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It can be extremely frustrating if someone who seems to have an obvious agenda to hurt your reputation is adding misleading or false information to an article about you. In severe cases, the situation is akin to a crisis. You might be tempted to reverse the change yourself, only to find the editor(s) reverse your reversal. Following our advice can seem like a hassle, since we’re going to do a COI disclosure and seek independent review of our proposed changes. That said, in some cases, we’ve managed to get information that obviously violates Wikipedia policy removed in just a matter of hours. In less clear cut cases, or where there are a group of editors coordinating an attack on an article in violation of Wikipedia policies, it can take several weeks (or in the worst case scenarios, several months) to get a resolution. Consensus discussions, bringing in more editors to weigh in, votes, mediation, and appeals can require a great deal of time and expertise. We’re honest in assessing what can be accomplished. Our goal is to involve editors who are very experienced on Wikipedia to bring order to the disorder and chaos created by agenda editors, who are not interested in creating fair encyclopedia articles. When you stick with the process, reason will eventually prevail, although article monitoring might be required for an extended period of time.
Read more →The first step, during a declared COI proposal for a revision, is always to engage in a civil conversation with the editor with whom there is a disagreement. Sometimes these discussions can involve many more words than the length of the article or content in dispute. If you try to take a short cut and add back (or remove) the content directly, you might end up in a ping-pong war. This will count against you if the article ends up in an administrative review. It can also get you banned.
Read more →We can work in English, French and Spanish and many other languages. There are more than 270 language editions of Wikipedia, each with their own specific policies and guidelines, and their own cadre of volunteers.
Read more →Our Wikipedia experts have impressive backgrounds as academics, journalists, executives and lawyers. They’ll use their real names and credentials when they submit the article or edit for independent review, an extra layer of transparency uncommon on the mostly anonymous Wikipedia. We’ll discuss the credentials of the specific expert assigned to you when we present you with a proposal.
Read more →This is known as the notability test. Here’s the official test (abbreviated):
Read more →In severe cases of false information, including potential libel, we can often get the content removed within a couple of hours. In all other cases, you can’t make the edit yourself, even if there’s a factual mistake. Instead, you have to request another editor makes the edit, explaining your reasons in detail and disclosing your COI. At WhiteHatWiki, we know how to best engage with editors to facilitate these types of reviews. If you try to do it and don’t know how or what to say, you can end up waiting forever or not giving the proper policy justifications for the change.
Read more →The Wikimedia Terms of Use “prohibit engaging in deceptive activities, including misrepresentation of affiliation, impersonation, and fraud. As part of these obligations, you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation.”
Read more →Wikipedia provides several methods to disclose a contributor has a conflict of interest, including disclosure on a user profile. None of these affect the presentation of the article itself. When our editors provide a COI disclosure, they also affirm at length that they are aware of and will abide by all Wikipedia policies, as well as its core mission produce a neutral, reliably sourced encyclopedia. We also provide the real-life name and credentials of our contributors so reviewers will know they have great expertise as writers and researchers.
Read more →Paid editing is receiving compensation to help with an article but also abiding by all Wikipedia policies, such as full disclosure and writing from a neutral point of view. Paid advocacy is inserting subjective commentary, akin to using an article strictly for marketing, PR or an agenda. It’s prohibited and might also be illegal in the United States under FTC rules.
Read more →Most of the largest PR firms in the world met extensively with Wikipedia in 2014 after allegations of widespread editing without any COI disclosure. The firms subsequently issued a joint statement pledging to abide by official Wikipedia policies from then on. More than two dozen PR firms have signed on to the statement. The statement includes the following pledges:
Read more →“Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a vanity press, or forum for advertising or self-promotion,” according to Wikipedia. In other words, the information shared on Wikipedia has to have educational value for the general public. That is the primary purpose of any article on Wikipedia. Of course, it will also be valuable for you or your business to share accurate information with the world. And you should always ensure that the information contributed by others to an article related to you is accurate.
Read more →Anyone can change a Wikipedia article at any time. It’s a completely open content and editing platform. Wikipedia monitoring is real-time monitoring of articles by WhiteHatWiki. We can set up your article so we receive alerts if anyone changes the article. We can then review the changes and send you a notice and recommendation for action in the event the changes violate Wikipedia policy. We can begin a discussion with the user who has changed the article and/or initiate an appeal or administrative review.
Read more →Thousands of volunteers from around the world. Many of them are drawn to Wikipedia because they want to contribute articles on a few specific subjects. E.g. character actors from silent films or British naval history. As they become more involved and expert at Wikipedia’s policies, some choose to begin editing and reviewing articles on a wider range of subjects, just to help the project. It’s unlikely (though possible), for example, that the person reviewing content pre-publication will have extensive expertise in business, technology or finance.
Read more →“Black hat” editors all publicly claim to abide by Wikipedia policies but unless they fully disclose they are paid editors with a conflict of interest, they are violating one of Wikipedia’s most important policies and risk getting banned and having their content removed. Why do they do it anyway?
Read more →Wikipedia is a massive and influential global presence: you should be aware of it and view it as a critical medium in your communication portfolio.
Read more →No. The article looks exactly the same. An experienced Wikipedia user might check the Talk page of the article where the COI should be disclosed or check the user profile of the author/editors, where COI should also be disclosed. If the article has been handled correctly, there will also be a record that it and/or any changes have been reviewed by an experienced editor, who has approved of the content as abiding by all Wikipedia policies despite the COI.
Read more →Yes. On April 5, 2015, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told 60 Minutes there are more than 100,000 core volunteer Wikipedia editors. Sue Gardner, executive director of Wikipedia, 2007-2014, explained how they work: “There are folks… that vandalize the encyclopedia. They insert false information, they insert bias. But the core Wikipedia community, the people doing most of the work, consider themselves to be defenders against wrong, unhelpful, outside influence… Editors patrol articles. They patrol what we called “recent edits”, They are monitoring edits that are coming in. And they flag ones that they think are a little suspect or aren’t properly supported. Most vandalism is fairly obvious.”
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