Wikipedia:Quarantine of content created by undisclosed paid editors
 | The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Promotional pages written by a suspected Undeclared Paid Editor (UPE) may by quarantined by moving to a subpage of Wikipedia:Quarantine promotional Undeclared Paid Editor product, and blanked. To be released from quarantine, the author must explain their situation and declare related interests to the satisfaction of any experienced Wikipedian in good standing |
Process
[edit]- Review the page, including page history and authors, and verify that the conditions for quarantining are met.
- Commit to defending your judgement that the page is promotional, and that the author is an undeclared promotional editor.
- WP:Move the page to a subpage of this page, Wikipedia:Quarantine promotional Undeclared Paid Editor product. If moving from mainspace, suppress the redirect, or have the redirect deleted per WP:CNR, check for incoming links and clean them up as required.
- Replace the content of the page with {{Quarantine promotional Undeclared Paid Editor product blanked}}
- Advise the author. A script will be written to do this. Optionally advise any prior approving reviewers, if you feel they failed to recognize UPE product when you think they should have.
Definitions and criteria
[edit]Only promotional topics
[edit]A topic may be considered promotional if it meets one of the following criteria:
- (1) It is a current for-profit company or organisation, including unincorporated individuals such as YouTubers;
- (2) The products of (1). NB. This includes artistic or creative products including books, songs and videos.
- (3) The CEO or Founder of (1).
- (4) Biographies of rising young people. This includes people with notable abilities or credentials who will likely become leaders. This includes well-referenced biographies, but is aimed at disguised CVs.
If not promotional topic as defined, do not quarantine.
In mainspace, only new pages
[edit]Do not unilaterally quarantine old, previously reviewed articles, instead use AfD. Quarantining is intended as on option during New Page Patrol or AfC reviewing.
Only Single Purpose Accounts suspected of being UPEs
[edit]Quarantining is only for pages authored by accounts that are both Wikipedia:Single-purpose accounts and suspected by the reviewer of being an undeclared paid editor. If the author is an established, experienced Wikipedian, use AfD.
Who may quarantine
[edit]Any user holding at least the New Page Reviewer right (Wikipedia:New pages patrol/Reviewers)
Appeals for release from quarantine
[edit]The author is to be invited to appeal for release of the page from quarantine by complying with the policy Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure. (template/script to be written)
If the author is a WP:SPA, they may be asked to explain their interest in the topic, and a statement relating to their past editing experiences on Wikipedia. The author is not required to disclose personally identifying information, include past IP addresses used to edit.
If the explanation is accepted, move the page back. Should there be disagreement, if the author moves the page back seek resolution at WP:MfD, or if the author thinks the reviewers are unreasonable then they are follow WP:DR process.