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About WWB

This user has been editing Wikipedia for more than ten years.

This user has been on Wikipedia for 18 years and 1 day.

en

This user is a native speaker of the English language.

Quack! Quack! This user attends or attended the University of Oregon

BA

This user has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

<ref>

This user recognizes the importance of citing sources.

1RR

This user prefers discussing changes on the talk page rather than engaging in an edit war.

This user believes that a user's edit count does not necessarily reflect on the value of their contributions to Wikipedia.

This user is the owner of multiple Wikipedia accounts in a manner permitted by policy.

@

This user can be reached by email.

This Wikipedia user page belongs to William Beutler, a writer, consultant, intermittent creative person, and Wikipedia editor going by the handle WWB.

I have been part of the Wikimedia community since 2006, when I first registered this account. Much of my editing activity has centered on topics related to Oregon, the District of Columbia, offbeat phenomena, and assorted media figures. As an editor at enwiki I am active sporadically at best; a significant majority of my contributions to the Wikimedia movement have been through other channels.

In 2009 I began writing about Wikimedia-related topics for a blog, The Wikipedian. My annual round-up, "The Top 10 Wikipedia Stories of [Year]" is something many Wikimedians look forward to annually (or so I have been told). At the end of 2020—an exhausting year, you may recall—I put the site on pause for a while, then revived it as a Substack newsletter in late 2023.

From 2010 to the present, I have owned and operated Beutler Ink, a PR consultancy focused on "white hat" Wikipedia engagement for brands, e.g. seeking to improve Wikipedia around topics of interest to our clients. All activities related to Beutler Ink clients are carried out via my alternate account, User:WWB Too. Prior to establishing Beutler Ink, I undertook similar work for clients of my former employer using the account User:NMS Bill.

In 2014 I convened a roundtable discussion of Wikipedia editors and digital PR execs to discuss issues related to COI on Wikipedia and later published an open letter to Wikipedia on behalf of 8 of the top ten global PR firms. While not connected to the Wikimedia Foundation's establishment of a new paid-contribution disclosure requirement, I believe these events, which occurred within weeks of each other, taken together have helped to create a more equitable and conducive environment for managing COI situations on Wikipedia.

Both The Wikipedian and Beutler Ink have given me the opportunity to publicly discuss my views on Wikipedia in the media and at conferences. Examples of the former include The Economist, Wired, and an interview with Brian Lamb on C-SPAN's Q&A, and the latter at SXSW, Wikimania, and Wikiconference North America. In 2020 I contributed an essay to the book Wikipedia @ 20: Stories of an Incomplete Revolution, published by MIT Press.

Prior to establishing Beutler Ink, I was a strategist at New Media Strategies, writer for National Journal's The Hotline and, in college, editor of a student magazine, the Oregon Commentator.

I currently reside in Crozet, Virginia with my family. Prior to that I lived in Washington, DC for nearly twenty years working in journalism and digital media; Eugene, Oregon attending the University of Oregon; Hong Kong SAR for a short stretch of my childhood, as well as Portland, Oregon, where I was born and principally raised.

The first comprehensive rewrite of this user page occurred at the end of 2023; the last version prior to this revision can be found here.

Articles created

Significant contributions

Non-article projects

In the media

Conferences

Critical Point of View: WikiWars, Centre for Internet & Society / Institute of Network Cultures, January 12-13, 2010
How the PR Industry Views Wikipedia, WikiConference USA, New York City, May 30, 2014
We Need to Talk About Paid Editing... Sorting Out Wikipedia's Most Enduring Argument, Wikimania 2014, London, August 10, 2014
Paid Editing of Wikipedia: Getting Past "Gotcha", SXSW Interactive, Austin TX; March 13, 2015
Can Conflicts of Interest (COI) be aligned with the Wikimedia project?, Wikimania 2015, Mexico City, July 17, 2015

Video

The State of Wikipedia (executive producer, writer), January 2011
Q&A with William Beutler, Q&A, C-SPAN, December 13, 2011
Bloggingheads.tv, September 10, 2013
Bloggingheads.tv, September 22, 2014

Resources

TWA Badges

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+This Wikipedia user page belongs to '''William Beutler''', a writer, consultant, intermittent creative person, and Wikipedia editor going by the handle '''WWB'''.
-Hello, I am '''William Beutler''', a writer and entrepreneur in [[Washington, D.C.]], where I have lived since [[August 2002]]. I was born in [[Portland, Oregon]] in [[September 1979]] and grew up there before attending and graduating from the [[University of Oregon]] in [[Eugene, Oregon|Eugene]] in [[June 2002]]. From [[August 2002]] through [[March 2006]] I was a writer with [[National Journal]]'s ''[[The Hotline]]''. From [[April 2006]] through [[July 2010]] I was a social media strategist and client manager with [[New Media Strategies]] (NMS) in [[Arlington, Virginia]]. In [[August 2010]] I decided to hang out my own shingle, and in [[May 2013]] we decided to call ourselves [http://www.beutlerink.com Beutler Ink].
+I have been part of the Wikimedia community since 2006, when I first registered this account. Much of my editing activity has centered on topics related to [[Tom_Peterson|Oregon]], the [[Jumbo_slice|District of Columbia]], [[British_Rail_sandwich|offbeat phenomena]], and [[Ben_Thompson_(analyst)|assorted media figures]]. As an editor at enwiki I am active sporadically at best; a significant majority of my contributions to the Wikimedia movement have been through other channels.
+In 2009 I began writing about Wikimedia-related topics for a blog, [https://www.thewikipedian.net/ The Wikipedian]. My annual round-up, "[https://substack.com/search/%22Top%2010%20Wikipedia%20Stories%22?focusedPublicationId=2085950&searching=focused_posts The Top 10 Wikipedia Stories of [Year<nowiki>]</nowiki>]" is something many Wikimedians look forward to annually (or so I have been told). At the end of 2020—an exhausting year, you may recall—I put the site on pause for a while, then revived it as a Substack newsletter in late 2023.
+From 2010 to the present, I have owned and operated [https://www.beutlerink.com/ Beutler Ink], a PR consultancy focused on "white hat" Wikipedia engagement for brands, e.g. seeking to improve Wikipedia around topics of interest to our clients. All activities related to Beutler Ink clients are carried out via my alternate account, '''[[User:WWB_Too|User:WWB Too]]'''. Prior to establishing Beutler Ink, I undertook similar work for clients of my former employer using the account '''[[User:NMS_Bill|User:NMS Bill]]'''.
-In [[March 2005]], I co-created [http://blogometer.nationaljournal.com The Blogometer], which I wrote until leaving for NMS. From [[July 2006]] of that year until my most recent post, I have written about politics and blogging plus traditional and social media at [http://web.archive.org/web/20120323062910/http://www.blogpi.net/ Blog P.I.] Other blogging activity has focused on national media and politics at  [http://armedprophet.blogspot.com Armed Prophet] (2003-05) and goings-on around the District at [http://www.washingtoncanard.com The Washington Canard] (2004-09). You can also find me on Twitter at [http://www.twitter.com/williambeutler @williambeutler]. As an undergraduate at Oregon, I served for two years as editor-in-chief of a student-funded magazine, the ''[[Oregon Commentator]]'' (est. [[1983]]).
+In 2014 I convened a roundtable discussion of Wikipedia editors and digital PR execs to discuss issues related to [[Conflict-of-interest_editing_on_Wikipedia|COI on Wikipedia]] and later published an [[Wikipedia:Statement_on_Wikipedia_from_participating_communications_firms|open letter]] to Wikipedia on behalf of 8 of the top ten global PR firms. While not connected to the Wikimedia Foundation's establishment of a new [[Wikipedia:Paid-contribution_disclosure|paid-contribution disclosure requirement]], I believe these events, which occurred within weeks of each other, taken together have helped to create a more equitable and conducive environment for managing COI situations on Wikipedia.
-As of [[March 2009]], I write a blog about Wikipedia, [http://www.thewikipedian.net The Wikipedian], intended for readers of the English Wikipedia (i.e. Internet users) who have never understood the project well enough to get involved. In conjunction with this site, I maintain a Twitter account called [http://www.twitter.com/thewikipedian @thewikipedian], featuring hand-tweeted highlights of Wikipedia news, commentary and announcements of new blog posts.
+Both The Wikipedian and Beutler Ink have given me the opportunity to publicly discuss my views on Wikipedia in the media and at conferences. Examples of the former include ''[https://www.economist.com/international/2014/03/04/wikipeaks The Economist]'', ''[https://www.wired.com/2008/07/curious-about-w/ Wired]'', and an interview with Brian Lamb on C-SPAN's ''[https://www.c-span.org/video/?303147-1/qa-william-beutler Q&A]'', and the latter at [https://schedule.sxsw.com/2015/events/event_IAP35455 SXSW], [https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/We_Need_to_Talk_About_Paid_Editing..._Sorting_Out_Wikipedia's_Most_Enduring_Argument Wikimania], and [https://wikiconference.org/wiki/Submissions:2014/How_the_PR_Industry_Views_Wikipedia Wikiconference North America]. In 2020 I contributed an essay to the book ''[https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/4956/Wikipedia-20Stories-of-an-Incomplete-Revolution Wikipedia @ 20: Stories of an Incomplete Revolution]'', published by MIT Press.
-I first started editing Wikipedia as a reader who finally decided to try my hand at editing the articles I read. Beyond that I continued with simple spelling, grammar and formatting corrections, which led to more substantial contributions to existing articles and, eventually, creating new ones.
+Prior to establishing Beutler Ink, I was a strategist at [[New_Media_Strategies|New Media Strategies]], writer for ''National Journal'''s ''[[The_Hotline|The Hotline]]'' and, in college, editor of a student magazine, the ''[[Oregon_Commentator|Oregon Commentator]]''.
-Eventually, I started working in ad hoc collaboration with uninvolved (i.e. neutral) Wikipedia editors to develop by consensus best practices for following [[WP:COI|Wikipedia's conflict of interest rules]] where organizational or financial interests are involved. [[User_talk:WWB#User:WWB.2FNew_Media_Strategies|With advice]] from another editor, in [[August 2008|August]] and [[September 2007]] I created the existing Wikipedia article about NMS. As my investigations along these lines progressed, by [[April 2008]] I had decided to cease editing the NMS article from this account and, following [[Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28policy%29#Question_about_following_WP:COI_and_WP:_SOCK_while_creating_secondary_account_to_make_suggestions_about_clients|a discussion]] at the Village Pump, I created the secondary account '''[[User:NMS_Bill|NMS Bill]]''' to discuss issues of interest to NMS and its clients. Upon leaving NMS in August 2010, this account has been retired, and I have continued to work on client articles (now only via discussion on Talk pages) from a separate disclosed account, '''[[User:WWB Too|WWB Too]]'''. Surprisingly enough to me, these days the majority of my Wikipedia activity is conducted through that account. However, I continue to edit for fun from this account, and expect I always will.
+I currently reside in [[Crozet,_Virginia|Crozet, Virginia]] with my family. Prior to that I lived in [[Washington,_D.C.|Washington, DC]] for nearly twenty years working in journalism and digital media; [[Eugene,_Oregon|Eugene, Oregon]] attending the [[University_of_Oregon|University of Oregon]]; [[Hong_Kong|Hong Kong SAR]] for a short stretch of my childhood, as well as [[Portland,_Oregon|Portland, Oregon]], where I was born and principally raised.
-<!--I have written about and been quoted on Wikipedia's role in U.S. electoral politics several times. In [[July 2008]] I was quoted by ''[[Wired]]''[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/07/curious-about-w/] about the [http://www.blogpi.net/john-edwards-among-the-wikipedians controversy at that time] concerning the addition of details about [[John Edwards]]' extramarital affair to his Wikipedia profile. In [[April 2010]] I wrote an article for Campaigns & Elections' ''[[Politics Magazine]]''[http://www.campaignsandelections.com/publications/campaign-election/2010/april-2010/its-a-wiki-world] about appropriate campaign engagement of Wikipedia, and in [[April 2011]] I was quoted by ''[[Politico]]'' about [[David_Rivera#Wikipedia_editing|self-interested editing]] by Rep. [[David Rivera]]'s office staff.[http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52705.html]
+The first comprehensive rewrite of this user page occurred at the end of 2023; the last version prior to this revision can be found {{oldid|User:WWB|920286025|here}}.
-I have also been sought out as a Wikipedia expert in other media. In [[June 2010]] I appeared on [[KCRW]]'s ''[[To the Point]]'' defending Wikipedia against Internet critic [[Lee Siegel (cultural critic)|Lee Siegel]]. In [[January 2010]] I was invited to the WikiWars conference, organized by the [[Centre for Internet and Society (India)|Centre for Internet and Society]] in [[Bangalore]], [[India]] to deliver a presentation on how and why editors leave Wikipedia. In January 2011, I worked with the creative agency [[JESS3]] to create an animated short called "[http://www.thestateofwikipedia.com The State of Wikipedia]", narrated by none other than [[Jimmy Wales]] and released to coincide with Wikipedia's tenth anniversary. On January 1, 2012, [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[Q&A (U.S. talk show)|Q&A]]'' program featured an interview with yours truly, conducted by [[Brian Lamb]], about how Wikipedia works. -->
 ==Articles created==