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Show your boss this page or tell them that here's why you probably shouldn't be editing: |
Show your boss this page or tell them that here's why you probably shouldn't be editing: |
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* If you're being asked to create a new article, tell your boss that having an article about your company is [[wikipedia:COMPORG|not necessarily a good thing]]. You do not [[wikipedia:Ownership of content|own or control the articles you create]].Anyone can edit the article, and they can include negative things about your company, not just positive ones. |
* If you're being asked to create a new article, tell your boss that having an article about your company is [[wikipedia:COMPORG|not necessarily a good thing]]. You do not [[wikipedia:Ownership of content|own or control the articles you create]]. Anyone can edit the article, and they can include negative things about your company, not just positive ones. |
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* Your company is likely not [[wikipedia:Notability|notable]], i.e. well known enough to have an article. If it was notable, someone would likely have already written about it. |
* Your company is likely not [[wikipedia:Notability|notable]], i.e. well known enough to have an article. If it was notable, someone would likely have already written about it. |
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* Unless you are willing to read and understand our [[wikipedia:Five pillars|core policies]] in depth, your article is very unlikely to get published. Your time would be better spent doing more productive things for your company. |
* Unless you are willing to read and understand our [[wikipedia:Five pillars|core policies]] in depth, your article is very unlikely to get published. Your time would be better spent doing more productive things for your company. |
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This is an essay.
It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
If you're reading this page, you are probably an employee asked to either 1) create an article about the organization, or 2) edit an existing article about the organization. This essay quickly breaks down what you need to know and do.
Companies love to ask their interns, PR people, and newbies to create Wikipedia articles about them. But companies often misunderstand the purpose and function of Wikipedia. Editing Wikipedia is no small task. Editing it while working for a company is even harder. There are a lot of policies to comply with, rules to follow, skills to master, and research to be conducted. Not to mention most companies don't actually qualify for an article. Our advice, garnered over many years of guiding paid and conflict of interest editors is: it's a waste of time.
Show your boss this page or tell them that here's why you probably shouldn't be editing:
If the above has not dissuaded you, you need to carefully follow our rules, and understand that this is not an easy task.
If you are an employee, contractor, or intern of a company, whether you are paid or not, you must disclose that relationship. Failing to declare paid editing is a violation of the Wikipedia Terms of Use and will result in a loss of editing privileges. The full text of this policy can be found at Paid-contribution disclosure. The gist of it is: if you work for a company, you gotta say so. That doesn't impact your editing, it just keeps things transparent. Wikipedia is built on transparency. All of our edits are visible to the public, so that they can see for themselves how the sausage is made. Failing to disclose can get you blocked from editing (we investigate and block dozens of undisclosed paid editors everyday, so don't think that you could slide under the radar). Also, numerous companies have been exposed for covert paid editing on Wikipedia, and then been blasted on national news! Talk about a PR nightmare. Disclosing your status makes it way easier for everyone involved. It allows us to help you better, and ensures your company won't be publicly embarrassed.
"But I'm not being paid, so why do I have to make a paid editing disclosure?" Well if you're an unpaid intern, we're very sorry for you and hope that you get a good paying job soon :) But our terms of use still require you to make a paid editing declaration, because you are being compensated in some way for your edits (the compensation here is experience, or hopefully college credit, instead of money). The same goes for volunteers, and other unpaid affiliates of an organization.
Disclosing your status as a paid editor is super-duper simple. Just create your userpage if you haven't already done so by clicking the name of your account in the top right of the screen. Add to it the following text, making sure to include the double curly brackets: {{paid|employer=your employer here}}. Make sure to save the page, and then you're good. If you've already created your userpage, just add the text to the page somewhere.
If your organization does not yet have an article, you'll need to create a draft version of it for approval by using the WP:Article Wizard. Do not try to create your article directly in the "main" article space. It'll just get deleted. Once you create a draft, experienced editors will see if your draft meets your policies, approve it if it does, and decline it, with an explanation, if it does not.
Before making a draft, please do some research! Make sure that your organization meets the organization notability guidelines. The gist of those are: your organization needs to have been written about in the independent press substantially. If you can't find at least three news articles (or other reliable sources) that discuss your organization at length, then it is likely not notable, and we can't write about it. Your organization's own website should not be used as a source, and neither should press releases, or blogs.
Do not edit an existing article about your company directly!! That way lies ruin and damnation, and it is against our policy. Instead, make an edit request on the relevant talk page. Its simple: open the talk page of the article (found at the top left), open a new section, suggest what you want changed in a "Change X to Y" format, and add {{request edit}} to the top of your request. Then, an experienced editor will come along to ensure the edit complies with our policies, and if its good, implement it.
Be well advised: we do not handhold paid editors. If you are being paid, we expect you to put in the time to understand our policies. If you do not have the time to understand how Wikipedia works, then go back to the first section and tell your boss it cannot be done. But that doesn't mean we won't help at all. For assistance, please ask at:
