User:Geogene/COI-careful

Hello, Geogene. Conflict of interest (COI) is an important issue; please treat it carefully. If you believe that a Wikipedia user may be editing with a conflict of interest, please follow the procedure on how to handle a conflict of interest.

• Consider whether you may be personalizing a content dispute (remember to assume good faith).

• Take care not to violate the outing policy

• Consider if the editor's edits violate Wikipedia's policy against promotion or the neutral point of view policy

• Consider whether you have any actual evidence of a COI (as defined in WP:COI) based on any disclosure the editor has made on a Talk page or in edit notes

• There may be a legitimate COI issue, but it may be WP:ADVOCACY - these can be hard to tell apart, but they are different. Please be sure you are familiar with the COI guideline and the essay on advocacy before pursuing the issue.

• Ask the editor in a civil manner whether if they have some relationship to the subject matter under discussion. Try to understand where they are coming from, and If appropriate, remind them of the WP:COI guideline or point them to the essay on WP:ADVOCACY, and point them to the policy on WP:PROMO and/or WP:NPOV, as appropriate.

If their behavior doesn't change after the interaction :

• File a report at the Conflict of Interest Noticeboard. Let the community judge the matter. You do not have to make it your personal fight.

• Exercise great caution so that you do not breach Wikipedia's policies on harassment. Accusations of COI should not be used to gain leverage in a content dispute.

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