Talk:Linking to external advertising accounts

Note sent to Upworks

January 23, 2018. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 19:48, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Uncertain about whether a LinkedIn account qualifies.

As a new editor here (although with more than a decade of nonfiction editing elsewhere), it's not entirely clear to me if I need to provide a link to my page on LinkedIn, in which I include Wikipedia Consulting (including editing or writing if needed) among my professions. I'd assume so, but the reference to freelancing sites made me wonder. And, if I put a link on my user page, wouldn't that be a form of self-advertising?

I have no objection to doing this, but it's a bit puzzling. I'd appreciate your advice. Thank you for your time. GGSloth (talk) 02:03, 11 January 2019 (UTC)

I have same doubts @GGSloth:, and also another: is it also mandatory to add the company website where the services are advertised? Or only social websites where you can hire wikipedia consultancy? Thanks--Cartago90 (talk) 16:26, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

Not a valid policy

This wording was not approved and there was no cross-wiki consensus in the RfC for it. You might think you have consensus for it on the English Wikipedia and some English-language wikis but it's not going to be enforced as a global policy. Nemo 12:23, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

Not quite; the RfC in question (Requests for comment/Interlinking of accounts involved with paid editing to decrease impersonation) was closed with a consensus to adopt the measure. The RfC was in regards to changes to MetaWiki and the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use; both types of changes are conducted through requests for comments per Terms of use, as was done. The MetaWiki (where the RfC-approved policy is now in effect as indicated by this article) is a global project, and the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use (the ultimate authority in this case) will be changed to include the new policy when the TOU are next updated. SamHolt6 (talk) 04:59, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

@Nemo bis: Is there any community process for elevating anything to cross-wiki consensus? Do we have a category of proposals which have gone through such a process? Blue Rasberry (talk) 12:01, 13 February 2019 (UTC)

@SamHolt6: Hello, is this policy already mandatory or we have to wait to the next update of ToU?--Cartago90 (talk) 16:24, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

Visibility of external advertising accounts

Hello folks,

I recently encountered a paid user on en-wiki who changed their profile visibility to private after I submitted a report to ArbCom. They claimed that there is no policy requiring them to keep their profile public. To address this, I would like to propose the following minor changes:

We require those involved with paid editing on Wikipedia to link on their user page to all other active accounts on external websites through which they advertise paid Wikipedia editing services. The linked account must be publicly accessible.

There are various benefits to having such profiles public, including addressing a crucial loophole on Upwork that most paid editors might not be aware of. This can assist us in conducting a detailed investigation, and I can share more information on this privately without revealing too many details. Additionally, in many cases, I have observed that paid editors set their profiles to private after being asked to share a link, which can make it difficult to archive their activities.

Pinging users who are active in this area: @SamHolt6, Doc James, MER-C, DGG, Doug Weller, and Bilby:

Thank you, GSS (talk) 04:28, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Makes sense to me. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 05:15, 7 June 2024 (UTC)