WikiConference NA 2024 | The State of COI Editing

The state of COI editing 10 years after the Statement on Wikipedia from participating communications firms (WP:PRCOM) is, well, complicated. Since at least 2006, Wikipedia has wrestled with the implications of paid and self-interested editing of Wikipedia, with several attempts to ban this activity in English Wikipedia and moderately successful attempts to regulate it. In 2014, multiple communications firms agreed to act in accordance with and in respect of Wikipedia's rules and best practices. While there have been great strides in developing an ethical way for interested parties to participate on Wikipedia, there is still considerable work to be done in creating trust among communications professionals and volunteer editors, and finding solutions that help everyone involved. Ten years on, the community still has a wide variety of contradictory views about permitted COI activity, in paid and unpaid, disclosed and undisclosed ways.

This session, led by Bill Beutler, revisits a conversation from 2015 that some find scary, tedious, or frustrating, and yet will continue to be a major issue for concern so long as Wikipedia remains in a powerful position to shape public opinion on every topic it covers.