[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia:Paid editing

[Steve Bennett]

On 3/12/07, William Pietri <william at scissor.com> wrote:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid_editing

I really don't like this. The only people who will be affected will be
those who bothered to have a conscience and find out that there even
was a rule. These rampant PR companies that we're apparently so
worried about will simply disregard it - if they even know it exists.

I think one reason I don't like it is because it blatantly breaks
"Assume Good Faith". Rather than assuming that people will behave
responsibly when money and editing are combined, we assume that they
will attempt harm.

This goes way too far: "This includes any editing of any Wikipedia
article done for pay, gifts, favors, fees, donations, barter, promises
of anything of value, or the chance to win anything of value." For
starters, I've already broken it on several occasions. I edited [[Safe
Speed]] as an exchange with Guy (JzG). I edit as a favour to Wikipedia
and to future generations. I created [[Kate McTell]] in exchange for a
promised reward of $20 (never paid, but that's another story...)

This is wrong too: "You should be contributing to Wikipedia because
you have an interest in the topic, not because you have an interest in
the outcome" - I don't edit because I have "an interest in the topic",
I edit because I like editing. And everyone breaks this rule all the
time anyway.

Here are some examples of editing which you have effectively banned:
- A university history department paying a staffer or outsider to
improve coverage of some aspect of history
- A PhD student paying a researcher to research a field of interest
and write up the results as a Wikipedia article. They might still do
the work, but we don't benefit.
- A philanthropist who wants to improve coverage of some of our most
needed topics, but, only having 24 hours in the day, "outsources" by
paying others to work for him.

And conversely, you're saying it's ok for people to write articles
about their employers, blatantly in contradiction to WP:COI.

Steve