COI Request for Comment Options

[It's the blimp, Frank]

Has anyone started a thread on this yet? (link to RfC) I am struck by the fact that there is plenty of highly intelligent discussion there. I like this comment by Jclemens:

Likewise, editors who violate our content guidelines can do so just as easily out of personal ideology as they can for direct or indirect monetary gain.

I think also that people who have a genuine problem with COI are not likely to disclose it, so there is no point in penalizing the honest editors who do disclose it. The "View by Hipocrite" backs up my hunch that he is a significant dick. He says that "Wikipedia, the community, does an incredibly poor job of protecting its editors who attempt to stem the tide of this torrent of disinformation" -- and of course, it's always the other guy who is making a torrent of disinformation, and it's always you and your crew trying to stem the tide with your own torrent of "correct" information.

This post has been edited by It's the blimp, Frank:

[Fusion]

I registered the business as an entity in Pennsylvania in June 2006.

If you can find me an enterprise launched before that, dedicated exclusively to writing Wikipedia content for payment, I will send you a $20 prize and my apology.

Until then, better that you not muse about publicly with your "understanding", because I'm quite certain it's wrong.

I think we are into a complex matter of definitions here. If you are saying that there is no legally registered company founded before June 2006, which has no other function than to slant Wikipedia content for payment, I know nothing to the contrary. What I was trying to say, and no doubt putting it badly so that I was misunderstood, is that companies had staff engaged as Wikipedia editors. These were earning their salaries and of course the clients were reimbursing the companies so it was editing for indeed money. I cannot give a precise date when this started because nobody will ever know who was the first, but undoubtedly it preceded June 2006.

Still, such companies doubtless did not set up new subsidiaries specifically for that purpose, for obvious reasons, so if you go by the strict rigorously literal interpretation of the words then technically you may well be right. After all, why would anyone want it as a separate company?

[thekohser]

What I was trying to say, and no doubt putting it badly so that I was misunderstood...

Yes, you did put it badly, as you're wont to do.

Of course other larger companies and individuals were dabbling in paid editing of Wikipedia, many months or perhaps years before I came onto the scene. But, I was the first to set up the practice as a specific business and to market it as such to prospective clients. I am doubtful that before June 2006 there was even a single page on any large PR company website touting a Wikipedia editing service component of their overall offering. But, had a client specifically requested it of them, sure, they would have come up with some impromptu plan to edit Wikipedia in exchange for payment.

(Do you think that in April and May 2006 I did not research extensively for the presence of potential competitors in the marketplace?)

This post has been edited by thekohser:

[Fusion]

Yes, you did put it badly, as you're wont to do.

How many languages do you speak again? English is my third language.

Of course other larger companies and individuals were dabbling in paid editing of Wikipedia, many months or perhaps years before I came onto the scene. But, I was the first to set up the practice as a specific business and to market it as such to prospective clients. I am doubtful that before June 2006 there was even a single page on any large PR company website touting a Wikipedia editing service component of their overall offering. But, had a client specifically requested it of them, sure, they would have come up with some impromptu plan to edit Wikipedia in exchange for payment.

(Do you think that in April and May 2006 I did not research extensively for the presence of potential competitors in the marketplace?)

I do not know what sort of research you did but there were definitely people who were experts in editing Wikipedia before you. What sort of idiot would say so on their web page? What sort of idiot would use a PR firm who touted their Wikipedia editing in public?

This post has been edited by Fusion:

[thekohser]

How many languages do you speak again? English is my third language.

Or so you say, whoever you are, "Fusion".

I can butcher a couple of languages; French and German, mainly. I can shop and ask for directions in Czech and Polish. However, here's the key difference -- I don't ever try to speak condescendingly to people in languages other than my native English. I get that vibe from you quite frequently.

This post has been edited by thekohser:

[Fusion]

However, here's the key difference -- I don't ever try to speak condescendingly to people in languages other than my native English. I get that vibe from you quite frequently.

Why on earth do you imagine that I am trying to speak condescendingly to anyone in any language, "thekohser"? Are you now a mind reader? I do urge you for your own good to not show such paranoia in public even if you indeed think such.