On 7/24/07, C.J. Croy cjcroy@gmail.com wrote:
On 7/19/07, admnyc admspam@yahoo.com wrote:
Sorry if this is the wrong place for this. I noticed the issue this morning and was wondering if anyone had an opinion about it.
Someone will probably point you to the Conflict of Interest Noticeboard, [[WP:COIN]].
I haven't watched the video, but I personally don't have a problem with the idea. We're, collectively, way too touchy about conflicts of interest. If the folks behind Michael's or the Waverly Inn want to add articles on their restaurants to Wikipedia, I'm certainly not going to try and stop them. Worst case scenario, they'll write an overly positive article about a notable subject.
They're also probably right about proactive solutions to Seigenthalish problems. I haven't done a systemic study, but I've noticed that the better the article, the less vandalism it tends to get. Vandalism also tends to get caught and reverted faster on good articles because it stands out more.
-Chris Croy
Most articles wtih serious COIs are rather crappy. If someone knows of a good article with a COI, point it out to me. And people with COIs don't take kindly to suggestion they read WP:MOS, study English grammar, and allow people who can spell words in English to edit their, uh, prose. And, they own the crap, oh do they own the crap, and nothing else will make them see it.
But, yes, I guard the best articles I've contributed to more than the lesser ones. I think a lot of people do. And people with COIs can't see their own crap, and they don't really need to be doing a disservice to someone or thing just because they're connected.
KP