geoff Burling wrote:

>I find this quite alarming.  At the existing policy page
>[[Wikipedia:Auto-biography]] we find "editing an article about
>yourself or your organization is also generally considered
>improper and best avoided."  Should we announce a change of
>policy now?

As currently worded, this policy page contradicts itself. On the one 
hand, it states:

>If you are reasonably significant, someone will create an article 
>about you sooner or later. You are free to contribute to that 
>article, but please only add verifiable information and be 
>especially careful to respect the neutral point of view.

This says unambiguously that it is okay for people to contribute to 
articles about themselves. Later, however, the article states,

>Editing an article about yourself or your organization is also 
>generally considered improper and best avoided.

Since there is no clear difference between "contributing" to the 
Wikipedia and "editing an article," these two statements contradict 
each other.

Another problem with this policy emerges when it goes beyond talking 
about individual autobiographies and says that people shouldn't edit 
articles about "your organization." The problem here is that there is 
a wide range in degrees of affiliation and "ownership" of 
organizations. Does this policy mean that only the founder of an 
organization should hesitate to edit an article about it? What about 
the president of an organization's board of directors? Its executive 
director? What about someone who is just an active volunteer or 
employee? Extending a little further outward, should all members of 
Greenpeace feel constrained from editing the article about 
Greenpeace? What about Democrats who want to edit the article about 
the Democratic Party? What about Jews, Catholics or Italians who want 
to edit articles about their religion, nation or ethnic group?

These aren't merely questions in the abstract. They are at the heart 
of what we are discussing with regard to the Church of Scientology. 
Strictly speaking, it isn't true that the "Church of Scientology" has 
discovered Wikipedia. A church is an inanimate object that doesn't 
"discover" things. What has happened is that some *members* of the 
church of Scientology have discovered Wikipedia. But how is this 
different from having members of the Catholic or Mormon Church edit 
articles about their particular religions?

--Sheldon Rampton