Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-04-30/Paid editing

Does Wikipedia Pay? The Consultant: Pete Forsyth

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.

Last week we interviewed Silver Seren about his involvement with WikiProject Cooperation. For the second round of the series, The Signpost talked with Wikipedia editor, administrator, and former Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) employee Pete Forsyth, owner of the Wikipedia consulting firm Wiki Strategies. The way Forsyth describes it, consulting is altogether different than paid editing, notably for the lack of editing articles directly. Instead, he offers guidance to clients and instructs them about how to engage the community. Does he avoid the common traps of conflict of interest editing? Is this a model that could or should be extended? Can one actually make a living doing it? Much to consider in this week's interview ...

For a transcript of the unedited conversation, see below.