[WikiEN-l] Is editing for payment a fundamentally problematic conflict of interest?

[David Gerard]

On 03/03/07, Jaap Vermeulen <jaap.vermeulen at gmail.com> wrote:

> I posted the following here -
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Conflict_of_interest#Editing_for_payment:
> "I have recently been approached by an organisation to improve articles
> related to the organisation in question (not create new ones). I would
> receive money for doing so. I am an administrator and am aware of the
> policies and guidelines that govern Wikipedia. The organisation understands
> that it is not acceptable to whitewash any articles and that criticism
> should be included in the article. For them it is a matter of improving the
> quality of the articles, not to whitewash them. Is this acceptable? Should I
> decide to go ahead with this I would do so in full disclosure, since I
> believe doing so without the community being aware would not be ethical,
> especially since as an admin the community has placed trust in me that I
> would not want to abuse."


The short answer is "don't, uh-uh, no way."

If they have article content concerns, there's ways to deal with that.


- d.