Are corporations people? Options

[thekohser]

A Wikipedia essay that tried to extend WP:BLP protections to articles about corporations was recently burned and scattered to the wind -- the "public" reason being the essay was created by a banned user. I think the "private" reason is one more familiar to us, though -- such a policy would fly in the face of Wikipedia's real purpose as the world's largest online defamation platform.

How can you tweak Crisco's nose, if you're going to be subjected to duty of care policies about corporations?!

Anyway, I have asked three administrators if they would issue me the contents of the deleted essay. One has refused, while the other two have not responded.

Is there a functional admin somewhere who could reproduce here the contents of the deleted essay?

This post has been edited by thekohser:

[thekohser]

Thanks, Tarc.

One very KnightLago of the ArbCom also provided me the wikitext.

I'm going to preserve the text here, too. You never know where this content-publish-by-the-banned might disappear to.

This guideline attempt to address issues of articles about corporations within the scope of the Wikipedia community.

Corporations are fictitious perons

Just as with living people, corporations are fictitious persons and real entities in our modern society. They have a cash flow with real money, and they have living persons as their employees. Their reputations that can impact their ability to compete in our global economy. It is inappropriate for individuals to engage in inherently biased activitsm and to use Wikipedia to to attempt to unfairly attack the reputations of law-abiding corporations even if those corporations are in industrial sectors that those individuals find upsetting to themselves or at odds with their personal agendas.

Editors must take care when adding information about operating corporations to any Wikipedia page.[1] Such material requires a reasonable degree of prudence and good judgment, and must adhere to all applicable laws in the United States, to this policy, and to Wikipedia's three core content policies:

* Neutral point of view (NPOV)
* Verifiability (V)
* No original research (NOR)

In particular, corporations that operate in a law-abiding fashion are not appropriate targets for a corporate profile that includes extensive criticism about those corporations unless they are clearly a trust or monopoly as defined by the Sherman Act, or in the very rare cases where they clearly represent the vast preponderance of that entire industrial sector. All of the general policies mentioned Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons also apply to all aspects of profiles of operating corporations. In other words, the vast preponderance of a corporate profile should describe that corporation, its history, its mission, its current operations and those issues with its reputation that it has publicly acknowledged or has been determined to be fact in a court of law. Criticisms should be in summary format or, if notable enough, entirely factored out and delegated to a separate article with a brief introduction to that other article remaining in the corporate profile.
Dealing with articles about your corporation

Wikipedia has editorial policies that will often help to resolve your concerns. Very obvious errors can be fixed quickly, including by yourself. If you feel that you understand the the goals of neutrality, then edit the article yourself and be judicious about the goal that the article should be objective, balanced and non-promotional. While Wikipedia has had some internal incidents with problematic autobiographies, it is assumed that proper representatives of notable operating corporations can and will behave in good faith and in a mature fashion. See Wikipedia:Autobiography for sound advise on the matter.

Within the Wikipedia community, many users willing to help with the technical details of the MediaWiki format, and a wide range of gradual escalation processes are available within the Wikipedia community that can address such issues with good faith and all deliberate speed. If you do not confident in editing the article yourself, post suggestions on the article talk page, or place {{adminhelp}} on your talk page. If you have reason to complain, please bear in mind that Wikipedia is almost entirely operated by volunteers. Their community policies can often trigger a precipitous termination in communication, even to the point of blocking your account or IP address, based on a policy of Wikipedia:No legal threats where you might expect a person in a more businesslike context to remain in a more tolerant and receptive stance. If the Wikipedia community does not provide satisfaction, then see below for how to contact the Wikimedia Foundation.

For a browsing tree of all corporate profiles at Wikipedia, see Category:Companies.
How to complain to the Wikimedia Foundation

If you are not satisfied with the response of editors and admins to a concern about corporate profile material about operating corporations, you can ask the Foundation's team of volunteers for help. Please e-mail info-en-q@wikimedia.org with a link to the article and details of the problem; for more information on how to complain, see here. See here for how to contact the Wikimedia Foundation.
Notes

1. ^ Corporations are presumed to be operating unless there is reason to believe otherwise or are bankrupt or otherwise have legally and permanently ceased operations.

Further reading

* Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
* Organizational culture