On Nov 3, 2006, at 9:59 AM, Gregory Kohs wrote:
I think that WP:COI (or Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest) is botched. The basic notion is that if you really intimately know about or care passionately about a topic that might have some impact on your career, even in some tangential way, you are either "strongly encouraged" or (just in case you are dense) "very strongly encouraged" to avoid editing Wikipedia on that topic.
We have had a vigorous debate on these issues on the talk page, and similar concerns were voiced there. The current wording about "close relationships" makes allowances related to editing within policies. It now reads:
---- == Close relationships == Friedrich Engels would have had difficulty editing Karl Marx, because he was a close friend, follower and collaborator.[1] Any situation where strong relationships can develop may trigger a conflict of interest. Conflict of interest can be personal, religious, political, academic, financial, and legal. It is not determined by area, but is created by relationships that involve a high level of personal commitment to, involvement with, or dependence upon, a person, subject, idea, tradition, or organization.
There is no tidy definition of what is meant by "too close" in this context, and editors should use their common sense in deciding whether this guideline applies. An article about a little-known band should preferably not be written by a band member or the manager. On the other hand, an expert on climate change is welcome to contribute to articles on that subject, even if he is deeply committed to it. As a rule of thumb, the more involved you are in a particular area in real life, the more careful you should be to adhere to our core content policies — Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, Wikipedia:No original research, and Wikipedia:Verifiability — when editing in that area. Closeness to a subject does not mean you're incapable of being neutral, but it may incline you in that direction. Be guided by the advice of other editors. If editors on a talk page suggest in good faith that you may have a conflict of interest, take seriously what they say and consider withdrawing from editing the article.
---- There is some opposition to this wording on the basis that it is "too soft", but IMO it captures the spirit of what this guideline wants to say about editing articles in which one may have a COI based on a "close relationship".
-- Jossi