Comments on: Editing your company’s entry on Wikipedia

By: Sam Tilston

Sam Tilston — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:07:17 +0000

This is a dangerous game, you are better off contacting someone who has editing history and is a regular contributor to Wikipedia and asking them to make the change for you.

By: Chris Applegate

Chris Applegate — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:59:51 +0000

A good list Tom – as a Wikipedia admin I’ve seen my fair share of conflict-of-interest entries and the lack of co-operation from most people editing “their” page. I’d also advice on making sure you understand Wikipedia’s copyright policy – text simply cannot be copy & pasted from your own website, and the use of images or video that are not licenced under Creative Commons or GFDL is strictly limited. Also I’d recommend seeking out the appropriate Wikiproject for your company (list here) and ask the wider community there for advice and help – they tend to have a bigger and more diverse audience than the article talk page and you’ll probably get a better response.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:12:40 +0000

It’s not an absolute, but it is a guideline. The Wikipedia Conflict of Interest Page says:

“…avoid, or exercise great caution when… editing articles related to you, your organization, or its competitors…”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:COI

I think it’s better to follow the procedure above in the first instance, but perhaps if nobody makes the edits independently then you can tentatively make them yourself.

I take the point though, sometimes it pays to be bold!

By: Will McInnes

Will McInnes — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:20:31 +0000

Are you sure about point #1? I have always suggested that it is perfectly acceptable to make edits and corrections, and especially to build out and populate stubs, as long as you follow point #5.

Hanging out in the discussion and suggesting edits is fine, but what’s wrong with making them?

It feels less honest to me, than cracking on with it and doing the right thing, and entrusting that the vigilant hard-working wikipedia community will quality check, shape and mould the entry anyway.

More broadly I think there’s a risk that we over-complicate and divide ourselves into little silos. And that behaviour becomes too right on, too timid – like the person who refuses to let you buy the first round, to the point of being a faffing idiot.

No?

By: Robin Grant

Robin Grant — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:56:41 +0000

Thanks Tom – nothing extra to add, but sounds like good advice to me. Would love to know who the ‘digital’ agency was…

By: Jay Walsh

Jay Walsh — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:15:34 +0000

Hi there – just wanted to thank you for quite aptly and succinctly covering some best practices for editing Wikipedia entries. We provide this very same kind of advice to the thousands of individuals who contact us every week at the Wikimedia Foundation (which is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia).

Thanks for your smart suggestions!

Jay Walsh, Head of Communications
Wikimedia Foundation

By: Danny Hope

Danny Hope — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:13:13 +0000

Ensure that your companies site has a factual, up-to-date, unbiased and detailed ‘About Us’ page.

Providing this information to Wikipedians increases the likelihood that the Wikipedia page about your company, is to your liking.

Increase your chances still further by backing up your site’s claims with references, and external links.