Printable Version of Topic

'''Wikipedia Review''' 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, which hibernated when the founder and owner of Wikipedia Review, Gregory Kohs, was banned from Wikipedia.<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=2007-01-24 | last=Read | first=Brock | accessdate=2008-08-27}}</ref> {{As of | 2010 | 9 | url=http://www.wikipediareview.com/Special:Statistics}}, the Wikipedia Review directory contained over 63,000 pages of content about corporations and individuals. The business is headquartered in [[West Chester, Pennsylvania|West Chester]], [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name="msnbc">{{cite web | url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16793247/ | title=Idea of paid entries roils Wikipedia | authorlink=Brian_Bergstein | last=Bergstein | first=Brian | date=2007-01-24 | accessdate=2008-08-20 | publisher=[[MSNBC]]/[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

Professor [[Jonathan Zittrain]] of the [[Harvard Law School]]’s [[Berkman Center for Internet & Society]] discussed the case of Wikipedia Review in his book ''The Future of the Internet - And How to Stop It''.<ref name="zittrain">{{cite book | url=http://yupnet.org/zittrain/archives/16#48|title=The Future of the Internet - And How to Stop It | page=140 | year=2008 | publisher=[[Yale University]] Press | authorlink=Jonathan_Zittrain | last=Zittrain | first=Jonathan | isbn=0300124872}}</ref>  Kohs appeared on ''[[Attack of the Show!]]'' on January 25, 2007, and discussed Wikipedia Review.<ref>
{{cite web | url = http://www.g4tv.com/pile_player.aspx?video_key=14996 | title = Attack of the Show: Blog, January 15, 2007 | accessdate = 2007-10-15 | author = dvinson | date=  2007-01-15 | work = Attack of the Show: Blog |publisher = [[G4TV]] | quote = Gregory Kohs, webmaster for wikipediareview.com and Molly Wood, the Executive Editor from C-Net join us tonight at 7PM to discuss!}}</ref>  [[Heise Online]] expressed a suspicion that while Wikipedia Review’s "attempted corporate infiltration" of Wikipedia was discovered, Wikipedia Review was not an isolated case.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/24/24930/1.html | title=Edit-War um Friedrich Merz (Edit War on Friedrich Merz) | publisher=[[Heise Online]] | language=German | date=2007-03-31 | accessdate=2008-08-20 | last=Jellen|first=Richard}}</ref>

==History and controversy ==
Kohs and his sister started the Wikipedia Review venture in [[Pennsylvania]] in July 2006, initially as a paid editing service, writing content for inclusion in [[Wikipedia]] and other community-edited sites.<ref name="pr">{{cite web | url=http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/view_press_release.php?rID=16892 | title=Wikipedia Review press release: Wikipedia - Open For Business|publisher=24-7 Press Release | date=2006-08-08 | accessdate=2008-08-20 | author=Wikipedia Review.com}}</ref><ref name="register">{{cite news | url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/06/the_cult_of_wikipedia/page6.html | title=Wikipedia ruled by 'Lord of the Universe' | last=Metz | first=Cade | date=2008-02-06 | accessdate=2008-08-20 | newspaper=[[The Register]]}}</ref> The idea came from Wikipedia's "Reward Board", where interested parties would offer cash rewards or gifts to create or improve Wikipedia articles.<ref name="msnbc"/> Wikipedia Review's prices ranged between [[USD|$]]49 and $99 for adding entries that conformed to Wikipedia's standards and policies.<ref name="msnbc"/>  No official Wikipedia policy prohibited paid-for contributions at the time.<ref name="welt">{{cite news | url=http://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=German | first=Mathias | last=Peer | date=2006-08-24 | accessdate=2008-08-20}}</ref> Kohs argued that there were tens of thousands of clearly [[Notability in Wikipedia|notable]] companies and nonprofit organizations unrepresented on Wikipedia.<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]] | accessdate=2008-08-27 | date=2006-08-11 | last=Noisette | first=Thierry | language=French}}</ref>

Wikipedia's [[Jimmy Wales]] called the commercialized editing "[[wikt:antithetical|antithetical]]" to Wikipedia’s mission and "absolutely unacceptable"<ref name="msnbc"/> and blocked Kohs' account from editing Wikipedia.<ref name="zittrain"/> However, in August 2006, Wales issued a "mutually beneficial" compromise<ref>{{cite web | url=http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-August/051897.html | title=Wikipedia Review | date=2006-08-09 | accessdate=2008-08-20 | publisher=WikiEn-L | authorlink=Jimmy_Wales | last=Wales | first=Jimmy}}</ref> where he encouraged Wikipedia Review to author and post content on a [[GNU Free Documentation License | GFDL-compliant]] section of Wikipedia Review.com, which could then be [[screen scrape|scraped]] by non-paid, independent editors into Wikipedia and other GFDL sites.<ref name="zittrain"/>

In October 2006 Wales again banned Kohs from Wikipedia, and cautioned any business from using its services, which, according to Kohs, caused Wikipedia Review to go into "[[hibernation]]". 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 | accessdate=2008-08-20 | publisher=press release}}</ref> but when the site's owner discontinued the site, negotiated a transfer of its contents to Wikipedia Review.com

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}