 | Please refer to the Wikipedia policy on paid contributions at Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure (WP:PAID). |
| Paid Editing Proposals |
| In November 2013, there were three main discussions and votes on paid editing: |
| No paid advocacy (talk) (closed: opposed) |
| Paid editing policy proposal (talk) (closed: opposed) |
| Conflict of interest limit (talk) (closed: opposed) |
 | This is a failed proposal. Consensus for its implementation was not established within a reasonable period of time. If you want to revive discussion, please use the talk page or initiate a thread at the village pump. |
Wikipedia is a public good, created by an online community interested in building a high-quality encyclopedia, and hosted by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation. A Wikipedia COI is an incompatibility between the aim of Wikipedia, which is to produce a neutral, reliably sourced encyclopedia, and the aims of an individual editor.
While Wikipedia's motto is "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit", Wikipedia has policies that limit editing practices (e.g., sockpuppetry) that threaten the integrity of its content. Conflict of interest (COI) policies are used extensively in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, and are essential for good governance.
This aim of this policy is twofold: first, it aims to clarify the scope and specify the procedures for good-faith contributions by editors that may have a COI with respect to a given topic; second, it aims to define a set of minimal parameters for prohibiting the most egregious forms of conflict of interest editing, such as paid advocacy editing.
Editing with a conflict of interest can be seriously counterproductive, and can damage the reputation of the intended beneficiaries. Because this kind of activity has come under heavy criticism from the press and general public, and is widely viewed as inconsistent with Wikipedia's educational mission, intentional violations of this policy may result in an editor being blocked.
An editor shall not edit an existing article directly if he or she is:
Acceptable conduct includes:
These conditions are not an exhaustive set of all conflict of interest scenarios—see Wikipedia's guidelines on conflict of interest editing for more information. Use common sense in interpreting this policy, keeping in mind that remote connections do not constitute a conflict of interest. The following examples are offered to illustrate what is permitted and what is prohibited.
If you are concerned that an editor may be violating this policy, then you should leave a note on the editor's talk page that refers to this policy, politely and without accusations. If the behavior of the editor does not change, then raise a concern at the Conflict of Interest Noticeboard (COIN). You must notify the editor in question of the posting at COIN and must present specific edits related to your concerns. Administrators at COIN shall use appropriate Wikipedia tools (checkuser, etc) to determine whether or not the editor has violated this policy.
If you do not follow this procedure and fail to follow Wikipedia policies and principles, you may become the subject of sanctions. Civility, with its assumption of good faith, is a pillar of Wikipedia and this policy remains subject to that pillar. If an editor discloses a financial interest, it is expected that others will scrutinize the changes made by the editor while not commenting on the editor. Hounding of editors due to their actual or suspected financial interests is not allowed and hounding behavior is subject to sanctions. Furthermore, Wikipedia's "outing" policy expressly prohibits the disclosure of personal information of any editor, including editors who have disclosed a financial interest related to their participation in Wikipedia.
These represent the opinions of individual editors on the following topics:
Wikipedia is a public good, created by an online community interested in building a high-quality encyclopedia, and hosted by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation. A Wikipedia COI is an incompatibility between the aim of Wikipedia, which is to produce a neutral, reliably sourced encyclopedia, and the aims of an individual editor.
While Wikipedia's motto is "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit", Wikipedia has policies that limit editing practices (e.g., sockpuppetry) that threaten the integrity of its content. Conflict of interest (COI) policies are used extensively in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, and are essential for good governance.
This aim of this policy is to define a set of minimal parameters for prohibiting the most egregious forms of conflict of interest editing,namely: paid advocacy editing.
Paid advocacy editing can be seriously counterproductive, and can damage the reputation of the intended beneficiaries. Because this kind of activity has come under heavy criticism from the press and general public, and is widely viewed as inconsistent with Wikipedia's educational mission, intentional violations of this policy may result in an editor being blocked.
An editor shall not edit an existing article directly if he or she is:
Acceptable conduct includes:
If you are concerned that an editor may be violating this policy, then you should leave a note on the editor's talk page that refers to this policy, politely and without accusations. If the behavior of the editor does not change, then raise a concern at the Conflict of Interest Noticeboard (COIN). You must notify the editor in question of the posting at COIN and must present specific edits related to your concerns. Administrators at COIN shall use appropriate Wikipedia tools (checkuser, etc) to determine whether or not the editor has violated this policy.
If you do not follow this procedure and fail to follow Wikipedia policies and principles, you may become the subject of sanctions. Civility, with its assumption of good faith, is a pillar of Wikipedia and this policy remains subject to that pillar. If an editor discloses a financial interest associated with Paid advocacy editing, it is expected that others will scrutinize the suggested changes made by the editor on article Talk pages and the like while not commenting on the editor. Hounding of editors due to their actual or suspected financial interests is not allowed and hounding behavior is subject to sanctions. Furthermore, Wikipedia's "outing" policy expressly prohibits the disclosure of personal information of any editor, including editors who have disclosed a financial interest related to their participation in Wikipedia.
These represent the opinions of individual editors on the following topics:
