MyWikiBiz: Difference between revisions
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#REDIRECT [[Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia]] |
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{{Infobox website |
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| name = MyWikiBiz |
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| logo = MyWikiBiz logo.png |
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| logo_size = 135px |
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| company_type = [[Privately held company]] |
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| foundation = {{Start date and age|2006}} |
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| founder = Gregory Kohs |
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| location_city = [[Stuart, Florida]] |
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| location_country = United States |
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| key_people = Gregory Kohs ([[CEO]]) |
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| website_type = [[Wiki]] |
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| language = [[Multilingual]] |
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| registration = Optional (required to edit pages) |
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| launch_date = {{Start date and age|2006}} |
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| current_status = Active |
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}} |
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'''MyWikiBiz''' is a [[wiki]] directory that allows people and enterprises to write about themselves. The brand began as a service creating [[Wikipedia]] articles for paying [[corporation]]s. |
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==History== |
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Gregory Kohs and his sister started the MyWikiBiz venture in July 2006, as a paid editing service, writing content for inclusion in [[Wikipedia]] and other community-edited sites. Kohs charged between US$49 and US$99 for articles.<ref name="msnbc">{{cite web|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16793247|title=Idea of paid entries roils Wikipedia|author-link=Brian_Bergstein|last=Bergstein|first=Brian|date=2007-01-24|access-date=2008-08-20|publisher=[[NBC News]]/[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> |
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At the time, though it was widely known that Wikipedia was used by corporations and public relations firms, such contributions were often hidden, only to be discovered later.<ref name="welt">{{cite news|url=https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article147789/Wikipedia-Artikel_die_man_kaufen_kann.html|title=Wikipedia-Artikel, die man kaufen kann (Wikipedia articles that you can buy)|newspaper=[[Die Welt]]|language=de|first=Mathias|last=Peer|date=2006-08-24|access-date=2008-08-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/internet/0,39020774,39362654,00.htm|title=Wikipedia, nouvel enjeu de relations publiques (Wikipedia, a new issue of public relations)|publisher=[[ZDNet]]|access-date=2008-08-27|date=2006-08-11|last=Noisette|first=Thierry|language=fr}}</ref> Wikipedia co-founder [[Jimmy Wales]] expressed opposition to the idea of a paid editing service.<ref name="msnbc" /> |
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A few days after MyWikiBiz was launched, the site's user account was blocked by Wales on the grounds of "paid editing on behalf of customers". It was one of the few such blocks personally by Wales in Wikipedia's history.<ref name="zittrain" /> Wales viewed the problem as one of "conflict of interest and the appearance of impropriety arising from editors being paid to write by the subjects of the articles".<ref name="zittrain" /> He and Kohs reached an agreement, under which Kohs could create "Wikipedia-like" articles on his site and that they could then be "scraped" to Wikipedia by Wikipedia editors. The agreement soon unraveled, and Kohs was blocked from editing Wikipedia.<ref name="msnbc" /><ref name="zittrain" /> |
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In his book ''The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It'', [[Jonathan Zittrain]] said that Wales believed that MyWikiBiz had been "spamming Wikipedia with corporate advertisements rather than 'neutral point of view' articles", but also that MyWikiBiz persuaded some Wikipedians to lower objections to an article merely because of its source.<ref name="zittrain">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/futureofinternet00zitt/page/140|title=The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It|page=[https://archive.org/details/futureofinternet00zitt/page/140 140]|year=2008|publisher=[[Yale University]] Press|author-link=Jonathan_Zittrain|last=Zittrain|first=Jonathan|isbn=978-0-300-12487-3|url-access=registration}}</ref> |
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''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' said "it's hard to feel too bad for MyWikiBiz," and that "if the encyclopedia is serious about gaining acceptance from academia, surely it has a vested interest in dissuading companies from paying to improve their presence on the site."<ref name="chron">{{cite journal|url=http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1831/wikipedia-blocks-a-pay-for-play-scheme |title=Wikipedia Blocks a Pay-for-Play Scheme |journal=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]] |date=24 January 2007 |last=Read |first=Brock |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404044911/https://www.chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1831/wikipedia-blocks-a-pay-for-play-scheme |archive-date=4 April 2009}}</ref> |
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In late October 2006, Kohs formed a partnership to promote and market a wiki-based directory at Centiare.com,<ref name="msnbc" /><ref name="sbwire">{{cite web|url=http://www.sbwire.com/news/view/9912|title=Centiare on the heels of Wikipedia|date=2007-01-05|access-date=2008-08-20|publisher=press release}}</ref> after which Kohs moved its contents to MyWikiBiz.com.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VsZOIOerAa0C&q=Centiare+to+MyWikiBiz.com&pg=PA58 |title=Semantic Digital Libraries |page=58 |editor1=Sebastian Ryszard Kruk |editor2=Bill McDaniel |editor3=W. William D. McDaniel |year=2008 |access-date=June 3, 2013 |publisher=Springer|isbn=9783540854340 }}</ref> |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|1}} |
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{{COI on Wikipedia}} |
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{{Wikipediahistory}} |
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[[Category:Online publishing companies of the United States]] |
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[[Category:2006 establishments in Pennsylvania]] |
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[[Category:American companies established in 2006]] |
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[[Category:Internet properties established in 2006]] |
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[[Category:Privately held companies based in Pennsylvania]] |
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[[Category:Companies based in Chester County, Pennsylvania]] |
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[[Category:Wikipedia controversies]] |
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Revision as of 00:55, 7 April 2022
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