Wikipedia:Help available for editors with conflicts of interest
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. |
This page in a nutshell: This page links to other pages which may be useful to editors who have conflicts of interest (COIs). |
If you have a conflict of interest (COI), and you want to constructively help edit Wikipedia, you will need to be aware of the policies and guidelines surrounding COIs on Wikipedia. This page lists different places where you can find help to edit here if you have a COI.
Policies, guidelines and essays about COIs
editThe main guideline is Wikipedia:Conflict of interest, which is rather long, but you should probably read. In a nutshell, "Do not edit Wikipedia in your own interests or in the interests of your external relationships."
If you feel this is too complicated, there is a plain and simple conflict of interest guide, which explains how to edit with a COI more simply.
There is also an essay which has some best practices for editing with a COI at Wikipedia:Best practices for editors with close associations, which is designed to give you advice.
There is also advice for more "niche" areas of editing, such as Wikipedia:Conflicts of interest (medicine) or the Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia for scientists from the PLOS Computational Biology journal.
Have you been paid to edit here?
editThe full Wikipedia policy on paid editing can be found at Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure. Basically, if someone pays you to edit here "you must disclose who is paying you, who the client is, and any other relevant role or relationship". There is help on how to do this available for you.
There is an article about you
editWell done! You are clearly notable! But if you start editing the article about you, you may face a hard time — so there is a survival kit for you available. If you want to help us, you can also read Wikipedia:About you. And if there is something wrong in the article, please read Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Help or Wikipedia:Contact us - Subjects.
Still need help?
editIf you're still stuck, ask for help! You could visit the help desk if you need help editing Wikipedia, or the reference desk if you want help with factual problems. Or if you have a different problem, , ask your question after where it says "Please help me with...", then scroll down and click "Save changes" or "Save page". You could also ask for help at the Wikipedia IRC help channel, here.