Does Wikipedia Pay? The Facilitator: Silver seren
- Does Wikipedia Pay? is an ongoing Signpost series seeking to illuminate paid editing and paid advocacy, for-profit Wikipedia consultants, editing public relations professionals, Conflict of Interest guidelines in practice, and the Wikipedians who work on these issues—by speaking openly with the people involved.
The Conflict of Interest Request for Comment is in full swing, various scandals are just settling in the news (including Portland Communications and Bell Pottinger, whose editing problems came under scrutiny as early as December last year), and the topic of paid editing raises its head regularly on Jimbo Wales' talk page. The idea of someone editing Wikipedia for financial gain remains highly controversial. As with any major conflict, it can be easy for participants to become entrenched in their views, to see things in extremes, and to substitute vague impressions for real people and their experiences. The goal of this series is to put a face to paid editing and to bring the discussion forward, without assumptions or hyperbole: to look at what is actually going on and illuminate one of the dark corners of Wikipedia.