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The Rise of Paid Wikipedia Consulting

Posted by samzenpus on from the history-belongs-to-the-typers dept.

jfruh writes "Roger Bamkin is a director at Wikimedia UK; he also is on retainer for the government of the British territory of Gibraltar, and has nominated and approved Gibraltar-related articles for the "Did You Know" box on the Wikipedia front page. Maximilian Klein runs a business called UntrikiWiki, and advertises his services by saying "A positive Wikipedia article is invaluable SEO." Are such users violating the spirit of what Wikipedia is about? Or should we trust that the wisdom of crowds will offset obvious shilling?"

2 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Do you think by kiriath · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That this is the first time in history you have been able to pay to have the 'history books' 'doctored'?

  2. I have been paid to write articles. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have been paid to write articles and pitch them to many magazines just to create published sources that are then used to force wikipedia articles in a certain direction with sources. Specifically, I wrote about Quantum Fiction (which has a crazy misogynist edit history) and my article is getting published in a real magazine, at the end of this week. As soon as it appears, it will be used to further the edit war on the Quantum Fiction page.