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.
Sometimes, a corporation or public figure's desire to keep their Wikipedia pages up to date syncs with the interests of the Wikipedia community to keep information on articles as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, there are frequently issues with this:
The corporation or public figure assigns an employee to make the corrections, without bothering to read Wikipedia's policies (particularly
WP:Conflict of interest).
The employee does as he is ordered, but is noted as having a conflict of interest because of his
username or
writing biases. Oftentimes he is unaware of the relevant policy.
The community, through
administrators, blocks the user but leaves him more or less in the dark about how to resolve the situation. This causes assumption of bad faith on both sides and puts the employee's job in danger.
This page is intended to be a brief primer for corporations, employees of same, and the Wikipedia community to resolve situations like this with as little mistrust as possible.
Also note that per the
updated Terms of use for all Wikimedia Foundation websites, any employee you send in must publicly disclose both that they are being paid to edit and their employer. Not disclosing this is grounds for a
block upon discovery.
There is a
volunteer response team, often referred to as OTRS, who handles requests from article subjects regarding factual inaccuracies in their articles. See
Wikipedia:Contact us/Article problem for more information. An email to them will generally be far more effective than an employee editor will, but it should be used as a last resort.
Don't assume an edit won't be traced back to you in some form.
WikiScanner and other tools can be used to trace an edit to its originating IP. This could result in some negative press if the edit was overly positive.
Wikipedia does not acquiesce to your schedule. While we do wish to see errors corrected, we don't appreciate being pressured to do so. In general, edits will only be accepted when they're ready to be accepted, not when you or your employees deem it convenient.
The neutrality policy is a
Wikimedia Foundation directive and not negotiable. Be sure to read it thoroughly, as most editors with a conflict of interest can't see the biases inherent in their writing - but other editors and readers can, and you may be
blocked for it.
Use article talk pages. Wikipedia runs on collaboration and discussion, and you are far less likely to be reverted and blocked if you use the talk page to help hammer out your edit(s) first.
If you're blocked, you will need to demonstrate that you are willing and able to edit articles unrelated to your employer as a condition of unblocking. You can do this by finding an article about a subject that interests you, copying it to your user talk page (which you can still edit while blocked) and making corrections and other positive edits to it.
The Community and Administrators
Assume good faith - as much as you are able to, at least. Odds are the person behind the edit hasn't read up on the relevant policies yet because he's got a deadline.
Explain and educate a user after blocking him. Don't just leave a block notice, leave an explanation as to why they were blocked as well as what would need to be satisfied for an unblock.
Maintain a gentle tone. Don't be aggressive in your word choice.
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.
Sometimes, a corporation or public figure's desire to keep their Wikipedia pages up to date syncs with the interests of the Wikipedia community to keep information on articles as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, there are frequently issues with this:
The corporation or public figure assigns an employee to make the corrections, without bothering to read Wikipedia's policies (particularly
WP:Conflict of interest).
The employee does as he is ordered, but is noted as having a conflict of interest because of his
username or
writing biases. Oftentimes he is unaware of the relevant policy.
The community, through
administrators, blocks the user but leaves him more or less in the dark about how to resolve the situation. This causes assumption of bad faith on both sides and puts the employee's job in danger.
This page is intended to be a brief primer for corporations, employees of same, and the Wikipedia community to resolve situations like this with as little mistrust as possible.
Also note that per the
updated Terms of use for all Wikimedia Foundation websites, any employee you send in must publicly disclose both that they are being paid to edit and their employer. Not disclosing this is grounds for a
block upon discovery.
There is a
volunteer response team, often referred to as OTRS, who handles requests from article subjects regarding factual inaccuracies in their articles. See
Wikipedia:Contact us/Article problem for more information. An email to them will generally be far more effective than an employee editor will, but it should be used as a last resort.
Don't assume an edit won't be traced back to you in some form.
WikiScanner and other tools can be used to trace an edit to its originating IP. This could result in some negative press if the edit was overly positive.
Wikipedia does not acquiesce to your schedule. While we do wish to see errors corrected, we don't appreciate being pressured to do so. In general, edits will only be accepted when they're ready to be accepted, not when you or your employees deem it convenient.
The neutrality policy is a
Wikimedia Foundation directive and not negotiable. Be sure to read it thoroughly, as most editors with a conflict of interest can't see the biases inherent in their writing - but other editors and readers can, and you may be
blocked for it.
Use article talk pages. Wikipedia runs on collaboration and discussion, and you are far less likely to be reverted and blocked if you use the talk page to help hammer out your edit(s) first.
If you're blocked, you will need to demonstrate that you are willing and able to edit articles unrelated to your employer as a condition of unblocking. You can do this by finding an article about a subject that interests you, copying it to your user talk page (which you can still edit while blocked) and making corrections and other positive edits to it.
The Community and Administrators
Assume good faith - as much as you are able to, at least. Odds are the person behind the edit hasn't read up on the relevant policies yet because he's got a deadline.
Explain and educate a user after blocking him. Don't just leave a block notice, leave an explanation as to why they were blocked as well as what would need to be satisfied for an unblock.
Maintain a gentle tone. Don't be aggressive in your word choice.