| The following is a draft working towards a proposal for adoption as a Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal must not be taken to represent consensus, but is still in development and under discussion, and has not yet reached the process of gathering consensus for adoption. Thus references or links to this page should not describe it as policy, guideline, nor yet even as a proposal. |
- Intro
- Defining commercial. editing
- Allowed editing
- Prohibited editing
- Enforcement
First draft
Commercial editing
Commercial editors, those who edit Wikipedia as part of a commercial transaction, have historically caused problems on Wikipedia by violating our policies on NPOV, No advertising, No spam, No promotion, .... Their actions are currently regulated by WP:COI, and WP:Paid editing disclosure, but problems have continued. This policy supplements WP:COI and WP:PAID and all commercial editors must follow all of these rules.
Defining commercial editing
A commercial editor is any editor who accepts payment or similar inducements to edit a Wikipedia article as part of a commercial transaction. The following types of editors are automatically considered to be commercial editors.
Commercial editors include
- Firms that advertise that they will write, edit or create Wikipedia articles for pay or similar inducements, including the
- owners, managers, employees, and contractors, including freelancers, of these firms.
- Firms that mainly sell goods or services other than Wikipedia editing or writing services, if they edit Wikipedia, or hire a commercial editing firm, including the
- owners, managers, board members or employees of the legal, public relations, marketing or sales departments, or employees who receive a commission based on sales or revenue; and
- contractors of these firms, including PR firms, SEO firms, lawyers and legal firms, consultants and the employees and contractors of these firms or individuals.
- Non-profit and similar organizations which have the purpose of promoting, supporting or regulating business (e.g. the American Chamber of Commerce) or of a specific type of business (e.g. the Association of Windmill Operators).
- Government agencies, other than those whose purpose is to promote culture, education or health (e.g. museums, libraries, and hospitals)
- (please add other types of editors you believe should be automatically covered)
Commercial editors do not include
Several types of editors are excluded from the definition of commercial editors, even though they may accept pay for duties that include editing Wikipedia. These editors must still follow the rules as stated at WP:PAID and WP:COI
- Wikipedians-in-residence who work for a cultural institution that shares the values of the Wikipedia movement
- as long as they work openly with all Wikipedians and declare their affiliation with their employer.
- Employees of the WMF, or chapters or other affiliates of the WMF, as long as they contribute in an appropriate way to the movement.
- Non-profits and similar organizations which do not hire commercial editors or firms to edit for them, or promote political or commercial points of view. These organizations must still follow WP:COI and WP:Paid editing disclosure as well as all other Wikipedia policies and guidelines. In some cases a non-profit may own a for-profit business (e.g. Hershey Foods was formerly majority owned by Hershey Trust, which runs an orphanage). Or a non-profit may have net revenue generating departments (e.g. museum restaurants and stores). In these cases, editors paid by the non-profit should avoid editing articles on the "for-profit" parts of the organization.
- Credentialed specialists in scientific, medical and academic professions who edit in topic areas that may overlap with those in which they are paid to work. For example, a professor of mathematics may naturally be expected to write about mathematics, and they are likely to be interested in and knowledgeable about areas adjacent to their own research. Individuals in such a situation should avoid promoting their own work directly (e.g., creating Wikipedia articles based on their new publications) or adding promotional content to articles on organizations with which they are affiliated (e.g., the university which employs them).
- (please add other exclusions you believe should be added).
Enforcing this policy
Editors who violate this policy may be indefinitely blocked by any administrator. The admin may also create a request for comment at WP:AN to ban the employer and the client. They and the blocked editor may appeal the block and bans at WP:AN, after declaring all paid edits made since June 2014, and the associated employers, clients, and affiliations.
Administrators may indefinitely block editors who write promotional articles, violate no advertising or similar policies, especially if they are single purpose editors or otherwise appear to be undeclared commercial editors. If the blocked editor appears to be an undeclared commercial editor, the blocking administrator should note this in the block. If the only substantial edits to an article were made by blocked commercial editors, administrators my delete the article.
Topics that are promoted by commercial editing often come in and out of fashion, e.g. with binary options being a popular topic one year, cryptocurrencies becoming popular the next, and online gambling becoming popular the year after. As a new topic becomes popular with commercial editors, other editors may wish to impose discretionary sanctions on the newly popular topic, at a request for comment.