Wikipedia editors, locked in battle with PR firm, delete 250 accounts

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Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. Flickr user: Niccolò Caranti Wikipedia editors have disabled hundreds of paid Wikipedia editing accounts in recent weeks as part of a campaign against so-called “sockpuppetry.” The efforts were described in a statement published this morning by the Wikimedia Foundation, in which director Sue Gardner acknowledged that “as many as several hundred” accounts belong to editors who are being paid to promote products or services on the site. That’s a violation of Wikipedia policies and terms of use, Gardner noted. “As a result, Wikipedians aiming to protect the projects against non-neutral editing have blocked or banned more than 250 user accounts,” continued Gardner. “The Wikimedia Foundation takes this issue seriously and has been following it closely.” The statement follows reports earlier this month in the The Daily Dot and last week in Vice .  The stories describe the increasing amounts of money flowing toward paid editing of English-language Wikipedia pages. According to both articles, Wikipedia editors attribute the growth in paid edits to a company called Wiki-PR . Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments        

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Wikipedia editors, locked in battle with PR firm, delete 250 accounts

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