 "Wikipedia cracks down on 250 accounts for paid edits")
Wikipedia has ended up disabling around 250 accounts after allegations of paid editing accounts have emerged. The plug has been pulled on these accounts as part of a campaign against “sock puppetry” or creation of online identities in order to promote individuals or campaigns.
Sue Gardner of Wikimedia Foundation has written in a statement that the Foundation takes the issue very seriously and has been following it closely. It had been revealed earlier that several hundred accounts on Wikipedia may have been paid to write articles on the online encyclopedia in order to promote organisations and products, violating numerous site policies and guidelines in the process. These especially include prohibition against sock puppetry and undisclosed conflicts of interests.
Sockpuppetting on Wikipedia (Image credit: Getty Images)
“With half a billion readers, Wikipedia is an important informational resource for people all over the world,” wrote Gardner. “Our readers know Wikipedia’s not perfect, but they also know that it has their best interests at heart, and is never trying to sell them a product or propagandize them in any way. Our goal is to provide neutral, reliable information for our readers, and anything that threatens that is a serious problem. We are actively examining this situation and exploring our options.”
The rise in sockpuppeted articles on Wikipedia had been revealed earlier this month by The Daily Dot and Vice . They both pointed to the rise in a service called Wiki-PR . The service claims to have a staff of 45 Wikipedia editors and admins that can help businesses and individuals create Wikipedia pages.
Gardner adds that Editing-for-pay has been a divisive topic among Wikipedians for years, especially when it comes to editing articles that are promotional in nature. This is considered as “black hat” practice inside the organisation. It may be a little difficult to flag sockpuppeting users but Wikipedia editors seem to be working hard on figuring these out.
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