Wikipedia:Editing with a conflict of interest

[[Category:Wikipedia wp:cois|Editing with a conflict of interest]]

In keeping with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, edits where there is a clear conflict of interest, or where such a conflict can or might be justifiably assumed based on the proximity of the editor to the subject, are strongly discouraged. Of special concern are organisational conflicts of interest such as those posed by edits made by public relations departments of corporations or other public or private for-profit or not-for-profit organisations, or by professional editors paid by said organizations to edit a Wikipedia article with the sole intent of improving that organisation's image. Failure to follow these guidelines may put the editor at serious risk of embarrassing himself or his client.

Avoid conflict of interest edits

If you fit either of these descriptions:

1. you are receiving monetary or other benefits or considerations to edit Wikipedia as a representative of an organization (whether directly as an employee or contractor of that organization, or indirectly as an employee or contractor of a firm hired by that organization for public relations purposes); or,
2. you expect to derive monetary or other benefits or considerations from editing Wikipedia, as, for example, by being the owner, officer or other stakeholder of a company or other organisation about which you are writing;

we very strongly encourage you to avoid editing Wikipedia in areas in which you appear to have a conflict of interest. Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy states that all Wikipedia articles must represent views fairly and without bias, and a conflicts of interest significantly and negatively effect Wikipedia's ability to fulfill this requirement impartially.

If you have a conflict of interest, you should avoid:

1. editing articles related to your organization or its competitors;
2. participating in deletion discussions about articles related to your organization or its competitors;
3. linking to the Wikipedia article or website of your corporation in other articles (see Wikipedia:Spam).

Rather than editing Wikipedia, you should write a potential article on your own website, or create a listing on another wiki such as Yellowikis. If you wish to have an article on Wikipedia, license your writing under the GNU Free Documentation License, and ask a Wikipedian to consider copying some or all of the article onto Wikipedia.

If you feel it is necessary to make changes to Wikipedia articles, despite an actual or apparent conflict of interest on your part, we strongly encourage you to submit content (changes or additions to articles or subsections of articles) for community review, and to let one or more trusted community members make judgements concerning posting some or all of the content into the main Wikipedia article space.

Full articles

If you wish to submit an entire article for community review, follow this process for submitting articles and subsections of articles for community review:

1. Create a user page for yourself that describes you and your professional background.
2. Edit that page and add a link to a subpage for every article you intend to create, using the syntax [[/Article title]] (note the leading slash).
3. Click the red link, and create your article. Make sure it conforms to Wikipedia guidelines (simplified version).
4. Add a link to this article, of the form [[User:User name/Article title]], to the list below.

Using user space or any other part of Wikipedia for advertising purposes may result in an indefinite block. Label user space articles with the below template so it is clear they are not Wikipedia articles. Also put {{proposed|type=article}} at the beginning of the article, and use <nowiki> around category markups so they are not included into by Wikipedia categories.

The community will review and comment on the talk page of that user subpage. If content is to be placed in the main Wikipedia space, it is to be done by someone who is willing to stand behind that content as if he wrote it himself, deleting, rewriting or moving onto the talk page of the article anything he is not willing to stand behind 100%.

Template to be used to label user space articles

File:Purple question mark.gif

This page is a proposed Wikipedia article. It is currently in user space, and is not an actual Wikipedia article.

Articles pending review

• User:Powerscore/PowerScore - moved to userspace by me; see User talk:Powerscore. Λυδαcιτγ 17:50, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Changes to articles

If you wish to suggest additions or changes to a pre-existing article, use that article's talk page.

1. Create a user page for yourself that describes you and your professional background.
2. Go to the talk page of the article.
3. Create a new section by clicking the "+" at the top of the page. Title it "Proposed change" or "Proposed addition". Type in the changes you wish to have made, and sign using ~~~~.

See also

Wikipedia policies and guidelines

• Wikipedia:Vanity guidelines
• Wikipedia:Spam

Further reading

• The wide world of Wikipedia, and why PR practitioners should take note, an essay from the Public Relations Society of America. Note that this does not necessarily express the views of the Wikipedia community.
• User:Jmabel/PR Some good advise to PR firms and people.