Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard/Archive 168

Archive 165

Archive 166

Archive 167

Archive 168

Archive 169

Archive 170

→

Archive 175

CAT:EDITREQ backlog and an otherwise not-very problematic kind of request

User:Cf2022 has made many many requests where the question is either adding some reliable source or the like or adding a sentence or two. Now, while it technically falls under paid-editing, it isn't as far as I understand editing done to promote or advertise a subject (at least, I haven't come upon such an example so far). The main (if any) problem with their requests is usually minor issues of wording or style, which can get fixed easily enough - not enough, in my opinion, to warrant having each and every one of them go through the process of being delayed for a while while somebody takes the time to clean the backlog of other COI requests. Is there some other suggested solution to this situation (I frankly don't have a problem with just checking each edit manually after it's done if anybody insists: not much different than patrolling recent changes, and also more pleasant since it very likely won't involve silly trolling by the average schoolkid vandal)? RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 02:11, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

I counted something like seven (!) articles that they requested changes be made to, on the same day (January 24th)! My two cents would be that they should not be making so many requests. That is obliquely mentioned in the COI guideline "you should respect other editors by keeping discussions concise." Possibly (talk) 02:35, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

As I said, it would be much simpler just to review the seven edits manually than having the COI queue continuously grow. @Cf2022: What do you propose to solve this little issue you've gotten us into? RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 02:45, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

I sympathise with @RandomCanadian:, but @Cf2022:'s requests involve adding sources in which they have a COI. I recommend that they continue using the request edit system to ensure their prose represents the source's information and we are not putting WP:UNDUE weight on their sources.

I disagree with @Possibly: about the number of requests Cf2022 is making. CF's requests seem simple to assess and implement, and there are other editors who have numerous requests that take a lot longer to fulfil. I hope Cf will continue to be mindful about how many requests they have in the queue to avoid overloading it. Z1720 (talk) 02:53, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

@Z1720: Yes, but at CAT:EDITREQ there is no way to distinguish their requests from all the others and its somewhat discouraging. Anyway, the COI they have is not very problematic (they're employed by a library - basically WP:Wikipedian in Residence - its not the same thing as COI John Doe working for a PR company...), and coming up with a better solution is certainly possible, if we're willing to make an exception: as I said, checking a diff for a mistake or two takes much less time than having to parse it from the request manually. RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 03:00, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

Here are their requested edits for one day (January 24th):

• Greenwashing
• Carbon Neutrality
• Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States
• Delegation (law)
• Bill (law)
• Legislation
• CARES Act
• Evidence-based legislation

They also appear to have added directly material by Boston University authors, without going through Requested edits, to Stereotype threat (diff), Water scarcity (diff), Son of Sam law (diff) and Working class (diff). It's not hard to see that they are here to use Wikipedia to promote the reearch and publications of Boston university law faculty. Possibly (talk) 03:02, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

This (Stereotype threat) is not from a Boston university publication (its from Georgetown University Law Center, FFS). Really, even if them adding references to academic publications held by their library, some of which happen to be published by the authors from the university, somehow fits under some form of the definition of "promotion" or of COI, this is clearly not as problematic as you make it out to be. In fact, given what we know about reliable sources and how academic publications are usually closer to the better end of the spectrum of reliable sources, I don't see what the problem could be, unless they were personally a researcher citing their own papers, which is clearly not the case here. RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 03:10, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

So I'm concerned that Cf might be adding material to articles using sources they have a COI with. If they are doing this, I strongly encourage them to return to using the request edit template. I disagree with RandomCanadian's suggestion to just check the diffs; I think it would take me roughly the same amount of time to check the diff than it would to check an edit request. The difference is the diff, which may have problems in it, would be live on Wikipedia for months before it was assessed. I am not OK with that. I also don't want to separate COI requests into "approved COI editor" category and "not yet approved" categories. The backlog is long, it sucks, but I hope more reviewers will help us clear the backlog. Z1720 (talk) 03:21, 29 January 2021 (UTC).

Good afternoon, In order to avoid any issue with COI, I was previously told to only use the Request Edit function by other Wikipedia editors. I do not want to be in violation of any Wikipedia guidelines, so I am happy to comply with whatever everyone believes is best. With regard to the edits I made to the Stereotype threat (diff), Water scarcity (diff), Son of Sam law (diff) and Working class (diff) pages, I did request edits and received approval by an editor to make the changes. My requested edits were reviewed and approved before I was allowed to made the changes (see talk pages for articles). The editor who reviewed the changes simply told me to "Hi @Cf2022: Please proceed with making the edits above. Thank you!" Please let me what would be the best way to proceed. Cf2022 (talk) 14:05, 29 January 2021 (UTC)Cf2022

I think the work that Cf2022 is doing is rather interesting and I would like to know more about whose idea it was etc. Might reach out to her with a Wikipedia e-mail as I find it an interesting concept. I first came across her edit suggestion on the talk page of Water scarcity in Africa. To me it seems all quite legitimate so far. Wouldn't it be sufficient if she just proposed her edits on the talk pages of the respective articles (rather than adding to a COI resolution queue) and then the people who are watching the page can decide for themselves (and make the edit for her or let her do the edit)? EMsmile (talk) 13:07, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

wikiprofessionalsinc redux

• Ave Kludze (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
  • Scientisted (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Richard D. Hansen (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
  • Mayafan2 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Nancy Polikoff (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Five Below (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
• Qontis (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

A follow up to this thread on the agency Wikiprofessionals_inc], whose FAQ creatively declares that they avoid paid editing rules via our WP:IAR policy. A claim was made in this ANI thread that the agency had been paid to edit W. Mark Lanier's page. The previous COIN case mentions a number of articles; the testimoney section includes some new ones that may be worthy of scrutiny.

• Ave Kludze
• Richard D. Hansen

Mayafan2

• Nancy Polikoff
• Five Below
• Qontis

Looking at the first one, Ave Kludze, I see a series of possible COI edits from new user User:Scientisted. I haven't had a chance to look closely at the others yet, but wanted to make a note of this now. OhNoitsJamie ^Talk 20:20, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

@Ohnoitsjamie: as has been mentioned before, you need to notify the user of a discussion here. Possibly (talk) 21:28, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for taking care of that, was in a hurry and forgot. I've added another WP:SPA-like account under Hansen and notified them. For the other mentioned accounts, WP:SPA patterns aren't as clear. OhNoitsJamie ^Talk 21:46, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

Comment I have to say, that FAQ really is quite the kicker. Creative application of wp:IAR is an understatement. Thanks for pointing this out, i've added these articles to my watchlist, and will keep an eye out for their long-term abuse characteristics. BrxBrx(talk)^{(please reply with {{SUBST:re|BrxBrx}})} 00:34, 4 February 2021 (UTC)