The fact that someone is not paid *by WMF* to edit does not mean that they
are a volunteer. That would be like saying that a newspaper salesperson
standing at the door of a grocery store is a volunteer because he is not
paid by the grocer and instead paid by the newspaper. As with paid
contributors to Wikipedia, the newspaper salesperson's presence at the door
of the grocery store may or
may not be in compliance with the policies of the grocery store.
Agreed that perfect neutrality is difficult, but we try to achieve
neutrality through the wisdom of the crowds and avoiding undue weight. We
have a policy on neutrality; we don't have a policy that forbids all paid
editing, and in some cases I feel that paid editors who are honest about
their affiliations and compensation can be net positives on Wikipedia.
Pine
On Sun, Feb 7, 2016 at 2:17 PM, Thyge <ltl.privat(a)gmail.com> wrote:
2016-02-07 19:10 GMT+01:00 Pine W
<wiki.pine(a)gmail.com>om>:
A marketing slogan that I'd like WMF to
banish is that Wikipedia is 100%
written by volunteers. That's simply false.
I find that point of view entirely wrong. The WMF does not pay anybody to
edit, so editors are volunteers. I might follow the same line of reasoning
and say, that Wikipedia is not neutral, because people are allowed to write
about their own country/city etc.
Contributors make a living from other sources. Anybody could have some
affiliation other than getting paid and total neutrality is hard to come
by.
Thyge
2016-02-07 19:10 GMT+01:00 Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com>om>:
A marketing slogan that I'd like WMF to
banish is that Wikipedia is 100%
written by volunteers. That's simply false. Wikipedia is written by
individuals with a mix of motives, and for some people those motives
include financial compensation.
Diverging a little into the topic of paid contributions: generally I feel
that *disclosed* paid editing is ok so long as it's done in a manner
that's
compliant with our policies. For example, a
museum staffer who publicly
discloses their affiliation and writes on Wikipedia about a fossil that
the
museum has in its collection may be a net
positive writer for the
encyclopedia. On the other hand, a someone who's a POV-pusher for a
political interest, whether paid or unpaid, may be a net negative for the
encyclopedia.
In any case, Wikipedia is only partially written by volunteers, and
public
communications from WMF should be consistent with
this reality.
Pine
On Sun, Feb 7, 2016 at 1:58 AM, rupert THURNER <rupert.thurner(a)gmail.com
wrote:
lol .... This is why “Nonprofit: The Musical”
will have, as one of its
characters, a consultant robot, whose only job is to repeat exactly
what an internal staff or board member says; the difference is that
the robot actually gets listened to.
On Sat, Feb 6, 2016 at 8:59 PM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> I think that a number of us may appreciate this article, specifically
> people who are involved with Wikimedia affiliates, grant committees,
and
WMF
Community Engagement including CR and PC&L.
http://nonprofitwithballs.com/2015/06/9-annoying-nonprofit-trends-that-need…
> >
> > Pine
> > _______________________________________________
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