Paid editing, opinions on paid editing Options

[ebc123]

To state my opinion up front, what does it matter if you are paid to write about a person or organization or whatever and you follow the conflict of interest, neutral point-of-view, etc. guidelines, include most if not all the necessary references and basically produce an average to above average encyclopedic page?

For one thing there are many notable people out there who likely will never have a page written about them unless someone else takes the initiative to contact them or if they decide to contact someone to do it for them. I mean, it's nice and all to donate your time but unfortunately in this world the bills arrive every month. Again if you're able to be up front with a client and spell out the Wiki ground rules and from there produce a quality piece, what does it matter that you were paid?

For another thing it stands to reason that many if not most pages on Wikipedia are originally created and subsequently edited by people who have some abiding (some may say "slanted") interest in the topic. Why else bother with the effort?

So there's that. I'm wondering as far as paid editing what other people have to say. In addition to the above comments namely:

1. If you submit to Wikipedia's encouragement to divulge your paid arrangement, are you forever and automatically tagged with a "conflict of interest" heading?

2. If you divulge your paid status, are you now basically chum for other editors to tear your piece apart no matter how well it conforms to style and substance?

Thank you for any thoughts on this.

[ebc123]

My apologies “thekoser.” Thanks for the welcome. Your ebook looks interesting. I think it’s pricey for an ebook, especially since it doesn’t say anywhere how substantial it is (pages/words/etc.) But it looks interesting.

Thanks very much for all the info so far. It’s good to hear both sides and any details from experienced users.

If I could bother folks further (as answers often lead to more questions) I’m wondering:

As far as “wikieyeay’s” quote: “I would point out that unless they suspect something, they are not going to bother to check for multiple accounts.”

1. What (if anything) might cause them to suspect something as a Conflict of Interest if it doesn’t contain promo language or controversial subjects?

2. If they decide one account is in voilation, can they discover your other accounts through IP address, sockpuppets (whatever they are), or something else?

As far as “Multiple accounts are probably an unnecessary step, but that depends on how much money, etc., you have at stake.

I’d like to generate a fair amount of income so of course money/reputation would be a factor. Here is where question 2 above comes into play. It’s one thing to have a problem with one article and another thing to have a problem with 5, 10 or more.

I suppose saying “Paid editing is actually normally uncontroversial...” says a lot. As I mentioned in my first post, I fully intend on complying with Wikipedia’s policies and guidelines. For one thing I hate that hack public relations style writing. I won’t do it and my potential clients will know it up front.

I guess my greatest concern is one of those Dungeons and Dragons type zealots might eventually decide to pull some IRS/Spanish Inquisition investigation out of sheer boredom and the wheels come off. I don’t know how and if this happens. That’s why I’m posting here. I definitely find none of these answers on any other posts. Thanks again for any help!