Wikipedia:When your boss tells you to edit Wikipedia

If you are reading this page, you are likely an employee of a company or organization who has been asked to either:

1. create an article about your company / organization or your boss
2. edit an existing article about your company / organization or your boss

This essay quickly breaks down what you need to know and do when you find yourself in such a situation. You may also refer to the FAQ for article subjects.

Tell your boss it can't be done

Some companies want to ask their interns, PR people, and new employees to create Wikipedia articles about them (usually in the interest of facilitating notability and relevance to their business). However, these companies often misunderstand the purpose and function of Wikipedia, and how their public image usually does not line up with the encyclopedia's rules and standards.

Editing Wikipedia is no small task. Editing it while working for a company is even harder. There are many policies to comply with, skills to master, and research to be conducted. It is also of note to mention that most companies don't actually qualify for an article.

The advice of the editors who made this guide page, garnered over many years of guiding paid and conflict-of-interest editors, is: Paid editing is simply a waste of time.

No, really – tell your boss it can't be done

Show your boss this page or tell them that the following is why you probably shouldn't or can't be editing:

• If you are a person being asked to create a new article, tell them that having an article about your company or boss is not necessarily a good thing: you do not own or control the articles you create. Anyone in the world can edit the article, and they can include negative things about your company or boss – not just positive ones.
• Your company or boss is likely not notable, i.e. well-known enough to be the subject of an article. If they were notable, someone would likely already have written about them.
• Unless you are willing to read and understand this encyclopedia's core policies in depth, your article is very unlikely to get published. Your time would be better spent doing more productive things for your company.
• If Wikipedia already has an article about your company or boss, editing it yourself is strongly discouraged due to your conflict of interest. Instead, you are advised to request an edit. Then, a Wikipedia volunteer editor will make the decision about whether or not to implement what you're asking.
• Wikipedia is not a tool for promotion. This encyclopedia does not exist to amplify your business, nor is it a business directory. If you want more people to know about your company, you'll have to pay an advertising agency to promote it outside of Wikipedia.

If you're going to go ahead and edit on behalf of your company / organization...

If the above has not dissuaded you from doing such, you need to carefully follow the rules for paid editing, and understand that this is not an easy task. They are listed below:

Paid editing disclosure

If you are an employee, contractor, or intern of a company, whether you are paid or not, you must disclose that relationship. Failing to declare paid editing is a violation of the Wikipedia Terms of Use and will result in a loss of editing privileges. The full text of this policy can be found at Paid-contribution disclosure.

Why must you disclose that relationship? Wikipedia is built on transparency. All of our edits are visible to the public, so that they can see for themselves how articles develop. Failing to disclose can get you blocked from editing. If you're an unpaid intern, our Terms of Use still require you to make a paid editing declaration, because you are being compensated in some way (e.g. experience) for your edits. The same goes for volunteers, and other unpaid affiliates of an organization.

Numerous companies have been exposed for covert paid editing on Wikipedia, and subsequently received widespread criticism on national media (see here for examples). Talk about a PR nightmare. Disclosing your status makes it way easier for everyone involved. It allows us to help you better, and ensures your company won't be publicly embarrassed.

How to disclose

Disclosing your status as a paid editor is very simple. Just create your userpage, if you haven't already done so, by clicking the name of your account in the top right of the screen. Add to it the following text, making sure to include the double curly brackets: {{paid|employer=your employer here}}.

Make sure to publish the page afterwards. If you've already created your userpage, just add the text to the page somewhere prominent, like the top of the page or in its own dedicated section.

Creating a new article

If Wikipedia does not yet have an article about your organization or boss, you'll need to create a draft version of it for approval by using the WP:Article Wizard. Do not try to create your article directly in the "main" article space. It'll just get deleted. Once you create a draft, experienced editors will see if your draft meets our policies, approve it if it does, and decline it (with an explanation) if it does not.

Before making a draft, please do some research! Make sure that your organization or boss meets the organization notability guidelines or person notability guidelines. The essence of those guidelines are: your organization or boss needs to have been written about in the independent press substantially. If you can't find at least three news articles (or other reliable sources) that discuss your organization or boss at length, then it is likely not notable, and we can't write about it. Your organization's own website should not be used as a source, and neither should press releases, or blogs.

Don't be tempted to write the article backward by writing it first and then finding sources. First you should find significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of your company (see the Golden Rule for the kinds of sources required), and only then should you write the article based on what those sources say.

Editing an existing article

Do not edit an existing article about your company or boss directly. Wikipedia's policy strongly discourages such edits. Instead, make an edit request on the relevant talk page. It's simple: open the talk page of the article (found at the top left), open a new section, suggest what you want changed in a "Change X to Y" format, and add {{edit COI}} to the top of your request. Then, an experienced editor will come along to ensure the edit complies with our policies, and if it's good, implement it. You may also use the Wikipedia:Edit Request Wizard if you like.

Getting help

Be well advised: normal, non-paid Wikipedia editors do not hand-hold paid editors. If you are being paid, we expect you to put in the time to understand this encyclopedia's policies. If you do not have the time to understand how Wikipedia works, you are invited go back to the first section and tell your boss it cannot be done. However, that doesn't mean we won't provide you help at all. For assistance, please ask at:

• The Teahouse – A friendly place for new users
• The Articles for Creation help desk – Deals with questions about drafts
• Live IRC help

See also

• List of political editing incidents on Wikipedia
• Wikipedia:Public relations and marketing