Wikipedia:Paid editing policy proposal
Please refer to the Wikipedia policy on paid contributions at WP:PAID ). |
This is a failed proposal. Consensus for its implementation was not established within a reasonable period of time. If you want to revive discussion, please use the talk page or initiate a thread at the village pump. |
Paid Editing Proposals |
In November 2013, there were three main discussions and votes on paid editing: |
No paid advocacy (talk) (closed: opposed) |
Paid editing policy proposal (talk) (closed: opposed) |
Conflict of interest limit (talk) (closed: opposed) |
Summary: If you are being compensated for contributing to a Wikipedia article, you must disclose this fact before editing. If your edits cause a dispute, you may be asked to stop editing the article. Advocacy is forbidden.
Paid editing is the practice of accepting money to edit Wikipedia. Editors who intend to participate in paid editing are required to edit transparently and neutrally, and are prohibited from introducing bias into Wikipedia's coverage or violating our core content policies – just like any other editors. To ensure the neutrality of paid editors, they must disclose that they are being compensated for their contributions.
Paid advocacy is being paid to promote or disparage something or someone on Wikipedia, and is a subset of paid editing. All advocacy, paid or unpaid, is prohibited on Wikipedia.
Accepting money or rewards for editing Wikipedia is not inherently problematic. For example, it would be acceptable if a university asked one of its professors to write up its
Public relations and marketing
It is generally expected that Wikipedia editors will not merely obey specific rules but do intellectually honest work. This is particularly incumbent upon anyone who is being paid to edit articles. Articles should not merely be narrowly, technically true, but should represent honest efforts at well-rounded balanced coverage of their topics. If this is not what you are trying to achieve, then you should not be editing articles.
If you:
- Are receiving benefits or considerations from the subject of an article, and you are a representative, contractor, or employee of the subject; or
- Expect to get benefits or considerations from editing Wikipedia (for example, by being an owner, officer, or other stakeholder of an organization who would benefit; or having some form of close financial relationship with a topic),
then you must disclose your financial interest on your user page before editing Wikipedia pages where these external relationships could undermine your ability to edit neutrally. You must explicitly reiterate this disclosure in your first comment in any discussion related to the subject with which you have a financial interest. By making this disclosure, you help other editors to scrutinize your work for potential bias.
If you get into a
If your changes to an article could lead to controversy due to your financial interests, you should use the article's talk page to suggest changes, or the {{edit COI}} template to request edits, instead of editing. You will not be ignored. Requested edits are subject to the same editorial standards as any other, and may be accepted or rejected.
Content intended to advertise, promote, or advocate a specific subject or viewpoint is strictly prohibited.
No harassment of editors
All editors who make efforts to follow policy are entitled an