Wikipedia

Wikipedia:PR Professionals & Editing

Helpful answers are at the FAQ for organizations.

If you are editing an article on Wikipedia as a PR, HR or communications professional, there are a few important guidelines that must be followed when doing so. One of the main principles of Wikipedia is that pages must be written in a neutral point of view (NPOV), and if an editor has a conflict of interest when editing a page, then the page loses the NPOV. Having a NPOV is crucial for an encyclopedia.

Steps for PR Professionals Editing Wikipedia

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  • Editors should create an account on Wikipedia. This links all edits that you make to an account and prevents your IP address from being posted publicly on the website.
  • On your user page you should disclose any conflict of interest that you might have. This could include where you work or potentially the clients that you work with.
  • Avoid editing pages that are relevant to any conflict of interest that you have.
  • If you have an issue with a page that you have a conflict of interest with then you should go onto the talk page and engage with other users about the issues.


For futher information on Conflict of Interest Editing see Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia


Corporate Representatives for Ethical Wikipedia Engagement

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Corporate Representatives for Ethical Wikipedia Engagement (CREWE) group is a group of PR Professionals and Wikipedia editors that are working together to improve the relationship between PR firms and Wikipedia. If you would like to join the conversation join the group on Facebook.

 

 
This is an infographic for PR professionals on questions they might have on Wikipedia

For more information go to the Corporate Representatives for Ethical Wikipedia Engagement

Conflict of Interest Editing Incidents

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Jimmy Wales

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In 2005 Jimmy Wales removed mentions of "pornography" from the Wikipedia article on his former company Bomis.

In December 2005, it was noticed that Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales had edited his own Wikipedia entry. According to public logs, he has edited his biography 19 times,[1] as of September 9, 2013, seven times altering information about whether Larry Sanger was a co-founder of Wikipedia. It was also revealed that Wales had edited the Wikipedia article of his former company, Bomis. "Bomis Babes", a section of the Bomis website, had been characterized in the article as "soft-core pornography," but Wales revised this to "adult content section" and deleted mentions of pornography. He said he was fixing an error, and didn't agree with calling Bomis Babes soft porn. Wales conceded that he had made the changes, but maintained that they were technical corrections.[2]

United States Congressional staffers

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Main article: US Congressional staff edits to Wikipedia

In 2006, it was discovered that more than 1,000 changes had been made to Wikipedia articles originating from United States government IP addresses. Changes had been made to articles about Representative Marty Meehan, [3] Senator Tom Coburn, Senator Norm Coleman,[4] Representative Gil Gutknecht,[5] Senator Joe Biden,[5] Senator Conrad Burns,[6] Senator Dianne Feinstein,[7] Senator Tom Harkin,[7] Representative David Davis,[8] Tennessee state representative Matthew Hill[8][9] and Representative Mike Pence.[10] The edits removed accurate but critical information and embellished positive descriptions.[7] In response to the controversy, certain affected IP addresses were temporarily blocked.[11]

Later, in 2011, conflicted edits were also made to US Congressional representative David Rivera's article.[12]

Wiki-PR

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Main article: Wiki-PR editing of Wikipedia

In 2012, Wikipedia launched possibly one of the largest sock puppets investigations in its history after editors on its website reported suspicious activity suggesting a number of accounts were used to subvert Wikipedia's policies. After almost a year of investigation, over 250 sockpuppet accounts were allegedly found, operated by two independent networks of users. Wikipedia traced the edits and sockpuppetry back to a firm known as Wiki-PR, leading to a cease and desist letter by Sue Gardner issued to the founders of the organization.[13] The accounts were banned. On October 25, 2013, a community ban was further placed on Wiki-PR and any of its contractors.

For more examples see the Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ https://tools.wmflabs.org/xtools/pcount/index.php?name=Jimbo+Wales&lang=en&wiki=wikipedia
  2. ^ Evan Hansen (19 December 2005). "Wikipedia Founder Edits Own Bio". Wired.
  3. ^ Noguchi, Yuki (12 February 2006). "Wikipedia Objects to Editing for Political Incorrectness". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ Rhys Blakely (9 February 2006). "Washington's politicians edit Wikipedia". The Times. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011.
  5. ^ a b "Gutknecht joins Wikipedia tweakers". Star Tribune. 18 August 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-08-21.
  6. ^ "Burns' office may have tampered with Wikipedia entry". The Bozeman Daily Chronicle. 8 February 2006. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
  7. ^ a b c Noguchi, Yuki (9 February 2006). "Wikipedia's Help From the Hill". The Washington Post.
  8. ^ a b Humphrey, Tom (11 August 2007). "Entries on Wikipedia edited by Davis aide". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
  9. ^ Collins, Michael (15 August 2007). "Lawmaker's office awaits panel's verdict on aide's act". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
  10. ^ Carter, Zach (18 August 2011). "Did Mike Pence's Office Edit His Wikipedia Page To Make It More Flattering?". The Huffington Post.
  11. ^ "Wikipedia Now Blocking US Congress From Making Edits". DailyTech. 30 January 2006. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
  12. ^ Marin Cogan (7 April 2011). "Rep. David Rivera's war with Wikipedia". Politico.
  13. ^ Owens, Simon (2013-10-08). "The battle to destroy Wikipedia's biggest sockpuppet army". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
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